Edwin Reuben Hann c1840-1890 and Victoria Crouch c1841-1895

A page in the 2013 website is being devoted to Edwin and Victoria Hann as in 1876 they were one of only 208 married couples in England and Wales who were granted a divorce.  It is thus fairly rare to see ‘divorced’ on an 1881 census return:

Edwin Rueben Hann was born in Glastonbury, a son of house painter John B Hann, born c1809 in Butleigh, Somerset and straw bonnet maker Virtue Petvin, born c1816 in Street, Somerset.

Victoria Crouch was born in Winsham, near Chard, Somerset, daughter of St Thomas Crouch born c1794 at Horningsham, near Frome, Wiltshire and Ann born c1802 at Chard, Somerset.  In the 1841 census Thomas and his sons seem to have had a family jewellery business in Winsham, but on the night of the 1851 census Thomas, his wife and daughters Victoria and Petulia were at an inn in Wells and Thomas’ occupation was a “travelling jeweller”.  The enumerator added the comment ‘Ped’, perhaps indicating that he considered Thomas to be a pedlar.

On 31 January 1860 Edwin and Victoria were married at St Mark’s Church, Lyncombe that is now part of the City of Bath. They both professed to have been of ‘Full Age’ and therefore over 21 years old and able to marry without parental consent.  Edwin had been born during the first three months of 1840, so he was definitely lying about his age.   Victoria was ‘one year’ old on the night of 6 June 1841 when the 1841 census was taken so it is very likely that she too was not 21 years old on 31 January 1860. Charles Bargery, one of the witnesses was a carpenter and joiner living at 9, Upper Trafalgar Street, Bath during the 1861 census.

Fourteen months later on census night, the 7/8 April 1861 Victoria was with her parents at a jewellery shop in the High Street, Glastonbury where ‘Victoria Hann’ and her sister Petulia were assistants.  Edwin, by now an ‘accountant’ was with his parents.  Does this show that parental disapproval kept the couple apart until they were both 21 years old?

Edwin and Victoria were living together at the time of the 1871 census and by 1875 had seven children, dates of birth taken from the divorce papers:

• Alfred Henry Hann born 25 June 1862
• Charles Edwin Hann born 15 March 1864
• Thomas John Hann born 17 Sept 1865
• Ellen Amy Hann born 3 Jan 1868
• Florence Rose Hann born 14 Jan 1870
• Agnes  Jane Hann born 21 Dec 1871
• Albert Edward Hann born 9 June 1873

On 18 June 1875 Edwin, who had been a ‘solicitor’s general clerk’ since before the 1871 census filed a petition for divorce on two grounds:

• Victoria had committed adultery with Godfrey Charles Tegetmeir.   This is a distinct name that does not show up in the records available in 2012. The closest is Godfrey Conrad Tegetmeir, born 1855 and a bachelor living in London in the 1870s.  Likewise the affidavits, not included in the papers, were sworn by untraceable  people, including a Crouch who was made out to be Victoria’s sister-in-law.

• Victoria had lived as a prostitute in Northload Street, Glastonbury.

Comment: Without studying contemporary divorce papers it is not possible to say whether a hint at prostitution was required to guarantee a divorce. In this uncontested case it seems as if most, if not all the evidence placed in front of the court was rigged.
Carolyn   

The decree nisi was dated 14 February 1876 and the decree absolute 7 November 1876.

In the 1881 census Edwin was living in Glastonbury with his five youngest children.  Alfred and Charles, the eldest two children disappear from the English records, though this may be due to transcription errors.  Victoria does not seem to have been included in the 1881 census but had returned to Glastonbury by the 1891 census.  Edwin had died on 2 May 1890 and in 1891 Victoria chose to describe herself as a ‘widow’.  Living with Victoria was her fifteen year old daughter Evelyn who had been born in the last quarter of 1875 during the time of Edwin and Victoria’s divorce. Later when Evelyn married she gave her father’s name as Edwin Reuben Hann, so presumably Victoria had  registered Edwin as Evelyn’s father on her birth certificate.  Evelyn may have made a Freudian slip on her mother’s behalf when she described Edwin as a ‘Law Writer’.

Edwin married Catherine Mary Snelgrove on 27 Apr 1881 in London.  Catherine, a school teacher had been born in 1846 in Norton Bavant, Wiltshire.  Edwin and Catherine had three children Frances Mary Hann born c1883, Winifred Fanny Hann born c1884, and Lionel Austin Hann born c1885.

After Edwin had died in 1890 Catherine remained in Glastonbury where she was a schoolmistress until after the 1891 census.  During the 1901 and 1911 censuses Catherine was living and teaching in Hedge End near Southampton.  A Catherine M Hann died in the Wells Registration District in 1929, so she may have returned to Glastonbury in later life.

Divorce in the nineteenth century

Divorce in the UK changed in 1858 when the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act took effect. Among other things, this law removed divorce from the jurisdiction of the church and made it a civil matter. Though divorce still remained primarily a privilege of the wealthy, it no longer required the intervention of Parliament as it had in days past. Women were also given more access to divorce if they could prove both adultery and an accompanying cause such as cruelty, desertion, or bigamy.

The annual number of divorces in England and Wales slowly increased between 1858 and 1900 when there were 512 divorces granted.  For an overview of divorce rates since 1858 see The Guardian’s datablog.

All information taken from records available on ancestry.co.uk