Marrying dead wife's sister

[ozgirl]

One of my ggg uncles married 2 sisters, the second one in 1874 - surely this was illegal at the time? wouldn't that mean that the children were effectively illegitimate, and could they have been jailed for this? (They went to another county to marry, but as far as I can see, the marriage would not have been valid in this country)

Linda

[herky]

Hi Linda,
Interesting question as I have a distant relative who I think may have married 2 sisters.
I wonder what the law would have been. My one married both sisters in England in the late 1800's early 1900's.
I look forward to hearing replies.

[Joy Dean]

It was not legal, but it did happen, more often in nonconformist churches, I understand.

[herky]

I suppose as neither sister was a blood relative to the man then it would be okay. The problem would appear to be more about the social rather than biological taboo.

With cousins marrying then there is a blood connection, although I have quite a few 1st cousin marriages, which makes for an interesting tree.

[maudarby]

I have several instances of these "illegal" marriages happening in my family. I think the law was changed c 1905 to make these marriages legal.
Moggie

[Little Nell]

Bigamy isn't legal either but it happened a lot. I have a few marriages where the husband has married his dead wife's sister.

[tanyal]

I have one case (in the 18th century) of a man marrying his stepsister.

[jms]

I also have found instances when this appears to have happened and wondered about the legality.

Jms

[Richard]

Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is a good article, above, on the subject on wikipedia. Though not mentioned in the article, if I remember rightly the law outlawing the practice in the 1830's only really came about due to a politician or lord scandalising the house by marrying his dead wifes sister purely to get his hands on her inheritence. The law seems never to have been generally popular and widely disregarded. When the Gale Newspaper access was going I found many contemporary articles debating the issue, usually in favour of repeal. One that sticks out in the memory was a chap arguing that if nothing else the practise should be allowed on the grounds it "negates the onorous burden on a man of two mother in laws" Mother in Law jokes were clearly alive and well in Victorian Britian!

[Elizabeth Herts]

Marriage to a sister was not permitted until the passing of the act. However, people did find a way around it!

I have two sisters marrying the same man.

Emily Anne Jeffcoat married Thomas Smith in 1882. She bore him two children before dying in 1886. On later censuses I found her sister Mary Louisa "married" to Thomas, with two children of her own. I couldn't find a marriage for a long time.

Then I was googling the old newspapers and came across their marriage in Christiana (Oslo) at St Johannes Church. It appears another English couple married there too.

Linda, in which country did your couple marry?

In OH's family, there is a link with the Barnado family, who came from Dublin. Dr Barnado's father married two sisters, he being a child of the second. I believe that John Michaelis Barnado came over to England to marry the second sister.

[kylejustin]

I have two sisters marrying the same man.

as do i. it's more common than people think. and catherine of aragon did it. though i think it has always been that you needed a spiritual leader such as the pope or maybe the monarch? to make it legal. royals and nobility used to get dispensation's from the pope, i would expect it to be the same for ordinary people before the reformation-as long as they could afford it.
after the reformation, i wouldnt think it would have mattered, till the law came to into place.

my ancestor married his first wife in chichester, she dissapears, and later on he married her sister in london. whether they were already living there, or decided to live there after marriage is another question.

[Wor canny Lass]

It was illegal in Britain to marry as sister-in-law until this Act ws repealed. However, Britian also recognises foreign marriages if it is legal in that country, which is why so many people got round that. If my history is correct Joseph Swan, (Electric light/swan matches etc) went aboad to marry his SIL

Anne

[Helen Henderson]

For those of you who are following the Desperate Romantics series, the pre raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt's second wife was the sister of his first wife. He travelled abroad to marry her due to the restrictions in this country. As was posted earlier, even though it wouldn't have been legal in this country, the marriage was legally recognised as it had taken place in a country without such restrictions.
Interestingly it caused a huge rift with the in-laws who were scandalised by this behaviour.
My own Grandmother married her brother in law following the death of both respective spouses. This was in 1946 so perfectly legal as the law had been changed but it appears that as a result of this the two families were estranged from each other.

[Caroline]

You can see why they would do it though. My widowed great great grandfather married his widowed sister-in-law in 1873. He had been left with 10 chidlren aged 16 and under when his first wife died. The second sister had also been widowed and was left with her first husband's daughter by his first marriage. They lived in Bucks and married in London and went on to have five more children. I see my 90 year old half cousin twice removed every other week.

It caused me no end of confusion when I started that side of my tree!! The Gillett Spoons.

[Uncle John]

As has already been said, the main purpose of the "deceased wife's sister" prohibition was to prevent wives being bumped off for their inheritance. There is no genetic bar. It is mentioned somewhere in "Trial by Jury" (Gilbert & Sullivan).

[ozgirl]

My couple lived in Gloucester but went to Kings Norton in the Warwickshire area to marry. Interestingly they gave all their five children both surnames when they registered them.

Linda

[Christine in Herts]

I had trouble finding a John Stratford/Elizabeth Gardner marriage in my father's tree. Then I found that John Stratford had married Hannah Gardner - who proved to be Elizabeth's elder sister - but she (and all her babes) had died. John and Elizabeth had at least one daughter. When Elizabeth died: the death index has Mary Elizabeth Stratford but the burial record has Mary Elizabeth Stratford "properly called GARDNER".

Christine

[Penelope]

Redacted

[Granny Lynne]

With cousins marrying then there is a blood connection, although I have quite a few 1st cousin marriages, which makes for an interesting tree.

Herky
Yes, cousins have a blood connection but it is not illegal for them to marry. Henry VIII changed the law years ago so that he could marry his cousin and the laws have stayed in place ever since.
My own maternal grandparents were first cousins and although there are some peopkle with the opinion that this can cause 'birth defects' my mother, aunt and uncles were
perfectly healthy.

[herky]

Hi Granny Lynne,
Just noticed you have CRESSWELLS. Do you have any that came from Staffordshire and Worcetershire. My 3 x great grand mum was from Worcester and ended up in Scotland?

As for the cousins - yes I have a fair few and I am not aware of hereditary illnesses in the family. It does get confusing though when sorting out the tree - OK for me but more difficult to explain it to others when I tell them that a certain person is eg my great granny and my 3nd cousin 3 x removed (or something like that).