• Title
  Sir Alfred and the Sword of divorce: will they let him use it?, 1886 / cartoon by Phil May
• Creator
  Phil May, 1864-1903
• Call number
  V/207
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1886
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Drawings
• Reference code
  884678
• Physical Description
  1 drawing - ink - 42.2 x 29.8 cm
  
• Scope and Content
  A political cartoon depicting a struggle between a man and woman who are chained together at their waists. The chain is labelled "matrimony". A bottle sits on the table beside the couple and the man holds an axe. A figure [Sir Alfred Stephen] stands in the background with a half-drawn sword. The sheath of the sword is labelled "Divorce Extension Bill".
  The cartoon refers to divorce law reform in New South Wales . In February 1886 Sir Alfred Stephen "moved the first reading of a bill extending the grounds of divorce to cover desertion, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment for at least seven years and assault on the petitioner. Carried in the next session the Divorce Extension Act was refused the royal assent. It provoked violent controversy both within and without parliament".
  
  Reference:
  Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition
  http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/
  (accessed 10 February, 2010)
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
• Description source
  
  Title taken from typed inscription on back of cartoon
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Signed "Phil May" at lower right. The number "536" is written in pencil on the back and precedes the title in the typed inscription
• Date note
  
  Typed inscription on back - April 10, 1886
• Name
  Stephen, Alfred, Sir, 1802-1894
  
• Subject
  Caricatures and cartoons--Australia.
  New South Wales--Politics and government--1851-1901--Caricatures and cartoons
  Adult Females
  Adult Males
  
• Topic
  divorce
  cartoons
  political cartoons
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE20830747

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