MARRIAGE SCANDAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4957, 18 February 1937, Page 7

MARRIAGE SCANDAL

GRETNA GREEN HIT. ABOLITION FAVOURED. The abolition of Gretna Green marriages and of all other irregular Scottish marriages is recommended by the Departmental Committee of Inquiry into the Law of Scotland relating to the Constitution of Marriage, whose report has been issued, said the Daily Telegraph of January 23. The committee was appointed in December, 1935, under the chairmanship of Lord Morison. Its report is unanimous. It proposes the introduction of a new simple and inexpensive form of civil marriage, and penalties for unauthorised persons who attempt to conduct marriages.

As to Gretna Green marriages the report states that before 1854 there were many runaway marriages between persons who crossed the border from England to take advantage of the easy "marriage law of Scotland. They we»e married in various places, such as Coldstream, Gretna, and Labmerfon Toll. These runaway matches ceased when Lord Brougham's Act, requiring twenty-one days' residence in Scotland, became law. The committee found no evidence that these Gretna marriages took place over the anvil at a blacksmith's shop, or that a blacksmith presided at the ceremony. They took place at various houses, and a favourite place was a public-house with an anvil on its signboard. Bought by a Farmer.

About 1890 the present buildings known as the Gretna Museum and Blacksmith's Shop were bought by a farmer named Mackie, who died recently. About 1900 Mackie turned the shop into a museum, with a room for the purpose of carrying on a marriage business.

Mackie fitted up his room with an anvil, and offered 10s to the first couple to get married there. The money was earned by a couple of tramps. When war munitions factories were opened in Gretna in 1916, a considerable marriage business developed. Witnesses, who were paid 2s 6d each, were provided, certificates were issued, and the fee generally charged was £l. From the museum and marriage fees Mackie received about £ISOO a year. In 1932 the Valuation Court held it proved that the income amounted to over £2OOO.

The Registrar-General, the Sheriff Clerk at Dumfries, and local ministers, it is stated, frequently receive anxious inquiries, commonly from women, about the validity of their Gretna marriages. A particularly tragic case is mentioned of a Carlisle girl who had been seduced upon pretence of a Gretna marriage without residential qualifications. The man deserted her when she was about to become a mother, and she then learned that the marriage was invalid. This so preyed upon her mind that she became insane. Until 1927, says the report, the business was conducted by an attendant named Nugent, "who gave up his position in this discreditable business at the request of his wife." Run By An Englishman. After 1927 the Gretna marriage business was conducted by an Englishman named Rennison, who posed as "the blacksmith" and called himself the "priest" in the Gretna certificates, between 1926 and 1935 the number of Gretna marriages was 2295, of which 1876 were unregistered. The total number of irregular marriages in Scotland in 1933 was 4007. The report points out that there are four kinds of irregular marriages in Scotland. They are: Marriage before the sheriff, marriage by an interchange of consent (Gretna marriage), marriage by promise followed by copula or bond, marriage by habit and repute. All these proceed on the principle of Scots law that present consent makes marriage, and they all have the common feature that they are not preceded by any kind of notice. In recommending the abolition of irregular forms of marriage, the committee states: —' "At present the law which permits a marriage to be contracted by a man and woman without any intimation or ceremony or procedure is indefensible. It opens a wide door to seduction, deceit, and fraud, and many other evils. "We are clearly of opinion that the trafficking in marriages such as is carried on in Gretna ought to be prohibited by law. This, it seems to us, can only be carried out if the ceremony of religious marriage or the procedure at a civil marriage is confined to qualified persons, viz., ministers; the sheriff, or specially qualified and appointed registrars." . The committee's recommendations •are:— Power to proclaim a marriage and issue banns,, at present the sole right of the Church of Scotland, to be conferred oh the following Churches:— Baptist, Roman Catholic, Congrega-

tional, Episcopal, Church of Scotland, Free Church, Free Presbyterian, Jewish, Methodist, Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, United Free, and United Original Secession Church.

The Marriage Notice (Scotland) Act of 1878 to be amended so that where one of the parties is ordinarily resident in England or Ireland, the notice of the registrar of his district shall be appropriate. Marriage by declaration de presenti by promise subseqeunte copula, and by habit and repute to be abolished after a date fixed by Parliament. A new form of civil marriage to be introduced in certain populous districts in Scotland, in which the Sheriff-Substitute, or certain registrars specially authorised, may conduct a marriage contracted by qualified persons after due compliance with the provisions of the Marriage Notice Act.

To prohibit the traffic in marriages such as takes places at Gretna, penalties to be imposed on all unauthorised persons who profess to attempt to conduct marriages.

A marriage contracted by a minor in Scotland with a foreigner, under the law of whose country the marriage would not be valid, to be null and void unless the consent of the minor's parent or guardian is given. For irregular marriages entered into before the date fixed by Parliament for the abolition of irregular marriages, the committee suggests that the Sheriff shall be empowered to declare any such marriage lawful, if he is satisfied that the parties had the necessary qualification and capacity at the time of the marriage. Members of the committee in addition to Lord Morison were: Mr. David Hardie, Mrs. Thomas Johnston Bailie, Mrs. Jean Robert, Lord Rowallan, Mr. J. C. Scott, S.S.C., Mrs. Shaw, J.P., and Mr. R. H. Sherwood Calver, Advocate, Secretary.