by Clay, Jeremy
These stories, and a few more in the chapter that follows, put a bit of a dent in the theory of French physician Eugene Becklard that marriage is ‘the principal medium through which nature makes the human species tranquil and happy’.
Not just that. It also ‘purifies the complexion, removes blotches from the skin, invigorates the muscles, makes the carriage erect and free and the voice full and firm’.
These bold claims came in his 1840s work, Physiological Mysteries and Revelations in Love, Courtship and Marriage: An Infallible Guide-Book for Married and Single Persons, in Matters of Utmost Importance to the Human Race. Think of it as sex tips for Victorians.
The breed must be crossed, that was his maxim. A melancholy man should pair up with a sprightly woman, and vice versa. The ambitious should unite with the humble. The amiable with the choleric. That way, the danger was minimised of growing bored of each other’s company (although you had less chance to grow tired: the mortality rate meant few marriages lasted more than 30 years).
M. Becklard’s match-making advice didn’t stop with pairing chalk-and-cheese personalities. ‘The length of the neck should be proportionably less in the male than the female’, he cautioned. The back of the woman should be more hollow than of man; woman should have loins more extended than man … and on he went.
Not everyone needed to pay heed to his fussy strictures. Marriage was a cornerstone of Victorian life, but it wasn’t universal. According to the Registrar-General, there were getting on for 1¼ million women aged between 20 and 40 who were unmarried in 1851. Out of 100 women aged 20 and over, 30 were classified as spinsters.
The reasons were nuanced, but ultimately mathematical: women outnumbered men. It certainly didn’t help that a rigid class structure limited the choice still further, and that men had a found a taste for emigrating.
Some couples simply couldn’t be bothered with getting hitched. In the mid-nineteenth century the journalist Henry Mayhew’s survey of working-class London drew him into the world of the costermongers. Only one in ten of the couples living together were married, he found. ‘Of the rights of “legitimate” or “illegitimate” children the costermongers understand nothing, and account it a mere waste of money and time to go through the ceremony of wedlock when a pair can live together, and be quite as well regarded by their fellows, without it’, he wrote.
In hindsight, maybe Mrs and Mrs Glanister, the McNamaras and the bellicose Elizabeth Stanton would have agreed.
Extraordinary Duel.
A Strange Test of Bravery
A tarantula is a large insect of the spider tribe, and its bite is as deadly as that of a rattlesnake. The details of a remarkable duel which recently occurred at Las Vegas show the horror with which this terrible spider is regarded in South America.
Two young men – an American and a Mexican – fell out over a young woman they both loved, and the result was that the enmity became too great to be carried, and it was determined to end it in a duel.
The matter came about in an unusual way, however, and it was not a regular challenge and acceptance, but while in company of mutual friends the Mexican taunted the American with being a member of a race of cowards, and said the Americans had no bravery.
The American, of course, disputed this and said he would test the Mexican’s bravery if he wished it. He would be willing to go into a dark room with the Mexican and there decide the point. But the stipulation was that in the dark room there should also be a lot of tarantulas turned loose.
If either of them came out alive he was to have the girl. If either showed the white feather and came out before the death of the other or before all the tarantulas were killed he should give up all claim to the girl. The Mexican was disposed to refuse, but the fear of being looked upon as a coward caused him to accept.
The room was prepared, and the two men went in. There were at least a dozen tarantulas in the room and also two scorpions. The American walked boldly into the room and took his stand, while the Mexican followed, but was hesitating in his manner.
The doors had been closed but a short time when the Mexican was heard to scream out that he was bitten and was dying. The doors were opened and he staggered out and fell to the floor. The American walked out unhurt, and then it was found that the Mexican had not been bitten at all, but had scratched his hand on a protruding nail in the wall and had thought it a spider’s bite.
The Western Mail, Cardiff, July 15, 1892
Lively Scene at a St Helens Wedding
An extraordinary scene in opposition to a wedding took place in the neighbourhood of Eccleston Street, St Helens, on Monday.
A middle-aged man, who follows the occupation of a coal-hawker, had decided to re-marry, but the new alliance did not meet with the approval of his children.
The man had been a widower but a few weeks, and seeing the ‘gathering storm’ he went away quietly in the morning, and the ceremony was performed in a church on the outskirts of the borough. Meanwhile preparations were being made for his reception at home.
On returning from church the couple were received by a crowd of people, who laughed and jeered, and evidently intended to show their feelings in an unorthodox fashion. Street sweepings were seized as a substitute for rice, and were thrown upon the couple, and rotten eggs were brought into requisition.
One young fellow struck the bridegroom a blow in the face, which disfigured him, while a young woman seized the bonnet of the bride and tore it up. The bride and bridegroom eventually got inside their house, and remained there. Meanwhile the uproar in the street continued until a late hour.
Charles Houghton, a brother of the bridegroom, was arrested on a charge of being drunk and disorderly. He was brought before Mr Biram and Mr W. Lee Pilkington at the Police Court on Tuesday. Chief Constable Wood stated that the man had been 88 times convicted. He was fined 7s 6d and costs, or 10 days.
