1876 - 1942
Early Life
Edward is a distant ancestor being the husband of the wife of the brother-in-law of the 2nd great-nephew of wife of my 6th great-uncle. The details of his life have required me to give him his own post. What appears below (and the photo) is partly taken from the excellent biography on http://www.gowlland.me.uk/biographies.htm#zzedwardlakegowlland
Edward Lake Gowlland was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey to Richard Sankey Gowlland and Jessie Katherine Lake. He had 2 younger sisters: Katherine and Dorothy.
I will leave the biography site to provide more information on his ancestors, otherwise I would just be repeating everything already covered there. I will briefly say that in the 1881 England Census tells us that his father was a Private Secretary for HM Office of Public Works.
On 16 October 1893 Edward is listed on the register at University College London, for those taking medical exams. I was rather surprised to find that, in 1899 while still a medical student, he is initiated into the Freemason Lodge of Sancta Maria. The the list of members shows virtually all are in the medical profession from St Mary's Hospital and there is a brief history of the lodge at https://gsml49.freemasons.london/about/ on the site of the lodge with which Sancta Maria amalgamated in 2008 (Gihon Lodge).
A quick Internet search shows tells me that Sancta Maria was only founded in 1897, initially meeting in Freemasons' Hall, but in 1899 it had moved to Mark Masons' Hall. https://www.dhi.ac.uk/lane/record.php?ID=5491. Among its famous members were Sir Alexander Fleming and Sir Bernard Spilsbury.
In 1900 Edward has moved to Bournemouth, holding the qualification of Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries (LSA) which later became a registrable qualification with the British Medical Association, when it was founded in 1858. Edward is not in Bournemouth very long as in 1900 he is now living in a boarding house in Paddington, London and is listed as a medical practitioner.
Married Life
On 10 February 1902 Edward marries Dorothy Mary Thornhill, whose father Herbert is listed as a gentleman. Edward's own father is still at HM Office of Public Works. Edward and Dorothy move to Faversham in Kent where Edward joins the Freemason, Lodge of Harmony. He is now practising as a surgeon and physician in the firm of Anderson and Gowlland, listed at address of 54 East Street and 7 Newton Road. I have not been able to find out more about this firm.
Edward and Dorothy continue to live at 54 East Street and in 1907 Edward's name appears in the UK Navy Lists for 1907, against East Swale; I am unsure of the significance of these Sick Quarters records at the moment. The 1911 England Census shows that Edward must be running a successful medical practice as he now employs 3 servants and a governess for this 2 sons (twins Langton and Geoffrey born in 1903).
With the outbreak of World War I the records show that Edward is sent to France where he achieves the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He is back living in the family home in Faversham in 1915.
Things go wrong
On 29 January 1916 Dorothy receives a letter from Edward while she is living with her parents (dated 23 January). He writes,
Dear Dor
I think in these very bad times it will be best if you can persuade your mother and father to go to Faversham and live with you and shut up their house (this is of course no business of yours or mine but merely a suggestion for economy) they to pay you each what you paid them for board and lodging. I .. to tell you now that I have been particularly stupid and broken the 11th Commandment, which I didn't mean to do until after the War. Our life together has been so peculiarly unhappy that I am sure you will be glad to know that we need never live together again. I met someone in Devon whom I am fond of and we were found out, the result will probably be in the papers very shortly. I mean that the lady's husband is seriously thinking of taking proceedings and I am frightfully sorry that this should have come now when I simply cannot sit down and write business letters there is no time and opportunity. I have written to my Bankers to say that they shall in future send you £23 rather than £29 per month, as you won't have to pay for your board and lodging.
Yours affectionately
EG
Dorothy replies to Edward on 01 March 1916,
Dear Edward
I have been thinking on the situation arising out of your letter to me of the 23rd Januar 1916, and for the sake of our children I have come to the conclusion that I will allow bygones to be bygones but in return I ask you to give up this other woman and to now provide a home for me and the children and to live with me and them whenever your military duties will allow you to home whether on leave or permanently. If on consideration you are now ready to do these things for me and them please let me know as soon as possible when you will provide a home for us so I may make all the necessary arrangements before the children return from School for the Easter holidays. I may say I have not told the boys of your conduct as I have no wish to poison their minds against you and I hope they may not hear of the trouble which has arisen between us.
Yours faithfully
Dorothy
Edward writes to her again on 03 March 1916
Dear Dorothy
You must understand me well enough to understand that I should not have behaved as I have done without due consideration. I adhere to every word of my letter dated 23rd January 1916 and under no circumstances do I intend to give up "this other woman".
