Watters

Author: Nev. Ramsden

The Watters Family of Whitehaven

On 5th July 1750 Robert Watters, a mariner of Whitehaven, contracted a Fleet marriage to a lady named Ann; no female surnames were given in the fleet register at this time.

A Fleet Marriage is the best-known example of an irregular or a clandestine marriage taking place in England before the Marriage Act 1753 came into force on March 25, 1754. Specifically, it was one which took place in London's Fleet Prison or its environs during the 17th and, especially, the early 18th century.

Irregular and clandestine marriages

An "irregular" marriage was one that took place either away from the home parish of the spouses (but after banns or licence), or at an improper time. "Clandestine" marriages were those that had an element of secrecy to them: perhaps they took place away from a home parish, and without either banns or marriage licence. It is often asserted, mistakenly, that under English law, a marriage could be recognized as valid if each spouse had simply expressed (to each other) an unconditional consent to their marriage. These "common-law marriages" as they m be termed today were the exception. Nearly all marriages in England, including the "irregular" and "clandestine" ones, were performed by ordained clergy.

The Watters family:- William Watters, of Whitehaven, mariner (1688-1744), was father of Robert Watters (1728-80), a wealthy Whitehaven merchant, who lived in Lowther Street, and also owned Bolton Hall, Gosforth. He was High Sheriff of Cumberland 1777. By Ann his wife who died 1776) he was father of Mary (1752-1818), who married in 1776 Henry Littledale, of Whitehaven, attorney (d. 1779), and then in 1781 she married Anthony Benn of Hensingham; Ann (1754-83), married in 1781 George Bigland, of Bigland (Lancs.); and Elizabeth (1763-90), married 1781 Joseph Tiffin Senhouse.

Taken from - Cumberland Families & Heraldry by C. ROY HUDLESTON, M.A., F.S.A., and R. S. BOUMPHREY, M.A.