ABSTRACT
On 18 July 1839, John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst, opened a debate on the Custody of Infants Bill in the House of Lords. As part of his impassioned appeal to his peers to vote for the bill, Lord Lyndhurst told the lamentable stories of several women who had lost custody of their children to cruel or abusive fathers. Under the terms of the new bill, these women would have the right to petition the courts for access to their children, and for custody of children under the age of seven.
