What was the legal age of marriage in 1900 Ireland?
Marriage Age Until 1972 when a law was passed that both men and women could not wed until the age of 16, Irish females could legally be wed at age 12 and males at age 14. While most women married around the age of 20, pre-famine brides were often younger.
What is family life like in Ireland?
Of the 1.15 million children, 75% live with two married parents, 18% with a lone parent and 6% with cohabiting parents. The chance of living with two married parents increases steadily with the age of the child and is much higher where the parents have higher levels of educational attainment.
What was life like in Ireland in the 19th century?
Many Irish people were extremely poor and lived in dreadful conditions. In the 19th Century Ireland experienced The Great Famine which was probably the most significant and devastating event in Irish History. Many people either died of starvation or hunger or emigrated to places like America or Britain.
How has the family changed in Ireland?
But the Irish family has changed in recent years, and continues to do so. Family sizes have declined significantly in a quarter century. In 1991 the average family had two children. In 1996 this had fallen to 1.8 children; in the 2011 census the average number per family was 1.4.
Can you get married at 14 in Ireland?
There had been discussion about this since 1957, when a number of organisations, including the Mothers’ Union and at least one Catholic women’s group, had asked the minister to raise the minimum age for marriage to 16. There was no statutory minimum, but common law held it to be 14 for boys and 12 for girls.
Were there arranged marriages in Ireland?
Arranged marriages, both legal and illegal, were common before the end of the twentieth century, but later became more common among immigrant communities.
What is the most common type of family in Ireland?
For most Irish, the nuclear family unit plays a major role in their day-to-day lives. The extended family continues to be an essential part of Irish society. In the past, extended families would live near one another, but this is becoming less common today due to the ongoing impacts of urbanisation.
Was Ireland poor in the 1900s?
The rural population of Ireland, which was the large majority of the population, lived lives of extreme poverty. The extent of poverty and the issues surrounding it were well known in the British establishment.
What were the living conditions in the 19th century?
For the first half of the 19th century the rural and urban poor had much in common: unsanitary and overcrowded housing, low wages, poor diet, insecure employment and the dreaded effects of sickness and old age.
How important is family in Irish culture?
Traditional Irish Family Culture For many Irish, the family and their Catholic faith are still considered the center of the intimate, personal relations that create identity, unity, and security. Religion and family cohesion are basic to the traditional Irish family culture.
What is the typical family size in Ireland?
Average household size increased between 2011 and 2016, from 2.73 to 2.75 persons reversing a long term trend of declining household size.