William Gouge - Of Domesticall Duties and The Family

Of Domesticall Duties and The Family

Of Domesticall Duties (1622) was a popular and thorough text of its time discussing family life. It argued that the wife although above the children is below the husband and the father figure "is a king in his owne household", and was an important conduct book of its period, running to later editions.

Gouge himself was father to 13 children. His wife Elizabeth, née Calton, died shortly after the birth of the last of them. They had married in the early 17th century, in effect by arrangement, when Gouge was put under pressure by his family. Elizabeth had been brought up by the wife of an Essex minister, John Huckle, and was eulogised after her death.

His teaching on female submission may have caused some discomfort within his own congregation. He considered adultery equally bad in both genders, and encouraged love matches.