Philobiblon

“Wear not a straight ring. Lead your life in freedom and liberty, and throw not your self into slavery…”

Lady Sarah Cowper, 1706, soon after being widowed (a death that finally rid her of the husband of more than four decades with whom she never got on.)

From Kugler, A. “‘I feel myself decay apace,’ Old Age in the diary of Lady Sarah Cowper (1644-1720)” pp. 66-88

An alternative option doesn’t look so bad…

“Out of 75 single women who lived in Southhampton between 1550 and 1750 (and whom we can trace for at least 25 years) 24 lived into at least their 40s, 22 lived into at least their 50s, 9 lived into at least their 60s, 12 lived into at least their 70s and 4 (5.3 per cent) lived into their 80s..”

(Although the conclusion is that there’s not sufficient info to compare the average life expectancy of single and ever-married women.)

Froide, A.M. “Old maids: the lifecycle of single women in early modern England”, pp. 89-110

Both in Botelho, L. and Thane, P. Women and Ageing in British Society Since 1500, Pearson, Harlow, 2001