Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1905-01-16
THE SALE OF WIVES
AN ANCIENT CUSTOM THAT STILL
SURVIVES IN ENGLAND.

shire and Shcnleid-It Is, In Fact,
the Poor Mans Method OF Divorce.
The custom OF selling wives still pre-
walls in some parts Of England.
For presidents Of this commercial
form Of divorce some journalists have
searched the records Of century ago
and produced numerous instances Of
wives being led to the cattle market
and there knocked down to the highest
biddc-. But It is not necessary TO 80
back anything like n hundred years
for such sales Of wives. There are
sufficient modern instances to maintain
the assertion that wife selling is still a
British custom. There are hundreds Of
people who still believe that to transfer
a wife to another man for a cash pay
ment is a legal transaction and valid
dissolution Of the matrimonial ties. AS
a popular error It ranks with the idea
that II husband and wife be absent
and unheard Of for seven years the
other is free TO marry again. In York
shire generally. and in Sheffield in par
ticular, this doctrine Of wife selling is
still so firmly established and frequent
ly practiced that it has little less than
the force Of a local law
Legends Of Sheffield grinders who in
drunken bouts sell their wives for a
quart of ale are well known But now
adays such transactions are no longer
conducted offhand They are invested
with formality. as witness this docu-
ment which figured in a case at the
Sheffield county court in 1887: AT the
Royal Oak, Sheffield, 1, Abraham
Boothroyd, agree to sell my wife, Clara,
to William Hall for the sum OF 3
shillings" In another case the bar
gaining was accidentally overheard in
a public house by a Sheffield journalist.
A GOLFERS wife had transferred her af-
fections to another man, and the hus-
band was willing to renounce his claim
for suitable compensation. So the par
ties assembled in a public house to ar
range matters. There were the hus-
band with a friend; his wife, with her
father and mother, and the prospective
PURCHASER, with a friend. The husband
demanded CO for his wife. She herself
said IL was too much. and her new man
said he wouldn't give more than a SOW
ereign. Finally 30 shillings was the
sum agreed upon. 1t was paid over
and this document drawn up, signed
and witnessed: Mr.. Taylor to have my
wife, Elizabeth Smith, free from me
forever, TO do as she has a mind, this
day, Dec. II, 1893"
These are merely two recent cases
which have come TO light The major
ity Of such sales of wives never attain
publicity. At Leeds asslzes I'm 1895
Benjamin Gibbons was. tried for big
amy. He admitted that he. had mar
ried woman while his first wife was
alive, but he pleaded that MS he had
sold her he was entitled TO marry again.
She was young woman and unruly.
Even though he constantly gave her
good hidings she troubled him. and.
firing OF her, he sold her to a soldier
for IS. Cd. She went quite willingly
and had married her purchaser.
Again. at Leeds assizes in 1900 an
other hganlst offered the same de-
tense. On his arrest he stated. when
l married her | knew had wife liv-
ing, but l sold her for 80 shilllngs."
More recently at Stockport an elder
ly man told the magistrates that he
thought he was entitled to marry again,
as he had sold his first wife TO chin
ney sweep for Is pence.
In each case IL will be noted the pur-
chase money is small. This is not due
to low valuation of the woman, but
nominal sum is agreed upon TO make
the bargain an actual one. The legal
doctrine OF value received" is so far
understood by the vulgar mind. The
sale, indeed, is the poor mans divorce.
His honesty in this matter Is shown
by his retention OF the children of the
marriage and his maintenance of them.
In case at Doncaster In 1896 the pur-
chaser instead of paying cash, agreed
10 take over the vendors four children
with the wife. This was the document
which figured later in the police court:
New Conisboro, March %. 1861,
Enoch Childs, is quite willing to take
your wife and children as mlne-that
is, your wife, Ellen Tart. and Sarah,
John, Henry and Eliza. Signed, Ellen
Tart, Enoch Chllds."
Though Lancashire is so kin to York
shire, no sales Of wives are known in
the County Palatine. But at Alferton.
in Derbyshire, a collier sold his wife
for fourpence in 1882. In 1873 there
was a remarkable case at Belper. The
wife Of an absconding debtor had
halter placed about her neck and was
led into the market place on Saturday
afternoon and offered for sale by auc-
ton as one Of her husbands assets
But there were no bidders and no sale
About four years ago Irthlingborough,
near Northampton, supplied a southern
instance. A shoemaker paraded the
streets with a bell, calling upon all
persons 10 know that he had that aft
ernoon 'sold and bequeathed" bis wife
10 John --. lie proclaimed the names
OF two companions as witnesses to the
transaction. The purchase money was
2 shillings Mr. Barring Gould cites
similar sales in the west country, and
to so back more than thirty years
would mean the extension of this sub
ject TO intolerable length, for a cen
fury ego wife selling was almost COM
mon. That it is practiced as frequent
" as 1t is will come as a surprise to