In my last post I looked at Alma Collins, who was a diagnosed schizophrenic and spent much of her life in mental institutions. Alma was the only one of the first four children of Alfred Charles Collins and Annie Elizabeth Parker to survive infancy. But Alfred and Annie would go on to have six further children: Violet, Thomas, Alfred, Annie, Joseph and May. I have yet to uncover what became of May, but the other five siblings all married - however Alfred, Annie and Joseph would each have to endure divorce before finding more successful second marriages. Coming from an extended family in which divorce has been rare, I was quite surprised to discover this, particularly as these divorces occurred between the mid-1930s to the early 1950s, when divorce was not as common as it is today.
Thanks to PROV (Public Records Office Victoria), the files on two of these three divorce cases are available to be read. Not surprisingly they do not paint a pretty picture on the early years of marriage for either of these couples. Let's start with the marriage of Alfred and Edna Collins. Alfred Charles Collins (Jr) married Edna Adelaide Rankin on 12 September 1927 in Fitzroy, and had a son Keith the following year. They resided in Fitzroy where Alfred worked as a butcher. According to Edna, the first sign of trouble came in 1931 when Alfred paid for the termination of an employee's pregnancy. After initial denials, Alfred admitted that he had been responsible for the girl's condition. Before too long, Edna would be confronting Alfred again over his frequent nights out (she was always excluded), to which he would respond with menacing behaviour and occasionally violent abuse.
During this period, Alfred was keeping dogs which competed at coursing meets. In 1933 a dog was purchased in Edna's name which would lead to a dispute reported widely in the newspapers. Alfred had been banned from the National Coursing Club for running his dogs at unregistered meetings elsewhere and he claimed this was the reason the dog was run in his wife's name, and that he himself had paid for the dog and all its expenses. After a few early wins, in November 1934 the dog, Megandy, won the Centenary Coursing Cup race at Maribyrnong, earning Edna a gold cup valued at £50 and a cash prize of £150. Edna paid the winnings into her husband's account as she had done previously, but she claimed that she only did this to keep the peace, due to the frequent fighting between the two. After another blow-up in January 1935, Alfred asked Edna to leave but she would only do so if he would repay her the money, which he refused. Alfred himself then left Edna a week later, and pointedly employed a new cashier in his shop (Edna's job up to that point), and denied her any money. In March Edna was able to get a maintenance order for £3 a week, but she also took the case over Megandy's winnings to the County Court. At the hearing, the judge felt that the matter could be more easily settled if the couple could work out their 'matrimonial differences', and while Alfred did drop his claim of ownership of the dog the next day, it was reported that there would be no reconciliation. However the divorce record indicates that after a period of five months apart, the couple were back together around August 1935.
Within three months of this reconciliation, Alfred was once again staying out late, drinking heavily and was reportedly seen in his car with drunken women. Protests by Edna would result in her being physically beaten, including on one particular occasion in February 1937 when she was given a blood nose and then thrown from Alfred's car as he tried to drive away, resulting in injuries to her leg. She stayed with her mother to recover, and enlisted the help of a an agent to investigate her suspicions surrounding her husband's activities with other women. Together with the agent and her parents Edna visited her home on 1 March and found Alfred drunk and in bed with another woman. After a confrontation in which Edna stated her intention to divorce him, they continued to observe Alfred from afar: he, the woman and another couple who had been in the garage were seen to leave the house, drive around to multiple hotels buying and drinking beer before dropping the ladies home.
Following this episode, with the threat of divorce hanging over his head, Alfred sold his butcher's business and car and disappeared from view before a citation could be served on him. A friend believed he had fled to Mildura, and this friend also had received a letter from Alfred for his son Keith in which he told him he had gone away, and to be a good boy. There is no evidence that Alfred returned to face the music at the divorce proceedings and the divorce became official in September 1937.
