It's an unremarkable age gap by Victorian standards. Men above working class status typically waited until they could support a family before marrying, and wome

It's an unremarkable age gap by Victorian standards. Men above working class status typically waited until they could support a family before marrying, and women typically married young (16-21 was common among the nobility: at 22 an unmarried woman was all but washed-up). Death in childbirth was sky-high by modern standards, and older husbands died of diseases which today would be survivable, so the average duration of a marriage was much the same as it is today -- about 12 years -- even though divorce was difficult hence rare. (Victorian mores may seem alien to modern eyes because they arose from medical and social constraints we're no longer subject to.)