Laburnum Terrace

Helen Mary Mason of 16 Gloucester Road, Thornbury

 

Name	Status	M	Age	Occupation	Birthplace
Helen M Mason	Head	M	72	Living on own means	St Pancras, London

 In the 1901 census the house was occupied by Helen Mary Mason, a married lady aged 72.  She had been born in St Pancras, London and was described as 'living on her own means'.  There is no sign of her husband at that time, or even 10 years earlier, when she was lodging with Frank Symes, the saddler, in the High Street.  We noted that in the 1891 census, her age was given as 60.

There is something of a mystery about Helen's earlier life.  We have struggled to find any sign of her in the 1871 and 1881 censuses.  In the 1861 census, she is recorded as aged 30 and living at 6 Willenham Terrace, St Pancras with her husband, Miles Bailey Mason, a photographic artist aged 34, and born in Cheddleton, Staffordshire.   They had a two sons, Charles Touton King Mason aged 28 months and Miles Hill Haines Mason aged 2 months.  This is the only census that shows the family together.  By the 1871 census the boys have been sent off to a boarding school.

Some of the mystery appears to be due to the fact that Miles remarried.  In the 1871 census he was living in Mersham in Kent with a new young wife, Caroline, who was fifteen years younger than him.  Helen and Miles must have divorced, which was very unusual at that time.

They would have divorced soon after the introduction of the 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act which for the first time allowed divorce through the law courts, instead of the slow and expensive business of a Private Act of Parliament.  Under the terms of the act, the husband had only to prove his wife's adultery, but the wife had to prove her husband had committed not just adultery but also incest, bigamy, cruelty or desertion.

We are still intrigued by where Helen was after she and her husband parted and what brought her to Thornbury.  She must have a connection with the town that we have yet to discover.

She died on 3 February 1902 aged 72.

This page was last updated: 12/05/2007