I came across this item in "The Border Advertiser" 18th March 1871 entitled "Action against a Lady for Breach of Promise" and it made fascinating reading. So here is a summary of a very lengthy article.
"In the Court of Common Pleas an extra-ordinary action for breach of promise was heard. The plaintiff in the case Lewis Currie sued his cousin Mary Margaret Davidson Currie and in his declaration alleged that they had during the infancy of the defendant agreed to marry one another, and that after she became of age they duly ratified and endorsed the promise. Yet the defendant had refused to marry him.
With regard to the young lady, she was possessed of considerable personal attractiveness and, beyond that, a dowry of £6000. There had been a considerable correspondence between the couple, with letters read out in court to much laughter. The defendant addressing her fiance as "My dearest George", and signing herself "Ever yours, dearest George - Yours till Death" before winding up most appropriately with a bit of poetry. Other letters declared "Since you left, I care for nothing. I live for you". "Oh my own very darling George. I have given you my heart and with it my first and only love. With heaps of love and millions of kisses, I remain my darling George, yours ever"
The defendant, however, related also that at a the house of a recently married friend, she had met a young Spaniard who expressed the wish "to be the happy fellow in her locket".
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| Wedding dress - 1879 . |
On the 3rd of January she wrote to the defendant breaking off the engagement on the grounds that "we are not in any way suited to one another". She refused to meet the plaintiff who, the court was told, had spent £400 in preparing a residence for his new bride.
The defendant became the wife of Mr J. Fernandez Martini on 19th January 1871 with the certificate of marriage presented to the court.
It was acknowledged that the defendant had wronged the plaintiff, but no action of this kind brought by a man should be encouraged.
The jury after deliberating the matter for an hour found in favour of the defendant with damages awarded."
This case reminds me so much of the Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operetta "Trial by Jury". What would they have made of this reversal in roles?
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If you share my liking for old newspapers, have a look at other stories in my "Stop Press series
Fun reading! And a romantic Spaniard won her heart makes it even more fun to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteThiS did not sound like a woman who knew her own mind, or was easily swayed. I wonder if the marriage lasted. Thanks for a different read.
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