Caroline Norton was a prominent 19th-century British writer and campaigner whom The Economist has described as "one of the most consequential and least celebrated women in British history". A famous lady of letters, she was dragged into a lawsuit by her husband, who accused the prime minister, Lord Melbourne, of "criminal conversation" (adultery) with her. Norton left her husband, who then treated their sons as possessions, moving them on a whim.
In 19th-century England, a single mother had the right to keep her children only if they were illegitimate; otherwise, even young children were handed to fathers. Norton wrote pamphlets and campaigned to change the law. In 1839 she succeeded, with the passage of the Custody of Infants Act, which gave mothers the right to petition for care of young children. It was the first feminist law in British history.
Death is Nature's way of recycling human beings.