The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1889-02-28
MARRIAGES OF INFANTS.
Ba rbarous Custom Practiced Till Quit.
Recently In England and Scotland.

Recently In England and Scotland.
Many persons will be considerably
astonished to hear how recently our
social annals disclose the frequency of
Juvenile unious in England and Scot
land, says the London IUt- BITS. We
do not refer to those wplt-known in
stances of princes and po,entates be-
ing contracted in marriage while still
children and for grounds of state alone,
but to the general custom in other
classes to rs late Il date as to the last
two centuries. Those marriages were
not mere betrothals, but genuine mar
riages, celebrated ''in the face of the
church" aud duly solemnized accord
ing to the Book of Common Prayer.
Perhaps the youngest bride on record
in English annals was the daughter of
Sir William Brereton, who was mar
ried in the sixteenth century at the aye
of to Il husband who was II year older
than herself. In this case the children
were carried into church and their
elders spoke for them.
But in another case, where little
boy of three was married to bride of
five he was carried by 4 clergyman. who
coaXed him to repeat the necessary
! formulas. The task was not easy,
| however, as the child said he had
! learned enough lessons for that day
! before he was half through, and was
only kept up to it by the priest saying:
you must speak Il little more, and
then 20 play yOu." In IL further in
stance reported in Lancashire the
, bridegroom was bribcd togo To church
by the present of an apple. Frequent
ly the brides were IL year or two older
than their lords and masters, as is the
case of Vcrgcry Vernon, who. in 1862
! she being nearly ten years old-was
married to Randle More. who was but
eight. Another record tells of how
Glrard and Emma Talbot were mar
! ried at Leigh Church, when the boys
uncle held up the bridegroom, who
was five years old, and spoke the
words of matrimony for the ehild's
part, and the woman-who was not
six years of age-"spake for herself
as she was taught"
1t seems incredible that during the
reigns of Henry Will. Edward VI,
Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth it
was quite customary for persons of all
ranks in life to marry their children at
astonishing early ages. But the Bish-
ops register at Chester. not to speak
of local records in all parts Of Eng
land, could ,stify many instances
instances, too. among people anxious
for the intellectual progress of their
day, and among whom sordid reasons
for such marriages were not supposed
to exist.
William Chaderton. successively
Bishop of Chester and Lincoln, q we'll
known scholar and distinguished ec-
clesiastic of the reign of Elizabeth, aud
who was notable for the encourage
ment he gave to ministers and his zeal
in establishing lectureships and daily
morning prayer. did not scruple to
marry his daughter Joan, in 1852. al
the age of nine, TO Richard Brooke,
then nearly eleven.
-Four years later the marriage was
ratificd-as was usual in such cases
by the consent of the young people,
the lengthy documents testifying to
the ratification being still eXtant iu
the records of Chester. Unfortunate.
" their early love did not develop
into an enduring love, and twenty
wears later we read that the Bishop
had mo great comfort of that matrI
muny" of his only daughter. and thai
was separated from her husband
1t sometimes happens, when year.
of consent were attained, i. e., twelve
for the girl and fourteen for the boy
J that the child bride and the chilt
bridegroom disliked each other ST
heartily that they refused 10 ratify til,
contract, and then an action for di
} v0rce was undertaken and the mar
: riage declared void. Juvenile mar
riages in those days were fortunatel,
always voidable, and where it coult
be proved that there had been no re
/ newal of promise, no exchange of gifts
messages or meeting between the chill
, dren ths union was annulled and eacl
was set free.
| The divorce Court was at that tim
) the scene of many appeals from TIL
most youthful couples until about tn
beginning of the seventeenth century
when Strype notes that"the nation be
came scandal0us for the frequency o
divorces, especially among The rich
. Ell sort and one occasion was tn,
5 covctousness of the nobility and gen
try, who used often to marry thei
children when they were young boy
! and girls that they might join land t.
, land, and, being grown up, they man.
) times disliked each other and thel
l separation and divorce followed to tn
} breaking of espousals and displeasur
s nf Cod -