An Irish Marriage by Scotch Law - 1861.

[Currie]

From the Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh), Friday, January 4, 1861.

AN IRISH MARRIAGE BY SCOTCH LAW.

The Glasgow Morning Journal relates the following romantic story:—An interesting ceremony was ratified and declared before Sheriff Strathern on Saturday, which happily illustrates an old principle of Scottish law under the forms prescribed by the Act passed two or three years ago to abolish the too hasty unions which had previously been celebrated, chiefly at Gretna Green. The bride and bride groom on this occasion had travelled all the way from Ballymena, in the county of Antrim. The latter is a gentleman of fortune, of the susceptible age indeed of seventeen and a ward in Chancery; while the bride is an accomplished young lady only three years his senior, endowed with remarkable personal charms, and in all respects a worthy partner of her ardent and youthful suitor. The Lord Chancellor, it appears, had refused to assent to the marriage, not from any objection to the choice which his ward had made, but from a desire to decline the responsibilities of authorising a union which might have very important effects on the destination of the property in the meantime under his keeping. In this dilemma the youthful lovers bethought them of a trip to “Bonnie Scotland," where, as they had doubtless heard it often told, a tenderness, and consideration are displayed towards the love-sick votaries of Hymen worthy of a land of romance and civilisation.

To the Frith of Clyde accordingly they sailed, accompanied in this most interesting voyage of life by the young lady’s uncle and by the stepfather of her accepted suitor. Upon arriving in Glasgow they were informed by the legal advisor to whom they confided their tender tale that they must reside forty days in Scotland if they would be married according to the forms of the Church, or twenty-one days, if they chose the simpler and directer process of the civil law. Need we say that, quavering on the wings of love, they preferred the shorter period of arriving at the fond and ardently expected haven of matrimonial bless and rest? On Saturday the twenty-one days of probation had transpired, and promptly at the appointed hour the youthful couple, accompanied by the uncle and stepfather; appeared before the legal agent, who had all arranged for the pending ceremony. A Stamped document was produced in which the loving pair declared before witnesses that they were man and wife, and engaged to perform the duties of husband and spouse respectively till death should them part. The people of the hotel in which they had lived were ready, of course, to testify to the legal period of residence; and thus armed at all points, the happy party proceeded to the chamber of Mr Sheriff Strathern, who, we need not say received them with a suavity and bonhomie which are his characteristics under less interesting and softening circumstances. Here the marriage was formally declared ratified, and taken legal note of. The next step was to repair to the registrar of the district, who entered the particulars of the marriage in his books, and gave the married couple a certificate, which, according to the recent Act, is a good and valid declarator of marriage in all parts of the United Kingdom. The ceremony, at every successive stage of which the lovely and blushing bride was the object of universal admiration, was now concluded, and the same evening the marriage party departed in the steamer for Ireland, there to live, we hope, despite the scruples of the Lord Chancellor, a long and happy wedded life, to the last day of which they will doubtless not forget the relief and joy afforded them by the prudent law of Scotland.


Hope that tugs at your heart-strings,
Alan

[Russell]

Hi Alan
You're a softy at heart
It certainly shows how marriage was considered under Scots Law. Very sympathetic reporting too !

Russell

[Anne H]

Aww, that was lovely, Allan. A good way to start off the day!

Regards,
Anne H

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings.

Now there is the challenge. Who were the couple ? How many had their marriage ratified that day, by the said Mr Sheriff STRATHERN ?

Alan SHARP.

[Hugo]

Deathly silence!

Hugo

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings Hugo.

Sorry, I don’t have the resources/ability to answer my question.

Science Teachers, I like them. Especially the ones that have a number of 200ml beakers lined up on their desk in front of you, on your first lesson with them.

In the beakers you see first, the one that is full of glass marbles, then others with gravel, sand, one marked H2O, and another meths.

The question is simple, about what you expect the collective volume to be when all beakers are emptied into one large vessel. Those of us who multiplied the number of beakers by 200, were proven to be way off the mark.

Things are not always as they, at first, seem. A valuable lesson.

Alan SHARP.