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A Study of the Life of
Edward William Treadaway Hoare
1864-1927


EDWARD WILLIAM TREADAWAY HOARE ("EWTH")

- Father of Colin Guy ("Trig") Treadaway-Hoare -
CLICK HERE TO SEE A LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:   PICTURES OF EWTH's FAMILY MEMBERS, THEIR RESIDENCES, AND MEMORABILIA


Edward William Treadaway Hoare ("EWTH") was born in Clerkenwell, London, in 1864. His father was Edmund Downer Hoare, born 1837, also in Clerkenwell. His mother was Amelia Emma Pyle Hoare, born ~1840, in St Andrew’s, Middlesex. At the time of EWTH’s birth, his father Edmund was in the inn-keeping business (a "licensed victualler").

EWTH’s ancestral line has been readily identifiable by the fact that three successive generations bore the name "James Treadaway Hoare":  EWTH’s grandfather, born ~1806, married to Jane née Hill, born ~1816;  EWTH’s uncle, his father’s brother, born ~1834, married to Sarah Hurrell, born ~1837, and EWTH's uncles’ son, his first cousin.  It’s helpful to think of these three men as "James I, James II and James III".  (Click here to see the EWTH family tree).  EWTH’s father, Edmund Downer Hoare, was probably named after the Edmund Downer who married Harriet Hoare in 1826, suggesting that Harriet was James I’s sister.

This branch of the Hoare family was, in the mid-1850's, of modest station - pewterers, metal dealers, "carmen" - but by the end of the century they’d worked their way up the socio-economic ladder - EWTH's first cousin James III had become a "mechanical dentist", and EWTH's father owned a tavern in London which, when sold, produced enough of an inheritance for EWTH that he was able to stop working and take up the life of a country gentleman.  Moreover, EWTH was recognized and honored in his Masonic lodges as an urbane, accomplished man.

EWTH’s ancestral family had a history of marital turbulence.  His paternal grandparents had almost certainly divorced, both then remarrying (there’s evidence that James I went on to wed Sarah Ann Cutler, and that his ex-wife Jane married a William Done).

EWTH’s parents themselves, Emma and Edmund, separated during the 1890’s.  Evidently their children took sides: EWTH’s sister Eleanor, born 1867, and her husband Raymond Griffiths, moved in with Eleanor’s mother, Emma, and were living with her when she died in 1896.  EWTH on the other hand, appears to have allied with his father Edmund.  When Edmund died in 1897, EWTH was with him at their residence, the Star Tavern, 31 Aldersgate St, Clerkenwell, London (click here to see image).  Edmund’s will (click here to view), written in 1892, gave £1,000 bequests each to his daughter Eleanor and to "his loving friend" Mary Alice Leavener;  the principle heir and executor however was EWTH;  he was given the estate's remaining £6,000 (presumably from the sale of The Star Tavern, as it was no longer listed as a Hoare residence in the 1901 census).

EWTH MARRIAGE # 1
In 1884, while still a youth, EWTH ran off with and wed his first cousin (by marriage) Alice Jane Day, born 1867.  Alice was the daughter of Joseph Day and Ann Hurrell;  Ann's sister Sarah was married to EWTH’s uncle, James II, so was EWTH's aunt.  At the time of their marriage, Alice was 17 and EWTH 20.  Both were under the legal age to be married without parental consent, so had to fib when filling out their marriage certificate.  They were wed away from their home neighborhood, in Hackney Parish Church, "under license" which calls for a waiting period of only seven days rather than 28, and does not require the publishing of banns.  No member of either of their families was listed as witness.

That marriage produced two sons, Edward, born 1885 and Edmund, born 1889.  Eleven years later, in 1895, the marriage broke up. Alice evidently didn't get custody of the boys (in later testimony EWTH said she "drank"), but neither did EWTH.   Both of the parents are listed in the 1901 census, but are shown to be living separately, she in Sandhurst, he in Axmouth;  the boys are with neither.  We have been unable to find either son anywhere else in that 1901 census.  They did however remain in (or eventually return to) England.  We have two later records of them (identifiable by the middle name Treadaway):  the older of the boys, Edward, was married to a Dorothy Tisdall in London in 1910;  the younger, Edmond, was awarded a medal as a pilot in WWI.

