Sharing the History of the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland

An Irish Barrister’s Divorce, 1907

The procedure for Irish couples divorcing and remarrying in the 19th and early 20th century is illustrated by 1907 divorce proceedings in Dublin and Westminster brought by an Irish sporting barrister, Henry Morgan Byrne against his errant wife Laura (above left), first muse of William Butler Yeats later famous for her whistling of operatic arias.

Mystery still surrounds the identity of the named co-respondent, the mysterious Richard McDowell, of Grafton Street, who may or may not have been a device employed by the Morgan Byrnes to enable them both to remarry other persons without any aspersions being cast on their future spouses.

Sources:

Book extracts referencing Laura are from William H Murphy ‘Prodigal Father: The Life of John Butler Yeats’ (1978)

The image of Laura is from A Norman Jeffares ‘WB Yeats, a New Biography’ (1988)

Newspaper articles and images of Peggy Morgan Jones and Henry Morgan Jones are from British Newspaper Archives.

Ruth Cannon avatar

Published by

Ruth Cannon
Irish barrister sharing the history of the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland, and other Irish courts.
Categories:

6 responses to “An Irish Barrister’s Divorce, 1907”

  1. avatar
    Anonymous

    Fascinating case Ruth

    This is a superb discussion by you on this case

    Gerard Hussey

    Reply
  2. Ruth Cannon avatar
    Ruth Cannon

    Ger, you are so kind, thanks so much, Ruth

    Reply
  3. avatar
    Anonymous

    Always a good story Ruth. The whistling must have been annoying sometimes.

    Reply
    1. Ruth Cannon avatar
      Ruth Cannon

      Thank you! Yes, and there must have been a lot of home whistling practice, too.

      Reply
  4. Tom or Thomas avatar
    Tom or Thomas

    I have been in court a few times on my journey to reality, thankfully not to serious stuff well as I thought
    No tax baldy tyres. And a few more … Id listen to the laughter off the lot . Yes you have great stories here Ruth. Very interesting stuff looking forward to reading more now. As I got away from other media.

    Reply
  5. A Tour of Ireland’s Four Courts Through Time – A site set up to share the history of the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland

    […] Four Courts litigation in the form of an Edwardian divorce case involving the first love of the poet WB Yeats, and the famous Cork Slander case of the same period, brought by a great-great uncle of Princess […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from Sharing the History of the Four Courts, Dublin, Ireland

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading