Seeking Oliver Herbert Sumner b 1865

[wivenhoe]

" I found the advertisement in a family tree (on Anc*try)."

  What tree?          What name for the publication?

[ajm314159]

Well,

Ancestry.com. England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

If you browse that in Ancestry and search for the man by name, you will find.

The URL is :

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/281877:1897?ssrc=pt&tid=117447362&pid=162248692389

but I do not know if this will work universally.

The online database does not, apparently, include the publication name in its meta data record. The image itself shows an annotation (typical for this database) of the date and some initials: “HW 25.4.1954”. 

My public Ancestry tree is called “Malton Family Tree” and perhaps the URL https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/117447362/family?cfpid=162431178410&fpid=162248692389 will work, not sure.

My record of Oliver includes the advertisement.  His record URL is https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/117447362/person/162248692389/facts

[wivenhoe]

I see the advertisement at the link you have posted.

You might reasonably assume that the advertisement appears in a publication, not necessarily a newspaper,  dated 25 April 1954.

The name and location of the publication is unknown.

It is unknown if this advertisement appeared in any other publication in 1954....or ever.

If you have reason to believe that Florence Evelyn SUMNER, died 1952, left an estate, you might suspect that the enquiry possibly relates to her death.

If Florence Evelyn SUMNER left no estate then the notice in the publication might not be a consequence of her death, 1952.

The notice in an unknown publication would seem to be relevant to a legal matter being handled by
Walter BURGIS and Co.

If you could see, by means of notices in publications, how extensively Oliver Herbert SUMNER was being sought, it might suggest..... why..... he was being sought....and where he ever lived.

One notice for an 85 year old man, last heard of 58 years earlier, might suggest that is all that is legally required for the matter. ....one notice.

I think the notice in the publication is not related to the death of Florence Evelyn SUMNER, 1952.

If it is about SUMNERs, but not Florence or the children born of the marriage. it might be useful to know what is happening in the lives of Oliver Herbert's SUMNER family in 1953 - 1954.

Is he....... named or ultimately...a beneficiary in a SUMNER estate?.

Using Ancestry Probate Calendar....I do not see Florence Evelyn SUMNER, died 1952.

Using Britishnewspaperarchives...I do not see the Solicitor's notice naming Oliver Herbert SUMNER.

How did Florence Evelyn SUMNER support her family when her husband, Oliver Herbert SUMNER left his wife and children?

[maddys52]

when did the “Regent Toilet Club” close or change hands again? 

"Members of the Stockton Football Club are invited to patronise Ralph D. Douglass's new Regent Toilet Club, near Regent-street, 134 High-street. Cleanliness guaranteed. Ground floor entrance, Bowser and Rogers, Photographers - ADVT"
Saturday,  Sept. 24, 1892
Publication: Daily Gazette For Middlesbrough

Not sure who DOUGLASS acquired the business from.

For interest, the business was established by Heinrich (Thomas) SAVERWEIM (known as "the professor" who arrived in London from South Germany c1860 and built up the business, retiring in 1886. He died on Loch Lomond in 1889.
Friday,  Sept. 13, 1889
Publication: Aberdeen Journal

[ajm314159]

wivenhoe, I agree it would be better to know where the ad appeared.  This is the only record of the search by Burgis & co that I have found: so it is indeed reasonable to suppose that it's a kind of legal minimum requirement.

Like you, I have found no probate entry for Florence, although her death is recorded. On the 1939 register she is (already) a retired housekeeper.  I have no evidence that there were children. Probably there was no estate.

But it never occurred to me to think that the search for Sumner in 1954 was for some other reason -- that's a good point.

Oliver had seven siblings and three half siblings. Hugh died in 1944 as mentioned above, leaving only Andrew, the youngest half sibling, who died in 1977.  There seems to be no event in 1953 or 1954 except the death of Hugh’s widow in November 1953 in Toronto.

I wonder which will, of the dozen or so that might exist, would be likeliest to be useful.

maddys52, there seems to have been, around the time, at least three “Regents Toilet Club”-named establishments: in Soho, in Stockton, and in Great Yarmouth. The latter was run by Sumner, apparently.

[wivenhoe]

Might be relevant? -

Use  -   https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Search.....England......1896......."SUMNER  V  SUMNER"

Finds a divorce....April/May/June/December  in London newspapers, with no further details.

If this is your Florence Evelyn SUMNER it would explain why, 58 years later, the enquiry uses 1896 as a reference....a known and significant event. Known to....who?...at 1954.

A divorce.......for desertion?...would include a reference to the whereabouts of the respondent if they were not present to appear before a magistrate.

If the matter proceeded Florence might have preferred to be known as a widow rather than a divorcee.

[amondg]

He actually had 8 siblings

Joseph Henry Surtees Sumner 1859  - died 19 January 1927
Frederick Charles Sumner 1861  - died 6 October 1899 NSW Australia
Francis William Sumner 1864  - died 15 April 1893
*Oliver Herbert  Sumner 1865 -??
Margaret Ann Surtees Sumner 1867  -married Octavius Fisher 1892 - died 10 June 1941
Edwin Smales Sumner 1868  - died 15 September 1889
Arthur Thomas Sumner 1870  -died 1927 North Dakota USA
Septimus Denys George Sumner born 1871 - died 1871.
Hugh Steven Sumner 1873 -- died 1944 Canada
----
Half siblings
Olivia Grace Sumner 1884 - died  10 January 1941 spinster probate mentions brother John
                                                                                     Alexander Sumner 
Andrew Theodore Sumner 1890 - died 17 March 1977
John Alexander Sumner 1900  - died 25 March 1965

[amondg]

There is an amusing article that maybe your Mr. Sumner

Norfolk Chronicle 13 August 1892  Paraphrased

Two bullocks being driven down the street one decided to "enter the hairdressing establishment of Mr. Sumner"  Regent Street, Yarmouth.
"Mr. Sumner gallantly attacked with a hair brush"  etc.

[ajm314159]

amondg: Good bull story: thank you. It is surely my Mr Sumner.  May I ask, is the excellent list of Sumner siblings, above, drawn from somewhere? or did you fluently assemble it yourself just in these past few days?  A full, precise list.

wivenhoe: Thanks for a new angle, Sumner v Sumner.  (That kind of search will be generally useful in the future too!) I found three such cases, in the 1870s, in 1896, and in the 1930s. Unfortunately the 1896 or 1897 decree absolute, if it was made, I cannot find, nor any other details.

I wonder, in the 1890s, how long after “abandonment” was required before an action for divorce might begin?