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Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire is in Dumfriesshire.
On 18th December 1775 Colonel Edward Thoroton Gould and Barbara Yelverton (age 15) were married at Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire. She the daughter of Henry Yelverton 3rd Earl of Sussex (age 47).
Before 22nd June 1776 William Byron (age 26) and Juliana Elizabeth Byron were married having eloped to Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire. They were first cousins.
On 24th July 1781 Washington Shirley 8th Earl Ferrers (age 20) and Frances Ward were married at Gretna Green. He the son of Robert Shirley 6th Earl Ferrers (age 58) and Catherine Cotton Countess Ferrers (age 62).
On 20th May 1782 John Fane 10th Earl of Westmoreland (age 22) and Sarah Anne Child Countess of Westmoreland (age 17) were married at Gretna Green. She by marriage Countess of Westmoreland. He the son of John Fane 9th Earl of Westmoreland and Augusta Bertie.
1st November 1784 1st November 1784 Edward Nightingale 10th Baronet (age 24) and Eleanor Nightingale Lady Nightingale were married at, firstly, Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire, and secondly, The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, Bassingbourn [Map]. They were first cousins.
On 24th October 1809 John Margetts Brewer and Sarah Dunn-Gardner Marchioness Townshend were married bigamously at Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire. She was, at the time, married to George Ferrers Townshend 3rd Marquess Townshend (age 30) although they had separated on 8th May 1808. The couple had a number of children who adopted the surname Townshend until delegitimated in 1843 by a private Act of Parliament and barred from using the surname Townshend.
On 7th March 1827 Ellen Turner (age 16) was abducted from Margaret Daulby's elite boarding school for girls in Liverpool by, Edward Thevenot, a servant of Edward Gibbon Wakefield (age 30). Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Ellen Turner were married at Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire, she believing she was marrying to protect her father from financial ruin. After the marriage they set out for France, another jurisdiction, where he intended they settle as man and wife. He was subsequently arrested, tried and imprisoned.
In August 1835 the 1835 Marriage Act made marriage between those of certain degrees of affinity (in-laws) and consanguinity (blood) as defined in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer illegal including marrying the spouse of one's deceased relative. Those with sufficient funds could overcome the prohibition by marrying abroad. Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire also appears to have been outside the jurisdiction of the Act.
On 28th September 1840 George Edward Waldegrave 7th Earl Waldegrave (age 24) and Frances Braham Countess Waldegrave (age 19) were married at Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire thereby avoiding the constraint of the 1835 Marriage Act. He being the legitimate younger brother of her first husband John James Waldegrave; an example of Married to Two Siblings. He the son of John James Waldegrave 6th Earl Waldegrave.
On 2nd June 1840 Archibald William Douglas 8th Marquess Queensberry (age 22) and Caroline Clayton Marchioness Queensbury (age 19) were married at Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire having eloped against the wishes of his father. They had five sons and two daughters. He the son of John Douglas 7th Marquess Queensberry (age 61).
All About History Books
The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, a canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: "In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed." Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
On 6th or 7th of November 1845 Captin Charles Parke Ibbetson (age 27) and Adela Corisande Maria Child-Villiers (age 17) were married at Gretna Green, Dumfrieshire having eloped from Brighton on the 5th of November. She the daughter of George Child-Villiers 5th Earl Jersey (age 72) and Sarah Sophia Fane Countess Jersey (age 60).
8th November 1845. The Lady Adela Villiers (age 17). Brighton, Nov. 5. The name of the gentleman with whom the young lady has fled is pretty well known, and there is very little doubt, from the inquiries that have since been instituted, that she has gone off with Captain Ibbetson (age 27), of the 11th Hussars.
East Lodge is situated opposite Upper Rock Gardens, and Captain Ibbetson lodged with his mother for some time at a house in Lower Rock Gardens, and he has been frequently seen looking towards East Lodge, which was about a couple of hundred yards from his abode, with an opera glass to his eye. He left his lodgings about & fortnight ago, and quitted Brighton; but on Wednesday morning he came down by the train and was seen in Brighton. It has been already stated that the young lady left her home about five o'clock in that afternoon. On inquiry we find that she proceeded short distance down St. James's-street, turned down the New Steine, and engaged a fly opposite the Chain-pier, to convey her to the terminus of the London and Brighton Railway. As the fly-man was mounting his box another fly-man asked him if he knew who he had taken up, and on answering in the negative, he was told that it was Lady Adela Viliers, the daughter of the Earl of Jersey (age 72). On arriving at the terminus, a gentleman with a moustache handed the lady from the fly, and having paid him his fare, the lady and gentleman went immediately into the office. On inquiry at the railway termious, we ascertained that a lady and gentleman, answering the description of Captain Ibbetson and Lady Adela, came into the office about the time alluded to, and there was one circumstance which induced the clerk to notice the gentleman, 'When he came into the office he held a handkerchief to his mouth, but being attacked with rather a severe cough, the handkerchief was removed, and the clerk saw that he wore a light moustache. We have it from another party, who knew Capt. Ibbetson well, that he saw him in the train seated by a lady who was closely veiled, so that there is very little doubt that Captain Ibbetson is the man under whose protection the young lady has placed herself. Captain Villiers, the brother of the young lady as soon as he became acquainted with the clandestine departure of his sister from her parents, lost no time in going in pursuit of the fugitive, and since his departure, the Earl of Jersey has received letters from him to the effect that he is in the track of the fair runaway, and her companion in flight; but that he has not been able to overtake them. Although the elopement took place on Wednesday evening, very few persons knew anything of it till they saw it in one of the London morning papers on Friday.
