Help please, a difficult one here.

[DaveHam9]

I have one such marriage somewhere in my tree sworn before a Sherriff.

 

[solidrock2]

Scotland used to have forms of marriage known as “irregular marriages.” These were situations where the law regarded you as lawfully married even though you had not been married by a Minister of Religion or a Civil Registrar. (Marriage by Registrar didn’t exist in Scotland till 1940).

The law could consider a couple validly married if they lived together for a while and friends and neighbours regarded them as married. That was called marriage “by habit & repute”. Alternatively if you acknowledged each other as man and wife in front of a couple of witnesses, then the law considered you to be married “by consent”. There were also marriages by promise. (Details in the link below).

The key element was that you didn’t need a Minister or a civil Registrar to validate or record them. These irregular marriages were abolished in 1940, and replaced by Register Office ceremonies.

So in 1927, marrying "by consent" at the Blacksmiths in Gretna Green (or in other towns along the Scottish border) was a common form of irregular marriage. It was possible to later appear before a Sherriff and swear oaths as to the fact you were married, and if satisfied, the Sherriff would then order the marriage to be recorded in the statutory registers (which are now on the Scotlandspeople site). Such certificates will normally show that the marriage was recorded by Sheriff’s warrant, as opposed to the usual wording of “according to the forms of the Church of Scotland”, or the Roman Catholic church etc.

Unless your couple chose to swear oaths before a Sherriff, the marriage won’t appear in any official records. But it would still have been valid in law provided that they had witnesses able to testify to it. And in this particular case the judge in 1967 evidently ruled that it was valid.

You can still get married in Gretna Green today but nowadays the Civil Registrar performs the marriage, so it goes straight into the civil records.

See:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/social...medicine/scottishwayofbirthanddeath/marriage/


Today we might call that type of irregular marriage a “common law” marriage, though that actual term has no legal meaning in the UK. But it describes the concept.

Thanks for clearing that up Elwyn so I guess we will never know his first wife.

 

[juliejtp]

Could this be a daughter.

Sept 1/4 - 1945 - Paddington

I’ve taken out the name, still could be a living person.

 

[juliejtp]

Possible birth registration for Lilian

1914 - Mar 1/4 - Pembroke
Lilian A M Wilcox
MMN Roberts

 

[juliejtp]

Lilian is on the 1939 register with the surnames that Gibbo mentioned. Forgot to add also a marriage to Bernard L Raber - 1968 - Brent.

 

[gibbo]

Marriages Sep 1938
Suckling Reginald W R Wilcox Willesden 3a 1317
Wilcox Lilian A M Suckling Willesden 3a 1317

Deaths Sep 1944
Suckling Reginald W R 32 Willesden 3a 382

 

[gibbo]

I also can't find Norah as a wife or daughter or sister.

Maybe living in a defacto relationship with John and took on his name??

 

[gibbo]

the informant was Norah Ethel Watson Parker

Do you have to be "of age" to be a informant?

 

[solidrock2]

Could this be a daughter.

Sept 1/4 - 1945 - Paddington

I’ve taken out the name, still could be a living person.

Thank you Julie, I will try and follow this up.
Added.
Found her marriage and one daughter. Her and husband could still be alive.

 

[solidrock2]

Still chasing John Watson Parker. Maybe this is him in the ER's, they are on FMP, could someone please look for me. Thanks.








1927
England & Wales, Electoral Registers 1910-1932
Durham, England
Parker John W
1931
England & Wales, Electoral Registers 1910-1932
Durham, England
Parker John W




https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=BL/ER/OCR/A44ECBCB767E687EC3B43DF603481818





https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=BL/ER/OCR/A44ECBCB767E687EC3B43DF603481818

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/rec...id=BL/ER/OCR/A44ECBCB767E687EC3B43DF603481818





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