When did marrying a cousin become socially unacceptable?

[LionBird]

I'm a big Agatha Christie fan and noticed there are quite a few references to cousins being in a relationship. I'm rereading Taken at the Flood currently, which is set in 1946, and the main character is engaged to her cousin and nobody seems to think it's strange! Obviously it was quite common in royal circles too in the 19th century but post-WW2 isn't that long ago so I'm not sure how and when it became unacceptable to have a relationship with a cousin - can anyone shed some light on this?

I doubt if the association with genetic problems was known or understood years ago. It is now.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/15/cousin-marriages-cited-as-significant-factor-bradford-child-deaths

My great grandparents were first cousins, as were their parents before them and their parents before them. They were married in 1910 I think and were English Upper Class. It was normal in their circles I think.

I have 10 fingers and 10 toes I promise! 😂

One interesting thing is that the genetics on that side seem very strong. My children, my brother’s child and my cousin’s child all look very similar. Which is surprising when you consider that my kids only share 25% DNA with my nephew on average and only 12.5% with my cousin’s daughter.

We are also all really really (almost freakishly so) clever.

No real health issues - we are all disgustingly healthy. Although we do all have the asthma/eczema/hay fever gene - but so does half my office so I don’t think that that can be blamed on the inter family marriage.

I always wonder whether a geneticist looking at my genes would be able to tell? Or what about my mum? Or my grandfather? Is there something to see but it is too diluted in me. Or is there nothing to see?

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were first cousins. Victoria's mother, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Prince Albert's father, Duke Ernst of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, were brother and sister.

It should flat out be illegal. Terrible for society and NHS burden, and just plain incestuous. Disgusting.

🤮

It actually needs to be made illegal. We have a lot of children in this country who are born with birth defects because of it.

My cousins are like my siblings so totally off the relationship menu for me. 🤮

It's been a contentious issue for a long time. The Romans didn't think it was a good idea, but the Greeks were all for it.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were third cousins via Queen Victoria

Yep and that’s why they all had haemophilia.

It was quite common in those days to keep the blood line pure and they most likely had never met each other before hand.

Genetic understanding, people moving out of their villages to bigger cities and in time people moving cities for uni and meeting people from further away, online dating will push it further, generally widening social circles.

I grew up near a religious Christian community that only marries within. A one-off cousin marriage could be okay, but generation after generation is really bad - they have so many kids with Down's syndrome and various other genetic issues. They're very 'the lord provides' so no genetic counselling.

Doesn't help that contraception was frowned upon by them until very recently, so having 5-10 children was common. The more you dip into the genetic pool, the higher your chances of problems.

Thankfully since the 2000s they've started to move around a bit for studying, so that has widened the gene pool (there's a uni specifically for these religious communities, not the UK).

I worked in an area of a high Asian population, mainly Bangladeshi and Pakistani, first cousin marriage is common. Several of my colleagues had married their cousins. There has been a study of consanguineous births locally due to the higher than average incidence of genetic problems in babies born to these parents. I don’t know if the study has concluded or not but I think marrying a family member can’t be a good idea, biologically speaking.

Because as far as I'm aware cousins was a loose term and often meant members of the wider family.

I think it increases the chances of genetic disorders in children. In the UK amongst some communities where it takes place I think there’s a disproportionate number of children who have complications. But these first cousin marriages are on the decrease. In some countries like Turkey I know that cousins can get genetic screening to see the likelihood of any potential issues.

Attitudes to cousin marriage are cultural. Mainstream British culture seems particularly anti, judging by Mn, and no, I don’t think it’s entirely because of the higher chance of genetic conditions. Also, look at the ‘affinity’ (non-blood) blocks on marriage — ie, who you’re not allowed to marry, although they’re not blood relatives.

Doesn't James Fleet /Tom marry his second cousin in Four Weddings and a Funeral? I thought she described herself as cousin Mildred's daughter.

I know of two different first cousin marriages, all white British, well educated professionals who just happened to fall in love with a cousin. I suspect it's a lot more common than people realise, because it's so taboo.

I would assume positive genetics would also have increased chance of being passed down, not just the defects. So if you have two fantastic specimens who breed with their cousins you could create a super race . But on average there's probably more likelihood that each cousin carries some recessive genes that will get combined and come through in the offspring.

My paternal great grandparents were first cousins, it’s not unusual.

That was in response to @Mumofteenandtween

I know two first cousins who got married about 15 years ago. It's legal. I do find it odd that their dads are brothers and they share grandparents.

Oh god, I wince at the thought of it. My cousins are like my brothers 😖

I think a one off cousin marriage is usually ok (but still ick) but the problem is that in communities where it is acceptable, cousins marry cousins for generations and it is a disaster.

My paternal grandparents were first cousins and must have married in the 1920s. Apart from myself and my sister, who have had autoimmune issues and a cousin with quite severe almost life long mental health problems, everyone else has been healthy.

Five children and ten grandchildren in total.