Further Particulars
SUNDAY MORNING. We understand that the young lady succeeded in removing a great portion of her wardrobe, but that she left her jewels on the bed. The Earl of Jersey received a letter from his son, Captain Villiers, this morning, informing him that he bad been to Gretna, and had ascertained that his sister and Captain Ibbetson had been married by the old blacksmith. Captain Villiers had returned to London.
We understand that the Earl of Jersey received a letter this morning from the Commander.in-chief, in reply to one which his lordship had sent to the duke, and that his grace spoke highly of the character of Captain Ibbetson.
Captain Ibbetson has leave of absence till the 14th inst., and it is supposed that after the marriage ceremonies were completed he proceeded at once to join his regiment in Ireland.
The character which the Earl and Countess of Jersey have of the partner of their daughter's fight has, so softened the grief into which her sudden m home had thrown them.
The Earl and Countess of Jersey and the Prince and Princess Nicholas Esterhazy intend to take their departure to-morrow for London.
Lady Adela Villers is seventeen years of age, and Captain Ibbetson, we believe, about six or seven and twenty,
The "mystery" attendast upon the departure of this young lady from the temporary residence of her noble parents in Brighton, has been cleared up, and resolves itself into the exceedingly unpleasant fact that her ladyship has eloped with a gallant captain of the 11th Hussars—a gentleman, as we are informed, wholly unknown to the family, and, if report speak truly, a very recent devotee at the shrine of his youthful innamorata.
We believe we are correct in stating that the first clue to a discovery of the nature of the young lady's flight was obtained from an admission made by the female attendant of her ladyship to the following effect: During the temporary absence of the Earl of Jersey from Brighton, a few days since (his lordship having been called to town), Lady Adela expriased a desire to take a walk on the beach before breakiast one morning. In this walk she was accompanied by the female attendant alluded to, and the latter now states that while upon the shingles (beach) her ladyship was addressed by a gentleman of military appearance (whose person she so accurately described as to leave no doubt as to his identity), that words were exchanged between the parties, but that of the nature of the conversation which passed, she (the attendant referred to) is entirely ignorant.
A comparison of the personal appearance of the gentleman referred to with that of an individual who had been more than once observed to pay particular attention to Lady Adela in the walks and drives about Brighton, and who upon one occasion, a few Sundays since, obtained admission into the pew occupied by the Earl of Jersey's family at the parish church, satisfied the officers that it must be the same person, and upon inquiry being made at the lodgings of the gentleman in question, it was ascertained that he had left Brighton on Wednesday evening. More corroboration could scarcely have been required; but the one clue having been obtained, a train of elucidations followed, which, we believe, warrants the announcement that Captain Charles P, Ibbetson, of the 11th Hussars, is the officer under whose protection Lady Adela has fled her home.
Captain Ibbetson, we understand, is the eldest son of Henry Ibbetson, Esq., a proctor of long standing and extensive practice, and is much esteemed both in his regiment and in general society. It appears that Lady Adela or Wednesday afternoon addressed letters to her mother and to both her sisters. The nature of these communications may be readily guessed. — They were left by her ladyship on the drawing-room table for the evening's post. Shortly after leaving the drawing-room, Lady Adela rang the bell and desired her attendant to bring her dressing-case up stairs, which she immediately did. Her ladyship then it seems hastily dressed herself (very plainly), and left the house unobserved, as above stated. The small bundle which the old porter says her ladyship carried, was doubtless the case in question.
Upon reaching the Steine or East Cliff, her ladyship was observed by a "chairman," who knew her person, to enter a fly which was upon the stand near the pier steps. The driver of this fly has been discovered, and he perfectly remembers the circumstance. He states that he drove the lady to the railway station, and that before she alighted from the carriage, a gentleman, answering the description above given, advanced to the window and spoke to her ladyship—. subsequently assisting her to alight and paying him his fare.
At the Euston station, on Wednesday night, at a few minutes before nine o'clock, the hour for the departure of the York train, the parties were observed on the platform, and the gentleman, addressing one of the officials, requested to be accommodated with a coupé for himself and his fair companion, an act of attention which was immediately afforded. We regret exceedingly to learn, that the Earl of Jersey is overwhelmed with grief at the imprudent step his child has taken, The countess (age 60) bears the affair as well as can be expected.
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