The Social Position of Spinsters in Mid-Victorian Britain

Abstract

British society of the mid-nineteenth century contained a large excess of single and widowed women over single and widowed men. To contemporaries one important offshoot of this situation was a major "spinster problem, " which was focused especially on difficulties in finding suitable occupations and residen tial locations for single women as they aged. This paper uses a national sample from the 1851 manuscript census to explore the social situation of spinsters over the life course and to compare their situations with those of bachelors and of women of other marital statuses. The data show the importance of domestic ser vice and familial employment for younger spinsters and the significance of Poor Relief and property income for spinsters in old age. Residentially, institutions and living with kin were particularly significant for older spinsters. The paper concludes by relating the life cycle experience of spinsters to the growing body of evidence on the nature of the life cycle in Britain in the 200 years before the Second World War.