I was not completely sure, when asked to review this book, whether 300 pages or so on Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen would be my sort of thing. I am interested in Georgian and Regency History but that interest tends more towards the political and the military. I needn’t have worried. The book draws both on Austen’s novels and on the correspondence of real couples of the time. It is a comprehensive work. I shall not list all 17 chapters but they start with Meeting, Attraction, Courtship, lead on through Weddings, Honeymoons, Elopements, Abductions and Early Married Life through finally to Widows and Widowers and Growing Old Together.
The author’s analysis of relations between men and women of the time contains many words of wisdom which could be generally applicable. If he ever tires of being a historian, I think he could make a good living as a marriage counsellor.
The book focusses on the love lives of the upper and middle classes. Many well-known historical characters feature. Among those whose relationships are ably dissected by the author are: The Duke of Wellington and his wife Kitty, James Boswell and his wife Margaret, George Canning and his wife Joan, and Lord Castlereagh and his wife Amelia. Many of the lesser known subjects come from military, naval, or diplomatic backgrounds. Of all those featured, some had happy marriages, some had bad marriages, and some just muddled along. Just like the rest of us.
The book has many compelling vignettes. Husbands and wives of the period were often separated for long periods. In one striking example, the naval explorer Matthew Flinders went off to Australia only three months after marrying his wife Ann in 1801. He set sail on his journey home a couple of years later but had to put in at Mauritius. Britain was at war with France and the French governor of the island detained him until 1810. When he eventually got home the couple had not seen each other for over nine years. They then just picked up the traces and went on to have a very successful marriage.
There are a number of bounders in the book of course. Possibly the biggest bounder of the Regency period, the Regent himself, does not feature very prominently but there are others to be getting on with. One such was Andrew Robinson Stoney. His marriage to Mary, Countess of Strathmore was a disaster. He was violent, unfaithful and profligate. Divorce was very difficult at the time, and particularly difficult for women. For example while infidelity by a wife gave grounds for divorce to a husband, infidelity by a husband did not do so to a wife. Mary did somehow manage to get a divorce from Stoney in 1785 and he ended up dying in a debtors’ prison. A fascinating, instructive and entertaining book and well worth a read.
Love And Marriage In The Age Of Jane Austen by Rory Muir is published by Yale University Press.
