1901 and the fractured Doyle family

This is a 'perhaps' post. Doyle insisted that he had a platonic relationship with Jean Leckie from the time they met in 1897 till their marriage in 1907 after Doyle's first wife Louise finally died in 1906.

We do know that the platonic relationship was something all were comfortable with at all times. For example, Doyle's sister Connie and her husband E.W. Hornung were unimpressed with finding Jean Leckie at a cricket match with Doyle at one stage.

Doyle could maintain that their love had not been manifested physically - and that may be true - but I was struck to examine the 1901 census and see how the family were arranged. The 1901 census was collected on Sunday, March 31, 1901.

First we look at Arthur and Louise's family home at Undershaw. They are not home, but their children are. Louise's spinster sister Emily Hawkins is at Undershaw, along with Arthur and Louise's two living children, Mary (12) and Kingsley (8).

1901 Census - Undershaw, Shottermill, Surrey

Emily Hawkins, Sister-in-law, single, 42

Mary C. Doyle, Daughter, single, 12

Kingsley C. Doyle, Son, single, 8

Arthur was a busy man, a man of action. It is unsurprising that Arthur and Louise were not in the family home at the time of the census. Arthur was not traveling overseas, but perhaps the couple were in London, or at a seaside resort?

1901 Census - 'The Bolton', Cary Crescent, Tormoham, Torquay, Devon

Louisa Conan Doyle, Boarder, married, 49, Living on own means

Emily Hawkins, Boarder, widow, 75, living on own means

Listed right under them is:

Angele Champin, single, 27, Lady'smaid (domestic), born France (French subject)

So... first things first, Louisa is staying at a hotel called 'The Bolton' in the Torquay seaside area - the census calls it a 'Lodge House' and the head's occupation is a 'Boarding house keeper'. The precise location of 'The Bolton' is difficult to identify, but farther down the same page is 'Templestowe' - there is a large hotel that now sits up on the hill and looking across Torquay and the water. But 'The Bolton' and 'Templestowe' address appear to be on 'Cary Crescent' - then and now an 'elegant row of Victorian Torquay's Belgravia Italianate styled townhouses' (see below).

The census says that Louisa and her mother are 'living on own means' - that may have been true for Emily Hawkins, and she had stated that in previous census entries (such as 1891). 

As a side-note, I have a feeling Angele Champin was surplus to needs after her Louise died on 4 July 1906. Three months later, Angele married Carl Basil Andrews, a painter, at Shottermill close to Undershaw. Louise's mother Emily did not die till 1913.

So if Arthur's wife, who was of course very unwell with chronic tuberculosis, was taking in the sea air of Torquay with her mother, and if Arthur's children were at home under the care of his wife's sister, then Arthur must have been in London working, right?

1901 Census - Ashdown Forest Hotel, Forest Row, Sussex

Arthur C Doyle, Boarder, married, 41, Physician surg

Jean E. Leckie, Boarder, single, 27

And at the top of the following page:

Mary J Doyle, Boarder, widow, 63

This is not some great discovery - it is a well known fact from the 1901 census.

The Ashdown Forest Hotel sat next to the Royal Ashdown West Golf Course, and one can imagine that perhaps Doyle indicated his was off to play golf for a weekend or longer. One wonders whether Doyle paused to wonder whether, a hundred years hence, the presence of Jean Leckie would be noted. It was still six years till Doyle married Jean Leckie (and five till his wife Louise would die). The presence of Mary gave credibility of their presence together, as she undoubtedly served as chaperone.

It must have been exhausting having a chronically ill and ultimately terminal wife. Though given the domestic support that Doyle had at his disposal, and the large amount of time working and traveling, it's hard to know whether it taxed him greatly. 

Of course, in maintaining the platonic innocence of their relationship with Jean Leckie, Doyle may not have realized that receipts being created by the 1901 census. Together with the census for Louise with her mother  - one wonders whether there had been an effective and well-covered-up domestic separation of the two. Or simply a grand deception by Arthur Conan Doyle.