Marriage Customs

[Marykate Viola]

I'm not sure if this was already posted but what were the marriage customs in 1912? What was the age that people usually got married and also did First Class have marriages arranged for their children? Thank you?

 

[Christa Erin Pereira]

Heya, just to bring this subject to the top of the pile again - I'm interested in this thread if anyone else has some info on it,

Thanks.

 

[Sonja van Rooijen]

Hey, I asked my history teacher about this and she said that at that time it was normal for rich people to arrange mariages for their children. They also married very young age.

 

[Christa Erin Pereira]

How young is very young, Sonja?

 

[Cara G]

Yes, I am also wondering this.

 

[Brandon McKinney]

Well... You've got to clarify something. The rich usually had a sway in marriages, though I wouldn't say that they had ultimate control, although they probably did have final say as to who the lucky person was. They probably also tried to steer their child to who they thought the right person, but probably didn't say outright, "You're gonna' marry such-and-such... or else."

I would avoid saying that such arrangements were common in the middle class (I view two periods - the Edwardian and Victorian periods from the middle class point of view... not everything was gilding and cherubs.) Middle class marriages were probably scrutinized, but rarely arranged.

Anyways... just how I think it worked.

Oh... and probably "Very Young" means parents probably started dropping hints around 12 or 13, basically the early teens.

 

[Colin W. Montgomery]

I think the custom of arranging marriages was more of a Victorian thing rather than an Edwardian thing, but even then it was dying out. What makes the Edwardian Era so interesting is that it was a time of tradition and of change, both ethically and technologically. So they probably didn't arrange them but they might have put them in the direction they wanted them to go. This still happens today, I had a girlfriend when I was younger and she was a strict Italian-Catholic and her parents said it was ok for now for us to be together, but later in life I could never marry her because I was Irish.

 

[monica e. hall]

Yesterday in the Times was a review of a reprint of a 1913 book of advice to married couples, which may be of interest. I now know where I went wrong ...
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article2069155.ece

 

[Bob Godfrey]

You didn't take the potatoes firmly in hand, Mon?

 

[sashka pozzetti]

Surely if you take a 'potato firmly in hand' it will definitely 'arrive at the table crushed' I think this woman should not be trusted.

I have a much better book called 'how I survived on a pound a year' a lovely Victorian publication with a the heart-warming story of how a woman kept her marriage together after being posted to the remote country village of Stamford Hill by serving as few potatoes as possible (crushed or otherwise) and never accepting invitations out if you couldn't afford the same level of hospitality in return. So that is my ambitions of partying with the rich and wealthy finally put to bed !

 

[monica e. hall]

Possibly they were Jersey Royals, Bob.

 

[monica e. hall]

C'mon Sashka. Brace up! I'm extremely fond of Pommes Boulangere, and I bet Martin is too. Crushed or otherwise, the potatoes seasoned with a little garlic and some cheese is a dish fit for a king.

Have you ever read Cobbett's Cottage Economy? Now there's a very helpful book which kept us all in our place.

 

[sashka pozzetti]

Ah, 'Pommes Boulangere' a classic Escoffier dish perhaps? It sounds so regal in the original French. I prefer cheesy mash, and onions, but then I am just a peasant, with red blood in my veins, not blue.

 

[monica e. hall]

No, Sashka, just cheese and potato pie.

 

[sashka pozzetti]

Oh. that's not so good. I thought I was elevating my social status on here. I will open a bag of "Frites Fromage et Oignon" and dream of the high life.