It didn't matter that she had borne them. Nursed them through illness. Read to them and taught them and shaped the people they were becoming. It didn't matter that her husband George Norton had been violent — documented, witnessed, undeniable. Under English common law in the 1830s, a father held absolute legal guardianship over his children. A mother, upon separation, held nothing. Not visiting rights. Not correspondence. Not even the legal right to know where her children had been taken.
Caroline Norton fled an abusive marriage in 1836 and discovered what the law thought of her love for her sons Fletcher, Brinsley, and William.
It thought nothing of it at all.
George Norton moved the boys to Scotland, to the home of a relative, and refused to tell Caroline where they were. She could not see them. Could not write to them. Could not reach them. She was their mother in every human sense and a legal stranger in every sense the courts recognized.
She could have retreated into private grief.
She chose public warfare instead.
Norton was a writer of considerable skill and an intellect that the drawing rooms of London had long underestimated to their cost. She turned both weapons on the legal system that had erased her. She published pamphlets that exposed with precise, documented clarity how English family law treated mothers — as temporary caregivers whose connection to their children existed only at a husband's sufferance, and evaporated the moment they stepped outside obedience.
"The Natural Claim of a Mother to the Custody of her Children" (1837).
"A Plain Letter to the Lord Chancellor on the Infant Custody Bill" (1839).
She did not write in the language of sentiment. She wrote in the language of law — its precedents, its contradictions, its consequences — and she made it impossible for anyone reading to pretend that what was happening to women like her was accidental or acceptable.
Her campaign, conducted in the face of personal devastation and public scrutiny, helped drive the passage of the Custody of Infants Act of 1839 — the first law in English history to limit a father's absolute custody rights, giving mothers the right to petition courts for access to children under seven, and custody of children under sixteen, provided their moral character was considered unblemished.
It was a landmark. It was genuinely historic.
And Caroline Norton could not use it.
Because her children were in Scotland. And Scotland was outside the Act's jurisdiction.
She continued fighting through the courts for years, winning limited access, losing it again, navigating the labyrinthine cruelty of a legal system that had been designed by men to manage women's grief rather than respect their rights.
In 1842, her youngest son William was thrown from a horse at his father's estate.
By the time Caroline was notified, it was too late.
She arrived to find him gone.
The woman who had changed English law so that mothers could keep their children buried the youngest of hers without having been given the chance to say goodbye — and without the law she herself had created being able to help her.
The Custody of Infants Act of 1839 was a beginning, not an ending. Full legal equality for mothers in custody matters would not arrive in England until the Guardianship of Infants Act 1925 — nearly ninety years later. Every step of that journey was built on the foundation that Caroline Norton laid with her pamphlets and her persistence and her refusal to let private suffering stay private.
She did not fight for a principle.
She fought because her sons existed, and the law told her that was not enough.
The law was wrong. She proved it.
And she paid a price for proving it that no retrospective recognition will ever fully account for.
And it is cold out. John went to No Frills and now I'm happy that we have more vegetables, cabbage and turnip. And butter was only $5 so we added to our stockpile. Gotta grab sale items when you can.
While he was out I tidied the kitchen, emptied the dishwasher and the dryer and filled it up again.
SUNDAY
I made a pot of vegetable stock from the bag of vegetable bits and bobs, I was going to add the other freezer stock but decided that I could add the chicken bones from tonight's dinner instead.
A quick glance up and I caught this, it was gone in minutes. I really do have to make the effort one morning to go out by the lake to catch the sun rise.
This random woman got on the elevator, on our floor, never saw her before, and she is showing us the cupcake she just received.
John spontaneously asked if we could go for Jersey Mike's subs for lunch. It is Spring Break!! Union Station was packed with suburbanites dragging tons of kids and pushing various modes of kiddie transit!! After scarfing down our subs, he asked what we should do. Knowing that most places would be packed, I suggested we check out the new subway line.
TTC Line 5 Eglinton (the Crosstown LRT) opened on Feb. 8, 2026, as a 19-km, 25-station line that finally connects east-west travel across Toronto. Despite being over 15 years in the making, the line surprises with its speed, underground depth, and modernized, though initially constrained, operations
We rode from Eglinton all the way to the Wend of the line at Kennedy and then back, with a layover at Eglinton. No major hiccups in our commute — though the stations are freezing cold.
Cheap day out, at $2.25 each.
Cookie cutter stations, mainly white. Click here for all the tantalizing facts about the line!
Eglinton Station: "Light from Within" by Rodney Lateral and Luis Withhoff—a large, mirrored tile panel inspired by underground gems.
I will go back and check out the other public art pieces.
Each station's signage is a riff on this.
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Old-fashioned cloth seats - I would prefer something easily cleaned! BTW a cleaner came on the car when we were waiting at Mount Dennis on the east bound train. I've only ever seen that done, at Broadview, on the streetcar.
Mount Dennis art.
Some sights along the way.
