Late-Victorian Divorces of the Rickards Twins ....part 1..... another story from Tony Goulding

Two members of my favourite family the Rickards were embroiled in scandalous divorce cases during the final decade of Queen Victoria’s reign. 

Louisa and her husband Henry Worral fought out a bitter divorce in 1894/5 while her twin brother Arthur Benjamin cited his wife Jane Elizabeth (née Funnell) for adultery in 1896.

 Louisa and Arthur Benjamin Rickards were born in Stretford, Lancashire in July, 1856 and were both baptized there on the 7th August. They were youngest of the four surviving children of William Henry Rickards and Ellen (née Royle). Their mother died when they were just four-years-old.

The Worral case was perhaps the more sensational as it involved a clergyman being cited as a co-respondent.

Mr. Henry Worral, a wealthy bleacher, dyer, and printer from Salford, Lancashire, had married Louisa Rickards at St. Mary’s, Hulme, Manchester on the 12th September, 1878. Together they had four children three boys Philip (born 28th May, 1880), Stephen Henry (born 20th December, 1882), and Bertram (born 28th March, 1883) and a girl Louisa Grace (born 13th February, 1887).

Much of the substance of the proceedings involved events which took place in and around  “Crimsworth” (1) the Worral’s extensive family home on Upper Chorlton Road, Whalley Range. The case was covered extensively in the local and national press during the last week of November, 1894. 

As reported in The Manchester Evening News on the 23rd November Louisa petitioned for a judicial separation from her husband on the grounds of cruelty, Mr. Worrall denied this and counter-petitioned for a divorce on the grounds of his wife’s adultery, citing, as the co-respondent, Rev. Hugh William Jones, a one-time curate of the Church of England parish of St. Mary’s, Moss Lane, Hulme, Manchester.

One of Rev. Jones counsels was Edward Carson Q.C.; famous as the defender of the Marquess of Queensbury in his libel case Vs. Oscar Wilde (a childhood friend) and later as the vocal defender of Ulster’s protestant majority against the imposition of Home Rule in Ireland.

 There were actually two hearings of the issue as the jury on the first occasion though finding Mr. Worral not guilty of cruelty were undecided on the adultery charge. The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser carried a 7-column supplement, complete with pencil sketches of the three petitioners, at the conclusion of the 5-day trial. Louisa alleged she was assaulted by her husband when he had grabbed a letter, which she had written to Rev. Jones off her. 

An incident which her half-brother Harold Hilditch Rickards (2) had been a part witness to. This was the climax of an escalating pattern of abuse and the following morning she had contacted her twin Arthur Benjamin, a solicitor, to instigate separation proceedings. Mr. Worrall denied any wrong-doing though he was often provoked by his wife’s behaviour and counter claimed that his wife had embarked on an adulterous liaison with Rev. Jones in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Nr. Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire and elsewhere

In the time between the hearings there was a form of reconciliation between the parties and Mr. Worrall withdrew his petition, however wishing to clear his name Rev. Jones was insistent that the matter be again brought before the court. The case was reheard on Friday / Saturday 12th - 13th July, 1895 and Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the week following. 

This time the jury considered there was enough evidence presented to prove that adultery had occurred. Once again, the case was widely featured in the press. The Manchester Weekly Times of 19th July carried a day by day account over 31/2 columns. The verdict and consequent public confirmation that Mr. Worrall had been cuckolded had had an unfortunate fallout. The marital reconciliation collapsed and the divorce was finalized. Henry Worrall pressed for custody of the children even taking Louisa to court to have his daughter returned to him. 

 Louisa died, aged just 41, two years to the day from the start of the second court hearing, on the 12th July, 1897. She was according to her probate record living at 37, Montpellier Road, Brighton, Sussex and described as a single woman. Probate to her estate of £907-14s-8d. was granted to her ill-fated brother, Harry.

 Henry Worral re-married on the 24th June, 1904 to Janet Greener in St. Brynach’s Church, Dinas Cross, Pembrokeshire, West Wales. His second wife died in the December quarter of 1919 in Ludlow, Shropshire, where the Worralls  were living in retirement at Culmington House. Henry carried on living at this address until he too died on 10th March, 1939.

Coming to a Blog near you shortly ----------Rickards vs Funnell 

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Pictures; Crimeworth images, 2020, from the collection of Tony Goulding, and St. Mary’s Church, Hulme m70933 H. Milligan 1957, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Notes:

1) “Crimsworth” was recorded in the Census of 1911 as a house with 16 rooms (not including any scullery, landing, lobby, closet, or bathroom).

2) Harold Hilditch Rickards’s evidence was given by disposition as he had been ordered by his doctors to move to a healthier climate. He did in fact move to Australia where he married Claire Augusta Sarah Gert Coates in Victoria in 1895. She died on the 20th January, 1912 in Palmyra, Freemantle, Western Australia.

Harold Hilditch moved to Chatswood, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, where he died on the 1st February, 1924. According to his will he was then married to a lady called Gladys. His grave is in the Macquarie Park Cemetery