X is for ex
April 2025 A to Z blogging challenge
My fifth cousin twice removed Vivian Tyrell Champion de Crespigny (1907-1952), eighth of the Champion de Crespigny baronets, was married three times, the first and third time to the same person, Barbara “Helen” Rendel Dobb (1905-1991).
Barbara Dobb was born in 1905 in Marylebone, the only child of Robert Rendel Dobb, a drapery trade buyer and fur dealer, and his wife Hilda.
Her first husband, whom she married at the age of 18 on 29 September 1923 in St Peter’s, Eaton Square, Pimlico, was Reginald Clive Gallop, then 31. His occupation was given on the marriage register as consulting engineer. During the war Reginald had served in the Royal Flying Corps, later the Royal Air Force.
They had one daughter born 1925. In 1929 Gallop petitioned for divorce. Vivian Charles de Crespigny, that is Vivian Tyrrell Champion de Crespigny, was named as co-respondent.
Divorce in England had been reformed in 1857, with marriage based on contract rather than sacrament, and a widening of the availability of divorce. After World War I, more reforms were made to the divorce law, putting men and women on a more equal footing. The Matrimonial Causes Act 1923 made adultery a ground of divorce for either spouse.
In 1930 Barbara Gallop married Vivian T C Champion-de Crespigny. They had one daughter, and were divorced in 1939.
In 1937 the Matrimonial Causes Act extended the grounds for divorce, which until then was based only on adultery, to include unlawful desertion for three years or more, cruelty, and incurable insanity, incest or sodomy
On 11 July 1941 Barbara Champion de Crespigny married Ambrose Reginald Whitehead at Henley On Thames, Oxfordshire. Ambrose was a chartered shipbroker and a member of the Committee For Chartering of Ships For Sugar under the Food Department. He had been married in 1924 to Vivien Wrangham. That marriage had ended in divorce.
On 12 August 1943 Vivian de Crespigny married Monica D Flemming at St James, Spanish Place, London. The marriage ended in divorce. There were no children.
On 12 August 1947 Vivian de Champion Crespigny succeeded to the baronetcy following the death of his cousin Frederick.
Helen B Whitehead married Sir Vivian Tyrell Champion de Crespigny for the second time on 25 November 1947 at Caxton Hall Register Office, Westminster.
In 1951 the second marriage of Sir Vivian Champion de Crespigny and Barbara Dobb also ended in divorce.
In 1951 Helen B C Decrespigny married Herbert W J Powell. The marriage did not last long.
On 12 September 1952 the following notice appeared in the London Gazette:
I, BARBARA RENDEL BAIRD MURRAY of Newhill Farm Billingshurst in the county of Sussex Married Woman a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by birth heretofore called and known by the name of Barbara Rendel Powell or Helen Barbara Powell hereby give notice that I have renounced and abandoned the name of Powell and that I have assumed and intend henceforth on all occasions whatsoever and at all times to sign and use and to be called and known by the name of Baird Murray in lieu of and in substitution for my former name of Powell. And I also hereby give notice that such change of name is formally declared and evidenced by a deed poll under my hand and seal dated the 31st day of July, 1952, and duly executed and attested and that such deed poll was enrolled in the Central Office of the Supreme Court of Judicature on the 8th day of August, 1952.—:Dated this 8th day of August, 1952. BARBARA RENDEL BAIRD MURRAY, formerly Barbara Rendel Powell or Helen Barbara Powell.Sir Vivian Tyrell Champion de Crespigny died in Singapore on 3 March 1952.
In 1953 Barbara R Dobb married Douglas Baird-Murray. It seems that their marriage also broke down. In 1970 there was a report in the Chicago Tribune of Iris Cousins nee Formby living as Mrs Douglas Baird-Murray living at Malaga, Spain. In 1976 Douglas Baird-Murray married Iris M Cousins.
Barbara Rendel Baird-Murray died in 1991 in Sussex. She was survived by two daughters and four grandchildren.
Vivian’s second wife and all five of Barbara’s husbands and also married multiple times.
Vivian’s second wife, Monica Flemming married Samuel A M Wilmot in 1947.
Reginald C Gallop married Thora Waterhouse (1909-1989) in 1932. They remained married and Thora did not marry a second time after Reginald’s death.
When the 1924 marriage of Vivien Mary Wrangham to Ambrose Reginald Whitehead failed, Vivien married Murray Lockhart Cox in 1939. Murray Cox had previously been married in 1922 to Alice May Turner, that marriage ended in divorce in 1930. In 1931 Alice married Edward William Hamilton.
In 1924 Herbert William John Powell married Winifred Aileen Spence Thomas. Winifred apparently did not remarry after her marriage to Herbert broke down.
In 1930 Douglas Baird-Murray married Elizabeth G Miles. Elizabeth petitioned for divorce in 1937. In 1938 Douglas married Cecelia J Clark. I am not sure how that marriage ended. In 1953 Douglas married Barbara Dobb. In 1976 he married Iris Cousins nee Formby but had been living with her since at least 1970.
Samuel Johnson is said to have remarked of second marriages that they were “The triumph of hope over experience.” Barbara, Vivian, and their spouses had at more than a dozen marriages, most of which ended in divorce. They could be said to be great optimists in continuing to try marriage again.
Related posts
Wikitree:
Vivian Tyrell Champion de Crespigny (1907-1952) three marriages, two wives
Barbara Rendel Dobb (1905-1991) six marriages, five husbands
Reginald Clive Gallop (1892-1960) two marriages
Ambrose Reginald Whitehead (1897-1970) two marriages
Monica Mary Dorothy (Flemming) Wilmot (1913-1990) two marriages
Herbert William John Powell (1898-1982) two marriages
Douglas Baird-Murray (1915-1989) four marriages
This post first published at https://anneyoungau.wordpress.com/2025/04/28/x-is-for-ex/
Good grief Anne there are so many divorces here. I saw your comment and hope to hear about Sir Vivian’s end
Sir Vivian looks a bit of a rascal.