I have a newspaper report (the Hull Packet) from 1861 about an Application under the Matrimonial Causes and Divorce Act. The applicant's husband, a blacksmith, had deserted her a year before, apparently with no reasonable cause, and she had no idea of his whereabouts. Since then she had supported herself and her children as a beerhouse keeper and 'had become possessed of money and other property by her own earnings and industry'. She was obviously doing quite well as she was able to go to court and was represented by a solicitor. At the court hearing she was granted 'protection'. Does anyone know what does this 'protection' means? I've wondered if it is to protect her assets from her husband should he suddenly reappear. Protection from physical violence or to provide what we would call maintenance both seem less likely. Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks Angela

In message <[email protected]>, ag.hamilton <[email protected]> writes >I have a newspaper report (the Hull Packet) from 1861 about an >Application under the Matrimonial Causes and Divorce Act. > >The applicant's husband, a blacksmith, had deserted her a year before, >apparently with no reasonable cause, and she had no idea of his >whereabouts. Since then she had supported herself and her children as >a beerhouse keeper and 'had become possessed of money and other >property by her own earnings and industry'. She was obviously doing >quite well as she was able to go to court and was represented by a >solicitor. > >At the court hearing she was granted 'protection'. > >Does anyone know what does this 'protection' means? I've wondered if >it is to protect her assets from her husband should he suddenly >reappear. Protection from physical violence or to provide what we >would call maintenance both seem less likely. > >Any ideas would be welcome. > >Thanks > >Angela > > It is about protecting her earnings and assets acquired by her since her husband left from claims by him. Until the passing of the Married Women's Property Acts in 1870 and 1882, a married woman had no property of her own. A husband and wife were regarded as one person at law, and that person, in practice, was of course the husband. Not only the wife's capital and possessions, but also her income, belonged to her husband. This was true even if they were not living together. There were some notorious cases, shocking even to contemporaries, where a husband who had deserted his wife, leaving her to support herself by her earnings, was then able to claim those earnings when she did so successfully. The main purpose of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 was to institute a limited right to obtain a civil divorce, or alternatively an order for judicial separation. But s.21 allowed a deserted wife to apply to a magistrate for an order protecting her earnings and property, acquired since the desertion, from claims by the husband and his creditors - they were to belong to her as if she were not married. -- Chris Pitt Lewis