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About LinkBacksWas there a minimum age required for a witness?Assuming that I have the correct groom and that one of the witnesses was his sister she would have been 15 at the time of the marriage in 1860.Seems too young to me.
Ed
Marriage witnesses
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Was there a minimum age required for a witness?Assuming that I have the correct groom and that one of the witnesses was his sister she would have been 15 at the time of the marriage in 1860.Seems too young to me.
Ed
Hello Ed, Well I have learnt a few things by you posting this thread..Did you know in the 1860s the legal age of consent was twelve years old. The House Of Commons agreed to raise the age to thirteen years in 1875. After that it was raised to forteen.
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The age of consent to marriage was 12 for girls and 15 for boys. But there was no legal minimum age for witnesses and I have a few examples of witnesses being in their early teens. They just had to be able to understand what they were witnessing (which was the marriage vows, not the signatures on the certificate).
Thanks for the info. I was thinking about this too. One witness seemed to be a possible sister and I was trying to estimate the age.
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