A wedding register which describes how an aristocrat abducted a schoolgirl and tricked her into eloping with him has fetched nearly �8,000 at auction.

The �7,637 selling price of the book was more than double that expected by auctioneers Christie's in London.

The 486-page leather-bound book contains records of 1,134 weddings between 1825 and 1854.

Among the entries is that of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, an aristocratic widower, who abducted Ellen Turner, the 15-year-old daughter of wealthy mill owner and duped her into marrying him in Gretna in 1826.

Hundreds of weddings are included

He wrote a letter to her pretending to be a doctor and said her mother had been struck by sudden paralysis and urged her to return home at once.

Wakefield then told Miss Turner her father's business had collapsed and she had to marry him so her father could keep his estate.

After the marriage they went to France but Miss Turner's uncles caught up with them and told her the truth.

Wakefield was jailed for three years and the marriage was annulled.

The register was maintained by John Linton, the innkeeper of Gretna Hall, who made a profit from running the most upmarket wedding premises in Gretna, just north of the England-Scotland border.

Two telephone bidders battled it out to gain ownership of the book.

'Original roots'

The buyer was Paddy Crerar, 34, managing director of British Trust Hotels which owns the Gretna Hall Hotel where Mr Linton operated.

He said: "We are delighted to have the wedding register returned to its original roots. It's worth it because now it will be there forever."

The book will go on display at the Gretna Green Hall Hotel.

Mr Crerar, from East Lothian, said he was willing to go to �10,000 to return the book to its natural home.

He believes it will add to the romantic atmosphere of Gretna Green where up to 3,000 couples marry each year.

Gretna, in Dumfries and Galloway, became famous for hurried weddings when the Marriage Act of 1754 made marriage under the age of 21, without parental consent, illegal in England.