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== Later life ==
== Later life ==
In 1921 she was living with the family of her future husband in [[Paddington]].<ref>1921 Census of England & Wales at Findmypast.co.uk</ref> She divorced Belaney in 1922<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 January 1922 |title=Canadian's two wives. English woman gets nullity decree. |work=Pall Mall Gazette |pages=9}}</ref> and after her divorce came through in September married John Kingston Edward Cash (1890–1963)<ref>Births Ross-shire, Scotland 1890 Ref 065 / 32 at ScotlandsPeople</ref><ref>Probate 1964. Died 14 Sept 1963 at Woking, Surrey.</ref> later that year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Florence I M Holmes in 1922 England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005 Paddington, London, England |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=BMD%2FM%2F1922%2F3%2FAZ%2F000614%2F048 |website=Findmypast}}</ref> They had a daughter, Vivien, born 1924.<ref>Births Oct-Dec 1924 Brentford 3a 194. </ref> They lived in [[Twickenham]]; during the 1930s at Cresswell Road,<ref>1939 Register, 49 Cresswell Road, Twickenham, at Findmypast.co.uk</ref> and at Ellesmere Road in the 1940s.<ref>Twickenham Register of Electors, 1950, at 6 Ellesmere Road</ref> On 29 March 1983 she died in a nursing home in [[Hindhead]], [[Surrey]].<ref>Probate Register, 15 June 1983</ref>
In 1921 she was living with the family of her future husband in [[Paddington]].<ref>1921 Census of England & Wales at Findmypast.co.uk</ref> She divorced Belaney in 1922<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 January 1922 |title=Canadian's two wives. English woman gets nullity decree. |work=Pall Mall Gazette |pages=9}}</ref> and after her divorce came through in September married John Kingston Edward Cash (1890–1963)<ref>Births Ross-shire, Scotland 1890 Ref 065 / 32 at ScotlandsPeople</ref><ref>Probate 1964. Address: Waverley Abbey House, [[Farnham]], Surrey. Died 14 Sept 1963 in [[Woking]], Surrey.</ref> later that year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Florence I M Holmes in 1922 England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005 Paddington, London, England |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=BMD%2FM%2F1922%2F3%2FAZ%2F000614%2F048 |website=Findmypast}}</ref> They had a daughter, Vivien, born 1924.<ref>Births Oct-Dec 1924 Brentford 3a 194. </ref> They lived in [[Twickenham]]; during the 1930s at Cresswell Road,<ref>1939 Register, 49 Cresswell Road, Twickenham, at Findmypast.co.uk</ref> and at Ellesmere Road in the 1940s.<ref>Twickenham Register of Electors, 1950, at 6 Ellesmere Road</ref> On 29 March 1983 she died in a nursing home in [[Hindhead]], [[Surrey]].<ref>Probate Register, 15 June 1983</ref>


==Notes==
==Notes==

Revision as of 10:59, 19 April 2024

Florence Ivy Mary Holmes
A black-and-white photo of Florence Ivy Mary Holmes
Photo of Ivy Holmes taken in Prague, ca. 1910
Born
Florence Ivy Mary Holmes

(1891-04-11)11 April 1891
Chicago, United States
Died29 March 1983(1983-03-29) (aged 91)
Spouses
Archibald Stansfeld Belaney
(m. 1917⁠–⁠1922)
John Kingston Edward Cash
(m. 1922)

Florence Ivy Mary Holmes (1891–1983) was a dancer and the British 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 Liverpool, en route to Canada, he and his aunt Ada stayed with the Holmes family, where, on 29 March 1906, he boarded the SS Canada 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 

Ivy Holmes posing with hat. ca. 1912-1914
Ivy Holmes posing seated. ca. 1912-1914




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] They lived in Twickenham; during the 1930s at Cresswell Road,[16] and at Ellesmere Road in the 1940s.[17] On 29 March 1983 she died in a nursing home in Hindhead, Surrey.[18]

Notes

  1. ^ 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

  1. ^ a b c Dickson, Lovat (1973). Wilderness Man. The strange story of Grey Owl. Macmillan.
  2. ^ "Florence Ivy Holmes. Birth • Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949". Family Search. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  3. ^ 1901 Census, Brentford, subdistrict Chiswick, 2 Flanders Road. Piece 1199, folio 47, page 20, schedule 123. Ancestry.co.uk
  4. ^ "Hastings Dog Show". Hastings and St. Leonards Observer. 7 May 1904. p. 2 – via British Library Newspapers.
  5. ^ a b c Smith, Donald B (1990). From the Land of Shadows: The Making of Grey Owl. Prairie Books. ISBN 978-0888333094.
  6. ^ "Grey Owl". Ontario History. 63. Ontario Historical Society: 163. 1971.
  7. ^ "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."
  8. ^ Belaney, Archibald (25 January 2014). "Why She Called Me; Devil in Deerskins". Grey Owl. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  9. ^ Ruffo, Armand G. (2003). Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney. Coteau Books. p. 30.
  10. ^ 1921 Census of England & Wales at Findmypast.co.uk
  11. ^ "Canadian's two wives. English woman gets nullity decree". Pall Mall Gazette. 26 January 1922. p. 9.
  12. ^ Births Ross-shire, Scotland 1890 Ref 065 / 32 at ScotlandsPeople
  13. ^ Probate 1964. Address: Waverley Abbey House, Farnham, Surrey. Died 14 Sept 1963 in Woking, Surrey.
  14. ^ "Florence I M Holmes in 1922 England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005 Paddington, London, England". Findmypast.
  15. ^ Births Oct-Dec 1924 Brentford 3a 194.
  16. ^ 1939 Register, 49 Cresswell Road, Twickenham, at Findmypast.co.uk
  17. ^ Twickenham Register of Electors, 1950, at 6 Ellesmere Road
  18. ^ Probate Register, 15 June 1983