"The Advertiser", Adelaide, Monday, 29 December 1913
TWO BROTHERS AND THEIR WIVES.
RESTITUTION DECREES AGAINST BOTH ON THE SAME DAY.
By a curious coincidence two brothers recently figured in the London Divorce Court as respondents - Sir H. Lincoln Tangye, who became a baronet in July of last year, and Mr. Wilfred Noel Tangye, sons of the late Sir Richard Tangye, head of the well-known Birmingham engineering firm bearing that name.
The coincidence was carried further. Both suits were for restitution of conjugal rights, both were undefended, both were heard by the same judge (Mr. Justice Hargrave Deane), and in each case the wife was granted a decree.
Sir H. Lincoln Tangye is the eldest son of Sir Richard Tangye, and was born in 1868. In September, 1889, he married at Quinton, Worcestershire, Annie Gilzean-Reid, daughter of the late Sir Hugh Gilzean-Reid. Mr. Bernard, K.C., for Lady Tangye, said there were three children of the marriage - two daughters and a son, aged respectively 22, l8, and 16.
The married life was very happy. In 1910 the husband went abroad, and he wrote to his wife a most affectionate letter from Paris on his way back:-"My own darling," he wrote, "I simply can't live away from you any longer. It is no good. I long just to be alone with you somewhere - you all to myself. I have been so anxious to know how you stood the move, your wire does not say. I am returning to-morrow at 4. It seems an age since I left you. I wonder (and fear) how you are. Wire by 11, Dover Pier. My love! My love! Keep well and strong for your husband, who speaks rockbottom truth when he says he loves you and would not live without you. I feel a depth of loneliness without you which nothing can ever chase away. Till to-morrow, my wife, I kiss your lips - Yours, Lincoln."
Another Woman.
After he returned, proceeded counsel, Sir Harold met a lady under whose influence he fell, and he left his wife in January, 1911. Lady Tangye received a letter saying that her husband would not live with her again. Before applying for a restitution order she consented to a deed of separation for a year, but when the year was over things were no better. The lady saw her husband from time to time, and, begged him to return to her but in vain. On July 14 she wrote, saying:-"Dear Lincoln-Your recent letters have shocked me very much and I feel that the time has come when, for the sake of myself and the children, I must know definitely what you intend to do. You know I have always been anxious to have you back, and I am till anxious to do so. For the sake of yourself and the children, I implore you to come back again. I am sure, if you do so you will never regret it. Let the past be buried and come back.-Your affectionate wife, Annie."
To this Sir Lincoln replied:-"Dear Annie-I received your registered letter, but our married life for many years has been unhappy, owing to radical differences in temperament, and divergent views on many vital matters. For these reasons I do not mean to return to you." Lady Tangye, who was dressed in a navy blue costume, then gave evidence. She stated that she was still anxious for her husband to return to her.
His Lordship granted a decree, to be obeyed within 14 days.
After Tour in the East.
The petitioner in the other suit was Mrs. Janet Elizabeth Tangye, who resides in Hanover Square. Her counsel, Mr. ?ayford stated that the marriage took place on September 8, 1904. In 1912 the husband, Mr. Wilfred Noel Tangye, went on a shooting expedition in India, and the wife went on a tour in China with her sister. She heard that he was coming home, and when she got to Marseilles she got the following letter from him, dated June 5:-"Dear Janet-I am afraid what I am about to say will be a bit of a shock, but I have been thinking things well over, and have come to the conclusion that it's no use going on with the life we've led the last few years. You know it has been an impossible sort of business and I feel the only thing to be done is for us to part. I am awfully sorry about it, but just cannot face it all over again.
I have taken and paid for a bedroom and sitting roomfor you at Thurloe Place, South Kensington. I am arranging for you to have one-third of my income, and will pay the same quarterly in advance. I wish we had not made such a muddle of things.-Yours affectionately. Wolf."
Mrs. Tangye, in reply, said that she could not possibly acquiesce in the suggestion that they should live apart. She wrote:-"I really do not know what there is that you have to complain about in me. I have always done all I can to make your home happy and comfortable, and, as you know, I have always had a deep affection for you. I cannot bear to think of your living' elsewhere. If you will only tell me what it is you have to complain about I will do everything I can to meet your wishes."
Mr. Tangye, said counsel, did not reply to that letter for a fortnight, and then wrote that he "felt he must go his own way. "
Mrs. Tangye, giving evidence in support if counsel's statement, said that there were no children of the marriage.
His lordship granted the petitioner a decree of restitution of conjugal rights.