Victorian Saga (Wife Auctions) - 17-19th Centuries

Victorian Saga (Wife Auctions) : Between the 17th and 19th centuries, divorce was prohibitively expensive. So some lower-class British people didn't get them—they sold their wives instead. The custom seems outlandish today, but it could be found in public places like markets, taverns and fairs. Divorce was granted by Parliament only for adultery. Wives could only initiate a divorce Bill if the adultery was compounded by life-threatening cruelty. Because of the high costs, only the wealthy could afford this method of ending a marriage. In desolation and shame, young unmarried mothers placed their infants in workhouses where their survival was questionable, committed infanticide or turned to baby farmers who specialized in the premeditated and systematic murder of illegitimate infants. Illegitimacy had always been stigmatized in English Society. #Indonordicassociation(dot)org https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-ancient-traditions/wife-auctions-0016750