In 1904, EWTH sued for divorce from Alice.  They had separated in 1895.  The divorce was granted in 1905.  
ALICE (CLICK HERE FOR NARRATIVE):
In 1903 Alice bore a son, John, fathered by Alexander Barnett, a soldier.  In 1907, Alice and Barnett had a second son, Sidney.  Both of these boys were given their mother’s married name, Hoare, as their last names.  The older son, John, when a teen-ager, ran away from his father to become a "boy sailor".  The younger boy, Sidney, also as a teen-ager, told that his mother had died, was sent to Australia under the auspices of the Salvation Army.  As adults, both of Alice’s sons founded families that have contemporary descendants, one branch in England, the other in Australia.  We have been in contact with descendants of these families (click here to see their family trees).  At some point, Alice was institutionalized;  she died in Crimp Hill House in Old Windsor in 1931.
EWTH, shortly after his father’s death in 1897 and consequent inheritance, moved out of London.  In 1899, he bought a comfortable house in Axmouth, Devon, named it Musbury House (click here to see painting), and lived there as a gentleman of leisure, becoming an important personage in the community.  He devoted his time to his Masonic interests both in London and in Devon, belonging to a number of lodges and rising quickly in the Freemasons organization, and to pursuing his hobbies (eg, he officiated at cricket matches, and earned awards in local contests for poultry raising).


EWTH MARRIAGE # 2
In 1906, EWTH was married a second time, to Florence Mabel Bound, born 1886, so 22 years EWTH’s junior. Their wedding certificate lists them both as residents of Silverleigh, an inn (today a residential care home) in Axminster adjacent to Musbury Road. As at his first wedding, no member of EWTH’s family was listed as a witnesses.  Click here to see correponednce with two pages of sentiment associated with this interlude, one a poem with EWTH's signature n the margin, the other a page of poetry, prettily decorated by Florence's sister.

There were two sons also from this marriage, Alexander, born 1907, and Eric Lester, born 1909.  On his sons’ birth certificates, EWTH listed his occupation as Director, Burma Development Syndicate (we’ve been unable to find any mention of this syndicate in modern records).  The older son, Alexander, emigrated to Africa, establishing a family in Nairobi (click here to see Alexander's family tree). We’ve had contact with a descendent who moved to Australia around 1980.  We have, however, found no further record of the younger son, Eric Lester.

EWTH was a good-looking, highly sociable man (click here to see his portrait). One of the many medals awarded to him by the Masons cited his "urbanity". His reputation as a ladies’ man carried well into his middle age.   He was charming, attractive and temptation must have often come his way. Alas, he evidently was sometimes unable to resist, a trait that eventually led to the breakup, in 1912, of his second marriage.

According to published testimony given in a lawsuit (click here to view article) during the dissolution of the marriage, EWTH and his second wife, Florence, had quarreled over infidelities on both sides, but had made up.  In the autumn of 1911, Florence took their ailing son Alexander to New Zealand for six months, to remove him from the hardships of a British winter.  On her return next spring, she disembarked from the ship when it stopped in Marseilles, and proceeded directly from there to her parents’ house in England, while EWTH waited in vain to meet her at Tilbury, the ship’s final destination. During this moment of EWTH's absence from Devon, his father-in-law, Thomas Bound (listed as "Gentleman" on his daughter’s and EWTH’s marriage certificate), entered EWTH’s house and stole letters pertinent to the prenuptial agreement which EWTH had signed in favor of Florence (see below).  Bound had clearly known that EWTH would be away, waiting in Tilbury for Florence, when he Bound, perpetrated this robbery.  It’s reasonable to surmise that Bound had checked up on EWTH during Florence’s absence and discovered yet another dalliance;  he then wrote about it to Florence, arranging for her to jump ship in Marseilles and retreat into seclusion in her family home.  He thus orchestrated his daughter's desertion of EWTH, the breakup of their family, and the transfer of EWTH's assets to the Bounds' control.

Bound, who’d had no liking for EWTH from the outset, had persuaded EWTH to sign over his entire fortune to Florence in a prenuptial agreement.  EWTH believed the agreement provided that he have a life interest in his properties.  Relying on this understanding, which had been expressed in letters he’d exchanged with Florence - the letters that Bound later stole - EWTH had hurriedly and naively signed the official document itself without reading it.  (He'd wanted to rush off to rejoin his beloved).  By making off with those letters, Bound assured that his daughter would assume immediate and total possession of EWTH’s property when the marriage ended.  EWTH's "life interest" was no more.

