Marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will

concept

A young woman is sitting in a chair with a tapestry in a frame in front of her, trying to be distracted from the thought of her forced marriage. Engraving by W.H. Simmons, 1840, after J.H. Nixon.

A young woman is weeping as she is being offered in marriage by her mother to a old, lame man. Engraving by J. Goldar after J. Collet, 1767.

An episode in 'Rookwood', a novel by W. Harrison Ainsworth: Luke Bradley, who is threatening Eleanor Mowbray with a dagger, is himself threatened by Ranulph Rookwood with a sword, but Ranulph is suddenly restrained by Dick Turpin. Line engraving by W. Greatbach after J. Cawse, 1837.

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

Please note, due to essential maintenance work to our systems, you will be unable to request items in our collections; apply for, renew or pre-register for a library membership; or use our computers, laptops and printers from 06:00 on Saturday 12 July until 06:00 on Sunday 13 July. Our library will remain open as usual. Thank you for your understanding.

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Forced marriage

Images

Catalogue

A young woman is sitting in a chair with a tapestry in a frame in front of her, trying to be distracted from the thought of her forced marriage. Engraving by W.H. Simmons, 1840, after J.H. Nixon.

An episode in 'Rookwood', a novel by W. Harrison Ainsworth: Luke Bradley, who is threatening Eleanor Mowbray with a dagger, is himself threatened by Ranulph Rookwood with a sword, but Ranulph is suddenly restrained by Dick Turpin. Line engraving by W. Greatbach after J. Cawse, 1837.

A young woman is weeping as she is being offered in marriage by her mother to a old, lame man. Engraving by J. Goldar after J. Collet, 1767.