alice mildred fulcher + james mathieson
Alice was born in Yaxley on 21 July 1874 and baptised on 19 September; she was the youngest of three daughters born to Henry Fulcher and Sarah Mallandaine. Alice married James Francis Mathieson at St Mary, Yaxley on 7 June 1894 — two days after her sister Mary married Arthur Dyson Cooper.
James was born in Victoria, Australia in 1863, the son of Frederic Coxhead Mathieson and his wife Bessie. James’ parents were originally from London but emigrated to Australia following their marriage and returned to London by 1864 when James’ younger brother Gerard was born. His father was a printer and following his return to England his business grew from ten employees to over 30 in 1881. James initially studied art but eventually joined his father’s business and worked as a printer and publisher for many years.
At the time of his wedding, James was living in Hampstead Heath and his parents were nearby in Hendon. James and Alice had one daughter, Edith Marion, who was born in Finchley north London on 17 April 1895. Several months laters, James and Alice returned to Yaxley and signed the guest book at St Mary giving their address as Elm Croft in Hendon Lane, Church End, Finchley North.
Alice and James had a son, Henry Frederic Reginald, on 4 March 1897 and he was baptised at St Mary in Finchley on 27 March. But only one month after Henry’s birth, James petitioned the courts for a divorce claiming that Alice was involved in an adulterous affair with a neighbour. In the official court documents, he claimed:
That continuously between the periods of the month of June 1896 and the month of April 1897 the said Alice Mildred Mathieson has committed adultery with Harry Percy Adams of The Lodge, Hendon Lane.
The petition lists the two children but notes that regarding Henry ‘doubts have arisen as to his being issue of the said marriage’ as the dates of the alleged adultery correspond exactly to the date of his conception and birth. James also asked the court to grant him custody of the ‘children of the marriage’ as well as damages from Harry Adams amounting to £8 000.
The parties appeared before the court on 2 July and by that time, James had withdrawn his request for damages. The court ordered that words relating to the doubts about Henry’s parentage be struck from the petition and that James must provide ‘further and better particulars’ of the dates and times of the alleged adultery. Three weeks later the case was heard by Sir John Gorell Barnes at the High Court of Justice on the Strand in London and neither Alice or Harry Adams appeared to defend the suit.
A newspaper account of the day reported on the details of the case not contained in the official record including the fact that James received an anonymous letter in June 1896 alerting him to the affair between his wife and Harry, his friend and neighbour. Alice denied the allegations but after questioning a servant, James discovered that Harry Adams was often at the house when he was away and on several occasions when he arrived home, Harry had climbed out a back window to leave unseen. Finally, letters to Alice from Harry were found which left no doubt as to the nature of their relationship. James also told the court that he initially asked for damages in order to provide his wife with a settlement but upon hearing that Harry Adams intended to marry her after the divorce, he withdrew the claim.
The court granted the petition for divorce and ordered that their daughter Edith remain in James’ care but it seems the doubts regarding Henry’s parentage were accepted as he remained with his mother. The decree nisi was granted on 7 February 1898 and Alice and Harry married shortly after. James also remarried to Harriet Mary Goddard at St Mary in Kilburn on 13 July 1898 but it does not appear they had any children. James, Harriet and Edith were living together at 9 Langland Gardens in Hampstead when the census was taken in 1901. Ten years later, fifteen year old Edith was attending the Wycombe Abbey School in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire while her father and step-mother were living nearby in Holmer Green.
In 1939, James and Harriet were back in Hampstead at 12 Lindfield Gardens along with four servants: a cook, a house maid, a parlour maid, and a registered nurse. Harriet was listed as ‘senile (in charge of three nurses)’but 76 year old James was still working as a Printer and Publisher. James died at their home in Hampstead on 1 February 1942 and his wife Harriet died a few months later on 17 May. Edith never married and died in 1965.
henry percy adams
Henry, or Harry, was born in Ipswich in 1865 to Webster Adams, a surgeon, and his wife Alice Heal. He trained as an architect and articled with Brightwen Binyon, a local architect in Ipswich, before joining the London firm of Stephen Salter in 1888. He married Cecilia Clara Stoddard on 22 May 1890 at St Mary in Finchley north London but Cecilia died following the birth of their son, Cecil Clare Adams, less than one year after their marriage. When the census was taken in 1891, Harry was living with his uncle, Harris Heal, in Hampstead but his son Cecil was not with him.
Harry married Alice Fulcher in St Pancras in early 1898 and two years later, they had a son, Percy Webster, born on 5 September. One year later, they were listed in the 1901 Census at Woburne Place in St Pancras and Harry was listed as an Architect, FRIBA or Fellow in the Royal Institute of British Architects. Their second son, Basil Mallandaine, was born at 6 Downe Terrace in Richmond, Surrey on 1 August 1901 and baptised at St Matthias on 13 September. After two or possibly three sons, Alice and Harry had a daughter, Kathleen Mildred, on 6 January 1905 and she was also baptised at St Matthias on 16 February. When the census was taken in 1911, the family was still living on Downe Terrace in Richmond but only two of their children, Percy and Kathleen, were at home while Henry and Basil were studying at a preparatory school in Hove near Brighton.
Henry’s son from his first marriage, Cecil, was at a boarding school in Folkestone, Kent in 1901 and by 1911, he had joined the army and was serving as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Engineers at Chatham in Kent. It is not known if Cecil ever lived with his father or if he was raised by relatives before leaving for boarding school. He married Louisa Augusta Kirkpatrick while stationed in Kingston, Ontario and they had one daughter Margaret Cecil born in 1921.
design by Harry Percy Adams & Charles Holden
c. 1910
Harry continued to work for Stephen Salter’s firm until 1913 when he and two other architects took over the firm and renamed it Adams, Holden & Pearson. His son Percy also trained as an architect and became a partner in his father’s firm in 1925. Harry died on 7 April 1930 at the Westminster Hospital but the cause of death is not known. He was living at 7 Knightsbridge at the time and named his son, Cecil, his wife and a solicitor as executors of his £45 000 estate.
In 1939, Alice was living at 109 Marshall Avenue in Bognor Regis on the south coast in Sussex with her daughter Kathleen and two female servants. She died at the Teign House Hotel in Shaldon, Devonshire on 18 February 1941. The probate record listed her home address as Red Cottage in Marshall Avenue in Bognor Regis, Sussex and she appointed her step-son Cecil as the executor of her estate valued at £2800.
Percy married twice, to Florence Wright in 1925 and then Winifred Watson in Kensington in 1934, but it is not known if he had any children. Percy continued to work as an Architect and specialized in the design of hospitals. In 1939, he was living in Bagshott, Surrey with his wife as well as his brother Basil who was working as a Quantity Surveyor’s Assistant; Percy died at the Westminster Hospital in London on 28 September 1962, Basil died in Canterbury in 1967 and Kathleen died in Canterbury in 1987.