Brave New World? Care and Custody of Children at the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes in Mid-Victorian England

This article considers the accessibility and impact of the mid-Victorian divorce court’s new custody powers, by tracing the children of those who petitioned the court within the first two years of the court’s establishment and contrasting this with court pleadings and orders. Focusing on the care of children by location as revealed by the census and other sources, this study then deals in more detail with individual cases to illustrate the experience of parties in divorce court processes for child custody. This study generates an original data set to find that, whereas the majority of resident female petitioners sought a custody order in the petition, only a minority ended up with an order. Three broad issues are addressed: the gendered nature of rights in respect of children on marital breakdown, the implications of legal remedies being accessed through male gatekeepers, and the exercise of discretion at the newly opened divorce court.