Was it possible to get married in Laois at age 13 in 1834?

[Wanda Mary]

This is a question for RedRoger...Would you happen to know the name of the 1929 Act concerning marriageable ages? I've been estimating events based on the age of 16--seemingly incorrect--and would like to explore the question further.

[Elwyn Soutter]

Here's a link to the text of the Act. It's title appears to be simply the Marriage Act 1929. Bear in mind it only extended to Scotland, England & Wales. Northern Ireland & the Republic of Ireland had different marriage legislation.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~framland/acts/age1929.htm

[Redroger]

Elwyn has already posted the information. This applies in the mainland UK from the date given, and not in the island of Ireland. Remember though in 1834 the whole of Ireland was part of the UK with representatives at Westminster. It makes perfect sense for the legal age of marriage for both sexes to have been far lower historically, remember that in the 19th century the average life expectancy of society was much lower than now.
An instance from my own tree to support this: My daughter married at the age of 38, and her daughter was born when she was 41. Her 2XGGM married at 16, had seven children and was dead at 28!

[Wanda Mary]

Thanks for your responses to my question. I did an online search for Irish marriage legislation, and learned that a Marriages Act of 1972 'raised the minimum marriage age to 16 for boys and girls, retrospectively validated so-called "Lourdes marriages".'
http://indigo.ie/~kwood/acts.htm
I'm primarily interested in conditions in Ireland during the early 19th century, so I'll have to do a little more digging...

[Wanda Mary]

To add to what I posted concerning the Marriages Act of 1972:

'On the detailed provisions, section 1 fixes 16 years as the normal minimum age for marriage. There is provision made for exemptions to be given for specified reasons and subject to specified safeguards which are set down in the section. This is the first time we have had a statutory minimum age for marriage and up to now we have been dependent on a common law requirement under which the minimum ages were 12 years for a girl and 14 years for a boy.'
 http://www.oireachtas-debates.gov.ie/S/0073/S.0073.197211230004.html

[Redroger]

These ages, 12 and 14 respectively were the ages involved in Britain betwwen 1858 and 1929. A search will show several useful threads on this subject on Rootschat.