The BBC drama A Very British Scandal introduced a new generation to the scandalous Argyll v Argyll divorce. The case saw Ian Campbell, the 11th Duke of Argyll petition to divorce his wife Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, on the grounds of her alleged adultery with 88 men. More shocking still, the Duke claimed to have photographic evidence of his wife engaged in adultery with at least one of the men.
The final episode of the drama closes with the line: “It was the first time a woman was publicly shamed by the UK mass media.” Granted, it was extremely rare for photographs of someone engaged in a sex act to be used as legal evidence, but the idea that Margaret Campbell was the first woman to be “publicly slut-shamed” is far from accurate.
The voracious public interest in high-profile women contravening patriarchal social norms pre-dates Argyll v Argyll by centuries. Women have long been judged by different standards to men, and nowhere was this clearer than in the divorce courts. Historically, divorce was extremely complicated and expensive, requiring petitions to several courts and a Private Act of Parliament. Prior to 1858, there were fewer than 320 divorces in England and Wales.
