In the late 1700s-early 1800s?

Question

I am asking this because I have recently read "Pride and Prejudice."

(SPOILER ALERT BELOW PLEASE CLICK BACK IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO READ THIS)

The youngest of the girls marries and she is 16 at the time.

Does this mean girls in that time came of age at 16 or so?

Answer 1

Yes, and younger,  The parents would start looking for a husband for her as soon as she started manstrating.  Less than one hundread years earlier she ould have been married of at about 13.  To make matters worse she probably didn't know what has expected of her in the marriage bed.

Answer 2

"Before Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753 there was no lower legal age of marriage, except during the 1650's when it was 16 for men and 14 for women. In 1753 it was fixed at 14 for men and 12 for women and remained at that until the Age of Marriage Act 1929 when it was raised to 16 for both."

This pertains to English marriages. My own grandmother married at age 14 in the late 1800's.