So late as 1859 the custom was observed at Accrington. In March of that year the public bellman went round the town announcing that a certain man from that day forward would not be answerable or accountable for any debts which his wife might contract.

On the afternoon of the same day the inhabitants of Accrington heard the other side of the story, the bellman being employed by the wife to announce that, as she was up to that day straight with her husband, she would not be answerable for any debts he might contract. She added that she had only been allowed five shillings a week by her husband to find herself and him in food and lodging, also that he was not over-faithful, and that if he had brought home the money he had given to other women they could have lived in comfort. Great crowds followed the bellman through the streets, and owing to the scandal the practice happily fell into disuse.

In some places small placards were pasted up on the walls of the town or village in which the parties lived. It is related that a wife whose name was publicly placarded replied with a counter announcement stating that as her husband had lived for years upon her earnings she declined to keep him any longer, and bade the tradesmen beware. In both these cases the ladies not only had the last word, but seem to have had the best of the argument.

From 'Old Lancashire Tales' by Frank Hird
Published 1910
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