The most scandalous "child marriage": How a millionaire married a young girl, and what came of it

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Today, almost all countries have agreed to legalize the minimum age for marriage, and in most countries it is 18 years. However, even less than 100 years ago, the situation was completely different. It was then that a scandalous marriage happened, which made a lot of noise: the American millionaire married a girl almost 4 times his age.

Today, rules on the minimum age of marriage are regulated separately in each country. For example, in China, men can marry no earlier than 22 years old, and girls - 20 years old; in Scotland, the minimum age is 16 years, and Saudi Arabia does not at all stipulate this moment by law. However, like some US states - in 27 of them this moment is not at all stipulated by law. To date, only two states prohibit any form of so-called "child marriage".

However, when history happened, in 1926, there were no such laws at all. Edward Browning was a wealthy man, he was in real estate and his fortune made him attractive to the attention of journalists. He first became the object of a scandal when, after a divorce from his wife, he announced his desire to adopt a 14-year-old girl. He himself justified his decision by the fact that he wanted to find a girlfriend for his adopted son, who stayed with him after the divorce.

However, when the very next year after this announcement, Edward made another - about the already EXPOSED marriage with 15-year-old Frances Hinan, the public literally exploded with indignation. Several organizations for children's rights (then these organizations were just gaining strength, trying to protect children from hard work) tried to sue Edwadr, they did not succeed: the tycoon had permission from the girl's parents that they did not mind the marriage of their daughter.

Over time, the emphasis of exposing articles in magazines shifted, and journalists began to say that maybe it was not the girl who became the victim, but the millionaire himself: Frances, who from the moment of marriage referred to herself exclusively as "Peaches" ("peach"), always appeared in public in very expensive clothes, in fabulously expensive jewelry, and her husband seemed ready to spend all his fortune on her whims and desires. Edward, it seems, was seriously going to live with Peaches for the rest of his life, and pampered her, not denying her anything: more than 200 bouquets of flowers, 50 boxes of chocolates, 60 new expensive dresses, 179 fur coats - this is the little that Edward bought to his wife during their life together.

So, Edward (at that time they began to call him in the press nothing more than "Daddy") did not even try to hide from the paparazzi, and constantly attracted the attention of journalists while visiting the most expensive restaurants with his wife, where they arrived in a fanciful blue Rolls-Royce … Every time Peaches appeared in new outfits and showed her love to her husband in every possible way.

And yet, this marriage only lasted a few months. Edward and Peaches signed in May 1926, and in October Peaches packed her things and moved to a hotel. She filed a lawsuit for divorce, accusing her husband of violence and inappropriate behavior (the girl even mentioned that Edward kept a live goose in his bedroom). Peaches also claimed that the attack on her before the wedding, in which acid was splashed in her face (in some photos, you can see the plaster on her chin), was also organized by Edward himself. In response, Edward filed a counterclaim, accusing Peaches of leaving him for no reason. The tycoon refused to divorce, insisting on separation. It was his interests that were eventually satisfied, which means that Peaches did not receive the expected alimony.

It’s hard to say how upset Peaches was that she didn’t receive any compensation from her husband. In fact, she remained married to Edward for another 8 years until he passed away at the age of 59. After that, Peaches married three more times, built herself a career as a vaudeville actress and died at the age of 46, having slipped unsuccessfully in her own bathroom.

This marriage, for all its ambiguity, marked a turning point in the discussion of the minimum age for marriage. All the marriages of celebrities with underage girls that occurred after this story met with such strong criticism that they not only led to scandals, but more often than not cost men their careers.

This is how Peaches, the vaudeville actress, made history, unlike ex-wives of Hollywood celebrities, whom the public completely forgot after their divorce.