Regency Teenagers: That's Not a Thing, is It?

 Not really, but a very special young lady in my life turned 13 recently. Like her mum, she’s a history buff – and a writer, though hers tend towards the YA rather than the steamy scenes (write what you know, they say – and I have thoughts on this that I’ll get into at another time). 

We’ve had several discussions about what life might look like if my daughter were ‘a Regency teen.’ With Season 3 of #Bridgerton having just dropped (or half of it), I figured a post on Regency girls growing up was overdue.

So, on the assumption that I’m a mama of the ton and not from below stairs (where a girl's working age was much younger), here goes:

If my daughter turned 13 in Regency England, she could:

• be considered ‘ripe for breeding’, providing her menses were begun, and she might be on the marriage mart. Could she be wed, bedded, and a mother by 14 years old? All possible from age 12 in fact.
  
  
• become betrothed with her father’s written consent – and his signature on the betrothal contracts. (As her mother, I have no legal standing here, unless I’m widowed first.) The choice of partner was left to her parents – usually her father, uncles and/or brothers. She herself was not always consulted, and her consent wasn’t necessary.
      If no one else can agree but her mother – well, Regency law treated widows better than any other category of womanhood because of the referred authority (legally and financially) from her deceased husband.
      In many cases, a handsome youngish widow was the best outcome a Regency girl might hope for – especially if her parents matched her to a wealthy older fellow with whom she had little in common.
  
  
• be presented for the Season – possibly before Her Majesty the Queen. While it's true that most debutantes were 16-18 years old, younger girls could come out, if they were heiresses without single older sisters.
  
  
• not inherit any of her legacies until she reaches the age of majority (21 years), whereupon she could decide some things for herself without parental consent. A cynic may suggest this formed part of the push to marry off young Regency girls before this age.
      If, for example, her parents were earning well from their daughter’s inheritance until she reached 21 years, they could specify this arrangement continue after she wed (whereupon all her assets legally become the property of her new husband).
      The prospective groom could agree to share, or the parents might withhold consent. In fact, they could choose a man who served their interests, over and above their daughter's – and there’s no doubt this happened.
      The faux-romance between the eldest Miss Featherington and her cousin Jack in Season 2 of Bridgerton could easily have ended up like this – but for all her faults, when it came to her “young ladies” Lady Featherington proved a far more formidable matron than Jack credited – and a good thing too!
  
  
• request her father – or any male relative over the age of majority - sue for breach of promise if her betrothed didn't proceed with a contracted arrangement and so into marriage (regardless of any revelations that may occur between contracted betrothal and solemnised marriage).
  
  
• have her father cancel an existing betrothal without penalty. Legally, her betrothed could sue her family for breach of promise, but such court proceedings were rare when the complainant was a man – and ever more rarely decided in the man’s favour.
      Besides, skipping out on your betrothal was far more common for men than women- especially if the betrothed woman was pregnant.
  
  
• Wind up as prey for fortune hunters, whom, if successful in taking her virginity (like Mr Wickham did to Lydia Bennett), might end up with her dowry while she’d end up wife to a man who'd not likely treat her well.
  
  
• gain her education in a seminary or boarding school until her debut. She might also be home schooled with a governess, like Lydia in The King’s Mistress, but her education wouldn't likely progress past 14 or 15 years old,

• learn skills that might impress a Regency-era gentleman, such as: languages (French and German were fairly standard), drawing, music (playing and singing), etc.
      Science and mathematics were rarely considered necessary for women to learn, but some – like Lord Byron’s daughter Ada Lovelace – studied it anyway, becoming formidable intellects and damaging their marriage prospects in the process.
  
  
• accept work as a ‘companion’ to a wealthier relation if her family needed her to do so, and this could begin as early as 11 or 12 years old.
      Jobs for the impoverished gentlewoman weren’t easy to come by – because, of course, a proper young lady isn’t meant to work at all, but there were discreet methods of earning a living, such as writing a newspaper column, or doing the accounting books for businesses in different towns…all possible by correspondence.
      Many women took in work like this, often using male pseudonyms to overcome the overt sexism of the day. The Brontes and Georges Sand are excellent examples of this – and Jane Austen herself did not release her novels under her legal name.

Children weren’t really children in the 1800s, and the term ‘teenager’ only really dates from the 1900s. That’s quite apart from the strides women have made over the years to be noticed as legal people in their own right, separate and apart from their male relations (whether by birth or marriage).