Domestic violence in 1831

Can women commit acts of domestic violence? Some interesting evidence is to be found in The English Dane, a biography of Jorgen Jorgenson I'm currently reading.

Jorgenson led an eventful life. Born in Denmark, he led a small-scale coup and became the ruler of Iceland for two months. He lived in England, worked as a spy for a while, but fell foul of the law and was sent to Tasmania as a convict.

In 1831 he married Norah Corbett against the advice of his employer, Thomas Anstey. Anstey wrote in his report on the proposed nuptials:

I have often told Jorgenson that his ruin is inevitable if he marries this woman. His infatuated attachment to her has now existed a long time ... I know nothing to the woman's prejudice, save that of being much addicted to liquor, and of her propensity to beat and scratch Jorgenson when she is intoxicated.

Jorgenson's biographer, Sarah Bakewell, adds the following:

He and Norah were often seen staggering in the streets of Hobart and the various Midlands towns where they lived over the next few years, she often laying into him verbally or physically. Jorgenson himself was no lamb ... but her attacks on him seemed more frequent and frenzied; she was half his age and twice as ferocious ...

But, as Anstey recognized, Jorgenson was in love, and there was no reasoning with him. Norah was charismatic at her best, and Jorgenson felt protective toward her.

So it seems that the existence of female domestic violence stretches back a long way, and that alcohol abuse contributes to such violence just as it does for men.