Victorian Women Revealed Why They Stayed Single, And Their Reasons Are Surprisingly Savage

You probably think of the Victorian era as a time when everyone – especially women – strived to be as prim and proper as possible. But the ladies who wrote to the 19th-century magazine Tit-Bits were, let’s just say, pretty savage – especially when it came to men. These members of the so-called fairer sex gave refreshingly frank, surprisingly witty and occasionally heartbreaking answers to the question “Why am I a spinster?” And even now, their responses are bound to strike a chord.

20. I can’t be tamed

Let’s face it: not everyone is cut out for marriage. Some would rather spend their lives on their own, making their own decisions without anyone else’s input. And even in the Victorian era, Sarah Kennerly considered herself to be one such free spirit. She explained her choices to Tit-Bits using a wild horse metaphor.

Kennerly wrote, “Like the wild mustang of the prairie that roams unfettered, tossing his head in utter disdain at the approach of the lasso which, if once round his neck, proclaims him captive, so I find it more delightful to tread on the verge of freedom and captivity than to allow the snarer to cast around me the matrimonial lasso.” In other words, she simply couldn’t be tamed.

19. I just wanted to win this contest

The women who submitted their stories to Tit-Bits were, on the whole, very much single. Londoner Lilian Harris claimed, by contrast, that she had found her “beau ideal.” But according to the 21-year-old, she still found herself alone – and for a hilarious reason.

Harris admitted – seemingly as a joke – that it was the magazine’s very contest that had convinced her to part from her perfect boyfriend. The single lady wrote, “Then why am I a spinster? ’Tis Tit-Bits to blame. I long to gain the ‘Spinsters Prize’ and so be known to fame.” She at least got her name in the magazine, so mission almost accomplished.