List of child brides

This is a list of child brides, women of historical significance who married at a young age.

Women have traditionally married at younger ages than men^[1] although the average age of marriage has increased for both sexes with time. Historically girls were married at a young age more frequently in the past due to both law (increases in the minimum age required for marriage) and trends.^[2]

Some of the child marriages recorded include:

• Aisha, betrothed to Muhammad at the age of 9 in 623 CE.^{[3] [4]}
• Margaret Beaufort, (age approximately 7) was married to John de la Pole (age 7) in 1450 by the arrangement John's father.^[5] The marriage was annulled in 1453.^[6]
• Joan of France, Duchess of Berry, betrothed in a wedding contract at age 8 days old, she was officially married at age 12 in 1476.^[7]
• Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk (age 6) was married to Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York (age 4) in 1477. She died at age 10 and he, as one of the Princes in the Tower is believed to have been murdered at age 10.^[8]
• Rukhmabai was married in India to her husband when she was 11 and he was 19.^[9] After a lengthy court battle, the marriage was dissolved by an order from Queen Victoria and the publicity helped influence the passage of the Age of Consent Act, 1891 which outlawed child marriages across the British Empire.^[10]
• Janakiammal Iyengar was married at the age of 10 years to the legendary Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.^[11]
• Nujood Ali, an arranged marriage by her father to a 30-year-old man at age 10^[12] in 2008.^[13] Coverage of her self-presented application for divorce later that year led ^[14]

References

1. Population Studies Vol. 32, No. 1 page 21: Average Age at First Marriage for Women in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England and Wales: A Cross-Sectional Study by N.F.R. Crafts, published March 1978
2. Median age at first marriage by sex: 1890 to 2012 by the United States Census Bureau
3. Campo, Juan Eduardo (2009-01-01). Encyclopedia of Islam. Infobase Publishing. pp. 25–. ISBN 9781438126968. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
4. Reid, Donald Malcolm (2002-07-04). Cairo University and the Making of Modern Egypt. Cambridge University Press. pp. 66–. ISBN 9780521894333. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
5. Jones, Michael K. (1993-04-22). The King's Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521447942. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
6. Ralph A. Griffiths, King and Country: England and Wales in the Fifteenth Century, (Hambledon Press, 1991), 91.
7. Butler, Alban; Burns, Paul (January 1998). Butler's Lives of the Saints. Continuum. pp. 48–. ISBN 9780860122517. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
8. Tunis, David L. (2005-01-01). Fast Facts on the Kings and Queens of England. Author House. pp. 125–. ISBN 9781467065238. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
9. Lahiri, Shompa (2013-10-18). Indians in Britain: Anglo-Indian Encounters, Race and Identity, 1880-1930. Routledge. pp. 13–. ISBN 9781135264468. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
10. Rappaport, Helen (2003). Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion. ABC-CLIO. pp. 429–. ISBN 9781851093557. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
11. Ramanujan’s wife: Janakiammal (Janaki). Profile at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc)
12. Farrell, Courtney (2010-01-01). Children's Rights. ABDO. pp. 58–. ISBN 9781616133405. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
13. Borzou Daragahi (June 11, 2008). "Yemeni bride, 10, says I won't - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
14. Vivienne Walt (Feb 3, 2009). "A 10-Year-Old Divorcee Takes Paris - TIME". Time. Retrieved 23 November 2013.

See also

• List of youngest birth mothers
• Teen marriage