*THREAD*

Caroline Sheridan, born 22 March 1808 in London into a poor family.

In 1827, aged 19, she married Tory MP George Norton.

They had three sons. Fletcher, Brinsley and William

It was a turbulent marriage and Caroline was subjected to physical and emotional abuse.

The collapse of the marriage culminated in June 1836 when George Norton sued prime minister Lord Melbourne (William Lamb), claiming he had an affair with Caroline.

He wanted to prove his wife had committed adultery but also to bring down the Whig government at the same time.

The charge was that Melbourne had denied Norton the benefits of ‘domestic harmony & affection’ & caused the loss of his conjugal rights.

‘the deepest injury one man can inflict upon another’

The stakes were astronomical. George demanded the equivalent of £1 million damages

Tacky evidence from servants was given of suspicious ‘stains’ on her clothing after his lordship’s departure.

Neither Lord Melbourne nor Caroline was in court.

He had left the matter to his lawyers.

As a woman she had no legal standing & could not speak even in her own defense

The claims were dismissed because there was no actual evidence,

Additionally, the servants who had given evidence were in the pay of George Norton and would risk losing their jobs if they said otherwise.

Lord Melbourne successfully defended the action & came out unscathed.

Caroline’s reputation however was ruined & she was labelled a “scandalous woman” regardless.

George Norton left her but Caroline remained George’s property.

As a woman, she was unable to divorce him & had no legal rights.

George refused Caroline access to their children which led to her starting a campaign to change the law

Caroline enlisted help of influential friends to introduce a bill into parliament giving judges the power to allow either parent to have access to children under the age of 12

The bill eventually became law in August 1839.

It became law that if a wife was legally separated or divorced from her husband and HAD NOT been found guilty of adultery, she was allowed custody of her children up to the age of seven and access thereafter.

However, because the law was only valid in England and Wales, George took the children. Fletcher, Brinsley and William & sent them to his relatives in Scotland.

Caroline had no legal recourse and was unable to see them

Caroline learned that Fletcher had been flogged for reading a letter she had sent him and 5 year old William had been stripped naked, tied to the bed and whipped for "being naughty"

In 1842, their youngest son William was out riding alone when he suffered a fall from his horse and was injured.

According to George Norton, the child's wounds were minor, however, they were not properly attended & blood-poisoning set in.

George, realising that the child was near death, sent for Caroline.

Unfortunately, William died before she arrived and the doctor said that he died quietly calling out for his mother

Reconciliation with her other sons became possible when they turned 21 as they both chose to be with their mother.

At last she could be a mother to them.

Unfortunately, her oldest son Fletcher died aged 30 in Paris from tuberculosis.

This is him aged about 18

Caroline continued to campaign for social justice for women in abusive relationships.

In 1849 she was painted into a fresco in the House of Lords as “Justice”.

Over the next few years, she campaigned for divorce law reform.

The result of this was the Matrimonial Causes Act in 1857.

Divorce no longer required an Act of Parliament, but was now something that could be granted by civil courts.

Women could now sue for divorce, though the bar for them to be granted it was still higher than that for men

Caroline was finally able to leave George Norton and free herself.

When George Norton died in 1975, aged 69, she was finally able to marry her long standing friend of 30 years, Sir William Stirling Maxwell, who treated her with love.

Sadly she died three months later

Her only remaining son, Brinsley was an invalid and entirely dependent on his mother financially,

He died shortly after her death aged 45 in Capri.

"My plea to attention is that, in pleading for myself I am able to plead for all these others. For this, I believe, God gave me the power of writing. To this I devote that power. I abjure all other writing, till I see these laws altered."

And even though Caroline hardly benefited from her successes, she saw that those laws were altered.

Women today are still fighting to leave abusive relationships and get custody of their children in many cultures around the world.

We should never forget Caroline Norton