Family formation, marriage and procreative careers in late nineteenth century Scotland.

Alice Reid Eilidh Garrett

Department of Geography Faculty of History

Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure

University of Cambridge

Acknowledgements:

ESRC

Wellcome Trust

General Register Office for Scotland

(now National Records for Scotland)

Ros Davies, Andrew Blaikie

1

R oth iem a y

S k ye

K ilm a rn ock

Civil registers of births marriages and deaths

1861 – 1901

Census enumerators books 1861, 1871, 1881,

1891 & 1901.

Linked the two sets of records.

Number of marriages 1861-1901

Kilmarnock 8,600

Skye 2,800

Rothiemay 300

2

Legitimate birth rates(per 100 married womenin the 15<50 age group)*

Skye Kilmarnock Rothiemay1860s 261 292 2791870s 281 301 2851880s 280 258 2711890s 263 238 263

Illegitimacy ratios and rates: Kilmarnock, Skye and Rothiemay, 1860s -1890s

Illegitimacy ratio Illegitimacy rates(illegitimate births as % of all births) (per 1000 unmarried and widowed women

in the 15<50 age group)*

Skye Kilmarnock Rothiemay Skye Kilmarnock Rothiemay1860s 6.6 8.3 21.1 1860s 106 277 4481870s 7.6 6.4 25.3 1870s 135 206 6101880s 6.8 6.0 20.6 1880s 119 153 4581890s 5.9 4.9 19.2 1890s 92 113 476

* it is assumed that women who do not return a marital status in this age group are not currently married

3

Date and place of marriage

Denomination

Name, occupation & marital status

of groom

(signature)

Maiden name, occupation & marital status

of bride

(signature)witnesses

Age of each party

Usual residence of each party

Groom’s father’s name

and occupation,

mother’s maiden name, whether either parent dead

Bride’s father’s name

and occupation,

mother’s maiden name, whether either parent dead

Signature of official,

(signatures) of

witnesses

Date and place of

registration signature of

registrar4

Average age at first marriage for women, by decade, Skye, Kilmarnock and Rothiemay,

1860s - 1890s

20

22

24

26

28

30

1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s

Age

in y

ears

Skye

Kilmarnock

Rothiemay

Singulate Mean Age at Marriage (SMAM), as calculated from each census 1861-1901;

Skye, Kilmarnock and Rothiemay

20

22

24

26

28

30

1861 1871 1881 1891 1901

SM

AM Skye

Kilmarnock

Rothiemay

5

19th Century Scotland had 4 forms of marriage – all legal if involving proven ‘exchange of consent’.

1 Regular: Performed after banns by a minister of any religious denomination (after 1836). Responsibility of the couple to register the marriage.

3 Irregular: declaration of marriage to a Registrar, declaration to a magistrate or to the Sheriff, or as the result of a prosecution.

Also marriage ‘by habit and repute’ – evidence of marriage (exchange of consent), but did not constitute a marriage. (Royal Commission on Laws of Marriage, 1868) 6

Percentages of all marriages conducted ‘by declaration’, Scotland, Kilmarnock, Skye and Rothiemay 1861-1900

All Scotland*

% N % N % N %1861-1870 0.18 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.001871-1880 1.04 0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0.001881-1890 2.51 10 0.48 3 0.45 0 0.001891-1900 4.78 54 2.17 1 0.18 0 0.00

* Source: Smout, 1981, p.222

Kilmarnock Skye Rothiemay

N

John Dickie Street 17

Portland Street 13

John Finnie Street/Registrar's Office 9

King Street 8

Sheriff's Court House 6

Other 11

Total 64

Location of marriages by declaration, Kilmarnock 1880s and 1890s.

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Name of childDate and

time of birth

Place of

birth

Sex of child

Name and occupation

of father

Name and maiden surname of

mother

Date and place of parents marriage

Name of ‘informant’

and relation to child –whether signed

Date and place of

registration

Name of registrar

A Scottish birth certificate: 1880

8

Rothiemay: births 1861 – 1901

Type of birth N %

1. Legitimate* 1294 77.7

2. Illegitimate (both parents register) 127 7.6

3. Illegitimate (mother only registers) 243 14.6

4. ? (father only registers) 2 0.1

Total births 1666 100.0

Rothiemay: 769 ‘procreative units’

Illegitimate – both parents register

Illegitimate – mother only

registers

Legitimate 488

81155

103

16

16

Mothers observed to have:

N %

Legitimate children only 488 63.4

Illegit. and legit children 29 3.8

Illegit. children only 252 32.8

Of 488 ‘all legitimate’ families, 87 (11.3 % of total) observed to include a prenuptial conception. In all therefore, 47.9% of fertile women observed in Rothiemay demonstrably began their

procreative careers before marriage

22.2

* Legitimate births were those registered by both parents with information given about parents’ marriage, and no statement of illegitimacy.

