One exception, in these new relationships, was that with Sarah Elwes – the wife of John Elwes, from whom she was separated, following a criminal conversation case and an ecclesiastical divorce.This relationship enables us to see further into the complex and divided social worlds that existed in London in the period and sheds new light on Godwin’s life and his activities in the second half of the decade. It also allows us to explore some of the complexities of social and sexual relations in London, perhaps especially for a man who predicted the end of marriage and the development of attachment solely on the basis of intellectual worth.

The introduction highlights the longevity of Ireland’s history of divorce and the minimal historical interest it has attracted to date. The historiography of divorce, all-Ireland analysis and three-century chronology are outlined to contextualise the study. Key concepts are highlighted such as the parliamentary system of divorce, the sexual double standard, the importance of subjectivity as well as the gendered grounds for divorce. Augmenting church interest in the area of marriage and its dissolution as well as the prerequisite suits of criminal conversation and separation required to divorce are similarly considered. Irish divorce is also placed within a UK and imperial framework as well as alongside other strategies deployed to break or dissolve a marital union. The class basis of parliamentary divorce, its rarity as well as Irish citizens’ ability to divorce in either Westminster or the Irish parliament until the passage of the Act of Union in 1800 are also assessed.