
The Library
Chinese whispers and Welsh weddings
Tools
Probert, Rebecca (2005) Chinese whispers and Welsh weddings. Continuity and Change, Vol.20 (No.2). pp. 211-228. doi:10.1017/S0268416005005539 ISSN 0268-4160.
![]()
|
PDF
WRAP_Probert_CHINESe_WHISPERS.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (142Kb) |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0268416005005539
Abstract
It has been claimed that in the late eighteenth century sixty per cent of couples in the Welsh village of Llansantffraid Glyn Ceiriog married by jumping over a broomstick, and a number of commentators have inferred that informal marriage was widespread in this period. Yet an examination of the primary and secondary sources shows that both the initial claim and subsequent speculations are based on ‘Chinese whispers’ rather than evidence. This casts a new light on the way in which people reacted to the 1753 Marriage Act, and illustrates how myths may be created through uncritical reliance on secondary sources.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | K Law [LC] > KD England and Wales D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain |
||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Marriage law -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century -- Historiography, Marriage customs and rites -- Wales -- History, Rumor -- Great Britain, Glyn Ceiriog (Wales) -- Social life and customs -- 18th century, Wales -- Social life and customs -- 18th century | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Continuity and Change | ||||
Publisher: | Cambridge University Press | ||||
ISSN: | 0268-4160 | ||||
Official Date: | August 2005 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Volume: | Vol.20 | ||||
Number: | No.2 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 211-228 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1017/S0268416005005539 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |