I'm trying to locate data on the average age of marriage at this time and place and while I see lots of sources claiming that records indicate that the average age of marriage was 22 for women and 26 for men, I would like to see the actual data myself.
Yet though I have been searching for a while, I cannot locate any first hand sources. Thankyou in advance for your assistance.
From my father, who has done a detailed investigation of our family tree back through England to the 16th century Channel Islands:
"The first census in England was, I think, in 1841. Prior to that the only official records were the Parish Registers, created by Henry VIII about 1538 in which were recorded all births, deaths, and marriages. For marriages the register contains the names of the husband and wife, the date and place of their birth, the names and birth places of their parents, and the names of two witnesses. Most parish churches in the UK still have these registers although in Guernsey the registers for the nine parish churches on the island are now housed in the town library. I was able to get back to about 1602 for our family tree but the trail stopped as some pages from the register were missing. I will look tomorrow at our genealogy to see what the average age was at marriage."
(my apologies if this is not sufficiently expert for excellent standards here)