Supplement to the Manchester Courier, September 20, 1890
A Female Husband
A coroner’s inquest was held on Monday night at Belfast, on the body of a person who for many years has been known as John Coulter, but who on dying on Sunday from the results of injuries accidentally received was discovered to be a female.
Evidence was given to the effect that for twelve years she had worked in male attire as a labourer at Belfast quays; that 20 years ago she got married in Dungannon to a woman who was examined at the inquest, and deposed that the deceased was her husband; that they had been separated for the past six years on account of the drinking habits of the deceased, whom she throughout described as her husband.
At the time of their marriage the deceased was a farm servant in the employment of her father. The evidence went to show that, as far as could be traced, the deceased had always worn male attire, and had been engaged in work peculiar to men.
The death was the result of injuries sustained by falling downstairs on Sunday last while in a state of intoxication. The woman who had been married to the deceased undertook to inter the remains of her so-called husband.
The York Herald, January 26, 1884
Selling a Wife by Auction
It is only a few months since that a paragraph went the round of the papers relating how a certain stonemason at Rawtenstall, in Rossendale, sold his wife to another man for the sum of £10; but it would seem from certain proceedings which took place last week at Stacksteads, a Rossendale village, that the money value of wives has sadly declined since that event.
A navvy, living at Tunstead Mill, Stacksteads, determined to get rid of the ‘partner of his joys and sorrows’ by offering her for sale by auction, the highest bidder as usual to take ‘the lot.’
On Tuesday last the sale took place at the husband’s house, but, despite Solomon’s testimony as to a woman being more precious than rubies, and notwithstanding that the spectators were numerous, the highest offer was only 4d, at which low figure the wife was eventually ‘knocked down’ to another navvy, who, by-the-by, lived next door.
The seller wanted to ‘throw in’ three children, but the buyer objected, and the bairns were left on hand. The wife, however, went joyfully to the home of her new owner, and seemed to be quite as glad to get away from her late liege lord as he was to part with her.
The occurrence has caused quite a stir in the locality, and has been commented upon by the local press.
The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, July 29, 1879
Chained to a Bed for Forty Years
An extraordinary case of sequestration has just been disclosed before the Court of Assizes of the Manche, a man having been kept concealed, chained to a bed for a period of forty years, by his own father first, and by a brother afterwards.
In the year 1830 a farmer named Boullaud lived with his wife and four sons – Charles, Jacques, François, and Julien – in the commune of Bomagny. Julien, who was then twenty-two years of age, had shown some signs of a deranged mind, the result of fright while walking out at night, and the father, to escape the trouble of guarding the young man, had him chained by the two wrists on a bed, from which the son was never moved.
The result of the captivity was that Julien’s limbs were at length completely paralysed from inaction, and he became a perfect idiot. The father died in 1852, having previously shared his fortune between the three other sons, on condition that Charles and François should each pay a sum of two hundred francs annually for the wants of their brother, while Jacques was to board and lodge him.
The unfortunate man continued chained to his bed until 1864, when, as he could no longer make any movement, the shackles were taken from him, but it was not till the present year that the facts came to the ears of the judicial authorities. A descent was made at the house, and Julien, now over sixty years of age, was found lying almost naked, and in a miserable condition, on a litter of straw, placed in a dark hole for concealment.
Jacques Boullaud, being arrested, was now brought up for trial, and pleaded in his defence, that he had only continued a state of things commenced by his father. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and he was set at liberty.
The Illustrated Police News, July 9, 1870
An Unfortunate Man Who Unwittingly Went In For Bigamy
The strange case of Hiram Macdermott came before the Old Bailey on Monday. Discovering that his wife had a husband living, Macdermott imagined himself free again, and becoming tired of Mrs Macdermott No. 1, quickly replaced her with a sprightlier spouse.
Then it came out that his first wife’s previous marriage was itself a bigamous one, and that he Hiram, was now a bigamist himself! Mrs Macdermott No. 2, when she heard all this, promptly gave her husband up to the police, and charged him with bigamy. The prisoner pleaded guilty, and he had to serve six weeks’ hard labour.
The Leeds Times, February 18, 1893
A Ludicrous Romance
A tragic-comic romance lately occurred at Budapest. A stripling of seventeen fell in love with a girl three years his junior, and these children were in such despair at the prospect of having to wait so long before they could be married that they decided to commit suicide.
Their last meeting was behind the Custom House. Tears were shed on either side, and some kissing and hugging were gone through. The juvenile couple then repaired to the Danube, and with a fortitude worthy of a better cause the young lady jumped in.
Fortunately she could swim, and availed herself fully of her capabilities in that art. She shrieked for help, which was soon at hand.
Just as she was safely landed her lover fired three revolver shots against himself, but none of them took effect; and a quarter of an hour later the young folks were handed over to their respective parents.
