Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7 - Edgar Thurston

As bearing on the subject of Eurasian marriage, I am enabled, through the courtesy of a railway chaplain and the chaplain of one of the principal churches in the city of Madras, to place on record the following statistics abstracted from the registers. It may, in explanation, be noted that M indicates the bridegroom, F the bride, and W widow or widower remarriage:—

(a) Railway.

M.	F.	M.	F.	M.	F.
25	18	34	19	24	18
21	15	27	16	35	21
24	19	20	21	24	19
21	14	22	18	22	18
22	19	25	16	21	20
23	17	22	18	32	19
23	14	25	16	26	21
23	18	23	21	25	18
25	16	W 42	18	33	19
W 45	19	37	28	20	15
25	23	25	19	25	18
24	17	24	17	24	20
22	17	26	16	32	19
W 42	18	24	19	27	18
40	16	23
23	22	23

(b) Madras City.

M.	F.	M.	F.	M.	F.
33	26	28	19	27	18
W 40	18	29	20	W 39	19
23	26	23	21	27	31
23	23	26	21	23	14
25	21	22	18	33	24
29	W 24	25	17	25	18
31	19	28	W 35	25	18
28	25	24	18	21	19
26	17	26	19	24	20
23	15	32	26	26	19
23	18	26	18	W 46	W 39
23	19	27	18	23	25
30	24	25	21	22	20
W 38	17	23	16	32	17
21	17	27	19	21	16
26	21	40	16	21	W 30
W 53	W 43	28	15	W 40	17
28	20	31	24	25	24
29	21	27	25	30	20
W 43	W 36	29	17	W 43	23
20	16	24	W 30	22	18
22	18	W 42	W 34

Analysing these figures, with the omission of remarriages, we obtain the following results:—

(a) Railway.

	Bridegroom.	Bride.
Average age	25–26	18–19
Mean above average	28–29	19–20
Mean below average	23–24	16–17
Range of age	40–20	28–14

(b) Madras City.

	Bridegroom.	Bride.
Average age	26–27	19–20
Mean above average	28–29	21–22
Mean below average	23–24	17–18
Range of age	40–20	31–14