The Criminal Conversation of Mrs. Norton

July 1, 2013
In the Queen’s English, “criminal conversation” meant adultery—a legal offense in Victorian England. Historian Atkinson (Elsie and Mairi Go to War) opens with an overview of the sensational 1836 London trial of Prime Minister Lord Melbourne, sued by George Norton for supposedly engaging in an affair with the latter’s wife, Caroline. Melbourne pleaded not guilty, and the jury agreed. The verdict secured Melbourne’s reputation, but the charge alone ruined Caroline’s, and George’s failed case made him a fool. Atkinson then pulls back to tell the workmanlike story of Caroline’s life and of the dearth of legal protections available to married women. A noted beauty and talented singer and poet, at 19 Caroline wed the dull barrister. George drank and abused his wife, while she developed a relationship with Melbourne. In 1836, George took their three children away from Caroline, as was his legal right, and filed the infamous charge against Melbourne. After the verdict, Caroline worked tirelessly to pass the Infant Custody Bill, the Matrimonial Causes (Divorce) Act, and the Married Women’s Act, all of which greatly increased women’s legal rights. Caroline’s friend Charles Dickens fictionalized these events in The Pickwick Papers, and while Atkinson doesn’t hold a candle to Boz, this is still an engaging history. 23 b&w photos.

August 1, 2013
A British historian's punctilious narrative about the tragic but colorful life of Caroline Norton (1808-1877), a neglected 19th-century champion of women's rights. In 1836, an English barrister named George Norton charged the then-prime minister, Lord Melbourne, for having had " 'criminal conversation' (sexual relations)" with his beautiful writer-wife, Caroline. British courts ruled in favor of the defendants, and Melbourne was able to recover his reputation and career. However, his alleged lover's name was permanently tarnished. Drawing on research that includes more than 1,500 of Caroline Norton's letters, Atkinson (Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front, 2010, etc.) offers an exceptionally intimate biography of the outspoken female who transformed the more than 30 years of abuse she suffered at the hands of an unscrupulous husband into a reason to fight for a change in the legal status of wives and mothers. During that time, British laws regarded married women as little more than possessions. Husbands were free to "dispose of [them] as [they] wished," and women had no say in what became of their children. Everything women brought into a marriage, including inheritances and all personal effects, along with any job earnings they had, also belonged to their husbands. While men could easily divorce their wives for adultery, women had to prove their husbands were unfaithful and guilty of bigamy or incest. Norton's efforts led to groundbreaking legislation that ensured the parental, economic and legal rights of married women; yet she herself was to enjoy only a brief moment of happiness in the last few months of an otherwise stormy life. Atkinson's work is notable for its narrative finesse and probing analysis of Caroline Norton's relationships with her husband, Melbourne and her many associates, who included Mary Shelley and Charles Dickens. While women's studies scholars and historians may appreciate such treatment, general readers may balk at the rigorousness of Atkinson's presentation and the length of the book itself. Thorough but perhaps overlavish with detail.

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September 15, 2013

Atkinson's (The Suffragettes in Pictures; Love and Dirt: The Marriage of Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick; Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front) well-researched but somewhat dull history tells of the relatively unknown 19th-century British feminist Mrs. Caroline Norton. This scholarly work chronicles the scandalous 1836 trial in which George Norton, a barrister, accused Prime Minister Lord Melbourne of engaging in an affair with Mrs. Norton; it also covers the trial's aftermath, including its effect on the Nortons' marriage. Though Mrs. Norton was cleared of all charges, she and Mr. Norton battled in print and letters for the rest of their lives because British law didn't allow a mother to obtain a divorce easily, much less to keep her children, property, or money afterward. Mrs. Norton used her personal struggle to help change British statutes governing legal and property rights for women, both married and divorced. This book is incredibly detailed, thanks to Atkinson's use of personal correspondence between the Nortons and other figures, but, unfortunately, the story gets lost in the mounds of specifics. VERDICT Recommended for women's studies scholars, legal scholars, and academics.--Amelia Osterud, Carroll Univ. Lib., Waukesha, WI

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2013
Historian Atkinson builds an impressive biography around a scandalous early court case that titillated the collective sensibilities of early Victorian-era England. In 1836, George Norton brought suit against Prime Minister Lord Melbourne for having criminal conversation, aka sexual relations, with his wife, well-known author Caroline Norton. Though the suit was thrown out by the jury, its impact was long-lasting, reverberating through both legal and social circles for years and altering the course of feminist history. Thrown out of her home and denied access to her children, Caroline engaged in inveterate campaigning that led directly to the Custody of Infants Act of 1839, the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857, and the Married Women's Property Act of 1870. As Atkinson reviews Caroline's life, a robust portrait emerges of a woman who refused to be circumscribed by the restrictive social mores and legal inequities of her time and place in history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)