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It was a union which shocked an entire nation and sparked sweeping legislative reforms to ensure such circumstances could never arise again - the wedding of a towering 22-year-old farmer to a nine-year-old child. ‌

Charlie Johns and Eunice Winstead exchanged vows on 19 January, 1937, in rural Tennessee, the US, with Baptist minister Walter Lamb officiating. ‌

At the time, state legislation failed to establish a minimum marriage age, meaning the union, whilst widely denounced, remained technically lawful. ‌

Johns handed Lamb a dollar to perform the ceremony whilst Winstead informed her unsuspecting parents she was popping out to purchase a doll.

He falsely claimed his young bride was older to secure a marriage licence, though the local community later ackn

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