\u201cThe big mystery was why she started calling herself Hargreaves, and what had happened to Herbert\u2019s father,\u201d Lynda continues. \u201cOccasionally when she\u2019d had a drink, she would talk about her husband, saying he\u2019d abandoned her, drowned \u2013 or even gone off to Australia<\/a> taking their children with him.\u201d She also said she\u2019d been in service with a wealthy draper called Hargreaves, who was Herbert\u2019s father.<\/p> Lynda discovered Eliza had been born in Bury, Lancashire, on 8 December 1862 to Edward Holt, a file cutter, and his wife Nancy. The 1871 census records<\/a> show Eliza aged eight living with her maternal grandparents, while the 1881 census finds her at 18 living with her aunt. Then in 1885 Eliza married Walter Ramsbottom, a railway stoker, at the parish church in Bury.<\/p> In 1892 Walter joined the Lancashire County Police Force and the couple moved to Eccleston, where they lived at the police station. They had a son, John Ernest, in August that year. They moved again to Haslingden and then to Widnes, where their son Percy was born in 1894.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cBut by the 1901 census, Eliza was calling herself Hargreaves, a widow, born Cornwall,\u201d says Lynda, and she was living with her three-year-old son Herbert in Chorley. Lynda and her sister looked long and hard in an attempt to find out what had happened to the family \u2013 even enlisting the help of a researcher \u2013 without any luck.\u00a0<\/p> It wasn\u2019t until they pooled resources with a cousin that chinks started to appear in Eliza\u2019s brick wall. \u201cI was on Ancestry<\/a>, so my cousin registered with Findmypast<\/a>. She did a search for Eliza, and we were astounded when a divorce record<\/a> popped up.\u201d<\/p> “We were astounded when a divorce record popped up\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote> Divorces are very rare among the working classes because of the prohibitive cost. \u201cThe National Archives had the full papers. They were amazing \u2013 we managed to find out the details of the couple\u2019s children. There\u2019s a handwritten letter from Eliza in there as well, plus a statement from Walter.\u201d<\/p> The divorce papers were very detailed and revealed that as well as John Ernest and Percy, the couple had had a stillborn baby, while another child, Walter, had died at 18 months. The documents also told how \u201cbetween 20 Jan 1897 down to and including 6 November 1897 the respondent [Eliza] occasionally committed adultery with one William Henry Benson\u201d. The divorce laws of that time were harsh \u2013 Walter walked away, taking the children with him.\u00a0<\/p> So now Lynda knew why the couple divorced, and the name of Eliza\u2019s lover. Was her story of a rich draper called Hargreaves pure Mills and Boon? \u201cIt was fantastic to find all that detail! William Henry Benson was still a mystery, because there weren\u2019t any details about him in the documents. They didn\u2019t even state where the adultery had taken place. There\u2019s also a wonderful letter from Eliza, claiming: \u2018I am not guilty of the charges made by my husband against me.\u2019 The case went to court in the January, but Eliza couldn\u2019t afford to go \u2013 not least because she was pregnant. Herbert was born in March.\u00a0<\/p> \u201cIt was a real shock to find out the enormity of the thing \u2013 that she had lost her children, and was pregnant and alone. In 1898, this was a disaster.\u201d<\/p> She had lost her children, and was pregnant and alone<\/p><\/blockquote> Lynda managed to track down Walter\u2019s police files at Lancashire Record Office. From these, she discovered that he had previously been \u201csummonsed by his wife for assault\u201d. This is why the couple had had to relocate from Haslingden to Widnes.<\/p> Such a dramatic story was pounced on by the press. \u201cWe\u2019d trawled every William Henry Benson in the country \u2013 and there are loads. None of them fitted.<\/p> But I gave William and Eliza\u2019s names to a friend who had access to the newspaper archives, and she found the story straight away.\u201d The papers had picked over every sordid detail.\u00a0<\/p> William, it turned out, was a policeman, and the adultery had happened at Widnes police station. \u201cI sent for his details from the police records and discovered he was from Garstang, quite young and had previously been an agricultural labourer. His records say, \u2018Dismissed for immorality. Found in bed with the wife of PC Ramsbottom.\u2019 I felt quite sorry for him,\u201d Lynda reveals.<\/p> Following his dismissal, William seems to have returned to his roots, later marrying and having a family. \u201cMy cousin tracked down his grave. When she visited, she saw someone had placed fresh flowers. She left a note saying who she was, and William\u2019s grandson got in touch. Amazingly, he was a retired police inspector! He knew nothing about what had happened to his grandfather.\u201d<\/p> As for Walter\u2019s fate, an article in an old newspaper<\/a> from 1900 shed some light: \u201cThe borough police force lost by death yesterday one of its smartest members, PC Walter Ramsbottom. He was a fine, well-built man, 35 years of age, and was only taken ill a week ago. Pneumonia developed and he succumbed yesterday afternoon. Additional pathos attached to the death, the fact that the deceased was married only a few weeks ago.\u201d<\/p> Eliza\u2019s sons stayed with Walter\u2019s widow, who remarried. We don\u2019t know if Eliza saw them again.<\/p>
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