Stuck on Victorian Marriage Laws

[Saint Fool]

This would be so much easier if I could just let my couple have mad monkey sex in the library while the rest of the house doesn't notice a thing, but nooooo, Danny and Genevieve want to get married beforehand.

The year is 1879 and as far as I can tell, they both need to be over the age of 21 or have parental consent (D's an orphan. G's father is ill and stepmama would not approve.) They are both residents of London. If they are married in a church, banns need to be published at least 3 weeks before the ceremony. They can obtain a license and be married by a registrar but I haven't been able to discover if the license and civil ceremony can occur on the same day. If I'm wrong on any of the above, feel free to correct me.

Unfortunately, by this time Scotland had instituted a 21-day residency period before the marriage ceremony so Gretna Green is out.

I have no problem with them lying about their ages - my Gramama D did - but I still need to find out about the time factor for a civil wedding. If you can point me toward net or book resources that might be helpful (Google is not my friend), I'd appreciate it. Or if you know of any creative solutions used by Victorian couples to marry despite others objections, I'd love to hear about them.

Thanks. (Goes off muttering about modern romantic thrillers set in the Victorian Era where unmarried people have sex at the drop of a hanky.)

[DeleyanLee]

Here's a starting point, at least: http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/victorian/authors/collins/tsw1.html

And something more general that might help:

http://www.victorianlondon.org/

If you can find the book What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-The Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England, I believe it covers your question (and a whole lot more). Well worth the money and the read.



Good luck to you.

[Saint Fool]

Thanks. Oddly enough, The Victorian Web Ring has very little on marriage, but I clicked around on Victorian London and found this:

A person desirous of being married by the superintendent registrar's certificate with licence, is to give notice and obtain a certificate as in the former case, with these distinctions:-
If both persons do not dwell in the same district, notice need not be given to the superintendent registrar of each district,, but only to the superintendent registrar of the district in which one of them resides. The notice must state that the person making it has lived for fifteen, not seven, days in the district in which the notice is given.
The notice is not hung up in the office, and the certificate may be granted at the expiration of one day, instead of twenty-one days, after the entry of the notice.

It didn't come up when I searched the site, so I resorted to the "click on this and see where it takes me." Still need to do more research, but thanks for sending me back to the site.

[pdr]

The usual practice for a couple wishing to marry quickly and privately was to go the bishop and obtain a special licence. The man did this and had to swear that they were both of age etc. Then they could take the licence to the vicar and be married.

There was also the very special licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury. I think you can rule that one out as it takes more time.

A civil ceremony had lots of restrictions about residency and a time lag before the ceremony could take place.

If you look in Resources by Era you should find the UK url for national Archives and you'll find the info there but dig for it!

[IceCreamEmpress]

This page (http://www.originsnetwork.com/help/popup-aboutbo-mla2.htm) has some helpful info.

A civil marriage at that time had a waiting period of 15 days between the issuance of a license and the marriage--that was meant to give people a chance to bring impediments (existing marriages, consanguinity) to the attention of the civil authorities, just as the banns were designed to give people a chance to bring impediments to the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities.

[pdr]

for that resource, will put it in the Resources by era.

[Saint Fool]

PDR and ICE, thanks for the info.

[Robin]

I know this is page is for Regency laws, rather than Victorian, but there's lots of information on marriages here:

http://www.eclectics.com/allisonlane/common_regency_errors.html

I have a (semi-related) question about the consanguinity laws. It doesn't mention step siblings specifically, but surely step brother and sisters could not marry? Even if they aren't blood relations, it seems ickier to me than first cousins marrying. (Which is a shame, since I had this brilliant plot idea...)