New romantics? No, the Poldark era cared more for rich brides

It was the era when, according to popular myth, love came of age. In the 18th century, Romanticism swept Europe, colouring everything from literature and philosophy to the relationships between men and women. It was a period when marriages made for practical considerations gave way to the feelings of the heart, an outpouring of emotion captured in epic period dramas such as Poldark.

But research suggests this commonly held view greatly over-romanticises the past. Far from being the period when love bloomed, the 18th century was a mercenary time in which many men married not out of love but to get their hands on a woman’s wealth.

In fact, Anne Laurence, a historian with Open University, finds that pragmatic marriages – those made for the preservation or the transfer of wealth – became more, not less, important during the century. Her study, to be presented at the annual conference of the Economic History Society, is based on a trawl of marriage announcements in London newspapers when it was common to refer to a bride’s wealth.

The fortunes of the brides, who were mainly daughters of merchants, businessmen, MPs and other professionals, were routinely given either in thousands of pounds or described as “large”, “ample”, “considerable” or “handsome”. In almost two thirds – 65% – of the nearly 400 notices studied, the bride’s fortune, ranging from £1,000 to more than £20,000, was specified. Rarely was there a mention of the groom’s finances. Laurence provides a typical example that reads: “On Tuesday last Gilbert Burton, Esq; eldest son to George Burton, Esq; was married at Foot’s Cray near Eltham in Kent, to Miss Craddock, only daughter to Mr Craddock, late an eminent goldsmith in Lombard Street, a beautiful young lady with a fortune of £10,000.”

The hunt for wealthy women became so frenzied that in 1742, a guide was published. A Master Key to the Rich Ladies Treasury: the Widower and Batchelor’s Directory listed more than 400 women, including widows and spinsters, their place of abode, their reputed fortune and amount of money they had invested in the stockmarket. The anonymous author cast his net wide: several of the women were in their 70s and 80s.

Laurence’s work implies that the 18th century may now be ripe for revisionism. Previously, historians tended to identify it as the period when, in western Europe, arranged marriages or, at least, marriages made for practical considerations, gave way to those based on love. But the study suggests that, far from becoming less important, pragmatic marriage became more important during the century. “Mercenary marriages became the subject of much criticism, but it would seem that the zeitgeist was against the moralists,” Laurence writes. Such an approach may seem unfathomable in today’s society, which can seem obsessed with romantic love. But Laurence suggests an element of pragmatism still exists in many modern marriages. “Western sensibilities react against the idea that marriage might be for reasons other than love of a partner and a desire to spend the rest of one’s life with them,” she said. “We recognise no one has to get married to survive. At the same time, the very rich make prenuptial agreements and ever-larger divorce settlements make the news weekly. The preservation of a fortune concentrates the mind on pragmatic considerations.”