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A serving soldier's age at marriage, 1700 - 1800

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  • A serving soldier's age at marriage, 1700 - 1800

    An ancestor of mine James Cumming, enlisted with the army at the age of 21, and left the army in 1820.
    He married Gordonetta Sutor in 1822. He was 40, she 22.

    This age gap of nearly 20 years...do you think it was normal for soldiers between, say, 1700 and 1800?
    I have another soldiering individual, Norman Macleod, who seems to have been born c.1665, and married c.1710. His wife appears to have been born c.1690.

    I'm writing an article, and would like to be able to provide some evidence that this was reasonably normal for military men.
    If you think it is fairly normal, do you know of any scholarly work which demonstrates it?

    Thanks!
    Kind regards,
    William
    Particular interests: The Cumming families of Edinkillie & Dallas, Moray

  • #2
    I don't know about soldiers but in general I would say it was entirely normal for men in their 40s to marry younger women. I have many examples in my tree, and not second marriages either. It was as if they hadn't got round to it .... hopefully they didn't have diseases to infect their wives with by then, although sadly they often did.

    On the other hand I have examples of whole families of boys who married young to wives 5 or 10 or even 20 years older than them. Almost as if it was the norm for the family.

    Anne

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    • #3
      Depends on where they served ............. I've seen some suggestions that many men "took" as wives the women who followed the soldiers. If a soldier died, his "wife' often "married" another man.


      Bernard Cornwell often talked about this in his Sharpe novels.


      But equally, men could have married and lost wives while overseas.
      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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      • #4
        My 2x great grandfather, Giles Meade, enlisted in 1809 and was discharged in 1816 after serving in the army in the Peninsular War and the 1812 war with the US. He was married for the first time (that I can find) at age 43 in 1824 and was 58 when he married my 2x great grandmother. I'm not sure what the age difference was with his first wife, but he was about 17 years older than my 2x g grandmother.

        He may well have had a wife in Spain, but I don't think I'd find that unless I went through all the regimental records.

        Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels are a really good source of information as he does so much research. (I love all his novels, actually...)
        Jenny

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        • #5
          The army was their family, ensuring that they were fed and had a bed, roof over their head etc and also provided some form of companionship and support. There could well have been a big gap in life on their discharge and marriage seeming an inviting alternative. Perhaps to a would-be bride a reliable army pension offered some security.
          In my notes, I too have an example of a soldier retiring at about the age of forty and marrying a much younger woman. This couple went on to have a dozen children and both parents lived to a ripe old age.

          Jay
          Janet in Yorkshire



          Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

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          • #6
            I agree with all the above and it was nothing unusual in my tree for there to be an age gap of 20 or more years. Men have always married much younger women, for practical reasons as much as anything else - she would be strong and likely to last longer than an older woman. Equally, a young woman would have seen an older man as a good catch financially. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, not confined to soldiers.

            OC

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            • #7
              Thanks for all your thoughts - they match what I've found, which is comforting!
              Kind regards,
              William
              Particular interests: The Cumming families of Edinkillie & Dallas, Moray

              Comment


              • #8
                I'm not positive about this & I don't remember where I read it but only half a dozen of the privates in a company (or whatever the unit was called) could take wives with them when they travelled, chosen by drawing lots. They could become camp followers but not something that would appeal to most women I think; they'd be better off with an ag.lab.
                Glen

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                • #9
                  I think you are thinking about service in India Oakum Picker. There were only a few allotted billets for privates and the rest had to live as singles unless a place became available.
                  Whoever said Seek and Ye shall find was not a genealogist.

                  David

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by grumpy View Post
                    I think you are thinking about service in India Oakum Picker. There were only a few allotted billets for privates and the rest had to live as singles unless a place became available.
                    It was true up until the Crimea:





                    Caroline
                    Caroline's Family History Pages
                    Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.

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                    • #11
                      My gg-gf was 42 & serving in the Home Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders in Ireland when he married. Not a great catch but a lifeline for his 23 year old bride at the height of the Irish famine.
                      Glen

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                      • #12
                        I have a soldier married in 1812, and have not managed to find his birth, maybe I have not looked back far enough. I have no idea of his age.
                        Carolyn
                        Family Tree site

                        Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
                        Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

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                        • #13
                          ...Just found his death record, so he was 12 years older than her
                          Carolyn
                          Family Tree site

                          Researching: Luggs, Freeman - Cornwall; Dayman, Hobbs, Heard - Devon; Wilson, Miles - Northants; Brett, Everett, Clark, Allum - Herts/Essex
                          Also interested in Proctor, Woodruff

                          Comment

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