Beale, Mrs Ella Margaret, Point House, Trinity Road, Exmouth
Ella Margaret Beale, née Dingwall (1867 – 1954), the daughter of a wine merchant, was born and grew up in Caterham Surrey. She married Gordon Francis Tracy Beale on 5 Oct 1897 at St Peters Church Streatham; at that time he was a resident of Tenterden, Kent and that is where they made their first home. In 1911 they were living at The Priory Cottage Tenterden and Gordon Beale described himself as a ‘builder and architect’.[1]
They lived in Exmouth from at least 14 Dec 1912 when their son’s birth (Gordon Nigel Dingwall Beale) was registered at St Thomas (Exmouth); they were still living in Exmouth in 1915 when on 7 May the Western Times carried an advert for ‘General [servant] required cooking not necessary. Wage £15 apply Mrs Beale, Point House, Exmouth’. She was a committee member of the Exmouth branch of the NUWSS which was formed in 1912[2] and during the war donated money to the NUWSS Scottish Women’s Hospital.[3]
Some time around 1920 the family moved from Exmouth and by 1922 Ella Beale had established a home on the Isle of Wight. On 25 January 1927 Mrs Ella Margaret Beale was granted a judicial separation from her husband on the grounds of cruelty; she alleged that he had ‘constantly taunted her with being out of her mind’ and in 1922 had abducted her and locked her away for a week; two years later he had taken her ‘little son Nigel away’ and she had not seen him since then. She was awarded costs and given custody of her son Nigel.[4] She died on 28 December 1954 on the Isle of Wight.
Entry created by April Marjoram, September 2018
[1] Information from the 1911 census.
[2] WT, 22 February 1916.
[3] The Common Cause 8 Jan 1915.
[4] Western Daily Press 26 Jan 1927.