Florence Ivy Mary Holmes: Difference between revisions
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Ivy was born in [[Chicago]], [[Cook County, Illinois]] on 11 April 1891, the daughter of John Robert Holmes, a doctor, and Florence Amelia Jane Abraham (1864-1941).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Florence Ivy Holmes. Birth • Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQTW-NJW |access-date=28 February 2024 |website=Family Search}}</ref>{{efn|The birth place and date are corroborated by the 1921 Census of England & Wales and the 1939 Register. The [[1921 United Kingdom census|census of 1921]] documents her birth place as Chicago. The [[National Registration Act 1939|register record of 1939]] documents her birth date as 11 April 1891.}} |
Ivy was born in [[Chicago]], [[Cook County, Illinois]] on 11 April 1891, the daughter of John Robert Holmes, a doctor, and Florence Amelia Jane Abraham (1864-1941).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Florence Ivy Holmes. Birth • Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQTW-NJW |access-date=28 February 2024 |website=Family Search}}</ref>{{efn|The birth place and date are corroborated by the 1921 Census of England & Wales and the 1939 Register. The [[1921 United Kingdom census|census of 1921]] documents her birth place as Chicago. The [[National Registration Act 1939|register record of 1939]] documents her birth date as 11 April 1891.}} |
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Her father died when she was only two, and her mother |
Her father died when she was only two, and her mother returned to west [[London]], initially in [[Bedford Park, London|Bedford Park]],<ref>[[1901 United Kingdom census|1901 Census]], Brentford, subdistrict Chiswick, 2 Flanders Road. Piece 1199, folio 47, page 20, schedule 123. Ancestry.co.uk</ref> later moving to [[Hammersmith]]. Around 1900, Florence became friends with Belaney's aunts in [[Hastings]], due to a shared interest in purebred [[Collie]] dogs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 May 1904 |title=Hastings Dog Show |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GW3224457976/BNCN?u=rtl_ttda&sid=bookmark-BNCN&xid=d46b9cfa |work=Hastings and St. Leonards Observer |pages=2 |via=British Library Newspapers}}</ref> Florence and Ivy began visiting the Belaneys during school holidays at their home, Highbury Villa on St. James' Road. "Archie liked Ivy and tried to impress her. Thinking she would be interested, he showed her how he fed frogs to his snakes."<ref name=Smith >{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Donald B |title=From the Land of Shadows: The Making of Grey Owl |publisher=Prairie Books |year=1990 |isbn=978-0888333094}}</ref>{{rp|22}} She recalled playing at being Indians with Archie: "I was his squaw 'Dancing Moonbeam' and he was 'Big Chief Thunderbinder'".<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1971 |title=Grey Owl |journal=Ontario History |publisher=Ontario Historical Society |volume=63 |pages=163}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Belaney would stay with the Holmeses at their home in Hammersmith while exploring the city. On his way to Canada, he and his aunt Ada stayed with the Holmes family on the way to [[Liverpool]], where, on 29 March 1906, he boarded the SS ''Canada'', bound for [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]]. That was the last Ivy saw of him till after the war.<ref name=Smith/>{{rp|22,24}} |
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| ⚫ | Belaney would stay with the Holmeses at their |
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== Career as dancer == |
== Career as dancer == |
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Revision as of 17:33, 17 April 2024
Florence Ivy Mary Holmes | |
|---|---|
 Photo of Ivy Holmes taken in Prague, ca. 1910 | |
| Born | Florence Ivy Mary Holmes 11 April 1891 Chicago, United States |
| Died | 29 March 1983 (aged 91) |
| Spouses | Archibald Stansfeld Belaney
(m. 1917–1922)John Kingston Edward Cash
(m. 1922) |
Florence Ivy Mary Holmes (1891–1983) was the wife of Archibald Belaney (1888 – 1938) known as 'Grey Owl'.[1]
Early life
Ivy was born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois on 11 April 1891, the daughter of John Robert Holmes, a doctor, and Florence Amelia Jane Abraham (1864-1941).[2][a]
Her father died when she was only two, and her mother returned to west London, initially in Bedford Park,[3] later moving to Hammersmith. Around 1900, Florence became friends with Belaney's aunts in Hastings, due to a shared interest in purebred Collie dogs.[4] Florence and Ivy began visiting the Belaneys during school holidays at their home, Highbury Villa on St. James' Road. "Archie liked Ivy and tried to impress her. Thinking she would be interested, he showed her how he fed frogs to his snakes."[5]: 22 She recalled playing at being Indians with Archie: "I was his squaw 'Dancing Moonbeam' and he was 'Big Chief Thunderbinder'".[6]
