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Archiver > LONDON > 2005-03 > 1111606414


From: "Tony Mitchell" <>
Subject: Re: [Lon] Child Witnesses
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 19:33:34 -0000
References: <GHEFKPKHFFPHFFDMJKLNIEPFGCAA.jean1.williams@ntlworld.com>


Laura asked about the possibility of a child witness aged 7 for a marriage.
Although no minimum age is specified, it is very unlikely that a 7 year old
would have been accepted as a witness. Of course, there can be more than 2
witnesses, and a vicar/registrar may be prepared to accept a young witness
if there are at least two other witnesses of an acceptable age.

Jean asked whether a 10 year old son could be the informant for a death,
with the qualification 'Present at the death'. Again, it's very unlikely -
if the informant was a son, then the registrar should say so by giving the
informant the qualification 'Son. Present at the death'. But then, the
informant has the same surname as the deceased, so it would reasonable to
assume he was a some sort of relative of the deceased - so why didn't the
registrar say so?!!

And to think, some people complain you can't get decent Registration staff
these days!

Regards

Tony
(former Registrar!!)

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