Here are two interesting articles on domestic violence and our society's responses to it prior to the 1960s. Very interesting and insightful reading.

The Unknown History of MISANDRY: Society’s Acceptance of Domestic Violence?

and

The Unknown History of MISANDRY: 19th Century Intolerance Towards Domestic Violence

I really don't believe that "wife-beating" was widely accepted, much less encouraged in those days. From what I read, those men who did abuse and mistreat their wives did not have other men in their corners cheering them on and saying things like, "Yeah man, that'll teach her to disobey you! Show her who's boss!". Quite the opposite, the men frowned upon wife abuse more so than the women did.

So this blows yet another hole in the feminist theory that prior to their movement, that men by-and-large were permitted to treat their wives any way they darn well pleased.