1832
First Reform Bill extended the vote to men who owned or rented property worth an annual rate of 10 pounds or more (about 18% of the adult male population). It included half of the middle class but excluded agricultural labourers and most industrial workers, and introduced the word 'male' into suffrage legislation for the first time.

1839
Infants and Child Custody Act allowed women who were divorced or separated but had not been proved adulterous to ask for custody of children under seven. Previously, the father was immediately awarded custody of all children, regardless of the reasons for divorce.

1857
Matrimonial Causes Act/Divorce Act established secular divorce in England. Prior to this secular divorce required an act of Parliament and cost hundreds of pounds, and only four women had ever achieved a divorce this way. The 1857 law provided that (1) a court could order maintenance payment to a divorced or estranged wife; (2) a divorced wife could inherit or bequeath property, enter contracts, sue or be sued, and protect her earnings from a deserter; (3) a man could secure a divorce on the grounds of his wife's adultery. For women, a husband's adultery alone was insufficient grounds--she had to prove another charge such as desertion, extreme cruelty, or incest to secure a divorce.

1867
Second Reform Bill doubled the electorate by extending the vote to almost all working men except agricultural day-labourers. The feminists' amendment, for which they had presented the petition to John Stuart Mill, which would have substituted the word 'person' for 'man' in the description of eligible voters, was overwhelmingly defeated.

1870
Married Women's Property Act mandated that women could keep their earnings and inherit personal property and small amounts of money; everything else (whether acquired before or after marriage) belonged to their husbands.

1873
Custody Acts: Women could be awarded custody of children up to age 16, and adulteresses could petition for custody.

1882
Married Women's Property Act. Married women could keep all personal and real property acquired before and during marriage.

1884
Third Reform Bill extended suffrage to rural male householders, to almost all men over 21 (thus a male labourer could vote, but not the wealthy woman who employed him).

1884
Matrimonial Causes Act: a wife deserted by an adulterer could petition for divorce immediately, rather than waiting two years, as previously required.

1886
Custody reform: stipulated that the mother automatically got custody of children if the father died.

1918
Women's Suffrage: women aged 30 and over could vote and stand for Parliament.

1925
Guardianship of Infants Act recognised that both parents had equal rights and responsibilities for children.

1928
Women's voting age lowered to 21.