The Aga Khan Museum, we have yet to go there!
"Seated Bear With Friends" sculpture, a massive bronze statue of a female grizzly sitting on a chair, located in Toronto's Big Bear Park.
Size and Structure: The statue is 10 metres tall, weighs over 5,600 kg, and sits on a black granite armchair.
Artist and Meaning: Created by Haida First Nation artist Dean Drever, the sculpture is designed to represent a protector and nurturer, serving as a Canadian mirror image of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
It turned into a lengthy outing as we caught the 5:30 shuttle home.
I renewed my library card online, seems John did his this week also.
Normally we would have gone out in the morning but we decided to have lunch at home.
We decided to go to the AGO, that was a mistake! It was packed with Spring Breakers, who knew that many people would take their kids to the museum! But as someone said to me, a lot of people are not travelling to the States anymore. And with the price of fuel...
This building is going up quickly, on King St., interesting looking.
Forma (266 King St W) is the premier new construction project located immediately next to the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, offering luxury condos designed by Frank Gehry. Currently under construction, this two-tower project features a distinctive, sculpted facade and is expected to be a landmark in the Entertainment District.
It made me think of the Alzheimer building in Las Vegas and sure enough, that was designed by Frank Gehry, Canadian (Toronto)-born American architect.
Speaking of Frank Gehry above, he designed the staircase at the AGO.
Inside the AGO is another new piece.
George I (2014), a relief painting by British artist Julian Opie depicting internationally acclaimed Canadian interior designer George Yabu.
This striking 3D portrait shows Yabu with a calm, introspective expression, his eyes meeting those of the viewer. Opie paints his face using three tones — light, mid and dark — casting a shadow along the right side. His signature approach to flatness and depth can be seen through his application of flat, minimal colours on a sculptural canvas that extends 40 cm from the wall. Hard-edged highlights and shadows contrast against simple black outlines, a hallmark of Opie’s characteristic style.
Since founding their firm Yabu Pushelberg in 1980, Yabu and his partner, Glenn Pushelberg, have become icons in global design. Operating out of Toronto and New York, their studio shaped the designs of some of the world’s most beautifully designed spaces, including the Four Seasons New York Downtown, multiple Louis Vuitton boutiques and the flagship Barneys New York on Madison Avenue. In recognition of their impact, Yabu and Pushelberg were inducted into the Order of Canada in 2014.
Opie first gained prominence in the early 1980s as part of the New British Sculpture movement, celebrated for his large-scale, boldly painted steel sculptures of everyday objects like books and chocolate bars. He often explores themes of consumer culture, identity and everyday human life in his artistic works – all of which continue to define his career and style today. He is best known for his abstractions in contemporary portraiture, where he commonly reduces his subject matter to simple lines and colour planes.
We came to see this exhibit, and because it was so crowded, we only looked at this.
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MIAMI
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We stopped off for a coffee in a new to us, coffeeshop.
John said he would try the "Cajun" (that's what I heard) latte, so I said me too. He said it's going to be spicy, no problem, I said. Only to realize when I tasted it that he had said CAYENNE, and it was spicy!!!
Delicious lattes!
FRIDAY
What a miserable morning for the first day of spring! I put off going out until the afternoon so I made a batch of mixed fruit scones for the freezer.
I also made an apple crisp.
I went for a haircut and found a new way to get there without going outside!
Comicon is on at the convention centre so Front St. was packed!
I shuffled the menu around, originally I was keeping the corned beef for Tuesday, but then decided to have it on Saturday and do the leftovers on Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day. But then I thought, corned beef is not traditional Irish, so let's have lamb, which is traditional, on St. Patrick's Day with a Guinness instead.
Stuff to use up
Dreaded American cheese slices - sorry, went in garbage
cheddar moldy - my fault, thought it was THOSE cheese slices
Phyllo pastry
Dumpling covers
Strawberries frozen
Saturday
L - grilled cheese and bacon
D - corned beef, boiled potatoes and fried cabbage. My Mom would have added the cabbage to the corned beef water to cook. I prefer not to lose the goodness (nutritional value) of the cabbage into the water.
Sunday
L - bacon and scrambled eggs
D - chicken quarters, (leftover boiled) roast potatoes, mashed turnips and carrots, gravy
Monday
L - out Jersey Mike's subs
D - leftover corned beef, roast potatoes and cabbage
Tuesday
L - corned beef hash with Irish soda bread
D - Guinness lamb shanks, potatoes, carrots, onions, carrots and turnips
Wednesday
L - tomato sandwiches because they need to be eaten
D - hamburger patties, gravy, mashed potatoes and beans. Good comfort food.
Thursday
L - homemade soup
D - chicken curry - coconut milk and sauce were in the freezer.
We decided to re-watch the Peaky Blinders series ahead of the new movie so that took up most of our viewing time.
Stone Creek Killer
I watched My Policeman The arrival of Patrick into Marion and Tom's home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previously. Well, that was depressing.
