Author name: Divorce History

The image is a picture of an old building in red brick with large windows made up of smaller panes of glass including some with arches. In the centre of the building are steps leading up to an entrance. In front of the building are trees and a pavement with people walking along.

One Day FREE Academic Conference CfP ‘Broken Bonds: New Perspectives on Marital Breakdown in the English Common Law World 1801-1969’, 20th April 2026, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne & Online

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Marital breakdown is not a modern phenomenon. Options available to separating spouses in the English Common Law World were, however, heavily restricted by gender and economic status, with wives occupying a significantly more vulnerable position. Before 1857, full divorce remained the preserve of wealthy men who could navigate the expensive Parliamentary divorce process. The Divorce […]

One Day FREE Academic Conference CfP ‘Broken Bonds: New Perspectives on Marital Breakdown in the English Common Law World 1801-1969’, 20th April 2026, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne & Online Read More »

The image is the logo for the project with the words: New Histories of Divorce in the centre in black writing. This is on top of a pale green background. Surrounding the text is the outline of two faces, looking away from each other.

One day FREE Workshop: Archives to Action: Historical Evidence for Policy Reform in Marital Breakdown, Domestic Abuse and Child Welfare, 20th January 2026 Virtual Event

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This FREE one-day workshop showcases the results of a groundbreaking two-year interdisciplinary project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council: ‘A New Methodological Approach to the History of Divorce, 1858-1923’. Led by Dr Jennifer Aston with Dr Diane Ranyard at Northumbria University Law School, the project offers the first large-scale, systematic examination of historical

One day FREE Workshop: Archives to Action: Historical Evidence for Policy Reform in Marital Breakdown, Domestic Abuse and Child Welfare, 20th January 2026 Virtual Event Read More »

The image is an old etching of a church in black ink on an off-cream background. The church has a central tower and spire, and around it are other areas of the church building with pointed roofs, smaller spires and arched windows. Around the etching of the church is a circular border of leaves, and in the bottom left-hand corner are the words: ST SAVIOURS SOUTHWARK.

Tuesday 29th July 2025 – Dr Jennifer Aston’s paper on Marital Status and Credit at the World Economic History Congress

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Dr Jennifer Aston will be giving a paper ‘Marital Status and Credit: navigating the legal constraints of being a married woman in England and Wales 1850–1925’ at the World Economic History Congress in Lund, Sweden  https://wehc2025.com/ This will be part of the panel: Following The Money: Insights on Women’s Engagement in Finance in Industrialized and

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The image is a black and white sketch of the inside of the Divorce Court from 1910, which is a large room. The central focus of the image is a woman dressed in a hat and dress who is stood at the witness box/stand, and she is being questioned by a legal professional who is dressed in a long black gown and a wig. He is stood up on the right of the image and is surrounded by other men who are sat down and dressed in similar clothing. On the left-hand side of the image is a man sat high up behind a desk who is the judge. He is also dressed in a black gown and wig, and he is reading some papers in front of him. In front of him is a larger desk with five men in suits sat writing or reading and there are books and papers piled up on the desk. At the back of the image behind the woman at the witness box/stand are another 12 men who are sat in what appears to be a public gallery.

Tuesday 8th July 2025 – Dr Jennifer Aston’s paper on divorce at the Social History Society Conference

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Dr Jennifer Aston will be presenting a paper called ‘Navigating Mental Illness in the Pre-1937 Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes’ at the 49th Annual Social History Society Conference at the Black Country Living Museum. This will be on Tuesday 7th July 2025 as part of Panel 4 from 2.15-3.45pm on ‘Constructing (In)sanity in 19th

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The image is of a small village church that is surrounded by a grassed graveyard that is filled with multiple tombstones. There is a path leading up to the church entrance which is in the shape of an arch. The church is made of small, pebbled bricks with arched windows and has a sloped tiled roof. There is a small tower on the left side of the church.

If at first, you don’t succeed…Remarriage and the Divorce Court

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In our last blog we focused on suits for restitution of conjugal rights and how they could be used in repeat applications to the Divorce Court as a means to prove desertion in a divorce case and circumvent the usual two-year period of desertion. In this blog we’re going to continue with the theme of

If at first, you don’t succeed…Remarriage and the Divorce Court Read More »

The image is of a piece of old paper with faint lines drawn horizontally and one line vertically on the left-hand side creating a margin. On the horizontal lines are words written in a flowing handwriting in black ink. The quoted words from the letter have a double quote sign at the start of every line even though the quote has not ended, and it says: ‘2. That on the 20th December 1906 I wrote my husband a letter which was as follows:- “I think I have waited long “enough to see if anything would happen and “I now ask you to tell me definitely if you “are prepared to put away this woman and “make a home for me and Jacqueline”. Such letter was address[ed] by me to my husband at his office situated at 2 Collingwood Street Newcastle-upon-Tyne where he practices as a solicitor.

