WALKER family, Tillicoultry, Scotland.....

JohnC · Post by **JohnC** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 1:44 pm

My 2x gt grandmother Elizabeth Walker married John Lawrie in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire in 1845. She died in (or before) 1853. (John Lawrie remarried in that year - to Janet Turnbull or Turnball). I have not been able to find her birth, or the names of her parents.

In the 1841 census, John Lawrie was living very close to a family named Walker. There is an Elizabeth, but she was only 10, so wouldn't have been of marriageable age by January 1845. This family are descended from Robert Walker and Elizabeth (Betty) Davidson, from Melrose, Roxburghshire). I am told that Robert Walker died in 1827.

I would be interested to hear from anyone with a knowledge of these families.

Alcluith · Post by **Alcluith** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 2:24 pm

John

there is a Betsy Walker born 24 APR 1830 Tillicoultry, Clackmannan, Scotland to John Walker and Anne Syme

IGI refs:

Batch No.: Dates: Source Call No.: Type: Printout Call No.: Type:

C114685 1820 - 1855 1040210 Film 6902154 Film

C114685 1875 1040210 Film 6902154 Film

Sheet: 00

There is a brother Thomas listed born 10 OCT 1828 chr 25 NOV 1828 Tillicoultry, Clackmannan, Scotland

JohnC · Post by **JohnC** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:47 pm

Thanks for your reply.

I have done quite a lot of digging in Parish records and censuses, and have found Betsy Walker.

She is is "possible", but still leaves the problem that, if she was born in June 1830, she would not have been of marriageable age by January 1845.

On the other hand, I have read somewhere that underage marriages were sometimes permitted.

mesklin · Post by **mesklin** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 8:03 pm

John

Quote from GROS

"What was and is the minimum age for marriage in Scotland?
Before 1929, Scots law followed Roman law in allowing a girl to marry at twelve years of age and a boy at fourteen, without any requirement for parental consent. However, according to one early 20th-century source*, marriage in Scotland at such young ages was in practice almost unknown. No doubt if marriages between children had become common, there would have been public pressure to raise the legal minimum age of marriage earlier than 1929. The Age of Marriage Act 1929 (applying in Scotland, England & Wales but not in Northern Ireland) made void any marriage between persons either of whom was under the age of sixteen. Sixteen remains the lower age-limit today, contained in the current legislation, the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977. Scots law still has no requirement for parental consent. *Source: Vital registration: a manual of the law and practice concerning the registration of births, deaths and marriages. (G T Bisset-Smith. 1st edition. Edinburgh: William Green & Sons, 1902) "

Mesklin