Document of the Month October 2009
Complaint about an Irregular Marriage in Inverurie, 17 May 1812
Marriage records aren't just found in the Old Parish Registers, as this month's document shows.
It comes from a Burgh Court Book of Inverurie and details a complaint made to the Magistrates of the Burgh about Alexander Watson and Sally Collins who are alleged to have married secretly and were living together in the Burgh at the time of the complaint. A transcription of the document can be found Inverurie Irregular Marriage Transcription.
Irregular marriages in the form of a declaration by the bride and groom before witnesses were not illegal in Scotland until 1940. They were still frowned upon though, and parties could face being rebuked by the Kirk Session and also be fined.
The couple in this case later appeared before the Magistrates and admitted that they had indeed married secretly, but would not name the celebrator (i.e. the person that married them) or the witnesses involved. They were ultimately fined, but after making an appeal about their poor circumstances, the amount was reduced from 100 merks (about £66 3shillings) to 5 shillings.
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