I am very glad that you have not told the boys, it can serve no purpose to make them unhappy. I have written to them and told them that we shall not live in our old home and I want you to understand that my conduct in this other matter has had no bearing whatever on the necessity of leaving our house.
Yours
Edward Gowlland.
On 10 March 1916 Dorothy petitions initially for a decree of restitution of conjugal rights. In short it required Edward to return to the marital home. Dorothy was granted her decree and it was served on Edward at 9 Bedford Row in Middlesex, where he was currently living. He was given 14 days to obey.
On 14 July 1916 Dorothy petitions for divorce. In a letter supporting her petition she states that Edward has not returned and is therefore guilty of desertion without reasonable cause; he has also frequently committed adultery with Mary Florence Alexander. She goes on to say that between the 02 and 08 May 1915 Edward and Mary Florence committed adultery at the Cotteridge Private Hotel in Woking and repeated this activity on 20, 21 and 22 May 1915 at the "Galloway", Commercial Road in Woking.
Dorothy states that Edward is a Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps and is now living at 4 Grafton Street, Fitzroy Square in Middlesex.
On 20 October goes back to the court and states that, since then, Edward is guilty of adultery coupled with desertion. The court rules that the couple's children stay with Dorothy and that Edward needs to pay his wife's costs of £42 9s. 5d. In later proceedings Dorothy provides further information and petitions for maintenance; Edward is initially given 6 weeks to respond but is then allowed a further 2 months to respond. I am unsure from the documents if Edward responds to this? In 1929 there are further proceedings regarding maintenance. At this the court orders that Edward pay Dorothy £200 tax free from October 1929, in monthly instalments for as long as they both shall live.
The other party
So let me now give the other side, regarding the "other woman", Mary Florence Reiffenstein who was born in Glasgow, Scotland to Christian Eduard Reiffenstein and Lillias Jane Corbet. Her family had moved first to Camberwell and then settled in Hampshire. Mary had 4 brothers and 2 sisters.
In 1902 Mary Florence had married William Ryrie Alexander who was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. The couple had 1 daughter. In 1914 William went to Canada on special enrolment as a draughtsman in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
On 31 August 1915, having returned from Canada, William files for divorce on grounds of adultery, and names Edward Gowlland as a co-respondent. In his supporting letter William refers to the same instances as Dorothy Mary, and we know from Edward's correspondence that has been he who was told or discovered the two.
William states that he lives in England, but is currently stationed at the Napier Barracks and is a Lance Sergeant in the 30th Canadian Regiment. Mary is living Wodcombe Hyde Road in Paighton, Devon. At another hearing the court rules that his daughter will stay with him, presumably he will move out of the barracks. William receives his Decree Absolut on 16 August 1915 and there is one final proceedings for costs held in May 1916 which rules that Edward Gowlland needs to pay costs of £69 12s. 8d.
At this point we know that Dorothy has only recently started on her divorce proceedings, but we must assume that once Mary was divorced she and Edward were still meeting up.
Later Life
In July 1917 Edward Gowlland marries Mary Florence Reiffenstein in Kensington and he continues to practice medicine in Surrey until his death in 1942. Mary dies on 18 June 1962 and leaves her effects to her now married daughter (from her first marriage) and a Richard Dallas Wood (solicitor). The value was £1865 18s.
In 1920 William marries Sibyl Marguerite Harrison in Thanet. The couple later move to Kensington where William is listed in the 1939 England and Wales Register as the director of a print supply company. William dies in 1951.
Dorothy does not re-marry. The 1939 England and Wales Register has her living with her mother; both women are living on their own means. They are still living at Dorothy's marital home and the women appear to have 3 other women living with them. Dorothy dies on 07 May 1963. Her home address is now listed as 28 Kenilworth Road, but she dies in King Edward Hospital. She leaves £890 6s. 8d. to her son Langton.
Final Words
I feel I need to make some sort of concluding statement. I doubt that "adultery" was unusual at this time (any more than it is now). Both men were in the military at a time when the country was at war, meaning the men would have spent time overseas or stationed at barracks in England, but away from home. I do feel sorry for Dorothy as she wanted to put Edward's affair behind her and for the two of them to make a home for their boys again (though they obviously went to boarding school). There has clearly been some trouble in Dorothy and Edward's marriage which has created increasing pressure and contributed to the situation. There is no hint at the state of marriage between William and Mary and, in this case, it is the wife who was having the affair. The only one to come out of the whole situation worse off is Dorothy. Although she received maintenance for the rest of her and Edward's life, she did not re-marry and was probably not making ends meet due to the 3 lodgers listed with her and her mother in 1939. Mary lived the longest and left a small sum compared to Mary.
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