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Wedding cetificate age "Of Full Age" meaning?

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  • Wedding cetificate age "Of Full Age" meaning?

    I have several marriage certificates where the age is given as "Of Full Age". What age is this considered and why not just put the correct age?

  • #2
    "Of Full Age" means of adult age, ie over 21 ...............

    the LEGAL age of marriage could be younger than that , as low as 12 or even younger, but had to be with parental consent.

    You will often see people under the age of 21 shown as "minor", and the marriage as "with parental consent"

    People over 21 did not need parental consent.

    As to why ................... that just seems to be the official way it was stated!


    Of course, one does have to remember that, as always, people lied.

    Never ever trust the age given on a marriage OR a death certificate :D

    My own grandfather and grandmother lied on their marriage certificate back in 1902, but only made themselves out to be 19 and 20, so still under the age at which parental consent was needed, and parents and family present .......... so why??

    Grandfather lied about his birth date (dd/mm/yy) all his life, so his death certificate is also wrong!
    My grandmother, on the beach, South Bay, Scarborough, undated photo (poss. 1929 or 1930)

    Researching Cadd, Schofield, Cottrell in Lancashire, Buckinghamshire; Taylor, Park in Westmorland; Hayhurst in Yorkshire, Westmorland, Lancashire; Hughes, Roberts in Wales.

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    • #3
      Thank you Sylvia C. So it's also a way of covering up a multitude of sins. It also explains the difference's in the birth/death certificates as well.

      Andrew

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      • #4
        I do feel that the practice of putting 'of full age' was much more prevalent in the early years of registration and that if the couple appeared old enough the vicar just didn't feel it necessary to enter an age on the certificate at all. In that way he was continuing the habit he had been accumtomed to before 1837 when there was no space for an age on the marriage form.
        Anne

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        • #5
          It is slightly more subtle or complicated than Sylvia suggests.

          Of full age means the person had reached the age of majority, this means they were an adult in all connections and able to undertake a contract such as a marriage contract.
          It also means that they were responsible for their own actions.

          The actual age of the person was not of any importance to the clergy only that the couple were of a legal age to contract the marriage and that they, the clergy would not be sued for carrying out a banned marriage (it acted in a similar way to a marriage bond in this respect).

          By the way parental consent was required for a marriage between 1753 (Lord Hardwicke’s Act) and 1823 when the requirement was repealed and replaced, but many clergy erred on the side of caution.
          Note there is a big difference between not having parental consent and the clergyman being informed the marriage had been forbidden.

          Cheers
          Guy
          Guy passed away October 2022

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          • #6
            Thank you Guy.

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