Theophilus John Bailey Coles and Lucy Ebsworth were my great, great grandparents. A document found in the National Archives in Kew explains why they were no longer living together in the 1881 census. In October 1873, Lucy petitioned for a judicial separation in Her Majesty's Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes in London. In her petition, she describes the 'great harshness and cruelty' she suffered at the hands of her husband throughout their 22 year marriage. She finally left him, with the help of her elder daughters, on 21 July 1873. Her sworn statement is very detailed and makes upsetting reading. In the 1881 census, Theophilus was still living in Chesterblade, with a housekeeper, Sarah Burfitt. In 1886 Sarah Jane Burfitt married James Atkins, Theophilus's nephew (son of his sister Julia Atkins, nee Coles). In 1888 Theophilus wrote his will, leaving everything to 'my dear niece Sarah Jane Atkins' and appointed her sole executor. At the time of writing his will he was living at the George Inn, in Nettlebridge, Midsommer Norton. In the 1891 census (wrongly transcribed as Thos J Baily Coles) he described himself as a 'retired innkeeper' and was a lodger at the Bell Inn, Buckland, Wiltshire where his nephew James Atkins was inn keeper, living with his wife Sarah Jane and their two young children. Theophilus died on 14 February 1897 in Farmborough, Somerset.
