Brother to brother?.....

Dennis · Post by **Dennis** » Sun May 15, 2005 10:56 pm

I have a marriage record for John Airth married to Martha whyte in 1907. John died in 1929. I then have a dc for his brother David Airth, who died in 1942, which reads that he was married to a Martha Whyte or Airth. You know the question I have

dennis

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Sun May 15, 2005 11:18 pm

So maybe Martha had a thing for the Airth boys?....or vice versa

! At any rate...nothing wrong with Martha marrying brothers (if indeed she did) just as long as the first one was dead before the second one came along.

Since the marriage to David would have occurred after 1929 then you won't find it in the online records. And waiting for the years to tick off to search for it could be a long wait. The alternative is to look for the death of Martha....and hope that it might have been before 1955....and hope that the informant might have known her full marriage history....

Jean

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Mon May 16, 2005 9:58 am

Further Question

When did it become legal to marry a Brother/ sister in Law ?

I had an idea that it wasn't until during WWII, that a woman could marry her death Husband's Brother.

Ok partly answering my own question

I found this:The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage act of 28 August that year [1907] made it possible to marry one's sister-in-law. Yet it wasn't until 1921 that the Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act was passed which made marriage to a brother-in-law legal.

That was about English Marriage, did it change in Scotland at the same time or were we [ as usual] different?

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Mon May 16, 2005 1:14 pm

WilmaM wrote:Further Question

When did it become legal to marry a Brother/ sister in Law ?

I had an idea that it wasn't until during WWII, that a woman could marry her death Husband's Brother.

Ok partly answering my own question

I found this:The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage act of 28 August that year [1907] made it possible to marry one's sister-in-law. Yet it wasn't until 1921 that the Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act was passed which made marriage to a brother-in-law legal.

That was about English Marriage, did it change in Scotland at the same time or were we [ as usual] different?

Wilma

Having taken it this far you can't leave it there

If you explore the deeper recesses of the GROS site you will find a page which lists the history of the legislation that has applied in Auld Scotia over the centuries, most often with a precis of the main points of the Acts of Parliament concerned, but I can't, from memory, recall if I've seen reference to "marriage to deceased brother's wife" and similar, - wasn't there a great song in one of the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas that referred to this, - Iolanthe... ???............

Davie

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Mon May 16, 2005 2:04 pm

Ok I've done a little digging...

k
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files/history.pdf
and came up with:

Prohibited degrees of relationship
The 2 statutes Deceased Wife’s Sister’s Marriage Act 1907 and Deceased Brother’s
Widow’s Marriage Act 1921 are cited together as the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of
Relationship) Acts, 1907 and 1921. This legislation allows for such marriages. It does not
apply in cases of divorce where the former spouse is still living.

So looks as if Margaret Whyte was perfectly legit in marrying 2 brothers after the first one died. In both Scotland and England !

You learn something new every day on TALKINGSCOT $\:D/$

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Mon May 16, 2005 2:16 pm

DavidWW wrote:.............snipped...... - wasn't there a great song in one of the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas that referred to this, - Iolanthe... ???............

Davie

Beginning in the 1860's, bills were introduced in Parliament just about annually to allow marriage with deceased wife's sister; it finally passed in 1907. The issue prompted the classic line from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta 'Iolanthe' - "We will prick that annual blister, marriage to deceased wife's sister". In 1907 they finally managed to repeal at least half of it. The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage act of 28 August that year made it possible to marry one's sister-in-law. Yet it wasn't until 1921 that the Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act was passed which made marriage to a brother-in-law legal.

So now the question remains....was it really the same Martha Whyte who legally married brothers??.....

Jean

JayPee · Post by **JayPee** » Tue May 17, 2005 2:45 am

Are we saying that it was legal to marry the sister of your ex-wife (by divorce), but illegal to marry the sister of your ex-wife (by death)? And, if so, why the distinction? (One can think of one or two situations where both marriages might be held in suspicion...)

My question is actually related to English law around 1885; one of my wife's ancestors married his ex-wife's sister then ... but I believe there was a divorce in the first marriage, which I'm trying to confirm through other sources.

- JayPee

Dennis · Post by **Dennis** » Tue May 17, 2005 4:07 am

Jean. I have to reckon that it was the same Martha Whyte who married the 2nd brother after 1929 ( which won't be online ) and that she didn't die before 1955, so we can't check that either. Those laws on marrying ex-inlaws seem like an interesting area to explore. I'm wondering about the legality of 2 brothers from one family marrying 2 sisters from another family; as I was certain that I had encountered such an event, I'll have to go back into the tree & see

dennis

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Tue May 17, 2005 7:16 am

I did quite a lengthy piece on this on the old site, perhaps Ina has a copy (she's organized!)

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Tue May 17, 2005 7:24 am

Dennis wrote:.....snipped..........I'm wondering about the legality of 2 brothers from one family marrying 2 sisters from another family; as I was certain that I had encountered such an event, I'll have to go back into the tree & see

dennis

I've seen that several times, and I'm not aware that it was ever illegal.

Davie