Decadent Divorce: Scandal and Sensation in Victorian Britain

The Royal Courts of Justice opened on January 11, 1883, and became a hub for dissatisfied spouses to air their marital woes. The sensational cases revealed stories of decadence and disregard, arrogance and entitlement, exposing the faults and foibles of an aristocracy. The professional class tasted the downside of celebrity, while the working class found relief from abusive spouses. Decadent Divorce explores the microcosm of late Victorian society, revealing high drama, humour, pathos, and tragedy with moral comment on social tensions and preoccupations of the age.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 15 May 2024
Publisher: Amberley Publishing

On Thursday, 11 January 1883, the new Royal Courts of Justice opened its doors for business, marking the beginning of a stream of dissatisfied spouses from all over the country who would pass through its doors with their tales of marital woe. Their desperate attempts to prove their partners' marital crimes to the judge and jury unwittingly became a spectator sport, with 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 an aristocracy that had once held reverence as a birthright but was now exposed to a growing and increasingly scathing middle- and working-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.

Weight: 604g
Dimension: 244 x 166 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781398108943