Wife swap

[HarrysMum]

Well, sort of...

1798......England.

Two girls, best friends, one landed gentry, the other her companion, but also her illegitimate half sister.

If a marriage licence was written between the wealthy girl and a man, but the girls swapped identities prior to the wedding.......

Would the wedding be legitimate?
Is there any possible way the real girl could(wealthy one) be the legal wife?

[Merry]

Would the wedding be legitimate?
Is there any possible way the real girl could(wealthy one) be the legal wife?

No and no. But the issue would be proving what had happened. Was the groom in on this, or did the half sisters look like identical twins?!

[HarrysMum]

The half sisters did look alike. The girl who was supposed to marry threatened to suicide if she had to marry anyone.... so the half sister who was her companion, stood in.
The groom didn’t know until some time after and by that time had fallen in love with his wife. He’d only met the girl who was supposed to marry him once for a short visit prior to the wedding.

The parents arranged the marriage and the girls were both fifteen. The girls simply swapped places.

[Phoenix]

This sounds like the plot of a romantic novel. How on earth would you fool the parents? Surely they would be present at the wedding? What happened to the girl who remained single? Unless the two women remained together, even if you had kept up the deception to the point of the marriage, you could not hope to continue it much longer.

If you exchange vows in front of witnesses and the marriage is consumated, you are married, no matter what name you give. The husband could bring an Act of Parliament to divorce you, but I'm not sure that impersonation would be grounds for divorce.

Where did the money go? Did the father make a will?

So many questions....

[Merry]

If you exchange vows in front of witnesses and the marriage is consumated, you are married, no matter what name you give.

True, but no licence or banns for the bride who married, as the licence was not for her, whatever name she gave.

[HarrysMum]

It does sound like a romance fiction, and I’m still not sure it isn’t, at least in part.

The girls parents were not at the wedding.......both very ill at the time and died not long after. The girls stayed together, just swapped identities therefore also swapped’jobs’.

It’s the story a friend has been told by an elderly rellie, who read about it all in an old diary.

I was just interested in whether either girl actually legally married the groom.

[kiterunner]

Do you know their names, Libby?

[Olde Crone]

I think that if a male body married a female body and the marriage was consummated then the marriage was legal as far as ecclesiastical law went. Of course, any marriage AGREEMENT would not be legal, lol.

The innocent party might apply to the ecclesiastical court to have the marriage annulled on the grounds of fraudulent impersonation although of course, whether or not an annulment was granted would depend on how rich he was.

I read a very similar impersonation novel years ago. It was never explained to MY satisfaction how anyone would ever have known unless one of the three people involved blabbed.

Another thought - marriage by proxy existed, so the true bride and groom did not even need to be there for a marriage to take place.

OC

[Merry]

marriage by proxy existed, so the true bride and groom did not even need to be there for a marriage to take place.


True, but a known stand-in isn't the same as someone being tricked into marrying the wrong person!

[HarrysMum]

No, I don’t know the names. I’ll ask.

OC.......I did wonder if the law could see it as the intended girl being represented by proxy. Also as they were both under age, the girl who ended up being the wife had no permission to be married.

I was just interested more for the children of the couple. I do believe there was quite a bit of money on both sides......except for the illegitimate girl.