Curious marriage notice from 1822

Hello, all.

Here is an interesting marriage notice, transcribed from the 29 Oct
1822 edition of The Strabane Morning Post:

On the 2d instant, at Gretna Green, Mr. Isaac Towers,
twine-spinner, of Beetham, to Miss Agnes Barrow,
of Hazleslack Tower. This young man, stimulated not
by love, but by the desire of being a gentleman, has
actually led his half-aunt to the hallowed pile of the Kirk

myths...

What was meant by half-aunt?

Fenny...

Father's half sister? My g-gf had an older half brother who had children.
I guess he was their half-uncle.

Charles Ellson...

.. or possibly the second wife of the widowed brother of one of his

myths...

Leviticus 18, 14: "Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy
father's brother, thou shalt not approach his wife: she is thine
aunt."

(King James version)

parents, assuming the usual popular confusion between "step-" and
"half-" relationships ?

Charles Ellson...

AFAIR the prohibited degrees of marriage in Scotland at that time (and
until recently) followed guidance derived from Leviticus in the Bible.
The "English" concept that husband and wife become one (with
consequent effect on other relationships) is/was IMU unknown to Scots

myths...

Leviticus18, 12-13, prohibit a man from "uncovering the nakedness" of
his father's sister or mother's sister.

As to husband and wife becoming one,
Leviticus 18, 16: "Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy
brother's wife: it is thy brother's nakedness."

(King James version)

chappycheeky...

Does this mean that so long as she keeps her socks on it's alright?

Law so the original author might have wrongly assumed that the
"half-aunt" was a legal "relative" by applying English (or Irish)
rules to a country where such laws do not apply. It is also possible
that the original author got it all wrong anyway and that the
"half-aunt" was his manufactured description for a relationship not
prohibited on either side of the border.

Mike Williams...

I've got a half-aunt who is no blood relation to me.

Bill is my father's half-brother: the son of my grandmother's husband
rather than my grandfather. So he's my half-uncle.

Evelyn is Bill's wife so she'd be my half-aunt, in the same way that my
father's full brother's wife is my aunt.

I suppose that technically she would stop being my half-aunt when Bill
dies, but such details could easily be skipped in The Strabane Morning
Post.

of Gretna Green.

===========================================

Does anyone care to speculate what was meant by, "the desire of being
a gentleman"? It seems to be code for something...

Lesley Robertson...

She had pots of money and a big house and he didn't?
Lesley Robertson