Ruth Derham

On Thursday 11 January 1883, the new Royal Courts of Justice opened its door for business. From that day forward a stream of dissatisfied spouses from all over the country passed through the doors of courtrooms I and II with their tales of marital woe. Their desperate attempts to prove their partner's marital crimes to judge and jury unwittingly became something of a spectator sport; the most sensational, instructive or noteworthy stories reported daily in copious detail by Fleet Street's eager press. The great causes célèbres revealed stories of decadence and disregard, arrogance and entitlement; the faults and foibles of the aristocracy that had once held reverence as a birthright exposed to a growing and increasingly scathing middle- and lower-class readership. Members of the professional class tasted the downside of celebrity; and for those of the working class who could scrape together enough money there was at last some relief from abusive, deserting or unfaithful spouses - but to what end?

 

Decadent divorce takes a peep through the keyhole of the court to witness, not just 'what the butler saw', but what the world was invited to see; to explore what this microcosm of late-Victorian society tells us about society at large. The picture that emerges is one of high drama, humour, pathos and tragedy, brimming with moral comment that throws a light on the social tensions and preoccupations of the age.