Florence Ivy Mary Holmes
Florence Ivy Mary Holmes (1891-1983) was the wife of Archibald Belaney (1888 – 1938) known as 'Grey Owl'.[1]
Early life
She was born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois on 11 April 1891, the daughter of John Robert Holmes (1859-1893) and Florence Amelia Jane Abraham (1864-).[2] Her father died when she was only two and the family settled in Hastings where she went to school.[3] Her mother was friends with Belaney's aunts. She recalled playing at being Indians with Archie Belaney; "I was his squaw 'Dancing Moonbeam' and he was 'Big Chief Thunderbinder'".[4] She last saw him in March 1906 when he sailed to Canada.[5]
Marriage to Belaney
She studied ballet in London and became a professional dancer in a troupe and toured Europe with them before the War.[5][6][7]
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.[8][9] After the marriage she starts to find him "strange, secretive, almost reclusive".[10]
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.[11] She divorced Belaney in 1922[12] and after her divorce came through in September married John Kingston Edward Cash (1891-1963) later that year. In 1939 they were living in Cresswell Road, Twickenham.[13] In 1983 she died in a nursing home at Hindhead, Surrey.[14]
External links
* Photograph of Ivy Holmes
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.
- ^ "Pupils' Concert". Hastings and St. Leonards Observer. 4 April 1903. p. 2. Retrieved 1 April 2024 – via British Library Newspapers.
- ^ "Grey Owl". Ontario History. 63. Ontario Historical Society: 163. 1971.
- ^ a b Smith, Donald B (1990). From the Land of Shadows: The Making of Grey Owl. Prairie Books. ISBN 978-0888333094.
- ^ "Ivy Holmes, the English wife of Archibald Belaney (later known as Grey Owl)". University of Calgary. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "Ivy Holmes, the English wife of Archibald Belaney (later known as Grey Owl)". University of Calgary. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ "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
- ^ "Canadian's two wives. English woman gets nullity decree". Pall Mall Gazette. 26 January 1922. p. 9.
- ^ 1939 Register, 49 Cresswell Road, Twickenham
- ^ Probate Register 15 June 1983