The Tamworth Herald, December 22, 1888
Romantic Story of a Hermit’s Life
A telegram from Madrid states that a man has just been discovered who for several years has lived alone in the wild and deserted mountains of Cape de Gata, situated in the south-eastern extreme of Spain.
Some years ago he was employed in a factory at Lugo, in Galicia, which is at the opposite end of the country to Cape de Gata.
Becoming enamoured of his employer’s daughter, the passion was reciprocated, but the lady’s parents had a rich suitor in view, and the factory-worker was discharged. Subsequently the couple eloped, but were overtaken, and when, a few months later, the disconsolate lover ventured to return to Lugo, the lady had married her parents’ choice. In his despair he resolved to leave the country, and set sail for Algeria.
The vessel was, however, wrecked, and he was tossed by the waves on to the shore of the desolate Cape de Gata. Here he has remained ever since, and when seen a few days ago by a hunter who had ventured into the country, he presented a savage-like appearance in his covering of wild animals’ skins, and with hair and beard grown to an extra-ordinary length. All efforts to induce him to return to civilisation were futile.
The Midland Daily Telegraph, Coventry, September 9, 1892
A Remarkable Story.
A Widow Married To Her Own Brother
From the Detroit Free Press: There passed through this city yesterday en route to Chicago, a lady whose history is one of the most remarkable ever brought to public notice.
In 1838 her parents emigrated to this country from England, leaving behind them an only son some ten years of age, who had engaged as a cabin boy in a merchant vessel in the East India trade, they landing in New York, when, a few months later, the subject of this sketch was born.
While she was yet a helpless infant, both her parents died, and she was sent to the Foundling’s Home, where she remained some time, when she was finally adopted by a lady and gentleman, who then resided in Elmira, N.Y.
Of course she knew nothing of her sailor brother, and she grew up in the belief that she was really the child of her foster parents. At the age of eighteen she married an industrious young mechanic, and set out for the great West.
After travelling in various states, they finally settled in Missouri, where they continued prosperous and happy until the storm of war burst upon the country.
Then her husband, in common with the thousands of his misguided countrymen, enlisted in the service of the rebellion, and was assigned to General Price’s army. He served faithfully during the first eighteen months of the war, but was finally killed in one of the South-western engagements.
From the breaking out of the war the lady of whom we write had lost all trace of her foster parents, owing to the disturbed condition of that portion of the country in which she resided, and after her husband’s death she removed to St Louis, where she sought to maintain herself by serving.
In 1863 she again married, and her husband embarked in business in St Louis. This marriage was a thoroughly happy one, and in the course of time two children were born unto them.
The husband gradually extended his business operations, so that much of his time was necessarily spent in travelling about the country, and during one of his business tours he visited Chicago, where he became acquainted with a lady and gentleman, who by a fortunate chain of circumstances, he ascertained were the long lost foster parents of his wife.
Delighted at the discovery he had made, and pleased no doubt with anticipations of the joyful surprise he should give his wife, the husband at once concluded his business with the intention of returning to St Louis and bringing her to Chicago for the purpose of reuniting her with her friends, without having first prepared either party for such an event.
On the night of his contemplated departure for home, while conversing with Mr and Mrs ––, it happened that he was led into a recital of his adventures about the world, and before his narrative was finished his listeners knew that their adopted daughter had married her own brother, who, before she was born, had sailed for the East Indies.
Horrified beyond expression, the wretched man fled from the house, and from that hour no tidings of him have ever reached his friends. This was in March last, and a few weeks later the wretched sister-wife was rendered comp
aratively poor by the destruction by fire of a large portion of the property left in her hands.
Although written to by her stricken friends, their letters never reached her, and a few weeks since she started for Elmira, her native home. Upon her arrival here she learned the address of her foster parents, with whom she at once communicated, giving them full details of her experience since she had first bade them farewell, upon setting out for her Western home.
Their answer to her letter contained a statement of the terrible discovery of the identity of her husband and brother, together with an affectionate invitation to come to them with her children and share their home.
Heart broken, and nearly crazed by the strange denouement of her happy married life, the wretched woman hastened to accept the offer, and this morning will doubtless see her re-united to her earliest and dearest friends.
The Dundee Courier and Argus, December 10, 1868
The Baby and its Endowment
The stationmaster at Preesgweene, near Oswestry, received on Tuesday a box containing a live baby and a letter requesting him to adopt it. He declined, and handed the baby with the box and contents over to a signalman, who took the little thing home. On looking over the box he found, besides wearing apparel, £200 in bank-notes. The signalman has now been asked to surrender the baby, but he declines.
The Illustrated Police News, May 5, 1894
An Extraordinary Marriage Ceremony
A few days ago the report of a singular, and we may add melancholy, wedding reached us from Florida, the sum and substance of which is as follows: It would appear from the account furnished us that a Mormon gentleman, named Bradley, left the City of Utah, and after travelling from place to place with samples of his goods he made the acquaintance of a young lady.