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Kilmarnock Birth Registers 1868-1887

child's forname(s)child's surname day month year father's occupation

mother's forename

mother's maiden surname

mother's occupation

mary lang 22 apr 68 father not given elizabeth lang outdoor workerbarbara lang 28 feb 70 father not given elizabeth lang country servelizabeth lang 13 dec 71 father not given elizabeth lang out door workerwilliam lang 16 nov 73 father not given elizabeth lang out door workerjanet lang 17 jun 75 father not given elizabeth lang out door workerwilliam lang 17 jun 75 father not given elizabeth lang out door workerelizabeth lang 17 jun 77 father not given elizabeth lang agri labmargaret lang 25 mar 79 father not given elizabeth lang outdoor workerthomas lang 18 feb 83 father not given elizabeth lang out door workerallan lang 4 mar 85 father not given elizabeth lang outdoor workersusan lang 4 mar 85 father not given elizabeth lang outdoor workerhugh lang 26 mar 87 father not given elizabeth lang out door worker

1881 Census

Surname ForenameMarital Status Age

Birth parish Birth County

Relation to head Occupation

STEVENSON John M 46 Neilson Renfrew Head Roadsman In CollierySTEVENSON John U 19 Glasgow Lanark Son Coal MinerLANG Elizabeth U 37 KilmarnockAyr Serv Gen Dom ServSTEVENSON Mary L. 12 KilmarnockAyr Dau ScholarSTEVENSON Barbara 10 KilmarnockAyr Dau ScholarSTEVENSON Janet 5 KilmarnockAyr DauSTEVENSON William 5 KilmarnockAyr SonSTEVENSON Elizabeth 3 KilmarnockAyr DauSTEVENSON Margaret 2 KilmarnockAyr Dau

1901 Census

Surname ForenameMarital Status Age

Birth parish Birth County

Relation to head Occupation

Stevenson John M 66 Neilson Renfrew Head colliery fireman undergroundLang William U 25 KilmarnockAyr son coal minerLang Barbara U 30 KilmarnockAyr dau house keeper

Co-residence of unmarried couples – not always easy to identify.

10

Percentage of couples bearing children in Kilmarnock before 1901 stating they were married in Kilmarnock in selected years whose marriage cannot be found in the civil registers of Kilmarnock.

Couples bearing children before 1901 stating 'place of marriage' was Kilmarnock

on birth certificatesDate of marriage reported on birth certificate N where no Percent not(selected years) All registration found registered

1861-2 263 21 7.981871-2 311 13 4.181881-2 252 4 1.591891-2 264 8 3.03

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Women stated to be married in censusobserved to have

at least one birth in Kilmarnock civil registers

Date N who gave no marriageof census Total N information on birth certificate %1871 1579 7 0.441881 1580 11 0.701891 1724 15 0.871901 1968 8 0.41

Women claiming to be married in the census (with at least one birth registered in Kilmarnock) but unwilling or unable to supply marriage information on their child’s birth certificate: Kilmarnock 1871-1901

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N in each bachelor- bachelor- widower- widower-decade spinster widow spinster widow all

Total no in eachmarital status 3596 148 365 190 4299combination

1861-70 33 32.0 33.3 25.0 0.0 30.31871-80 780 12.5 47.1 19.4 17.0 15.01881-90 1525 10.3 39.1 13.0 21.6 12.51891-1900 1970 8.9 46.8 11.7 20.6 10.4All decades 4308 10.2 43.2 13.7 20.0 12.1

Percentage of couples giving precise street addresses on their marriage certificates, where bride and groom record exactly the same address for ‘usual residence’.

Not easy to calculate euivalent figures for 2 rural communities as addresses tend to be given as by ‘hamlet’ or ‘township’

13

14

Illegitimacy ratios and rates: Kilmarnock, Skye and Rothiemay, 1860s -1890s

Illegitimacy ratio Illegitimacy rates(illegitimate births as % of all births) (per 100 unmarried and widowed women

in the 15<50 age group)*

Skye Kilmarnock Rothiemay Skye Kilmarnock Rothiemay1860s 6.6 8.3 21.1 1860s 106 277 4481870s 7.6 6.4 25.3 1870s 135 206 6101880s 6.8 6.0 20.6 1880s 119 153 4581890s 5.9 4.9 19.2 1890s 92 113 476

* it is assumed that women who do not return a marital status in this age group are not currently married

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Seasonality of marriage: Skye, Kilmarnock & Rothiemay, 1861-1901

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

jan feb mar apr may jun jul aug sep oct nov dec

Month

Sea

son

alit

y in

dex

Kilmarnock

Skye

Rothiemay

16