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Advice for women in the 1930s: ‘Nothing destroys the happiness of married life more than the lazy, slovenly wife’
It must have been a grim for wives at the turn of the 20th century, judging by advice given to them on how to keep their men.
Not only were they expected to do everything their husband’s told them but it was also "inevitable" that he would assume they were “an idiot”.
The advice, uncovered by the British Newspaper Archive’s collection, has shown a misogynistic, if amusing, side to newspapers from generations past, as women were given advice on how to keep their husbands happy.
One article, in the Isle of Man Times in 1895 sums up the plight of the lowly Victorian wife.
“Don’t argue with your husband; do whatever he tells you and obey all his orders,” it advises.
“Don’t worry him for money and don’t expect a new dress oftener than he offers to buy you one.
“Don’t sit up till he comes home from the club; better be in bed and pretend to be asleep.
“If you must be awake, seem to be glad he came home early. He’ll probably think you an idiot; but that’s inevitable anyway.”
Another article suggests that women should never complain.
“Don’t mope and cry because you are ill – women should never be ill,” it said.
Other pearls of wisdom included a direction from a vicar, given during a Mothering Sunday sermon as reported in the Derby Daily Telegraph.
Dr. W M Irwin, the vicar of Duffield, Derbyshire, said: “Long faces and nagging did not get you your husband, and long faces and nagging will not keep them.”
Mrs Dobbin Crawford, a Liverpool surgeon, 1930, said in the Bath Chronicle in 1930, never “criticise your husband even to your mother.
“Nothing destroys the happiness of married life more than the lazy, slovenly wife,” she adds.
In the Sunderland Echo in 1893, an expert advises that a wife could have the looks of “Helen of Troy and the intellect of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom” but without “tact” it means nothing.
“It is a woman who possesses more tact than love who retains the devotion of a man,” it adds.
Veronica Roasio, also reported in the Bath Chronicle, said that women should remember “he earns a living and “so shields you from the world”.
“Do keep abreast of the days news, new books and new ideas so that you can hold your husband’s intellectual attention,” she adds.
Other words of wisdom include: “Don’t answer back; don’t spend money on yourself, don’t do anything he doesn’t want you to do.
“Then, if you are not a happy woman, your husband at least will be comfortable.”
Debra Chatfield, spokesman for the British Newspaper Archives, said: “These outrageous advice columns seem funny to us now, but at the time such advice was taken quite seriously by those who read them.
“Reviewing newspaper articles from the past is a great way to track social attitudes towards gender roles, politics and popular opinion, and these articles are among many gems to be found in the archives.”