Belaney would stay with the Holmeses at their home in Hammersmith while exploring the city. On his way to Canada, he and his aunt Ada stayed with the Holmes family on the way to Liverpool, where, on 29 March 1906, he boarded the SS Canada, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia. That was the last Ivy saw of him till after the war.[5]: 22, 24
Career as dancer
Trained as a ballet dancer in London, Ivy joined an English troupe at the age of 15. The company danced and imitated famous British actors. Escorted by her mother, Ivy performed in many European countries from 1906 to 1912, including Belgium, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. After a run of three months in Constantinople, the tour was cut short by the outbreak of the Balkan War in 1912, and Ivy and her mother returned to England.[5]: 61
Marriage to Belaney
During World War I Belaney had been serving in the Canadian Army in France and was sent to military hospital in Hastings after being wounded in the foot. There he contacted his two aunts and they reintroduced him to Ivy. She recalled that "He had all the glamour of a wounded soldier then. Lines of pain had given character to his dark handsome face... We fell violently in love."[1]
She was married to Belaney 10 February 1917 at St Leonard's Church, Hollington, Hastings, by the Rev John Backhouse Holmes M.A. Her mother was a witness. Belaney said that he was a bachelor although he was already married.[7][8] After the marriage she starts to find him "strange, secretive, almost reclusive".[9]
He returned to Canada alone on 19 September 1917. She planned to return to Canada with Belaney after the war. As his wife she received two-thirds of his army pay, which ended when he was discharged in Toronto at the end of November 1917.[1] Eventually in 1921 he wrote to her to tell her that he was already married.
Later life
In 1921 she was living with the family of her future husband in Paddington.[10] She divorced Belaney in 1922[11] and after her divorce came through in September married John Kingston Edward Cash (1890–1963)[12][13] later that year.[14] They had a daughter, Vivien, born 1924.[15] In 1939 they were living in Cresswell Road,[16] and in the 1940s the family were at Ellesmere Road, Twickenham.[17] On 29 March 1983 she died in a nursing home in Hindhead, Surrey.[18]
Notes
- ^ The birth place and date are corroborated by the 1921 Census of England & Wales and the 1939 Register. The census of 1921 documents her birth place as Chicago. The register record of 1939 documents her birth date as 11 April 1891.
References
- ^ a b c Dickson, Lovat (1973). Wilderness Man. The strange story of Grey Owl. Macmillan.
- ^ "Florence Ivy Holmes. Birth • Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949". Family Search. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
- ^ 1901 Census, Brentford, subdistrict Chiswick, 2 Flanders Road. Piece 1199, folio 47, page 20, schedule 123. Ancestry.co.uk
- ^ "Hastings Dog Show". Hastings and St. Leonards Observer. 7 May 1904. p. 2 – via British Library Newspapers.
- ^ a b c Smith, Donald B (1990). From the Land of Shadows: The Making of Grey Owl. Prairie Books. ISBN 978-0888333094.
- ^ "Grey Owl". Ontario History. 63. Ontario Historical Society: 163. 1971.
- ^ "Grey Owl Not an Impostor". Evening Telegraph. 20 April 1938. p. 1 – via British Library Newspapers.
The marriage certificate gives the following particulars:— " Bridegroom — Archibald Stansfield Belaney, full age, bachelor, soldier, of Hollington. Father—George Belaney. deceased, architect. " Bride—Florence Ivy Mary Holmes, full age, spinster, of Hollington Father—Robert John Holmes, deceased, doctor."
- ^ Belaney, Archibald (25 January 2014). "Why She Called Me; Devil in Deerskins". Grey Owl. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ Ruffo, Armand G. (2003). Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney. Coteau Books. p. 30.
- ^ 1921 Census of England & Wales at Findmypast.co.uk
- ^ "Canadian's two wives. English woman gets nullity decree". Pall Mall Gazette. 26 January 1922. p. 9.
- ^ Births Ross-shire, Scotland 1890 Ref 065 / 32 at ScotlandsPeople
- ^ Probate 1964. Died 14 Sept 1963 at Woking, Surrey.
- ^ "Florence I M Holmes in 1922 England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005 Paddington, London, England". Findmypast.
- ^ Births Oct-Dec 1924 Brentford 3a 194.
- ^ 1939 Register, 49 Cresswell Road, Twickenham, at Findmypast.co.uk
- ^ Twickenham Register of Electors, 1950, at 6 Ellesmere Road
- ^ Probate Register, 15 June 1983