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Gretna - 100 guineas???

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  • Gretna - 100 guineas???

    When I had a day at the archives I hunted through a box of documents relating to my family name. One note included this:
    “My father married when 21 years old. It was a Gretna Green wedding. The fee was a hundred guineas.”
    I think the marriage referred to must have taken place in the early 1800s, but I can't believe that it cost that much to marry at Gretna Green. I've googled but can't find anything about the cost (except for the present day). If it wasn't at Gretna Green was there somewhere else they might have married that could have cost one hundred guineas? The couple were from Gloucestershire if that helps.

    Any ideas anyone?

    scuda
    Pitman / Pittman in North Glos (Didbrook, Prestbury, Longhope, Tewkesbury, Stow, Cirencester, etc), London & Australia

  • #2
    The state of the trade of Gretna Green in 1771 is thus delineated by the masterly hand of Pennant:---"The resort of all amorous couple whose union is forbidden by parents and guardians. There a young couple may be instantly united by a fisherman, a joiner, or a blacksmith, who marry from two guineas a job to a dram of whiskey
    Jane Austen Places

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    • #3
      I suspect whoever wrote that about their father had got the wrong end of the stick or was recounting one of thsoe family myths we all have.

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      • #4
        The priest, who died lately, a blacksmith by trade, (being
        no other apparently than old David Laing, the pedlar,) has been
        known to draw one hundred guineas from one couple for perform-
        ing the ceremony.
        This seems to be a quote from Sir Walter Scott, who according to this book knew nothing about Gretna Green.

        Full text of "Chronicles of Gretna Green"

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        • #5
          Thanks Jill & Mary. Jill, I thought it was probably a myth or gross exaggeration, but Mary's links have made me think again. It seems that the sums paid for marriages at Gretna were very varied, and as the groom in this case was from a reasonably wealthy family (the bride too, I suspect) they may have been fleeced for 100 guineas - if they were desperate enough and had the means they would have paid, I suppose.

          scuda
          Pitman / Pittman in North Glos (Didbrook, Prestbury, Longhope, Tewkesbury, Stow, Cirencester, etc), London & Australia

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          • #6
            perhaps it included travel costs?

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            • #7
              and a visit to the Outlet Village in lieu of a honeymoon.
              Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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              • #8
                LOL, UJ, I'd want my money back!!!

                anne

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                • #9
                  Ingrate! The one place in Scotland you can get to with an English bus pass.
                  Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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                  • #10
                    James, UJ, Anne,

                    Very good you three. I just wish I could think of a witty reply - as I can't I'll say no more!

                    scuda
                    Pitman / Pittman in North Glos (Didbrook, Prestbury, Longhope, Tewkesbury, Stow, Cirencester, etc), London & Australia

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