Sister to Helen Blackwood, and one of the Three Graces, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton nee Sheridan, Lady Stirling Maxwell was known to be an accomplished Society hostess, a beauty, and later a notable writer. She was also a passionate woman’s rights advocate.
Caroline was married off to George Norton, a Tory member of parliament, at the age of 18. Caroline was unhappy with the match, but said to marry Norton for her family’s sake, which had been living in reduced circumstances for ten years after her father’s untimely death. Caroline was said to be a victim of domestic violence from a husband who was given to violent drunkeness and jealousy. The Norton’s had three children, and Caroline began to squirrel away money from publications of verses that later saw her appointment as editor of La Belle Assemblée. Between 1832 to 1837, she was also known to edit The Court Magazine. This encouraged her to leave her husband in 1836. Norton accused Caroline of adultery with Lord Melbourne, and sued him; the case was a loss, but Caroline’s reputation was ruined and found herself losing all access to her sons. Norton had abducted the children, hiding them with relatives in Scotland and Yorkshire. The youngest child would later die from blood poisoning after a fall from a horse in 1842.
This galvanized Caroline, who would help the passage of the Custody of Infants Act (1839), as well as the Matrimonial Causes Act (1857) and the Married Women’s Property Act (1870). Her writing also included attacks against child labor.
Caroline survived past the death of Norton, and would marry her good friend Sir William Stirling Maxwell a few months before her own death.
In an 1836 The News (London) article on the Honorable Mrs Caroline Norton, she was described as “an elegant and beautiful woman, and the attractions of her person are said to be unexcelled even by the productions of her gifted mind,” with descriptions of her novel and attributions of her as a Muse. The article also staunchly defended her from gossip of the affair with Melbourne. The trial would be broadly reported throughout the summer of 1836.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/norton_caroline.shtml
Read more:
Fraser, A. (2022). The Case of the Married Woman: Caroline Norton and Her Fight for Women’s Justice. United States: Pegasus Books.
Norton, C. S. (1854). English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century. United Kingdom: private circulation.
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Melbourne was known as a chamer at that time. He was a favorite with the young Queen Victoria. he hd been left a good sum of money from a woman when she died. Caroline’s Grandfather was Richard Sheridan who had been an MP as well as a writer of plays. Her husband lost his seat and thought Melbourne as Prime Minister would have more influence to help him gain another.. Norton’s brother was a peer, but didn’t have Melbourne’s connections. When that didn’t work out he tried to sue Melbourne for Crim. con, The jury declared Melbourne innocent and society laughed at Norton, praised Melbourne, and scorned Caroline.
Caroline wrote open letters to the Queen and had an MP friend bring a bill before Parliament to let mothers who hadn’t been convicted of adultery keep children under seven years of age. The law passed but Norton had already sent the children to Scotland where the law had no power. Caroline ha help from friends but earned most of her income writing and editing magazines. Because the couple hadn’t been separated by the church courts, whenever Caroline earned or had accumulated money to live on , her husband took it.. He had no grounds on which to divorce her and while he could take the children and live with a mistress, she had to be careful. Her sister who married well helped when she could but her husband had a position abroad. Trouble was that while friends of her grandfather wanted to help her, some didn’t want to broach a husband’s ability to treat his wife as he wanted, and others didn’t want to face a vengeful husband who might accuse them of crim.con. He had Caroline living this half life for close to forty years.