As all (three) of my readers know, I do read romance novels; of course the most famous of which is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In the story (as you may know) the youngest sister runs off to Gretna Green to marry an unsuitable beau. This was my first contact with the pre-20th-century version of a Vegas wedding, but not my last, since the idea of eloping to Gretna Green features in other, more recent, Regency-era romance novels as well.All of this got me wondering what's so damn wonderful about marrying in Scotland. (Not that it isn't a lovely country, I'm sure.) Naturally, the couples weren't there for the scenery. Gretna Green, and indeed all of Scotland, was the Vegas of pre-WWI England due to its lax laws governing marriage eligibility.
Until 1929, "it was possible for boys to get married at 14 and girls at 12 years old with or without parental consent." And "if a declaration was made before two witnesses, almost anybody had the authority to conduct the marriage ceremony." Gretna Green, specifically, became a marriage mecca due to the fact that it was the first Scottish town over the border from England on the London to Edinburgh coach line.
Even today, though it is no longer possible to have a blacksmith or innkeeper join you to your beloved in holy matrimony, Gretna Green is still quite a popular spot for weddings. Much like Las Vegas. Now all they need are a few blackjack tables and a passel of showgirls... .
photo courtesy of David Much at Blackyett Mains
7 comments:
Ouch - Close to home here. There is a long history connecting Scotland (and the green for that matter) to the idea of a profound and secure marriage under the eyes of a greater power.
It goes way back - the Nordics believed Scotland to be as close to heaven as one could get before being swallowed up by the sea.
Your comparison to "Las Vegas" where marriage is concluded for expediency and "lax law" sounds like the result of a very surface analysis based upon... um... no research at all? Well...except for wikipedia, which has been banned as a reference source in most Universities across the globe. Much of the data regarding GG on wikipedia is incorrect.
I do agree that there is some support of the use of "Gretna Green" marriages in Common Law as being those "transacted in a jurisdiction that was not the residence of the parties being married," but it's beginnings date back much further than 1753.
They go back as far as the English' "ethnic cleansing" laws of many centuries before.
Scotland, unlike "Vegas" fought hard to retain it's dignity under circumstances wherein it's men and women were "not allowed" to be married at all.
There are centuries of tradition in wedding in Scotland and Gretna Green. Many, many centuries before America and Vegas were ever on the map.
Blood was shed to make it safe there for lovers.
Gretna was historically a place where weapons were made. The symbol of the village is an anvil. Blacksmiths settled the area primarily to help readily defend the right for Scots to marry Scots.
It is an extraordinarily beautiful place, one that, as a fan of romance novels, I would have expected you to admire.
Las Vegas is a shithole.
Several of your references are not "Wikipedia" and I should clarify that you may not have looked there...
...but there are some errors:
The marriage laws for age and residence in Scotland were changed in 1856 and remain virtually the same today. At the time, it was still legal to marry under the age of 14 in America.
The 'Vegas' of Pre WWII England was actually Monte Carlo - as it was and still is for all of Europe. Gambling and prostitution and "easy marriage" are trademarks there and have been for centuries.
the statment: "Gretna Green, specifically, became a marriage mecca due to the fact that it was the first Scottish town over the border from England on the London to Edinburgh coach line." is entirely incorrect. GG was a border patrol encampment defending Scotland from English Aggressors LONG before there were trains. Men would go there to be married to their lovers before they went to be killed in battle.
I look at the stunning picture you posted and find myself curiouser and curiouser as to the comparison to Vegas. In my humble opinion...
...there it's like comparing a Caribbean Vacation to a year behind bars.
I have the impression that you're a punch-from-the-gut kinda guy.
If you'll note, I did not at any time reference trains. The coach line existed long before any railroad. Coaches do not necessarily get pulled by locomotives. Some were pulled by horses.
And, not having been to Vegas OR Scotland, I am --from a relatively (and admittedly) ignorant distance-- comparing ONLY the quickie marriage aspect of the two places. I hope I did not imply (nor did I mean to imply) that the two have more than that in common.
Also, just because universities are disallowing the use of wikipedia in research, does not invalidate it as a usually accurate source. I do try to find at least one other source that corraborates the information. In this case it was the Undiscovered Scotland tourist site.
Finally, don't forget that this a blog. Not a dissertation.
Wikipedia has been proven by most Universities to be usually "inaccurate" in the research I have done for a documentary on education.
There was no "Coach Line" before the Trains. The term "Coach" is American, in Britain horse drawn compartments were called "Carriages" and "Coaches" were trains.
Sorry if I am writing too much. Didn't mean to write a dissertation.
You do make me smile.
From both the stories of ex-in-laws, and from movies and novels of the period, the state of Maryland was a place that young people could go to marry without parental consent in the 1940's and 1950's - at least younger than one could in Pennsylvania.
The youngest sister in Pride and Prejudice did NOT run off to Gretna to marry. The point in the plot was that the 'unsuitable beau' didn't intend to marry her at all. He kept her in London, and only agreed to a marriage (in London) after being paid to do so. James
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