Curiouser and curiouser...

[biggirlsblouse]

Hello all,

While having a fossick about in the family tree, I came across a very curious little story that starts way back in 1886 (maybe. But depends.)

I was looking into a Henry Edmunds Haddon (b 1852) who was married to Elizabeth Page (b 1873 - she's my great great Aunt) in 1893 partly to see whether he was related to all the other Haddons in the family shrubbery (he is) and to see if I could figure out why Miss Elizabeth would be hooking up with a relatively old bloke. According to their marriage certificate, he was a widower, so off I trotted to look for his first wife and any kids they may have had.

Of course, because he said he was a widower, I've assumed Wife #1 is dead - I found her details and their marriage (Mary Jane Reid (b 1865), married in India in 1883) and then details of their divorce - which was a cracking read I have to say. Anyway, Henry introduced Mary Jane to a young Lieutenant George E Rogers in about 1886, when she was about 21-22 - and after she'd had two then three kids in very quick succession with Henry; and they (MJ and GE) proceeded to embark on a long standing and rather epic affair, culminating in her having a child to him and being named in the divorce of Henry and Mary Jane.

The divorce papers list a shopping list of places where they engaged in adulterous behaviour; Henry gets custody of the kids, and nothing more is seen or heard from Mary Jane. Now, I was pretty sure she didn't die between the decree nisi and Henry marrying Elizabeth (there was only two months between the decree nisi and wife #2) so I figured ole mate Henry might have been a bit lenient with the truth. So, I went looking further to see if Mary Jane got a Happy Ever After with Lieutenant Rogers (I felt very invested in her by this point ) but I couldn't find any sign of her either with or without him. I couldn't find any army records for him in the British Army in India - but I didn't know any more about him than his name and rank in 1886, couldn't find any further traces of her anywhere either (although it appears Henry dumped the kids in boarding school aged 3, 4 and 6 before he headed back to India with his new wifey (who is also his first cousin, I might add). Okay things were different back then, but I have been judging Henry Haddon quite severely).

Anyway, I was all set to start typing up an epic question asking about how to find the Lieutenant and Mary Jane then I discovered that allegedly, the father of Mary Jane's "love child" was Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and grandson of Queen Victoria!!!! There's a whole thing in the Wikipedia about their alleged relationship.

Crikey.

After Prince Albert's death in 1893, apparently MJ went to the Palace and said Oi, this is his kid. But poor old Mary Jane got dismissed as a crank and sent away with an all expenses paid trip to America. Ahem.

But, according to the divorce papers, their fling started in 1886, and not in 1890 when he was officially in India. Then, I discovered Albert Victor was in the 10th Hussars - who were stationed in India at the crucial time. So there's that. And going purely by the divorce papers recounting of events, it was an on again off again long term fling. And her husband sort of condoned it (which, I suppose he would, seeing as it was a Prince and everything).

BUT I still can't find any trace of Lieutenant Rogers, and I can't find out what happened to Mary Jane - some accounts have her going to America, some have her back in India. And there's no actual proof that her son was Prince Albert's - although some judicious googling of Clarence Guy Gordon Haddon images shows a googly eyed chap who does bear a passing resemblance to the Prince, so there might be a degree of truth there.

So, just for the interests of assuaging my curiosity - I'd love to find out who the Lieutenant was (maybe he was the play-name of Prince Albert!?!), and whatever happened to Mary Jane (also known as Margery).

Jodi

PS: Henry didn't get a happy every after with Elizabeth, either. She died in childbirth and he dies about 12 months later!

[Lesley Robertson]

I can’t help with the search, but thanks for something enjoyable to read over breakfast!

Have you treated Lt Rogers as a standard search - medals, that sort of thing?
Maybe it’s a bit of a 21st century viewpoint, but It seems odd that MJ and friend don’t seem to have been very discreet (to say the least), and yet there doesn’t seem to be even a hint in the newspapers... The press were not slow to attack the royals in the time of Queen Vic.

I’m looking forward to any updates on this thread!

[grisel]

Does make good reading!

Looking for Clarence Guy Haddon b 1890 in FS brought up this in 1891 census Piece 11, F 13, P18 in Paddington.
In the household are George Rogers 26 b East Indies, Maria Maddon 23 b India, Guy G Haddon son 1 b India. Could be them?...

[biggirlsblouse]

Does make good reading!

Looking for Clarence Guy Haddon b 1890 in FS brought up this in 1891 census Piece 11, F 13, P18 in Paddington.
In the household are George Rogers 26 b East Indies, Maria Maddon 23 b India, Guy G Haddon son 1 b India. Could be them?...

You know what, I reckon it could well be... Maria Maddon could plausibly be Mary Haddon.

Jodi

[biggirlsblouse]

The plot is getting thickerer...

