Abstract
Annie Besant (1847–1933) was a late-Victorian social radical who lost custody of her daughter in 1878 because of her advocacy of atheism and birth control. The sensational custody trial and the other legal actions resulting from it were a landmark in Victorian social history, as the fundamental issue of the rights and responsibilities of motherhood itself were hotly debated both in and out of court. The verdict of the courts in depriving Besant of her daughter because of her controversial views, a decision strongly supported by public opinion, offers a clear statement of the dominant Victorian view of the role of the mother, who was valued and judged by her social reputation rather than her relationship with her children.
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© 1997 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Anderson, N.F. (1997). ‘Not a Fit or Proper Person’. In: Nelson, C., Holmes, A.S. (eds) Maternal Instincts. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14534-8_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14534-8_2
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