Gossip About Gretna Green.

In 1827 , at the Kent Assizes , a Gretna Green marriage was the subject of a curious trial before Mr . Baron Hullock . The action was taken against one Mrs . Wakefield and her two sons for conspiring " to take away by subtle stratagems " a young lady named Turner , who had not yet left school . The David Laing above mentioned was called as a witness on behalf of the defendants , and he affirmed that the couple were married lawfully according to the Scottish '

fashion , namely , by putting on the lady ' s finger a ring . The witness said he was seventy-five years old , and had spent more than half his life in the performance of marriages . In the cross-examination by Mr . Brougham , he admitted obtaining £ 30 for this particular ceremony , or even £ 50 , but could not remember exactly , "being somewhat hard of hearing . " The accused were found guilty of causing this young lady to " contract matrimony without the consent of her father , and to the great disparagement of the King ' s peace . The chief offender , E . Gibbon Wakefield , was convicted for abduction , and the

marriage , which excited considerable public attention , was afterwards rendered invalid , and annulled by an Act of Parliament speciall y obtained . After this flagrant case the Gretna Green marriages fell into comparative disrepute , and the business shewed a steady decline , though cases of the employment of the pseudo-parsons are on much later record . In 1853 , a person named Thomas BIythe , a witness before the Court of Probate at Westminster , stated that he lived at SpringfieldGretna Greenand that he obtained his livelihood b

, , y agriculture , but that lie not infrequentl y took advantage of opportunities to increase his income by small strokes of business in the " joining " line . Again , the demise of another "joiner " was announced so late as 1 S 72 , when the obituary of Simon Lang appeared in the Glasgow Herald- Probably he did not pursue his " clerical " profession nearly so late as this , for in 1856 the old law , by which the mere verbal declaration of consent before witnesses was sufficient to

constitute a Scottish legal marriage , became effete through the passing of the Act of Parliament 19 & 20 Vic , c . 96 . By this Act the laws of Scotland and England were brought into assimilation , and in that year the occupation of the northern hedge-parson was virtually gone .

It may be said such marriages as those we have described were considered as clandestine and ill-advised in Scotland as in more southern parts , the Church of Scotland doing all that lay in its power to discourage and prevent such . The only punishment , however , which it had for transgressors being excommunication , the restraint by the Kirk was very slight , its injunctions and fulminatory condemnations being treated with contempt .

. Probably the best known of the notable marriages which have taken place at Gretna Green is that of the Earl of Westmorland with the daughter of Child , the banker , whose counting-house was at the sign of the Marygold , in the Strand . The romantic but determined couple had the advantage of an early start one starli ght night in May ; but the pursuit was not less hot than the departure had been well arranged , and when within a few miles of the border the coach was nearly overtaken by Mr . Child ' s carriage . The Earl , however , not to be baulked . when so near the end of the journey , shot down one

ot tlie piirsnmg Horses , while one of his servants cut the carnage straps behind . The crown of firs which mark Gretna from the surrounding country came quickly into view , the bridge was crossed , and the village was reached by the reckless couple . A parson was found , and quickly the Duke and Miss Child were made one . Within a year Mr . Child died , it is said of mortification and disappointment connected with this affair . The elder daughter of the match , Lady Sophia Fane , inherited Ms immense fortune , including Child's bank at Temple Bar , and afterwards married Lord Jersey .