Why do people in Jane Austen novels elope to Gretna Green? In case you ever wondered....From
Regency History:
It was still possible for those aged under 21 to be legally married in
Scotland without their parents’ permission. In fact, Scottish law
allowed boys as young as 14 and girls as young as 12 to be married. No
parental consent was required and the marriage did not have to be
consummated to be valid.
By travelling into Scotland, underage lovers from England could still get married without parental consent.
Another group of people who took advantage of the more relaxed marriage
laws in Scotland were Dissenters. There were special dispensations for
Jews and Quakers, but not for non-conformists and some chose to make the
journey to Scotland rather than get married in a Church of England
church.
[....]
All that was required for a marriage in Scotland to be legal was a
declaration in front of witnesses. Couples arriving at the blacksmith’s
shop in Gretna Green were married by a self-appointed ‘anvil priest’ –
not a clergyman, but an entrepreneur who could see that conducting
runaway marriages was big business. As the eloping couples were
typically rich and in a great hurry to be married, the anvil priest
could charge whatever he liked and the couple would probably pay. The anvil priest conducted a short hand-holding ceremony over the anvil
in front of two witnesses and pronounced the couple man and wife. If the
couple had arrived without witnesses, the anvil priest would obligingly
provide them.
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