Story: Divorce and separation

Maintenance, separation and guardianship orders were bread-and-butter work for magistrates, who issued orders like this 1914 one every sitting day. Sarah Ellen Clark’s husband, George, was ordered to pay her 10 shillings a week maintenance (about $70 in 2011 terms), plus an extra five shillings per week for each of their two children, Flora (aged seven) and George junior (aged eight months).