Jacky Fogerty has been unearthing details about the first wife of my grandfather William Domville Rowland.

They were married by Licence on 16 December 1896 at St Pancras Registry office. The witnesses were Eugenie de Belgarde, Alfred Robins,  and Lucie Bradbury. They were both living at 84 Guildford Street; he was 23 and she was 33; both described as journalists. Her father Jean de Belgarde is described as the French Consul. Henriette is also described as the divorced wife of Julius Rodolphe Ercheres.

I do not know how long they were together. In the 1901 census they were living in Balderton, Nottinghamshire. Henriette’s birthplace was given as Paris.

In 1908 William Domville fathered a child, Lorna, with Evelyn Waring, so the marriage would have been on the rocks then.

The 1911 Census shows Henriette staying with Annie Elizabeth Marriott (private means) with Annie’s mother and a servant. So they had clearly separated by then.

Henriette died in Bournemouth, aged 80 in 1940. So the information I had of her death in Austria in 1917 from Family Resource was incorrect.

I have not been able to find records of Henriette’s marriage to and divorce from Julius Rodolphe Ercheres. I assume these were in France, and it is necessary to know the relevant place to search the records. William Domville married Mabel Louise Bracey in 1918. On the marriage certificate he is described as a bachelor. So maybe Henriette’s divorce from Julius was never formalised, making her marriage to William Domville invalid. Or maybe he was economical with the truth.

Answers to this conundrum on a postcard please!

Simon, and my niece Rachel and family have finally taken the plunge. They have moved lock stock and barrel from Suffolk to Adelaide, where Rachel has a job as Head of Department and Head of Year at Trinity School, and Luke and Alexander are going to the Junior School. Simon previously a pilot with Easyjet will be getting his Australian pilots qualifications.