Missing Scottish Marriage Records

We are often asked "Why can't I find an ancestors marriage record"? There are a number of possible reasons. I will explain by using examples.

A client informed us: “My great grand-fathers birth certificate sates that his parents were married on the 28^th December 1878. In the period of Statutory Registration It must be remembered that that the marriage index is indexed by the year of registration and not the year of marriage. Because of the forthcoming New Year and a public holiday the parents would have been unable to register the birth in year of birth but in the subsequent year.  You also have to consider that the child’s father may have forgotten the true date of his marriage. He would not have been the first man and certainly not the last man do to so! There is also the possibility that the parents were not married. There was no need for the parents to produce their wedding certificate or schedule as registrars accepted information a face value. A further possibility was that the parents had gone through a form of irregular marriage.

 

Scottish Irregular Marriages:

 

Scottish Irregular Marriages were established under Scottish Common Law.

 

The best to forms of “irregular Marriages” were

 

BY HABIT AND REPUTE: This was often referred to as a common law marriage.

 

The legal concept was that a couple who resided together in one household and acted as if they were married referred to (as my wife, my husband)  and were thought to be married by other family members, neighbours, and friends were deemed to be married and any children born were considered legitimate.   

 

MARRIAGE BY DECLARATION:

 

A marriage by declaration was one where the two parties declared in the presence of witnesses that they took each other for husband and wife.  This form of marriage did not require a religious celebrant and did not require banns of marriage to be proclaimed. There are many cases in the Scottish Kirk Session Minute Books where a couple are recorded as being rebuked for their irregular marriage.

 

Once we enter the period of Statutory Registration a couple could obtain a marriage certificate and their marriage could be registered. To do this the couple having made their declaration had then to appear before a Sheriff to have their declaration confirmed and receive a warrant. Once that warrant was granted they could the present it at their local registration office. I am sure that you will understand that all our services include a promise of confidentiality. However as an example I will relate to my own uncle and his marriage by declaration. My mother informed me that my maternal grandfather was a very strict man and did not agree to my uncle getting married. My uncle and his fiancé took a train ride to Edinburgh (secretly) and made their declaration in the presence of 2 witnesses and on the same day appeared before the Sheriff Substitute to have their declaration confirmed. With that confirmation and on the same day they attended St Giles Edinburgh Registration Office to register their marriage and duly received the appropriate documentation. By evening they had returned to St Boswells to inform my grandfather “fait accompli: “Creation of a situation which is irreversible and with which other parties will have to live, even if grudgingly”

 

There are of course other reasons for going through this form of marriage. The most common was where there was a need for haste.