Insights into Plebeian Marriage: Soldiers, Sailors, and their Wives in the Old Bailey Proceedings

Abstract

The Old Bailey Proceedings can reveal far more than the bigamy and violence typically understood to be a prominent feature of soldiers' and sailors' marriages. This article looks at a wide variety of eighteenth-century criminal cases to offer a much broader picture of military marriage. It is clear that many men in the army defied rules which forbade marriage to all but a minority of soldiers and that numerous soldiers used their identities as husbands and fathers to establish character and gain credibility in the courts. Peripheral testimony presents images of soldiers and sailors treating their female companions with chivalry and respect. While frequent separation and low or unreliable pay clearly placed additional strain on military couples and contributed to drunkenness, infidelity and domestic abuse, the distinctive circumstances of military employment simultaneously engendered survival strategies based upon mutual affection and cooperation.