Clarence Guy Gordon Haddon wrote a book! And because he wrote it in 1929 (and probably self-published it) it's not longer restricted by copyright and I located a copy on the interwebs (can I post a link?) I've been having a skim and the events at least of the Affaire between Albert and Mary Jane seem to have happened in the same order as that in the divorce papers, just in 1889 not 1886.

Lt Rogers was in the Kings Own Scottish Boarders and "madly in love" with Mary Jane, and apparently lost his commission when he was named in the divorce. His dad was a General, so that might make it easier to find him!

This is the most exciting thing in my family tree!

[grisel]

Well,there is a George E Rogers b India 1865, son of a Major General, round the corner in Paddington in 1891 - maybe enumerated twice? They are in Putney in 1881.
Also a report from a newspaper somewhere of Lieutenant George E Rogers resigning his commission in 1890.

[Lesley Robertson]

People were sometimes enumerated twice - usually because someone recorded him/her in their normal residence having not noticed the requirement for being listed where they slept on census night, and someone else declared them elsewhere. Admittedly, that was usually a hotel because they were away for a day or two, or a travelling salesman, or something else mundaner than this tale..
Please don't publish the link to the book, just give the same of the site and the keywords you used.

[Megan Roberts]

There is a blog claiming that Clarence Guy Gordon Hadden was remanded to jail in late 1929 for trying to extort money from King George V; having writing to him saying that he was the illegitimate son of the late Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the brother of the king, and asking for £600 a year so that he would no longer be “forced to wash his own dirty linen in a backroom and that that of the royal family in public for a living”.

Findmypast have an extensive collection of criminal records covering the period 1770-1935, and that don’t have any records for him in that collection.

The blog is I am pretty American in origin.

There was a Sunday Times article entitled “Royal cover up of illegitimate son revealed” published 27 Nov 2005, if you “google” it you can still get it but you have to subscribe to their web site. Now it has the first couple of paragraphs visible and says that his mother was Margery Haddon.

There appears to be an article about the court case referred to above in the New York Times 20 Jan 1934, but again you have to subscribe to that.

Clarence Guy Gordon Hadden is mentioned in Hansard (which is the official recording of everything that goes on in the House of Commons). Unfortunately it’s a question but not the answer, so only partially illuminating: “Mr Cluse asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the case of Clarence Guy Gordon Haddon, who was convicted at the Old Bailey on the 17th January, 1935, for breach of recognisance under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1907; and whether, as this prisoner was not brought into court by an ordinary summons”. Nor does it seem to be complete.

There seems to have been an official release of documents probably by the National Archives around 2004 hence the volume of documents on the web. The Times of India published an article about the story on Nov 28 2005, which is visible and you don’t need to subscribe. The describes Mrs Haddon as the wife of a staid civil engineer based on Kolkata, and said that she was less than discreet went to London “haunting the neighbourhood of Buckingham Palace, shouting that she was the mother of the Duke’s son.” Lieutenant George Rogers was the Prince’s aide and probably originally affected the introduction and agreed to play the role of patsy and he continued to pay maintenance to her son. After the Duke’s death she was bought clothes from a special official emergency account, and her passage to India was purchased by the political adviser of the Secretary of State for India and she was given (an illegible sum) as spending money. By then she was an alcoholic and a social outcast because of her divorce and “multiple subsequent failed marriages” and was never heard of again.

[biggirlsblouse]

The book can be found by googling "My Uncle, George V" and selecting the "hathitrust.org" option which will take you to a PDF.

I've now skimmed poor Clarence's book and I do feel sort of sorry for him. Only sort of, because he appears to be the type of chap for whom everything bad that ever happened to him was because of the government following him everywhere because of his link to the Duke of Clarence. He was also the very best at whatever he did, until the Government found out about him, then everything would go pear-shaped. Again. (his altercation with a lion is um. yeah) But seriously, after the second time something bad happened because of him being a Royal Bastard, then surely you'd just lie and say "nah mate, not me, no idea what you're talking about"

There was no internet or social media back then, so surely it would have been easier to hide your alleged background if anyone asked/suspected? Although if the expat community in India was small, then there would be people who would have known him/his mum? Maybe he bragged about it, too? Which would have brought him to the attention of the government...

And his mum was of course, the most beautiful and vivacious woman ever, despite being a bit of a drunk, who apparently got married at least twice and under different names, and lied about her age. Such a weird little family.

Back to the beginning(ish) though - Henry Haddon the staid engineer started divorce proceedings five minutes after the Duke of Clarence died, so I reckon that's more than just a coincidence as the affair cited in the divorce papers carried on for several years I think there were actually *two* affairs - one with the Lieutenant and another with the Duke of Clarence.

[biggirlsblouse]

I wonder if Mary Jane was having a fling with the Lieutenant who then introduced her to the Duke....