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Richard Rennison (29 October 1889 – 5 August 1969) was the last "anvil priest" at Gretna Green, Scotland.Between 1926 and 1940, he performed "irregular marriages" of couples over the anvil at the Old Blacksmith Shop, where the couple proclaimed that they were single and wanted to get married in front of witnesses.
The Clandestine Marriages Act 1753, also called the Marriage Act 1753, long title "An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage", popularly known as Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act (26 Geo. 2. c. 33), was the first statutory legislation in England and Wales to require a formal ceremony of marriage. It came into force on 25 March 1754.
The Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 is the main current legislation regulating marriage. The Marriage (Scotland) Act 2002 extends the availability of civil marriages to "approved places" in addition to Register Offices and any other place used in exceptional circumstances; religious marriages in Scotland have never been restricted by location.
A Fleet marriage was a common example of an irregular or a clandestine marriage [1] taking place in England before the Marriage Act 1753 came into force on March 25, 1754. Specifically, it was one which took place in London 's Fleet Prison or its environs during the 17th and, especially, the early 18th century.
1 January – the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1939 outlawed "irregular" marriages ("marriage by declaration" or "handfasting") from this date, ending the practice of "anvil marriage" at Gretna Green. [1] 17 January – World War II: German submarine U-25 sank SS Polzella and the neutral Norwegian ship Enid 10 miles north of Shetland.
Early modern Scotland was a theoretically patriarchal society, in which men had total authority over women, but how this worked is practice is difficult to discern. [36] Marriages, particularly higher in society, were often political in nature and the subject of complex negotiations over the tocher .
An 1844 depiction of a "Gretna wedding", complete with a blacksmith and some of his implements. 1930s photo of the village blacksmiths, "famous for its runaway marriages" Scottish law allowed for "irregular marriages", meaning that if a declaration was made before two witnesses, almost anybody had the authority to conduct the marriage ceremony.
However, these polygamous marriages are not recognized by American law. Because polygamy has been illegal throughout the United States since the mid-19th century, and because it was illegal in many individual states before that period of time, sources on alternative marriage practices are limited.