Breach of Promise to Marry

A look back through the history of women who were about to be married only to be left at the altar—and left with no choice but to take their revenge. A wedding day is supposed to be the happiest, most special and blessed event in a bride’s life. And most of the time, it is. But sometimes, it is not. In this fun, fascinating look at betrothals that went bust before anyone even said “I do,” the authors have collected the true stories of what happened when the groom suddenly decided “I don’t.” From the 1780s right up to the 1970s, jilted women (and the occasional crushed suitor) employed a range of tactics to bring false lovers to book. Here is a full wedding party of cases in which women found very different kinds of happy endings, such as Mary Elizabeth Smith who forged evidence of a courtship to entrap an Earl, Catherine Kempsall who shot the man who denied their engagement, Gladys Knowles who was awarded a record £10,000 in damages by a jury in 1890, and Daisy Mons who discreetly negotiated a £50,000 settlement from a nobleman. Based on original research, this social history of breach of promise shows that when men behaved badly, hell had no fury like a woman scorned.