When one thinks of Victorian society, images of strict etiquette, sexual propriety and perhaps an era of prudishness come to mind. It was an era controlled by Evangelical ideals and talk of sex and sexuality was seen as taboo.  Adultery by a married man had little or no consequence for him, while adultery by a married woman could make her world a nightmare.  A wife could not divorce her husband for having an affair unless he had done something else that could hurt her, such as physically abuse her, whereas a man could divorce his wife simply for her infidelity.

Against this backdrop we have a surprising level of detail from birth and marriage certificates and census records that indicate that Mary Stothart Ennever had 8 children in what was almost certainly an illicit and long-lasting relationship with her aunt's husband while under the one roof.  This relationship presumably continued therefore with the knowledge and acceptance of her aunt. 

Mary Stothart was sharing a house with her aunt, Sarah Jane Thomas and Sarah's husband Henry Collins in both the 1861 and 1871 censuses, having been brought up by her maternal grandmother Harriet Thomas (nee Stygle).  Harriet Thomas had 7 children, Mary Stothart Thomas having been born in 1817/8 and Sarah Jane Thomas in 1832/3.  Mary Stothart Thomas married Robert Ennever in 1839, Mary Stothart Ennever (b 1840) being the eldest of 2 children from this marriage. Mary Stothart Thomas died in 1843 and later the same year Robert married her younger sister, Harriet Agnes (b 1821/2).

Sarah Jane Thomas married Henry Collins in 1857 and in 1861 was living in Bethnal Green, London with his wife and their first 2 children.  Mary Stothart Ennever was also living with them, with her son Edwin, and is recorded as unmarried.  Edwin's birth certificate gives no father's name nor occupation.  Nothing very remarkable so far except that Robert George Ennever, son of Robert Ennever and Harriet Agnes Thomas married Maria Eliza Collins, Henry Collins' sister in Australia.

Still in the UK, by the time of the 1871 census Henry Collins, his wife Sarah and their 5 children plus Mary Stothart and her 3 children continue to share a house and Mary is again recorded as unmarried. Further research identified 2 other children of Mary, who had both died in infancy between 1861 and 1871. 

By 1881, Henry and Sarah had had at least 6 children but were no longer sharing a house with Mary.  Mary by 1881 had had 8 children, of whom 6 had survived but the family have not yet been located in the census.  Her 8th child was born at Spring Street, Bow but she is not at this address in 1881.

The birth certificates of Mary's first 3 children do not record a father, while the next 5 record the father as a Henry Ennever, whose occupation is stated to be either a "Wood Carver" or "Carver".  No marriage had ever been found nor has an unlinked Henry Ennever been identified from the detailed Ennever BMD and census records compiled by Patricia Hill or my own research.  Henry Collins' occupation was a "Cabinet Carver" or "General Wood Carver" and it is clear that Henry "Ennever" is undoubtedly a fictitious representation of Henry Collins, presumably used by Mary to disguise the real father's identity.

Mary Stothart Ennever and her family are then found in the 1891 and 1901 censuses at Warner Place, Bethnal Green under the name Collins, Mary now being shown as widowed.  Since 1891 all Mary Stothart's children and their families have been known as Collins, further evidence if it was needed that Henry Collins was indeed the father of her children.  Examples include Arthur William Collins' marriage to Elizabeth Harriet Paul in 1898, where his father is recorded as Henry Collins a Wood carver, George Alfred Collins' marriage to Caroline Old in 1899, where his father is recorded as Henry Collins (deceased) a Carver and Albert Alfred Collins' marriage in 1906 where his father is also Henry Collins (deceased), a Carver. Edwin James Ennever born in 1860 married as Edwin Collins to Mary Elizabeth Adams and had four children before his death, aged 37, in Bethnal Green.  Mary re-married in 1900.

At Mary Stothart's death in 1933 she is somewhat strangely recorded, however, as the widow of an Edward Collins, a Wood Carver!

The "close" relationships that are recorded here are but a part of the strangely intimate nature of the links between the Ennever and Collins families as can be found here. This excludes the related, but not directly connected, marriages of George Alfred Ennever, otherwise known as George Alfred Collins, to two cousins ie a daughter of each of two Illingworth sisters which are covered here.

If you have any information on Mary Stothart Ennever/Collins or her family I would be delighted to hear from you.

Author:  Barry Ennever