An example of Public division of class is in church. The higher class usually had reserved seats at the front of the church; the wealthy men sitting with their well turned out and smartly dressed wives.
According to Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England “By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during her marriage, or at least is incorporated or consolidated into that of her husband, under whose wing, protection and cover, she performs everything.” In effect, a woman surrendered her legal existence on marriage.
On marriage, under common law, the husband gained the control of, and income from, a woman's property held in the form of freehold land, although the husband could not dispose of it without her consent. This was known as her real property. Her personal property meant money from earnings or investments, or personal belongs such as jewellery. These were passed entirely into the husband’s control, and she couldn’t part with personal property without his consent. To evade these provisions under the common law, it was necessary to agree a marriage settlement under equity law. Children belonging to the woman were passed on to be the property of the husband.
However, laws were passed to improve women’s position in terms of marriage. The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 denied the husband his right to the earnings of a wife he had deserted. The Married Woman's Property Act of 1870 allowed women to keep earnings or property acquired after marriage. The Married Woman's Property Act of 1882 allowed women to retain what they owned at the time of marriage. A divorce could only be achieved through a complicated process that could only be undergone under certain circumstances, before the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857. The act was designed to, in effect, allow moderately wealthy men to divorce their wives on grounds of adultery, cruelty, or bigamy. It wasn’t until 1923 that the grounds of divorce were made the same for both sexes. After 1949, legal aid was available so that divorce was not as expensive.
In “The News Of The Engagement” a division of class is shown as Mrs Durance gives Mrs Dawson some second-class cutlery when asked to lend some. This is because Mrs Dawson may be a lower class to Mrs Durance.
Mrs Durance has servants. This suggests that the Durance family is of a high class.
The family friend, Mr Nixon, is of a very high class because he owns 175 cottages in the town. He had been collecting rents for years and was known very well as a landlord.
In “Tony Kytes, The Arch Deceiver”, Unity Sallet, the first woman who rides with Tony, and his fiancée, Milly Richards, are asked to hide. Unity, underneath a tarpaulin, and, Milly, underneath some sacks. Any higher class woman would probably be horrified at this idea. However, Unity and Milly, both being a supposedly lower class, agree to this. “Unity Sallet agreed and lay down at the back end of the wagon.” as quoted from the story. The matter is , more or less, the same with Milly, who says “I don’t mind, to oblige you, Tony.”
Hannah Jolliver appears to be of the highest class as she is the one who does not know how to control a horse and carriage. This is pointed out by Tony’s father when he says “She cant hold that horse in”. It would seem that lower class women have more experience of this from working.
Also, Hannah refuses to marry Tony after being scratched by a bramble because she is upset at this. She is also refusing because her father is there.
To conclude, the values of Victorian society are mainly reflected by class divisions, in “The News Of The Engagement” and “Tony Kytes, The Arch Deceiver”
