Popular Marriage and the Law: Tales of Bigamy at the Eighteenth-Century Old Bailey

Abstract

This article uses evidence from the Old Bailey Proceedings to re-assess eighteenth-century London's reputation as a 'magnet for bigamists'. Examining the changing pattern of indictments and the motives of prosecutors, it questions current historical views on bigamy that argue that it was both a widespread social phenomenon and a popularly tolerated form of remarriage in a society where divorce was restricted to the social elite. It demonstrates that bigamy was increasingly perceived as a crime of male sexual exploitation as the eighteenth century progressed. Analysing in detail the stories told by prosecutors, witnesses and defendants, it explores how motives were ascribed to bigamists and how plural marriages were justified. It uncovers a complex array of explanations for bigamy from economic survival to conscientious choice, and in the process provides a revealing insight into the marital lives of London's non-elite.