The great leap forward

The decades of increasing liberalisation of the law reveals a huge need for divorce, often for women to escape miserable marriages. In 1910, for example, there are just 801 divorces. In 1920, there are 3,747, and in 1940, there are 8,396. A much bigger leap, to 32,516, comes after legal aid is introduced in 1949 to help people who cannot afford to pay lawyers' fees.

Other changes also balance out the husband-and-wife scales. The contraceptive pill, introduced in 1961, and the 1967 Abortion Act, legalising pregnancy terminations, enable women to gain increased control over if, when and with whom they have children.

In the 1970s, there is a great increase in the number of divorces - from 62,010 to 134,252 - following the 1969 Divorce Reform Act. This introduces the concept of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage as the sole ground for divorce, so that there is no longer a need for one party to prove that the other is at fault.