Breach of Promise to Marry: A History of How Jilted Brides Settled Scores

by Denise Bates

Overview

A look back through the history of women who were about to be married only to be left at the altar—and left with no choice but to take their revenge.
 
A wedding day is supposed to be the happiest, most special and blessed event in a bride’s life. And most of the time, it is. But sometimes, it is not.
 
In this fun, fascinating look at betrothals that went bust before anyone even said “I do,” the authors have collected the true stories of what happened when the groom suddenly decided “I don’t.”
 
From the 1780s right up to the 1970s, jilted women (and the occasional crushed suitor) employed a range of tactics to bring false lovers to book. Here is a full wedding party of cases in which women found very different kinds of happy endings, such as Mary Elizabeth Smith who forged evidence of a courtship to entrap an Earl, Catherine Kempsall who shot the man who denied their engagement, Gladys Knowles who was awarded a record £10,000 in damages by a jury in 1890, and Daisy Mons who discreetly negotiated a £50,000 settlement from a nobleman.
 
Based on original research, this social history of breach of promise shows that when men behaved badly, hell had no fury like a woman scorned.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473831889
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	02/20/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Historian and writer Denise Bates used old newspapers extensively when researching her first two books, Pit Lasses and Breach of Promise to Marry and the new information she discovered added greatly to the existing knowledge about both subjects. Historical Research Using British Newspapers draws on her extensive practical experience of using old newspapers as source material.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Discrimination and Diversities: The Development of Breach of Promise 1780-1815 5

2 Artful and Abandoned Hussies: The Heyday of Breach of Promise 1816-1869 19

3 A Substitute for a Shotgun? The Decline of Breach of Promise 1870-1970 35

4 All the World's a Stage: The Legal System and Breach of Promise 49

5 Escaping from the Spider's Web: Defences to Claims for Breach of Promise 67

6 Proverbial for their Extravagance: Damages paid for Breach of Promise 85

7 The Court of Public Opinion: Women who failed with Breach of Promise Claims 103

8 Debt, Despair, Divorce and Death: The Dark Side of Breach of Promise 121

9 The Real Miss Havishams: The Myths and Realities of Breach of Promise 139

10 In Want of a Wife? Breach of Promise Cases pursued by Men 155

Conclusion 169

Appendix 1 Notes for Family Historians 177

Appendix 2 Notes for Researchers 179

Appendix 3 Money Matters 181

Appendix 4 List of Cases 183

Appendix 5 Glossary of Legal Terms 186

Bibliography and Sources 188

Index 190