[List-Cumbria] New Marriage Act of 1822

[Petra Mitchinson]

Ah! I think I found the reason why the 1822 Act caused such problems.

 

This is from a guide by Gloucestershire Archives about Marriage Licences:

 

Some allegations for 1822-1823 have baptismal entries attached, as required by an Act of Parliament.

 

So the hassle of obtaining baptismal certificates may have induced many people (at least in Cumberland) to hop across the border for
their marriage as no such formalities were required in Scotland.

 

Petra

 

From: Petra Mitchinson [mailto:petra.mitchinson at doctors.org.uk] 
Sent: 23 March 2023 09:38
To: 'Genealogy email list for Cumbria' <list-cumbria at cumbriafhs.com>
Cc: 'Genealogy email list for Cumberland' <list-cumberland at cumbriafhs.com>
Subject: RE: [List-Cumbria] New Marriage Act of 1822

 

Good question. As there were no Carlisle papers to transcribe in 1822, I don't know either!

 

There is a good outline in general of the marriage laws here:

 

http://www.regencyresearcher.com/pages/marriage.html 

 

It seems the reason for the 1822 act, which repealed some of Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753, was that under the 1753 Act, a
marriage was null and void if one or both of the couple were under age (i.e. under 21 years old) and no valid parental consent had
been obtained. This meant that couples could annul their marriage many years later by declaring that one or both of them was under
21 at the time of marriage, even if they had several children (who would thus become illegitimate).

 

>From the website:

 

All minors who married by license without proper permission were not legally married at all.   The marriage was null and void -
never existing- from the beginning.

 

This caused many problems as some couples waited until they had been married for years and had several children to dissolve their
marriages on the grounds that one lied about his or her age.  In other cases , the invalidating point was that either bride or groom
had been illegitimate and had married by licence without the proper permission.  When the marriage was declared void- as it was
according to law- any children were then illegitimate. 

 

Parliament refused to amend or repeal the act or this clause in it until it seemed that the marriage of a high ranking peer might be
declared invalid and his seven sons declared illegitimate.   This led Parliament in 1822 to pass a new marriage act repealing parts
of the Harwicke act and strengthening other aspects of it.   Then as if this action had broken a log-jam someplace, several other
changes in the laws of marriage followed over the next decade.

 

I have so far been unable to find a website that gives a succinct summary of the whole content of the 1822 Act.

 

Petra

 

-----Original Message-----
From: List-Cumbria [mailto:list-cumbria-bounces at cumbriafhs.com] On Behalf Of Steve Hayes via List-Cumbria
Sent: 23 March 2023 08:57
Subject: [List-Cumbria] New Marriage Act of 1822

 

On 23 Mar 2023 at 8:27, Petra Mitchinson via List-Cumbria wrote:

 

> The unpopularity of the New Marriage Act is proved by the fact, that a

> wedding is now a rare thing in those parishes where there were wont to be on

> average three or four a week. It is stated, on the authority of the Bishop of

> Chester, that the Hon. Member who brought in the bill, intends to move its

> repeal as soon as Parliament assembles. 

 

What was it, and why did it have that effect?

 

 

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