The Mayor of Casterbridge
In the 1886 novel called The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, the main character, Michael Henchard is an alcoholic hay-trusser who goes to the local fair with his wife, Susan, and infant daughter Elizabeth-Jane. In the middle of a drunken rage, Michael decides to sell his Susan and their baby to the highest bidder. He sells her to a kind traveling sailor for five guineas, and Susan agrees to leave, because she was done being a victim of Michael’s drunken temper. The next day, Michael sobers up and tries to get his wife back, but he discovers it is too late, because the sailor was already gone. He spends the rest of his life regretting his poor life choices. He quits drinking and turns his life around. After experiencing sobriety for years, Michael Henchard becomes a successful businessman and mayor. However, even when he turns his life around, the wife-sale comes back to haunt him when he falls in love again and tries to get remarried. Nineteen years after she was sold to the sailor, Susan brings Elizabeth-Jane to Casterbridge to meet her biological father, and drama ensues.
While the characters and events in the novel were works of fiction, Thomas Hardy was inspired by articles written about wife-selling in his local newspaper, The Dorset County Chronicle. Clearly, Thomas Hardy wanted to send the message that wife-selling was not a great idea, and the novel became a cautionary tale of what could happen when men make rash decisions.
Since the 1500’s, England has used “Poor Laws” to justify issues that are unique to lower-class people. Members of law enforcement and the court system believed that wife-selling fell under the umbrella of “Poor Laws”, which is why there were so few instances of arrests. Even when a man was caught selling his wife, he only had to serve one month of manual labor, which was the case with a man named Joshua Jackson in 1837.
Obviously, this was not an issue all over Europe, because many countries had affordable divorce options. A French publication called Punch Magazine drew up a political cartoon to mock the British, illustrating an obese peasant woman who resembled a pig. In another cartoon, a fat character called “John Bull” looks drunk and dressed to the nines as he gets ready to sell his wife at Smithfield Market.
In 1857, the English government realized how much of an issue this actually was, and they created the Matrimonial Causes Act. This reformed their divorce laws to make it more affordable for the general public in civil court. Before this point, a woman could be put to death for committing adultery, while a man basically got away with it. The Matrimonial Causes Act also did away with the adultery laws, because they realized that it caused more harm than good. These new and affordable divorce proceedings caused a decline in wife-selling, but it did not completely disappear in communities with extreme poverty. Even in the United States, there were still a few instances of wife auctions in the late 1800’s.
In 1889, The Yorkshire Gazette was still reporting stories of wife auctions. One woman was sold for five shillings, while another was sold for only one. Even when the auction was over, this woman who was only “worth” one shilling was led back to her new husband’s home with the halter and leash still around her neck. In 1894, there was yet another case reported in the New York Times where the husband tried to sell his wife at the market. Instead of quietly accepting her fate, this woman screamed, struggled, and refused to allow her husband to put a animal leash around her neck. Despite the fact that she clearly did not want to go along with it, they eventually had to be pulled apart, and were forced to go to civil court to get a proper divorce. There was a huge crowd that witnessed this, and it inspired a folk song called “Rosin the Beau”. By this time, the idea of a man selling his wife was appalling, and people knew it was much more civilized to just go to court. As women began to fight for their right to vote, and the mindset of marriage slowly began to shift, the practice eventually died out completely.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
The Mayor of Casterbridge. Thomas Hardy. Broadview Press. 1997.
Wife-Selling in England. Law Quarterly Review. 1929.
Women, Work & Sexual Politics in Eighteenth-century England. Bridget Hill. McGill Queens-University Press. 1994.
Wife Selling at Smithfield: Authentic Case and Ballad in Which the Heroine is Sold. New York Times. 1894.