The Six Wives of Captain Kearney Part Five: The Saddest Wife

We’ve already met four women who considered themselves wives of Richard Adderley Kearney. The fifth, may be the most tragic of all. Her story is one of abandonment, poverty, and devastating loss, and yet, she endured. I call her the saddest wife, and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.

A Child Named Kearney

I didn’t find the fifth wife in a straightforward way. I was still looking for records for Helen Elizabeth Williams, wife number four, but this search took an unexpected turn when I stumbled across a birth record for a child — Henry “Atward” Kearney, born 6 September 1890 in Norwood, South Australia. In a pattern depressingly familiar to me, the certificate listed his father as “Richard Adderley Kearney, Sea Captain,” and his mother as “Ellen Eliza Kearney, formerly George.” The birth was registered by the mother herself. This tells me that in all likelihood, Richard was not on the scene. 

Henry "Atward" Kearney birth certificate, September 6 1890

That middle name caught my attention. “Atward” was almost certainly a misheard “Edward,” distorted by a German accent, a poignant detail, especially since Richard’s father was named Edward.

When I traced Henry Edward Kearney in the South Australian Destitute Asylum Ledgers, I found monthly welfare foster care reports from the time he was four months old until he was eleven months. He lived with his foster mother, Harriet Gruenklee, and every entry noted that he was healthy, well-fed, and in a clean home. But the reality was stark: Henry was not with his mother, Ellen Kearney, who was listed as married - presumably to Richard - and working in service. She was paying ten shillings for his keep.

And then… nothing. The records fell silent. No further trace of Henry. I assumed he had died, and turned my search to Ellen instead, only to find her life had been marked by hardship long before Richard entered the picture.

The Destitute Asylum 

In December 1887, Ellen was admitted to the Destitute Asylum in Adelaide, pregnant and unmarried. Under the column “Reason for requiring admission,” the clerk had written in full: "Enciente. Putative father Henry Winnett, butler to Mr Brooks of Boston Vale, Enfield, in whose service she states she was at the time of conception. There seems to be no proof whatever against him." 

South Australia, Australia, Destitute Asylum Ledgers and Admissions to Industrial and Reformatory Schools, 1849-1913

The Adelaide Destitute Asylum stood on Kintore Avenue, just off North Terrace in the city. A cluster of bluestone buildings around courtyards, it was the government’s catch-all refuge for those with nowhere else to go: the elderly poor, abandoned children, and crucially for Ellen unmarried pregnant women confined to the Asylum’s Lying-in Department. From 1878 to the 1910s, thousands of mothers laboured and nursed newborns there under strict rules, their lives recorded in ledgers as neat as the stonework outside. Today the surviving buildings house Adelaide’s Migration Museum.

A Second Henry

The next record is her admission to the lying in hospital attached to the asylum. Her child, Henry Ernest George, was born on February 2, 1888. At first, I was confused and thought it might be the same child, and somehow I had gotten my dates wrong. But that wasn't what was going on. This was an entirely different child - older than Henry Edward and with a different father. So, there are two Henrys in this story: Henry Edward, son of Richard Kearney, and Henry Ernest, son of Henry Winnett. The reuse of ‘Henry’ is not as odd as it seems. In many German families, it was customary to give multiple children the same first name, distinguishing them by their second or third (known as the Rufname). In my own German branches, I’ve found siblings named Maria Eva, Maria Katharina, Maria Elisabetha, and so on.

Again, the record shows the putative father to be Henry Winett, butler c/o Mr Brooks, Enfield. The initial note simply says "no proof" but a later annotation shows that Henry acknowledged paternity and was contributing the princely sum of four shillings towards the upkeep of his son. As butler at the grand Boston Vale estate, Henry Winnett likely earned 20–30 shillings a week, with his room, food, and laundry provided - a comfortable position by the standards of the time. His contribution of four shillings a week to the baby’s upkeep was barely 10–20% of his income, enough for a little bread and milk, but nothing for clothing, shelter, or warmth.

Boston Vale, Enfield

Almost two months after Henry Ernest George was born, he and Ellen were discharged from the Destitute Asylum on 25 March 1888 and went to Mrs Sturcke, East Adelaide - presumably an employer who was willing to take on an unwed mother as a maid. Ellen and Henry returned to the Destitute Asylum on July 10th, 1888 and stayed for almost a month. Again, the reason for admission is heartbreaking, so I will include it in full. "Readmitted, has been in the service of Mrs. P. H. Wigg in the capacity of nurse for the past three months, who now returns her, having no further use for her. The girl's parents, being in poor circumstances, cannot afford to keep her and child at their home." This brutal discarding of Ellen, once she had outlived her perceived usefulness, feels tragically prophetic of her later treatment by Richard. I imagine he would have even thought about in the same way - having no further use for her.

