Longest British marriages, appeal for information.

[Master Obit 368]

Okay so a little bit of a deviation from the usual topics. As some of you know, I do quite a bit of research on British longevity (hence my mastery of the GRO index), and especially on the longest marriages. A number of the ones I was aware of have ended recently, which means the current list is now looking quite sparse.

 

There's a reasonable userbase on this forum, so I figured it might be worth a shot to appeal here for if anyone has any knowledge of any British marriages of 75+ years, past or present. 

 

Fully expecting this topic to end up on 0 replies, but you miss all the shots you don't take.

 

**Not suggesting anyone should share details of people without their consent, but even just having some sort of indication of whether they exist amongst people here would be useful.

[dimreaper 543]

I rolled my eyes when I first saw this thread, but you seem to be coming from a genuine place. I was big into the Great War when I grew up. Alfred Razzell was a veteran who gave several interviews in the 80s and 90s for British tv documentaries on the conflict. Most notably in "A Game of Ghosts" where he related the heartbreaking story of having to leave behind an injured friend (Bill Hubbard) in no mans land. At the time of his death in 1995, he had been married to for nearly 76 years. Below is a link that includes a photo of him and his wife. To my knowledge, his was the longest marriage amongst Great War Veterans (although I could easily be wrong about that as I doubt such milestones were tracked by organizations such as the IWM)  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/213225316/alfred-charles-razzell

[Jeremy Corbyn 89]

Hi Master Obit, are you looking for notable people or just anybody? If the latter, there are a husband and wife aged 97 and 94 living a street over from me in South Wales celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary this year, they still live independently in the same house they have lived in since the early 1950s and their 71 year old daughter visits them every day. 

[Master Obit 368]

Just now, Jeremy Corbyn said:

Hi Master Obit, are you looking for notable people or just anybody? If the latter, there are a husband and wife aged 97 and 94 living a street over from me in South Wales, they still live independently in the same house they have lived in since the early 1950s and their 71 year old daughter visits them every day. 

 

Absolutely anybody, so if they meet the criteria then I'd be very interested to know. We don't get many cases from Wales either, I've only got one Welsh case amongst my living 75+ list.

[Master Obit 368]

14 minutes ago, dimreaper said:

I rolled my eyes when I first saw this thread, but you seem to be coming from a genuine place. I was big into the Great War when I grew up. Alfred Razzell was a veteran who gave several interviews in the 80s and 90s for British tv documentaries on the conflict. Most notably in "A Game of Ghosts" where he related the heartbreaking story of having to leave behind an injured friend (Bill Hubbard) in no mans land. At the time of his death in 1995, he had been married to for nearly 76 years. Below is a link that includes a photo of him and his wife. To my knowledge, his was the longest marriage amongst Great War Veterans (although I could easily be wrong about that as I doubt such milestones were tracked by organizations such as the IWM)  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/213225316/alfred-charles-razzell

This is very interesting - I hadn't seen this before! 

[Summer in Transylvania 1,645]

According to this Wikipedia page, which may interest you, the longest marriage in the UK was between Maurice and Helen Kaye, lasting for 83 years between 1934 and Maurice's death in 2018. This is excluding an alleged but not officially recognised 90-year marriage that lasted between 1925 and 2015, of the claims are to be believed.

[Master Obit 368]

1 minute ago, Summer in Transylvania said:

According to this Wikipedia page, which may interest you, the longest marriage in the UK was between Maurice and Helen Kaye, lasting for 83 years between 1934 and Maurice's death in 2018. This is excluding an alleged but not officially recognised 90-year marriage that lasted between 1925 and 2015, of the claims are to be believed.

They weren't quite the longest - that goes to William and Eluned Jones, at 83 years and 359 days. I've contributed quite significantly to this page https://oldestinbritain.nfshost.com/couples.php but unfortunately very few people get in touch!

