2nd marriages to 1st wife's relative!
Replies: 8
Re: 2nd marriages to 1st wife's relative!
 halpark
(View posts)
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Posted: 12 Oct 2007 6:57PM GMT |
Classification: Query
It was actually illegal from 1835 to c.1907 (speaking from memory - details could be a bit wrong but this is the general picture) when there was a Bill to make such unions legal. If I remember rightly it was said that it was known there were about 1800 such marriages a year, resulting in c. 9000 "ilegitimate" births. I think this Bill was retrospective, legitimising the children but did not affect such things as financial settlements which had been made. My grandfather married two sisters but I noticed it was in two different places so I imagine it was one of the ways of getting round the illegality of the second marriage - if you went to a place where no one knew you, there was less likelihood of a Mr. Rochester scene!