The same record also offers a glimpse of Ellen’s world. Her parents are listed as John Gerhard George and Annie living in Eudunda. She had two brothers and six sisters, and her father supported the family on just fifteen shillings a week. In rural Eudunda, where work was often seasonal and pay was lower than in Adelaide, this was a subsistence wage. An unskilled labourer in the city could earn more than twice that, and even a modest cottage could cost six to eight shillings in rent alone. Feeding a family of ten might take the rest. There was nothing left over for extra mouths. Their inability to take in Ellen and her baby was not about unwillingness, but simple, brutal economics.

This final entry also lists Ellen and Henry Ernest’s movements for 1888 and 1889. After their discharge on 10 August 1888, they went to Eudunda to stay with Ellen’s mother Annie. Henry Ernest appears to have stayed there, with the asylum recording updates roughly quarterly from November 1888 through February 1890 stating simply that “grandmother reports child well.” Ellen’s own movements were more restless: in November 1888 she was at the York Hotel, moving to the United Service Hotel on King William Street by October 1889, and by February 1890 she was at the Langham Hotel. Almost certainly, she was working in these establishments rather than staying as a guest. It was in this constant churn of service work, never far from the edge of destitution, that she would eventually cross paths with Richard Adderley Kearney.

Richard had maintained an Adelaide residence since 1883 and frequently travelled there at the time of Henry Edward's conception. For example, this letter to the editor in June 1888 notes Richard to be in Adelaide. It also reads like it was secretly written by Richard, full of over-the-top praise for his skill and contribution as a "well known intercolonial pilot". 

Evening Journal June 12, 1888 

He was still moving through Adelaide in early 1890, for example, appearing on the April passenger list of the Fifeshire from Melbourne to Adelaide, right in the middle of Ellen’s pregnancy. He remembered he was married in this record, a detail I suspect rarely crossed his mind.

Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists, 1839-1923

And in 1891, Richard was still in South Australia applying for a pilotage licence. In fact (spoilers), his next marriage would take place in Adelaide, suggesting he was deeply embedded there. So, while I can't pinpoint exactly where Ellen met Richard, I have no doubt they met while he was in Adelaide on one of his many intercolonial trips,

                                              South Australian Chronicle September 12, 1891 

The Georg Family

Wanting to know more about her, I continued to trace Ellen through the records. Her admission information at the Destitute Asylum showed that she arrived in Australia from Germany in 1877 on the Peter Godefrueh. Armed with this knowledge it was relatively easy to find her arrival records. She arrived as Helene Georg (8) with her father Johann Gerhard Georg (34), her mother Anna (28), two sisters Sophie (3) and Martha (6 months), as well as one brother Johann (6). 

South Australia, Australia, Incoming and Outgoing Passenger Lists, 1845-1940

Their corresponding manifest from Hamburg had their last residence as Ruttel, Oldenberg. Johann Gerhard's father Johann Frederick made the trip with the family, only to die of dysentery three days after he arrived in Australia. 

South Australia, Australia, Adelaide Hospital Admission Registers, 1841-1952 

Johann Gerhard and Anna and their family lived in Eudunda and subsequently had four more children, Diederich Ernst (1879), Emma Auguste (1881), Johann Gustav (1883) and Anna Bertha (1885). Supporting this enormous family on Johann Gerhard's meager labourers wage must have been a weekly struggle.

From Georg to Hughes (and Boardman)

After her early struggles, Helene (as I will now call her) faded from records until her marriage in 1896 to Justinia Hughes. On her marriage certificate, she named her father Johann Gerhard Georg so there is no question of this woman being anyone other than the woman listed in the asylum records whose father was recorded as "John" Gerhard Georg of Eudunda. On her death certificate she again identified her father as John Gerhard George.

Several people have Henry Ernest George listed as the son of Justinia Hughes on their trees since he later changed his last name to Hughes - but in addition to the asylum records which named Henry Winnett as the father - Henry Ernest was born in 1888, a full 8 years before Helene married Justinia. There's also no matching birth certificate for a Henry Ernest Hughes born around 1888 to Ellen/Helene George/Georg and Justinia Hughes.

Armed with this new name my searching turned up another exciting find. Ernest appears as the next of kin for someone reporting him to be their brother on his WW1 records. And what was this person's name? I'm glad you asked. This was none other than a Henry Boardman. He listed his place of birth as Adelaide, and he was 23 years and 11 months at the time of his enlistment on September 5th, 1914. Further on in the records, the next of kin was updated to H Hughes and there are several letters from her later. So, this all tracked - definitely a brother to Henry Ernest and a son to Helene. 

His previous employment was recorded on his enlistment papers too - he had been electrical linesman on the railway. Luckily for me, that employment record was easy to find. And that record was even more interesting. His full name was Henry Edward Boardman and he was born on September 6, 1890. Wait a minute. Born on the exact same day, to an Ellen George, in Adelaide? That’s not a coincidence. Henry Edward Boardman and Henry ‘Atward’ Kearney were one and the same. I hadn't lost him because he died, I lost him because at some point he (or his mother) changed his surname.