Both Edna and Alfred would marry again. Edna married Albert Overbury in 1941, but sadly passed away in 1949, before she had even reached the age of 40. Alfred, after serving during the Second World War as a butcher, married Vera Idalia Brown in 1946. He was 44 and Vera 41. Alfred would have no more children, and sadly lost his son Keith in 1951 at the age of just 23. While Alfred would remain married to Vera, presumably his drinking continued. How do we know this? On 6 July 1963 at age 60, Alfred was admitted to Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital, moving to Kew (where his sister Alma resided), two months later. His diagnosis was an alcoholic with 'Korsakoff's psychosis'. Korsakoff's is a memory disorder due to a thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency associated with prolonged alcohol consumption. A head injury sustained shortly before his initial admission could also have been a trigger - while in hospital for treatment on this, Alfred suffered an epileptic episode, and would have two further ones in 1966 and 1969. In 1970, after seven years at Kew, Alfred passed away from lobar pneumonia and an abscess in the lung, aged 67.
The second divorce file I viewed was that of Alfred and Annie James (nee Collins). Unlike the previous case, the petitioner was the husband, but once again, it was the Collins - Annie - who 'did a runner', and appears not to have presented for the divorce proceedings. So what was the story? Alfred Willis Joseph James married Annie Ivy Collins on 2 May 1931 at St Stephens C of E in Richmond. At the time Alfred was working as a 'fuel merchant' (running a service station) and Annie was a shop assistant. In 1933 the couple were living in South Yarra when Annie started making regular weekend trips to Queenscliff. Alfred objected to these trips but could never accompany her due to deliveries he had to make on Saturdays related to his employment. Soon a friend of Annie's let Alfred know that Annie was seeing a lot of a man named Reg Hodder on these trips. When confronted on this, Annie told Alfred to mind his own business, and that she was no longer interested in him but that he was welcome to 'stay on as a boarder and pay board to [Annie's] mother'! Instead, Alfred moved out to a flat in Malvern but invited his wife to come and look at it with a view to moving in. However Annie visited him to tell him she was 'definitely through' with the marriage. That was in August 1933 and was the last time Alfred saw his wife.
It wasn't until nearly ten years' later, in March 1943, that Alfred filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion. He explained that he did not institute proceedings earlier due to a 'lack of means'. Alfred attempted to find her whereabouts by visiting Annie's brother Thomas and his wife Dorothy, but they claimed to have not heard from her in years. Alfred stated that Thomas was the only relative of Annie's that he knew, which is interesting given that she was one of seven children alive at this time - albeit one (Alma), as we have seen, was likely in a mental institution). An investigator was sent to Thomas and Dorothy's address to make the same enquiry, but was ordered to leave the premises by Thomas. The decree nisi was issued for the divorce in December 1943, and it became official in February 1944. Alfred would remarry that year, to Daisy Everett, and they had two children together. Interestingly, after Alfred died in 1984, his death certificate makes no mention of his first marriage.
When originally researching Annie Collins (ie well before finding this divorce record), I could find no record of her either as Annie James or as Annie Collins after her marriage to Alfred in 1931. It was a mystery. More recently I searched the indexes for deaths of women with parents Alfred Collins and Annie Parker, and turned up a record of a Peggy Ivy Hodder with the right age - I had finally found her. I searched and found that Annie James had married Reg Hodder in 1944 - no doubt as soon as possible after the divorce from Alfred became official. But with so many electoral roll records available for the 1930s, why had I not been able to locate Annie between 1931 and 1944? As it turned out, from at least 1937 Annie appears in the electoral roll in Coburg (living with Reg) under the name Peggy Hodder. Why the name change to Peggy? Without really knowing the answer, Peggy was sometimes a nickname (though usually a short form of Margaret). Maybe 'Peggy' was already Annie's nickname, and given the circumstances was a convenient name for her to use in making a new life.
Annie - or Peggy - was not just living with Reg in this time. In fact, from her death certificate, it is evident that between 1936 and her divorce from Alfred in 1944, Annie gave birth to no less than three children with Reg! (They would go on to have five in total). So while it might not have been official until 1944, in Annie's eyes, her new 'married' life had begun well before, all the while with her first husband oblivious to the fact. Peggy would live out her days with Reg, passing away in 1971 aged 67. Reg, who was seven years her junior, lived until 1990.
