Victorian Domestic Abuse

In 1848 an Inspector of the Poor entered a house and found a woman imprisoned in a tiny water closet. She had been there for four months. She was lying in filth, her hair matted, covered in vermin and she had been in a crouching position so long she could not straighten up. Her husband stated she had been 'disorderly'. In Victorian Britain, a married woman had no rights, not to her money, her property, her children or even her body. Wife beating was widespread and wifely chastisement acceptable. Slowly though women began to fight back. Included in this book are some of the most terrible tales of abuse some Victorian women endured.