"spinster" age

[CLLM]

Today I found the record of the first marriage of my ancestor Sarah Elsom.  I had thought she was born in 1798 and first married in 1814.  But this record said she was a spinster and no one had given permission for her to marry.  At that time--1814--what age was considered "of age" to marry without permission?  Based on this fact I believe I have the wrong parents for her.  That is if a 16 year old woman still needed permission.

Can anybody help me with this detail?

[Just Kia]

Officially anyone under 21 was a minor and thus needed permission to marry BUT...
No-one would ask for proof of age, so if she said she was 21 then that was good enough (unless someone contested it when the banns were read - if they were read (no banns if married by license)) - even if she was really 16 or whatever.

[CLLM]

The record says married by banns, so I assume banns were read.   The witnesses I have seen on most other marriage records had at least one of the family names.  This one didn't, so maybe married away from people who knew her.  Our ancestors can be such a mystery!  This Sarah has been a real hard one.

[LizzieW]

Where did she marry?  People who married at Manchester Cathedral for instance could get married there no questions asked.  From the number of ancestors I have who married there, it seems it must have been a bit of a production line.

Lizzie

[Jeuel]

How sure are you of her birthdate?

[stanmapstone]

The legal age for marriage was 12 for a girl. Lord Hardwicke's 1753 Marriage Act, made it illegal for those in England under the age of 21 to get married without the consent of their parents or guardians. However marriages of minors without consent after banns were valid, unless the banns had been forbidden by parents or guardians openly and publicly in church at the time of publication.

See http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,416319.msg2823119.html#msg2823119

Stan

[CLLM]

This marriage took place in Finsbury, London.  I guessed at her family/parents and birth date based on the fact that there was only one Elsom family with children christened about that time in the area where her second marriage took place--St Leonard's Shoreditch.  So no actual facts about her age or family.  Just a guess.

The article about the marriage law was interesting.  It looks like in 1814 the law was 21 for both parties or permission--unless they eloped and no one knew them. 

I may never figure out who Sarah's family was or her birth information.  There are so many variations on the spelling, but it is spelled ELSOM on her daughter's marriage and death records.

I appreciate all the help.

Claire