GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 341, 23 January 1937, Page 5

GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES

POSSIBLE ABOLITION SPURIOUS STORIES. There Never Was Blacksmith’s Shop There. Press Association—Copyright. Received 1.30 p.m. London, Jan. 22. The Committee reporting on the Scottish Marriage Law recommends the abolition of Gretna Green and other irregular marriages, declaring that law permitting a marriage to be contracted without intimation of the ceremony and without procedure is indefensible, and opens the door to wide seduction, deceit, and other evils [ The Committee discloses that there, never was a blacksmith’s shop at Gretna Green, where marriages were conducted by a man named Mackie, who exploited the spurious romantic stories. He fitted up a room with an anvil and conducted “marriages,” the income from which later reached £2OOO a year. The Committee instances many tragedies - arising from these “marriages.”