In case that doesn't convince you, I also searched for a Henry Edward Boardman born September 6, 1890. Just in case there was some totally bizarre coincidence. But there wasn't. I widened the search just to be completely sure. Any Boardman born in 1890 in South Australia. There weren't any. The closest we get is Annie Boardman born 1889 in Prospect to John Boardman and Elizabeth Turner. 

In what I can only interpret as a total repudiation of Richard, Henry Edward spent the rest of his life as Henry Boardman not Kearney, and interestingly, not Hughes. Why Boardman? Honestly, I can only speculate. He was boarded out to a foster mother early in his life - although at that stage he was still being called Kearney.

You might be wondering at this point, with a husband and two sons, why I think of Helene as the saddest wife? She was abandoned by Richard and suffered hardship when her children were young, but seemed to eventually find stability. Well, I haven't told you everything that the war file contained. Several pages back into the file the next of kin details are updated from Ernest to H(elene) Hughes (mother). The reason is that Ernest died in June of 1915 at just 28 years old. Oddly enough the father listed on his death certificate is Henry Edward Hughes - neither his stepfather nor his biological father. He also listed his mother as Ellen George, confirming that she was known by both versions, Helene Georg and Ellen George. 

Western Australian BDM

The War Letters

But the next tragedy was still to reveal itself. In April 1915 Henry Edward Boardman went missing in action at Gallipoli. The file contains a number of letters from Helene, trying to find out the fate of her son. Eventually confirmation arrives that he was killed in action. By the time this was confirmed, Helene had already lost her older son. 

Henry Edward Boardman

There are several letters from Helene to different war officials and each is more tragic than the last. In July of 1915 for example, she wrote to the Base Records Office following a newspaper report that listed her son as missing on the front. She was enquiring for more information, and to update Henry that his brother Ernest had died.

 National Archives of Australia

In 1920, the Base Records Office wrote to Helene to ask her "whether the above-named soldier had any nearer blood relations that yourself, for instance, is his father still alive. If so, I shall be much obliged for his name and address at your earliest convenience".  I found this letter cruel, with its implication that a father was somehow more blood related than Helene - and the reminder of Richard must have been particularly unwelcome. 

Helene's reply is included and answers a lot of questions about her time with Richard. Specifically, she notes that Henry Edward was in indeed illegitimate - suggesting that her use of the surname Kearney on the birth certificate did not reflect a legal reality, but was a form of social protection. She writes of Richard, "I have no knowledge of whether his father is dead or alive for the last thirty years." So, this confirms what I have long suspected, that Richard likely had a very short-lived interlude with Helene

Both Henry Ernest and Henry Edward were memorialised by Henry Ernest's wife - with several notices published in the paper. For example, this memorial from the Kalgoorlie Miner in June 1919 mentions both brothers. It is a comfort to know that neither brother appeared to have learn about the fate of the other. In fact, the war office didn't confirm that Henry Edward had died until 1916 - after the Proceedings of the Court of Enquiry held at Fletre France on April 10th, 1916.

Helene was not to go long before another tragedy struck her life - a 1921 letter in Henry Edward's war file includes her apologies for delayed responding, noting that her husband Justinia had been ill. He died the next year.

The West Australian, August 21, 1922 

Helene survived her sons by 35 years, dying in 1950. The comfort is that she seems to have family around her. Her son Henry Ernest had two children Lilian Helene Hughes and Henry Ernest Hughes, and they in turn had children. In fact, Lilian named her daughter Helene too. So, her name and the surname of her husband lived on through her oldest son's children.

The West Australian, June 8, 1950 

But Helene, more than any other of Richard's wives or putative wives was experienced a great deal of hardship, but before and after her encounter with Richard. She was by far the most vulnerable, a young immigrant girl living in poverty with one illegitimate child already born to her. Her family were poor and incapable of supporting her the way that Richard's first three wives were supported by their wealthy families. The most similar of Richard's other wives is the other Ellen Eliza/Helen Elizabeth who named Richard as the father of her child Arthur. Like Helene, she came from an impoverished background without family support. And like Helene, it appears that Richard did not marry either of these women. Instead, they used his surname to try and protect themselves from the disgrace he left them with.

To me it shows a broader pattern with Richard. He married women from wealthy backgrounds, perhaps risking bigamy because he needed to offer them legitimate establishments to win them over. And he took advantage of and abandoned women from poor backgrounds - knowing they didn't have wealthy connections to track him down. For that, far more than for the media circus bigamy trial, I think Richard should infamous. If you had only encountered Richard through the newspaper reporting, you could be forgiven for thinking he made an honest mistake. But that was the mirage. The only mistake Richard ever seemed to regret was getting caught.