NAVAL WIVES AND MISTRESSES

by Margarette Lincoln

An innovative study of naval women who stayed at home while their men went to sea. Focusing on the second half of the 18th century, a period when Britain was almost continuously at war, this book looks at different social groups, from the aristocratic elite to the laboring and criminal poor, prostitutes and petty thieves.

Drawing on a range of material from personal letters to trial reports, from popular prints to love tokens, it exposes the personal cost of warfare and imperial ambition. It also reveals the opportunities for greater self-determination that some women were able to grasp, as the responsibility for maintaining the home and bringing up children fell squarely on them in their husbands’ absence.

The text includes many voices from the past and throws fresh light on an under-researched aspect of women’s history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Margarette Lincoln was director of research and collections and, from 2001, deputy director of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. She is now a visiting fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Reviews

[Peter Danckwerts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like too many books, I bought this as a source for for my family history. However, it is a fascinating read for anyone who is interested in social history. The author has gathered a mountain of of primary material on Royal Navy wives and mistresses and gives a lot of useful background information as well. For instance, the existence, between 171o and 1753, of Fleet marriages. These were nothing to do with the Fleet in nautical terms; they were marriages, requiring no licence or banns, held within the precincts of the Fleet Prison, officiated by clergymen incarcerated for debt. Because these clergymen had no money and were already in prison, they could not be made to pay the fine usually levied on those who performed such irregular weddings.

Margarette Lincoln has concentrated on the second half of the eighteenth century, a period in which both society and the navy were in flux. She looks at wives and mistresses from all strata of society, from the aristocracy to 'the labouring and criminal classes'. It should be borne in mind, also, that the Royal Navy offered opportunities for considerable wealth and social advancement (at least for the 'middling sort'), which was not so readily available elsewhere – and, if the husbands rose, so too did their wives and mistresses. The more well-connected wives often helped their husbands' careers and some of the 'middling sort' were able to help the wives of their 'social inferiors' by ensuring that the husbands remitted enough money to sustain their families at home. I was happy to discover that my 3 times great grandmother had done just that.

As the author points out, even the more aristocratic wives often had to deal with their husbands' debts while they were at sea.

It will come as no surprise that there was a gaping chasm between the sort of behaviour that men and women could get away with. Even so, the women (especially those of the 'middling sort'), being held to such high standards themselves, could be quite censorious about the behaviour of both sexes.

This is a rich and rewarding book which I cannot recommend too highly.

[Tarig Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent