Morality in the 19^th Century

Many Family Historians must at some time have come across one or more illegitimate births in their history and no doubt had thoughts about their ancestors' morality. With this in mind I quote the following extract from the Morning Chronicle of January 1850:

"It really seems in many places to be taken as a matter of course that a young woman will be found with child before she is married. Many are married as soon as they become pregnant. Indeed I have reason to believe that in an immense number of cases young people come to a distinct understanding with each other to cohabit illicitly until the woman becomes pregnant, the man promising to "make an honest woman of her" as soon as that takes place. This they find more convenient than marrying at once, inasmuch as the girl may be of service for herself, and the man elsewhere employed all the time. They meet occasionally, and are thus relieved at least of the responsibilities and the duties of house-keeping, living better on their separate earnings than they could do in a house of their own. This practice of cohabitation before marriage is almost universal. It is not only a characteristic of low rural life; it is also with the miners and the fishermen."