‘Are [you] prepared to put away this woman and make a home for me…’: applications for restitution of conjugal rights in the Divorce Court 

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What was a restitution of conjugal rights?  Divorce was the most common form of litigation in the Divorce Court. But as we discussed in an earlier blog, there were other forms of litigation available to deal with marital discord. In this blog we’re going to focus on one of those, a restitution of conjugal rights,

‘Are [you] prepared to put away this woman and make a home for me…’: applications for restitution of conjugal rights in the Divorce Court  Read More »

This image is a photograph of the outside of The National Archives at Kew. The building is made of beige brickwork, large glass windows and grey roofs and canopies. In front of the building is a pond filled with water and railings around. At the front of the picture is a walkway with patterns in the stonework, including a circle.

New Year, New Stage of the Project! Our visit to The National Archives, Kew 

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Last week we got to an exciting point in the project, with a visit to our Project Partners, The National Archives at their site in Kew. We, the Principal Investigator, Dr Jennifer Aston and Senior Research Assistant, Dr Diane Ranyard, spent 5 days exploring the archives.  So why were we there?  Our trip was a

New Year, New Stage of the Project! Our visit to The National Archives, Kew  Read More »

The image is a black and white sketch of the inside of the Divorce Court from 1910, which is a large room. The central focus of the image is a woman dressed in a hat and dress who is stood at the witness box/stand, and she is being questioned by a legal professional who is dressed in a long black gown and a wig. He is stood up on the right of the image and is surrounded by other men who are sat down and dressed in similar clothing. On the left-hand side of the image is a man sat high up behind a desk who is the judge. He is also dressed in a black gown and wig, and he is reading some papers in front of him. In front of him is a larger desk with five men in suits sat writing or reading and there are books and papers piled up on the desk. At the back of the image behind the woman at the witness box/stand are another 12 men who are sat in what appears to be a public gallery.

‘The court…is not likely to languish for lack of work during the ensuing sittings’: January, the busiest time of the year. 

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On Saturday 1 January 1898, Mrs Amelia Reade [referred to as Maud Amelia in newspaper reports] wrote a short letter (see image below) to her estranged husband Beaumont Russell Reade in which she said ‘I voluntarily confess to having misconducted myself with E. Durand on several occasions and I am willing to sign a document

‘The court…is not likely to languish for lack of work during the ensuing sittings’: January, the busiest time of the year.  Read More »

The image is an old painting of a snowscape. In the centre is an old church with a spire and there are lights shining out of the arched windows. In front of this is a road and a pavement that are covered in snow. There are a few trees at different points along the road, they have no leaves on them but there is snow on the branches. On the road are two horse drawn sleds with people sat inside in Victorian dress. On the snow-covered pavement are some people walking towards the church also dressed in Victorian clothing, these people include a man and woman walking together. The sky is a pale shade of blue with hues of sunlight shining through as the sun sets and there is a faint outline of the moon appearing.

Finding the Words: Descriptions of Domestic Abuse in the Victorian Divorce Court 

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Content Note: Please be aware that this blog post contains descriptions of abuse that readers may find distressing. If Lucy’s story resonates, you can find relevant links and contact details for organisations who can offer advice and support at the end of this blog post.  While this blog does explore a divorce case from the

Finding the Words: Descriptions of Domestic Abuse in the Victorian Divorce Court  Read More »

The image is a modern photograph of an old terrace building (built in the early 19th century) that appears to be housing. It is four storeys high, with a white facade and bay windows on every floor. The bay window on the second floor has a balcony with black railings and a small porch hanging over the top of the window. There are steps leading up to a door with another balcony above it and railings running across the front of the house. A tall tree is partially visible on the left-hand side of the photograph that is in front of the building.

The Mysterious Affair of Adultery in the Divorce Court

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Description: 26 Gloucester Place, Brighton [The location of the adultery between Gwyneth Alice Hoos and James Hughes Massie]. Source Citation: Wikimedia Commons contributors, ‘File:26 Gloucester Place, Brighton (IoE Code 480742).JPG’, Wikimedia Commons, 24 May 2023, 23:21 UTC, <https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:26_Gloucester_Place,_Brighton_(IoE_Code_480742).JPG&oldid=766735062> [accessed 11 December 2024] On 16 April 1917, a petition for divorce was filed at the Principal

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