Re-tying the knot? Remarriage and divorce by consent in mid-Victorian England

This article examines the life circumstances of the mid-Victorian women who petitioned for dissolution of their marriage by commencing proceedings for nullity or divorce at the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes in two sample years, 1858 and 1868. The results of a longitudinal analysis of multiple source records relating to the women petitioners challenge currently accepted understandings of these proceedings. Contrary to official reports at the time, the majority of female petitioners in the sample years remarried and did so promptly, suggesting that the ability to regularise new unions (current or prospective) was an important consideration for them. The conduct of proceedings, considered in the context of the social and economic circumstances of the parties (including their age, occupation, and family size), reveals a heretofore undiscovered prevalence of undefended divorce and suggests, in effect, a tacitly accepted practice of divorce by consent.