Divorcees of History

Jeanne Marie is one of the rare women in my dataset to identify herself in the introduction of her affidavit by her profession: "I, Jeanne Marie Socleu Fayhay of Mark Lane in the City of London Hotelkeeper make oath and say as follows." Her story is one of a badly treated woman who managed nevertheless to maintain her agency and economic independence; it is also the tale of the increasingly cosmopolitan and citizenship-fluid world of 19th century Western Europe. In 1849 she married Michael Joseph Fayhay, a baker at Antwerp, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. They lived together for 4 years, till his baking business failed in Antwerp, at which point Michael "made me accompany him to [the island of] Jersey and from Jersey to London and from London to Belgium."  When they arrived in Belgium by steamship, Michael told her to wait aboard while he went to find lodgings. He never returned. The destitute Jeanne Marie, who "had nowhere to sleep," appealed to help fro...

Readers who are familiar with 19th century British novels or early 20th century mysteries probably recognize the figure of the "companion," the well-educated gentlewoman in impoverished circumstances who serves as a friend/chaperone/glorified servant to a wealthier woman. Companions in such novels are often mistreated or actively abused by their patrons but sometimes manage to use their social connections to find happy marriages. These fictional companions were based on very real women who had few other professional respectable opportunities to make a living. What is striking about the case of Caroline and John Hurd is that we see historical evidence that this was not a strictly gendered profession, despite the lack of any literary evidence I can find. Caroline and John Hurd were married in 1839; she was a Middlesex widow from an apparently mildly prosperous family. He was a "lazy, dissolute fellow" who made no effort to seek employment after their marriage. Afte...