Shan't tell you my age, so there!

[British Viking]

Just realised my grandparent's (on my mother's side) reveals their ages on the marriage cert as being "full age"

Was this common practice at one time?

Means if I want their d.o.b. I'll have to get their death certs to work out backwardly their y.o.b.!! :gunsmilie:

[Waitabit]

You could take a guess that they were at least 21 & work back from there using their marriage date....& check out FreeBMD. Knowing the area would be a bonus.
Or look up their year of death,...you may be lucky & find their ages at death listed.

[British Viking]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Was this "full age" thing common practice at one time? Would the fact that he was a widower at the time have any bearing on this?

Only, I've never seen this before........

[Pam Downes]

In my experience, up to about the middle of the 1850s most marriage certificates, regardless of bachelor/spinster/widower/widow, said 'of full age' unless the person was under 21, when it sometimes gave the age, and sometimes said 'minor'.
But I have seen 'of full age/full age' on later certificates.
Definitely unhelpful - but when they say they're 21 and then the census and an eventually-found birth certificate prove that they're only 17, that's equally unhelpful. :smile5:
Pam

[Mutley]

It was very common practice. I have more 'full age' than any age. ;)

I suspect that as many people were unsure of their actual age,
if they were asked "are you over 21?"
they nodded, the registrar wrote 'of full age' and it was sorted.
Easy Peasy. :)

Maybe then, but not now,
I doubt they ever thought we would be searching for them 150 years later and would need to know when they were born.

[Procat]

I agree with Pam. The certificates I have are a mixed bag of "full age" and the stated age. Perhaps it depended on the mood of the person recording the details.

There is an interesting comment made by Mark Herber in Ancestral Trails about certificates with a stated age of 21. Apparently this could mean that the person was 21 or was over the age of 21.

[pottoka]

I think Mutley has it right that a lot of our ancestors simply didn't know how old they were ... but don't forget that if you get a certificate with a stated age on it, it might not be right anyway:
First, for the same reason as they were incapable of saying if they were 21 or not
Second, there could be some embroidery of the truth, if the woman was older than the man and wanted to make him believe she was younger, or vice versa because he wanted to seem more mature.
The same goes for the rest of the information: a father's profession could be made to sound better than it actually was, or simply lied about. No-one asked for proof!

[Nannas]

Hi British Viking,
The "full age" bit extends everywhere I think,,,, pretty common before 1860's here..(or you just get no age)

Must say your posts make me giggle,,
Nannas