16-year-old girl married at Gretna Green after elopement by car. Miss Audrey Patricia Smith, aged 16, of the Carlton Hotel, Rosemary Road, Clacton, was married to Mr Stanley Swan, a 25-year-old master builder, also of Clacton, by the light of an electric torch at Gretna Green.. The bride has lived with her grandparents in Clacton for several years. The couple left Clacton by car, apparently for a short drive, and the grandparents did not hear of the wedding until it was over. The grandfather says he would certainly have opposed the marriage. 4 January 1938