"On a steamer
passage from France to England in 1852, nineteen-year-old Theresa
Longworth met William Charles Yelverton, a soldier destined to
become
the Viscount Avonmore. A flirtation began that soon blossomed into
a
clandestine, epistolary affair, ranging from the shores of England
to
the battlefields of the Crimean War. Five years after their first
meeting they married secretly in Edinburgh, and then, at Theresa’s
urging, they married again that summer in Dublin—or did they?"
The first part of Wild Romance tracks the course of the romance using the letters between Theresa and Yelverton and it soons become clear that He is a Cad and a Bounder, but my modern reaction of silently yelling to Theresa 'Don't do it' is a waste of time - securing a husband and becoming a married woman in 1852 was every woman's goal. It also becomes clear that Yelverton is both unnerved by the progression of Theresa's passion for him, backing off when she pursues him and keeping his distance. When they do meet, however, and he finds a strong physical attraction for her, then the romance is on again, trailing off as soon as they are apart. This advancing and retreating goes on for some time and then finally they 'marry' in Edinburgh and then again, in a Catholic church, in Dublin. Yelverton then leaves her behind once more and Theresa then learns that he has married another woman.
See what I mean about a cad and a bounder? The trials that follow are sensational and eagerly followed in the press, at one stage ladies being asked to leave the courtroom when Yelverton gives his evidence as they deem it unfit for their ears. The men were allowed to stay.....
Much though I enjoyed reading the details and results of all the legal battles that followed, what is most interesting about Wild Romance is the attitude to women displayed during the cross examination and attitude of the barristers who regarded the fact that Theresa had had a 'French' upbringing and wrote assertive letters as evidence of her lack of femininity and womanly virtues. She also found that due to the muddled and ambiguous marriage laws, she had to take Yelverton to law on the strength of being an abandoned wife in order to force financial support from him.
"She decided instead to relinquish her position as the righteous wife and assume the mantle of the deserted wife. Women in this position were considered married but had slightly more legal recourse than the average married woman, particularly with respect to property disputes....abandoned wives often filed suits for restitution of conjugal rights that, if successful, mandated cohabitation and an allowance for the wife. Since the wife was entitled to interim alimony as soon as the petition was filed, financial security was often a primary motivation" Theresa's plan was that "she would re-enter respectable society not by demonstrating that Yelverton was her husband but by proving that, as her husband, he was responsible for her"
It is pretty clear that no matter what the outcome of this suit Theresa will never re-enter respectable society, her reputation will go before her and though the Irish courts found in her favour, the Scottish court did not. At this stage Yelverton vanishes from the scene, he remains married to his other wife for the rest of his life and they have children. Though Theresa was regarded as a heroine by the Irish and Yelverton the villain of the piece, Yelverton had a seemingly settled and happy life which was denied to Theresa. Shades here of Eliot's Daniel Deronda when Grandcourt abandoned his mistress Mrs Glasher and the children she had had by him in order to marry Gwendolen Harleth. While she suffered and was rejected by society "Mr Grandcourt, however, had no restrictions placed upon him and was free to seek and contract a suitable marriage. That he should have disentangled himself from that connection seemed only natural and desirable and no blame attached to him for this part in the seduction of Mrs Glasher"
It was ever thus....
Another novel which came to my mind when reading Wild Romance was Lady Anna by Anthony Trollope which tells the story of a deserted wife, left by a bigamous husband and the years spent pursuing her case in the courts and I wondered if Trollope had known of this case. It seems that Lady Anna was first published in serial form in 1874 so it would seem likely.
My point, which I know I am taking a long time to make, is that Theresa could never live the life of respectability she craved, no marriage for her and as she was a strong, interesting and brave woman she set off on a life of travel. She lead the independent life that the Suffragettes at the time were demanding, though she was never in sympathy with their cause, she lived her own life as she found it necessary without the realisation that perhaps she was setting an example as a independent ideal. I was full of admiration for her peregrinations: she went to America, Asia, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka writing about her travels, turning out two, not very well received, novels based on her marriage, and to my utter surprise I discovered that she tried to attach herself to the entourage of Empress Eugenie when she visited Africa to see the place where her son Louis had been attacked and speared to death by tribesman. By then a journalist, based in South Africa, she knew a good story when she saw one.
Ultimately, whether she admitted it or not, Theresa was a feminist, living and
working by her own endeavours and pursuits and I admired her enormously
even though she "would have settled for a world defined by her
husband."
However, I do think the title Wild Romance could be a trifle misleading, though it is a quote from one of Theresa's letters to Yelverton, and lead the browsing reader in a bookshop to think it is merely a romantic story when in fact it is so much more.
This is Chloe Schama's first book and pretty sure it will not be the last. Her writing is flowing and engaging and kept me totally engrossed. It is the kind of history I love best, the discovery of an event of which we know nothing and bringing it out into the light of day. I have said it before and will, no doubt, continue to do so - the reason that history is a surce of never ending fascination is the human stories that capture our imagination and enthrall.
Highly recommended.
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