The third Collins divorce was between Joseph Edmund Collins (named for his grandfather, my direct ancestor) and his wife Lilian Martha Caldwell. But because this did not occur until the early 1950s, the record is not publicly available. So what to make of all this? Was it just a coincidence, merely a series of bad choices? While we can only obtain fragments from the past, when you see references to mental illness in the family, along with alcohol, it is probably no surprise to also find unhappiness. We can only wonder at what circumstances might have led to these issues. If there is perhaps one silver lining, it is that in the cases of all three divorced Collins siblings - Alfred, Annie and Joseph, it appears that their second marriages were far more successful than their first, lasting the distance. Hopefully they had learnt from their mistakes, and managed to finally find some contentment in their personal lives.
During this period, Alfred was keeping dogs which competed at coursing meets. In 1933 a dog was purchased in Edna's name which would lead to a dispute reported widely in the newspapers. Alfred had been banned from the National Coursing Club for running his dogs at unregistered meetings elsewhere and he claimed this was the reason the dog was run in his wife's name, and that he himself had paid for the dog and all its expenses. After a few early wins, in November 1934 the dog, Megandy, won the Centenary Coursing Cup race at Maribyrnong, earning Edna a gold cup valued at £50 and a cash prize of £150. Edna paid the winnings into her husband's account as she had done previously, but she claimed that she only did this to keep the peace, due to the frequent fighting between the two. After another blow-up in January 1935, Alfred asked Edna to leave but she would only do so if he would repay her the money, which he refused. Alfred himself then left Edna a week later, and pointedly employed a new cashier in his shop (Edna's job up to that point), and denied her any money. In March Edna was able to get a maintenance order for £3 a week, but she also took the case over Megandy's winnings to the County Court. At the hearing, the judge felt that the matter could be more easily settled if the couple could work out their 'matrimonial differences', and while Alfred did drop his claim of ownership of the dog the next day, it was reported that there would be no reconciliation. However the divorce record indicates that after a period of five months apart, the couple were back together around August 1935.
Within three months of this reconciliation, Alfred was once again staying out late, drinking heavily and was reportedly seen in his car with drunken women. Protests by Edna would result in her being physically beaten, including on one particular occasion in February 1937 when she was given a blood nose and then thrown from Alfred's car as he tried to drive away, resulting in injuries to her leg. She stayed with her mother to recover, and enlisted the help of a an agent to investigate her suspicions surrounding her husband's activities with other women. Together with the agent and her parents Edna visited her home on 1 March and found Alfred drunk and in bed with another woman. After a confrontation in which Edna stated her intention to divorce him, they continued to observe Alfred from afar: he, the woman and another couple who had been in the garage were seen to leave the house, drive around to multiple hotels buying and drinking beer before dropping the ladies home.
Following this episode, with the threat of divorce hanging over his head, Alfred sold his butcher's business and car and disappeared from view before a citation could be served on him. A friend believed he had fled to Mildura, and this friend also had received a letter from Alfred for his son Keith in which he told him he had gone away, and to be a good boy. There is no evidence that Alfred returned to face the music at the divorce proceedings and the divorce became official in September 1937.
Both Edna and Alfred would marry again. Edna married Albert Overbury in 1941, but sadly passed away in 1949, before she had even reached the age of 40. Alfred, after serving during the Second World War as a butcher, married Vera Idalia Brown in 1946. He was 44 and Vera 41. Alfred would have no more children, and sadly lost his son Keith in 1951 at the age of just 23. While Alfred would remain married to Vera, presumably his drinking continued. How do we know this? On 6 July 1963 at age 60, Alfred was admitted to Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital, moving to Kew (where his sister Alma resided), two months later. His diagnosis was an alcoholic with 'Korsakoff's psychosis'. Korsakoff's is a memory disorder due to a thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency associated with prolonged alcohol consumption. A head injury sustained shortly before his initial admission could also have been a trigger - while in hospital for treatment on this, Alfred suffered an epileptic episode, and would have two further ones in 1966 and 1969. In 1970, after seven years at Kew, Alfred passed away from lobar pneumonia and an abscess in the lung, aged 67.
