Cruelty and Companionship: Conflict in Nineteenth Century Married Life

Cruelty and Companionshipis an account of the darker side of marriage in Victorian and Edwardian England. Drawing upon previously unpublished material from the records of divorce and matrimonial proceedings in magistrates' courts, the author challenges popular views about changing family patterns, and gives new insights into the sexual politics of everyday life and the routine tensions which shaped marriage in middle and working- class families. Using contemporary evidence ranging from prescriptive texts and public debate to autobiography and fiction, Hammerton examines the intense public scrutiny which accompanied the routine exposure of marital breakdown, and also charts the growing critique of men's behavior in marriage which increasingly demanded regulation and reform. By examining critical discourse on the subject of marriage, ranging from paternalist to feminist views, this study takes an unprecedented look at the origins and trajectory of nineteenth-century feminism, legal change.