Marriage confirmation please

[snowywhite]

Owen Edward Sharplin married 1949 Chatham, Kent.
Records showing to a Mabel Louisa Sharplin ?? Can anybody confirm or deny this please. The only Mabel Louisa Sharplin I can find mmn whiting married her cousin John Thomas Sharplin. But by my reckoning he died in 1947 in Brighton. So is it possible she then married his brother Owen Edward Sharplin in 1949.

[Elaine]

The probate address of 81 Wilson Ave. for Mabel is the same as the 1939 reg. where she can be found with John and Owen.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

By that date it was legal to marry the widow of your dead brother.

Jay

[Karamazov]

By that date it was legal to marry the widow of your dead brother.

Jay

Just out if interest Jay, when did it become legal in England? I have just found two sisters marring the same man in 1920 and 1927!

Christine

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Just out if interest Jay, when did it become legal in England? I have just found two sisters marring the same man in 1920 and 1927!

Christine

1921 marriage act, I think. I know it was after the end of WW1. The brother/sister had to be widowed, divorced not a permissible match.

Jay

Jay

[Karamazov]

1921 marriage act, I think. I know it was after the end of WW1. The brother/sister had to be widowed, divorced not a permissible match.

Jay

Jay

Just noticed my Freudian slip - marring rather than marrying the same man!
Marriage to sister no1 was in Buenos Aires, registered as a British overseas marriage. Marriage to sister no2 was back in England. I haven't yet managed to find a death for sister no 1 between 1920 and 1927...
Christine

[AntonyM]

Just out if interest Jay, when did it become legal in England? I have just found two sisters marring the same man in 1920 and 1927!

Christine

It was 1921 - the "Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act", although the opposite , marrying your dead wife's sister, had been OK since 1907 under the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act.

Despite this you will find many earlier examples of such marriages - my 3xG Grandfather did it in 1834/40.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I have told this story before, so I'll be brief, lol. My friend found out after her father died that he had married twin sisters and that the woman who brought her up was not her mother. This was never mentioned! She can only presume her father thought it was illegal.

OC

[Janet in Yorkshire]

It was 1921 - the "Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act", although the opposite , marrying your dead wife's sister, had been OK since 1907 under the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act.

Despite this you will find many earlier examples of such marriages - my 3xG Grandfather did it in 1834/40.

I have several 19th century examples of men marrying a younger sister-in-law. Widowers with young children to be cared for, a younger sister of the late wife went to housekeep and raise the children. Two of mine must have taken on all wifely duties and ended up pregnant, followed by a registry office marriage in one of the local towns.
Some years ago I attended a family history talk and this was discussed - the speaker suggested that, although illegal, such marriages did indeed take place, but usually away from home turf and obviously not in the church in their home village. Life in the family home went on and everyone around politely turned a blind eye.

Jay

[Caroline]

It was 1921 - the "Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act", although the opposite , marrying your dead wife's sister, had been OK since 1907 under the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act.

Despite this you will find many earlier examples of such marriages - my 3xG Grandfather did it in 1834/40.

As did my 2x great grandfather in 1853 then in 1873. The younger sister was also widowed with a step-daughter from her first marriage. He had already got 9 living children and they went on to have another 5. The step daughter later married one of the sons. Their daughter was my grandmother. She married the son of one of the daughters of the first marriage.

[Anne in Carlisle]

I also have plenty of examples in my family. I think, for all the reasons given above, nearly everyone accepted such marriages .