Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
Episode transcript for the TV movie "The Scandalous Lady W". Aired August 17th, 2015.
"The Scandalous Lady W" details the life of Lady Seymour Worsley, who ran off with her lover, Captain Maurice George Bisset in November 1781. As the law forbade women from initiating divorce proceedings, Seymour had hoped her elopement would force her husband into taking this step – however, her scheme backfired catastrophically. Instead of issuing proceedings for divorce, the outraged baronet set out to sue his friend Captain Bisset for criminal conversation, or adultery. Lady Worsley exposed all the sordid secrets of her marriage in court, thus damning herself as being a "possession" without value. The jury agreed. Though they found in favour of her husband, they awarded him just one shilling in damages.