Anne, I know what you mean! Descriptions like that are the nearest thing I have to a photo of my ancestors. Poor woman, her husband was in gaol countless times for drunkenness and assault; his descriptions include freckled arm, varicose veins, scars to various parts of his body and sores on his left posterior!!
He was sentenced to five years penal servitude for "unlawfully doing grievous bodily harm to his wife" (not sure when this was ever 'lawful'), including a spell in Millbank Prison.