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She began campaigning for changes in the law and wrote a series of pamphlets, starting with ‘
The Natural Claim of a
Mother to the Custody of her Children as affected by the Common Law Rights of the Father
’ which influenced parliament to
pass the Infant Custody Bill in 1839, establishing some basic legal rights for mothers. For the first time in history, a
woman had openly challenged this law that discriminated against women. Tragically in 1842 her eight year old son died
as a result of non-lethal injuries sustained during a riding accident. After this her estranged husband eventually allowed
her to see her other two sons.
Maclise and his friends supported her through this time and, after more difficulties with her estranged husband, another
campaign in favour of what became the Married Woman’s Property and Divorce Bill in 1857.This Bill originated in the
House of Lords, the location of the fresco
The Spirit of Justice
containing her likeness.
Before and throughout these years she wrote long poems, plays, novels and several poems with a socialist slant. She was
also editor of La Belle Assemblée and Court Magazine. One critic described her as the “Byron of Modern Poetesses”.
In the fresco the harp is replaced by the traditional scales of justice while the paper in her left hand may be ‘the charter
of liberty’, identified by Maclise as held by the ‘free citizen’ beside the liberated Negro slave in the bottom right corner.
Maclise describes Justice as flanked by ‘the angels of mercy and retribution’ and below them ‘the judges, lay and ecclesias-
tical’ - the latter emphasising the role of the House of Lords as the highest court of appeal in the British system.
We would like to thank Tom Dunne, whose research formed the basis of this note.
