Episode two of the brand new history podcast ‘History Lab‘ is out now! In this episode, host Tamson Pietsch sifts through historical remains to discover litigious lovers, colonial love triangles and the emergence of medicalised heartbreak on a quest to understand the history of love.
In the 19th century a broken engagement could damn a woman for life. But scorned women had an unexpected way to get square. A now somewhat forgotten law known as ‘breach of promise to marry’ saw women awarded massive damages after being left jilted at the altar. But why would the Courts be interested in the failed love lives of working class people? And what does a convict’s daughter, a barrister and a former Prime Minister have to do with it?
History Lab is a collaboration between the Australian Centre for Public History at the University of Technology Sydney and 2SER 107.3
Listen below or subscribe in iTunes