Today, neither women nor men need to explain why they aren’t married.
But in the Victorian era, there was immense pressure for women to tie the knot.
Those who didn’t were described as ‘Spinsters’ and were the subject of cruel jokes.
But a popular weekly magazine from the 1880s shows that unmarried women were perfectly capable of fighting back.
Comments sent in by single women who had been invited in a competition to explain, ‘Why I am a Spinster’ showed the acerbic wit of respondents.
Historian Dr Bob Nicholson found the jokes while studying an 1889 edition of Tit- Bits Magazine, which continued to be published until 1984.
Dr Nicholson told MailOnline: ‘I love some of the responses to this competition — they turn the stereotype of the Victorian spinster on its head and reveal some of the reasons why some Victorian women might have preferred to remain single.
See below for some of the best responses.
Comments sent in by single women who had been invited in a competition featured in an 1889 edition of Tit-Bits Magazine to explain, ‘Why I am a Spinster’ showed the acerbic wit of female respondents. Historian Dr Bob Nicholson found the jokes while searching through old editions of Tit-Bits
Dr Nicholson told MailOnline: ‘I love some of the responses to this competition — they turn the stereotype of the Victorian spinster on its head and reveal some of the reasons why some Victorian women might have preferred to remain single. Pictured: The brutal response sent in by Miss Sparrow, of Paddington
Miss Florence Watts, of Fulham, South-West London, said she was still a spinster because, ‘I have other professions open to me in which the hours are shorter, the work more agreeable and the pay possibly better
Miss S A Roberts, of Tipton, Staffordshire, said she was single ‘Because (like a piece of rare china) I am breakable and mendable, but difficult to match’
Miss Annie Thompson, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, said she had not yet married because ‘I am like the Rifle Volunteers: always ready, but not yet wanted’
Miss Jessie Davies, of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, said she was unmarried ‘because I am an English lady, and the Americans monopolize the market’
‘Like the wild mustang of the prairie that roams unfettered, tossing his head in utter disdain at the approach of the lasso which, if once round his neck, proclaims him captive, so I find it more delightful to tread on the verge of freedom and captivity, than to allow the snarer to cast around me the matrimonial torso,’ wrote Miss Sarah Kennerly, of Ashton-on-Ribble, Lancashire
Miss Lizzie Moore, of Upper Tooting, South-West London, joked, ‘My reason for being a spinster is answered in a quotation from the “Taming of the Shrew”: “Of all the men alive I never yet beheld that special face which I could fancy more than any other’
Miss E. Jones, of Mile End, East London, explained why she was still single. She wrote: ‘John, whom I loved, was supplanted in his office by a girl, who is doing the same amount of work he did for half the salary he received. He could not earn sufficient to keep a home, so went abroad; consequently, I am still a spinster’
Miss Laura Bax, of Wood Green, North London, joked: ‘Because matrimony is like an electric battery, when you once join hands you can’t let go, however much it hurts; and, as when embarked on a toboggan slide, you must go to the bitter end, however much it bumps
The women’s responses featured on a whole page (pictured) of Tit-Bits after the magazine’s editors asked ‘Spinsters’ to explain why they were unmarried