When, upon Florence’s return from New Zealand in 1912 the couple separated, Florence kept the children at her father’s house and refused to let EWTH see them. Evidently EWTH in turn refused to cede all his fortune to her, because in 1914 Florence sued to enforce the terms of the pre-nup.  EWTH, who’d indeed signed the prenuptial agreement, however foolishly - as the judge said, there was no getting away from that fact - lost the lawsuit.  He then allowed himself to be persuaded, in the forlorn hope of an eventual reconciliation, to agree to a deed of separation wherein his wife kept custody of the children.

The case was colorfully covered in detail in Pullmans News, with quotes of testimony about quarrels and accusations of infidelities on both sides dutifully reported.  It is from this report that the foregoing details have been derived.



EWTH MARRIAGE # 3
After the breakup of this second marriage, EWTH dropped virtually all of his Masonic activities and moved to Bournemouth, where he became manager of a small apartment hotel, which he called "Kit-Tha-Reng" (etymology unknown) (click here to see photo of possible structure).  Then 1922, he was wed for a third time, to Elsie Hooper (click here for picture).  Elsie was born 1888, EWTH's junior by 24 years.  The marriage took place in St Thomas's Church, Exeter.  Elsie was then living in Wellington Road, St. Thomas, Exeter, but she had been born and brought up in Lyme Regis, about four miles east of Musbury House, where it's possible she (or her family) came to know EWTH.  Elsie's father was listed on the marriage certificate as being "of independent means", but had in his youth been a butler (click here for Hooper family tree).

That marriage produced one son, Colin Guy Treadaway Hoare ("Trig"), born 1923 (click here for Trig's bio).  The union, according to letters from Elsie to her family, was a most happy and loving one, but sadly ended after only five years with EWTH's  death in1927, upon which Elsie and her young son were left destitute.

Elsie herself died in despair three years after EWTH, leaving Colin an orphan at seven.  EWTH's parents had both died 30 years earlier, and EWTH's sister (Eleanor Griffiths) was evidently estranged from him, possibly because of their taking opposing sides in their parents separation, so no one from the Hoare branch of the family was there to take over Colin's care.  Elsie's brother Clifford Hooper had been named by Elsie as Colin's guardian, but Clifford had emigrated to Canada, so care of Trig was assumed by the Royal Masonic Institute for Boys (RMIB), a public school in London - apparently the one residual positive effect of EWTH's life's activities.  It was there at the RMIB that the mysterious wealthy bachelor, Sidney West, appeared out of the blue one day in 1933 and offered to adopt Colin, a request which was strongly endorsed by the RMIB, but was then rejected by his guardian uncle Clifford, so nothing came of it.  West was not heard from again.  His ancestry and residence have been identified, and many of the details of his life are known (we are in contact with the lady who now lives in his house) (click here for West's history), but no trace of a relationship between him and the Hoare family has ever been found (records show that West was not a Mason).

In 1940, Colin was sent for by his guardian-uncle Clifford in Canada, where he attended school and worked on Clifford's farm.  Sadly, Clifford treated Colin so meanly that he was driven to run away.  A teen-ager, he worked on his own doing odd jobs until he was old enough to join the RCAF, with which he served during WWII as navigator on bombing missions over Europe.  It was thus that "Colin" became "Trig" (for Trigonometry).  After the war, Trig earned a chemical engineering degree from McGill University, then joined Procter and Gamble in its International Manufacturing Division, going on to build an illustrious and adventurous career.  One of his early assignments with P&G was in the Philippines, where he developed his interest in lepidoptery to the point that he eventually became recognized - as he still is - as one of the world’s foremost experts on the butterflies of that region.

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Incidental Notes:

There are several stories about his ancestry which Trig remembers being told as a child. One is that there had been a relationship between his and the banking branches of the Hoare family, a relationship which had been broken off as a result of a scandal that led to his father EWTH being exiled from London.  (Another branch of the Hoare family, in Reading, recounts a very similar story.  They too were a line of "licensed victuallers", as were both EWTH and his father in the 1880's).

Trig also recalls being told that the marriage of an ancestor to a descendent of the infamous brigand family, the Doones (as in Lorna Doone), had darkened that Hoare branch's relationship with the rest of the family (Trig's grandmother, Jane Hoare née Hill, had married, as her second husband, a man named William Done).

Click Here For "As Yet Unresolved Mysteries" of EWTH's Life