[Summer in Transylvania 1,645]

7 minutes ago, Master Obit said:

They weren't quite the longest - that goes to William and Eluned Jones, at 83 years and 359 days. I've contributed quite significantly to this page https://oldestinbritain.nfshost.com/couples.php but unfortunately very few people get in touch!

I have just had another look through the list and, so it should seem, they have been omitted for some reason or another, nevertheless I still apologise for my incorrect data. 

 

Gerontology Wiki has its own version of the list, which includes William and Eluned Jones, however it places them lower on the list, beneath Maurice and Helen Kaye, at 83 years, 169 days.

[Master Obit 368]

3 minutes ago, Summer in Transylvania said:

I have just had another look through the list and, so it should seem, they have been omitted for some reason or another, nevertheless I still apologise for my incorrect data. 

 

Gerontology Wiki has its own version of the list, which includes William and Eluned Jones, however it places them lower on the list, beneath Maurice and Helen Kaye, at 83 years, 169 days.

Gerontology Wiki is run by idiots. Almost nothing is accurate on there now. OldestinBritain is very much accurate.

 

Please don't apologise - it was very nice of you to take the time to respond, since this stimulates discussion and might get the topic more noticed!

[Youth in Asia 1,035]

I'm willing to bet there will be a lot fewer of these 75yr+ marriages in the future than there were in the past. The number of people who get married in their early 20s these days is low and shrinking, and most of those marriages will not last as long as that anyway.

[Master Obit 368]

1 hour ago, Youth in Asia said:

I'm willing to bet there will be a lot fewer of these 75yr+ marriages in the future than there were in the past. The number of people who get married in their early 20s these days is low and shrinking, and most of those marriages will not last as long as that anyway.

I would expect so, though I rather hope I'll be dead before it becomes a concern that my list is too short.

[dimreaper 543]

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/lifetime-of-love-2017/  Any word on if this marriage lasted to 75 years? I imagine they're both gone by now.

[Master Obit 368]

1 hour ago, dimreaper said:

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/lifetime-of-love-2017/  Any word on if this marriage lasted to 75 years? I imagine they're both gone by now.

Sadly Eileen died not long after that article, and Ron died in 2015.

 

There are still plenty out there to be found, and I'm convinced there must be people on here who know some.

[dimreaper 543]

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/784514/Longest-marriage-Britain-77-years-secret Being that this was covered by the UK press, i'm sure you already have it on your list. Do you by chance have any updates on the couples dates of death. I suspect they are now both gone.

[Master Obit 368]

10 hours ago, dimreaper said:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/784514/Longest-marriage-Britain-77-years-secret Being that this was covered by the UK press, i'm sure you already have it on your list. Do you by chance have any updates on the couples dates of death. I suspect they are now both gone.

I do - George died 24 July 2018, shortly before their 78th wedding anniversary. Phyllis died 25 January 2022. 

 

Helpfully the article showed their 75th anniversary card from the queen, allowing an exact length to be calculated from the date. A lot of couples on my list are missing an exact date of marriage because ancestry only gives the quarter.

 

 

[dimreaper 543]

Went back through my veterans research. Found two cases of British expats whose marriages lasted past 75 years. In both, the marriages took place outside the U.K., but in both spouses, both the husband and wife were British born. Probably not within your scope of research since neither couple resided in the U.K. during their marriage, but thought they were interesting cases none the less.

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69367550/claude-stanley-choules

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71061895/george_frederick_ives

[Master Obit 368]

On 15/05/2024 at 20:08, dimreaper said:

Went back through my veterans research. Found two cases of British expats whose marriages lasted past 75 years. In both, the marriages took place outside the U.K., but in both spouses, both the husband and wife were British born. Probably not within your scope of research since neither couple resided in the U.K. during their marriage, but thought they were interesting cases none the less.

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69367550/claude-stanley-choules

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71061895/george_frederick_ives

They are still very interesting - George Ives was a fascinating individual, the last individual who was allowed to wear a Victoria medal.