“It seems the persons were but lately come into the Parish and they had lived together before and they had brought a bouncing child to be christened the very day of their wedding. I gave them a good jubation, and told them that had I known there were such people in my Parish I would not have suffered them to remain long in that situation. This they were aware of, so came to be married.”

(from the records of William Holland, 19 October 1800, found in Jane Austen’s England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods, by Roy and Lesley Adkins)

Reading a bit about courtship and marriage in early 19th century England, and it turns out that Jane Austen didn’t give quite a full picture of what it looked like. Spoiler: it looked a lot like it does today. Anyone who thinks that out-of-wedlock babies and years of cohabitation are a modern invention, think again.

Other things that have to be shared:

1. Widows whose late husbands left behind debts would sometimes get married completely naked to indicate that their new husbands weren’t responsible for the debts. (Not actually legal, but most people thought it was, so it was effective.) And if a man was marrying a wealthy woman and wanted to indicate that she didn’t have to take responsibility for his debt… well, for some reason, she was still the one who showed up naked. Funny, that…

2. Apprentices often had to sign an indenture pledging that they would “not commit fornication, nor contract matrimony.” Equally frowned on, apparently!

3. Weddings could only legally be held between 8:00 am and noon until 1886.

4. Mothers warning their daughters against “hateful matrimony,” but the daughters do not listen because of the example of “widows who remarried time and again.” I laughed out loud at that one!

4. Divorces were hard to get, but men would SELL THEIR WIVES. Like, literally, take them to the town square and sell them. This was also not legal. At all. But again, it was accepted?! I think that needs to make it into a book somewhere…

History is so weird.