January 24, 2018 | Leave a comment “My wife is an angel.” said a man to another he had just met in a pub. “You’re lucky, mine’s still alive!” came the reply. An old joke, but pertinent to this story. At least that’s my excuse for including it here. To even things up gender wise, one of the oldest jokes in the English language goes something like this; husband to wife, “Why do you hate me?” wife to husband, “Because you love me.” Ouch! So, what do you do when the love that once burned so passionately is replaced with a deep loathing for your spouse? Divorce, I hear you cry. Well yes, that’s what happens nowadays, but there was a time when things were just not that simple. In eighteenth century England, obtaining a divorce was difficult and expensive. Prior to the passing of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857, a divorce could only be obtained through a private Act of Parliament. Effectively, this meant that each and every divorce required it’s own piece of legislation. As you can imagine, the legal process was tortuous, and the cost was estimated to be around £15,000 in today’s money, well beyond the reach of the average couple at that time. Domestic Disharmony Falling out of love, however, was not just the preserve of the well-to-do. A practical solution was needed for couples of more modest means, who could no longer stand the sight of one another. Hence, from the 1730’s onward, cases of wife selling began to be recorded. Yes, that’s right, husbands actually started selling their wives! Although not exactly legal (the practice was never enshrined in law), the authorities nevertheless realised that such transactions solved a prickly problem, and so turned a blind eye to the process. Unbelievably, wives were brought to market like cattle, often with a rope around their necks. They would then be required to stand on an auction block, while their husbands took bids from the assembled crowd. In 1733, Samuel Whitehouse sold his wife Mary, at a market in Birmingham for one guinea (a sum equivalent to one pound and one shilling), to Thomas Griffiths, the latter being obliged to take Mary “with all her faults.” Some transactions even involved goods being traded, as well as, or instead of, money. One wife was sold for one shilling and sixpence, plus a quart of ale, and another for a full barrel of beer! A Wife Auction in Progress Do not be fooled, however, into thinking that the practice of wife selling was always a male dominated process. Sufficient examples exist to suggest that wives were sometimes the instigator of the proposed transaction. When a husband tried to welsh on a deal in Wenlock in 1830, his wife is reported to have said “Let be yer rogue. I wull be sold. I wants a change.” However, it is generally believed that most wife sales took place with both husband and wife in agreement over the proposed course of action. In fact, the process of selling a wife, could result in the resolution of potential difficulties on both sides of a failing relationship. In cases where a wife was involved in an extra marital affair, for example, a husband was entitled to sue his wife’s lover, for damaging his property! In selling that ‘property’ to her lover, the husband would absolve himself of any ongoing responsibility for his wife, and the purchaser would avoid potentially damaging legal action. Presumably the asset in question, or wife, would also have been happy with the outcome, as it has to be surmised that her preference would have been for her boyfriend over her husband. An example that may well illustrate this point, also appears to suggest that the better off were equally keen to get in on the act. In July of 1815, a wife arrived by coach at Smithfield Market in London, whereupon she was sold for the grand sum of fifty guineas and a horse. She promptly left in a smart carriage that had, seemingly, been waiting for her! Unfortunately, not all transactions went as smoothly. In Manchester, in 1824, bidding closed at five shillings, but as the wife did not like the look of her purchaser, she refused to be sold. She was put up for sale again, and this time went for three shillings and a quart of ale, to a better looking bidder, one presumes! Nor were such transactions necessarily permanent. In 1826 William Kaye bought John Turton’s wife Mary, for five shillings. Sadly for William, and somewhat suspiciously, he did not last long, and soon shuffled off this mortal coil. Mary promptly returned to John, and they remained together for the next thirty years. Wife selling even found it’s way into popular literature. The plot of Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge, published in 1886, entailed the main character getting drunk and selling his wife to a sailor; a deed he regrets for the rest of his life. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) Amazingly, the custom of wife selling seems to have continued right up until the early years of the twentieth century. British politician James Bryce, writing in 1901, stated “everybody has heard of the odd habit of selling a wife, which still occasionally recurs among the humbler classes in England.” The last reported case of a wife sale, is believed to be that recorded in Yorkshire court records in 1913, where a woman gave evidence to the effect that her husband had sold her to one of his workmates for one pound. I suppose the modern equivalent of this bizarre practice would be listing your partner on eBay. Hmmm, spouse-Bay. Now there’s a thought. “Honey, smile for the camera!” Sources: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/11/surprisingly-recent-time-british-history-husbands-sold-wives-market/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_selling_(English_custom)