Grave of Alfred Charles Collins, Boroondara Cemetery, Kew, Victoria
The second divorce file I viewed was that of Alfred and Annie James (nee Collins). Unlike the previous case, the petitioner was the husband, but once again, it was the Collins - Annie - who 'did a runner', and appears not to have presented for the divorce proceedings. So what was the story? Alfred Willis Joseph James married Annie Ivy Collins on 2 May 1931 at St Stephens C of E in Richmond. At the time Alfred was working as a 'fuel merchant' (running a service station) and Annie was a shop assistant. In 1933 the couple were living in South Yarra when Annie started making regular weekend trips to Queenscliff. Alfred objected to these trips but could never accompany her due to deliveries he had to make on Saturdays related to his employment. Soon a friend of Annie's let Alfred know that Annie was seeing a lot of a man named Reg Hodder on these trips. When confronted on this, Annie told Alfred to mind his own business, and that she was no longer interested in him but that he was welcome to 'stay on as a boarder and pay board to [Annie's] mother'! Instead, Alfred moved out to a flat in Malvern but invited his wife to come and look at it with a view to moving in. However Annie visited him to tell him she was 'definitely through' with the marriage. That was in August 1933 and was the last time Alfred saw his wife.
It wasn't until nearly ten years' later, in March 1943, that Alfred filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion. He explained that he did not institute proceedings earlier due to a 'lack of means'. Alfred attempted to find her whereabouts by visiting Annie's brother Thomas and his wife Dorothy, but they claimed to have not heard from her in years. Alfred stated that Thomas was the only relative of Annie's that he knew, which is interesting given that she was one of seven children alive at this time - albeit one (Alma), as we have seen, was likely in a mental institution). An investigator was sent to Thomas and Dorothy's address to make the same enquiry, but was ordered to leave the premises by Thomas. The decree nisi was issued for the divorce in December 1943, and it became official in February 1944. Alfred would remarry that year, to Daisy Everett, and they had two children together. Interestingly, after Alfred died in 1984, his death certificate makes no mention of his first marriage.
When originally researching Annie Collins (ie well before finding this divorce record), I could find no record of her either as Annie James or as Annie Collins after her marriage to Alfred in 1931. It was a mystery. More recently I searched the indexes for deaths of women with parents Alfred Collins and Annie Parker, and turned up a record of a Peggy Ivy Hodder with the right age - I had finally found her. I searched and found that Annie James had married Reg Hodder in 1944 - no doubt as soon as possible after the divorce from Alfred became official. But with so many electoral roll records available for the 1930s, why had I not been able to locate Annie between 1931 and 1944? As it turned out, from at least 1937 Annie appears in the electoral roll in Coburg (living with Reg) under the name Peggy Hodder. Why the name change to Peggy? Without really knowing the answer, Peggy was sometimes a nickname (though usually a short form of Margaret). Maybe 'Peggy' was already Annie's nickname, and given the circumstances was a convenient name for her to use in making a new life.
Annie - or Peggy - was not just living with Reg in this time. In fact, from her death certificate, it is evident that between 1936 and her divorce from Alfred in 1944, Annie gave birth to no less than three children with Reg! (They would go on to have five in total). So while it might not have been official until 1944, in Annie's eyes, her new 'married' life had begun well before, all the while with her first husband oblivious to the fact. Peggy would live out her days with Reg, passing away in 1971 aged 67. Reg, who was seven years her junior, lived until 1990.
Grave of Peggy (Annie) and Reg Hodder, also at Boroondara Cemetery
The third Collins divorce was between Joseph Edmund Collins (named for his grandfather, my direct ancestor) and his wife Lilian Martha Caldwell. But because this did not occur until the early 1950s, the record is not publicly available. So what to make of all this? Was it just a coincidence, merely a series of bad choices? While we can only obtain fragments from the past, when you see references to mental illness in the family, along with alcohol, it is probably no surprise to also find unhappiness. We can only wonder at what circumstances might have led to these issues. If there is perhaps one silver lining, it is that in the cases of all three divorced Collins siblings - Alfred, Annie and Joseph, it appears that their second marriages were far more successful than their first, lasting the distance. Hopefully they had learnt from their mistakes, and managed to finally find some contentment in their personal lives.
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