Melksham Times Past – Eloped in the middle of the night

While her father was away in France, Eliza Daniel, 19, stole away in the middle of the night and eloped with James Robertson, 18. She took along her 11-year-old brother, Henry, whom she made promise not to tell a soul. 

After the wedding, James went back to his home and Eliza and Henry slipped back into the home of her brother-in-law, Captain John Long, the husband of her older sister Mary. They and two other siblings were staying in their Edington home while their widowed father attended his business abroad.

The secret of that 24 December 1827 marriage only lasted a few days; though it had been pre-planned, the couple took great pains to hide their banns by having them read in a county where they didn’t live, and Eliza used the maiden name “Daniels”. It was later argued the marriage should be voided; her name should have been stated in full as “Elizabeth Eugenia Daniel”, with her father insisting that their family never put an “s” on the end of their name. Never ever.

After a while, the marriage seemed to be accepted; her father, Edward Morton Daniel, a barrister-at-law, would visit the couple’s home in Wales and he’d write her letters using the surname “Robertson”. This then, was the argument posed by James when he became a defendant in a suit brought by his wife’s father the following year.

Eliza had become seriously ill. Less than four months after she and James married, she was dead. In his grief, Edward blamed James for the death of his daughter and, because Eliza had married a bit ‘beneath her’ Edward wanted her to be buried in the Daniel’s family plot. He also asked for family heirlooms to be returned so they could remain in the Daniel family. James refused, and Edward refused to have “Robinson” put on Eliza’s casket.

This began a lawsuit where Edward insisted the marriage was null and void, that Eliza didn’t sign her proper name and banns were read in counties where neither of the couple ever lived.

In the end, the jury found for Eliza’s father, but the appeals must have gone on for decades. Eliza’s probate was only granted on 17 May 1862, 34 years after her death. Her effects, totalling all of £20, were administered by Eleanor Pengree (Jones) Robertson — James’ second wife, his widow (James had died in 1847).

What does this have to do with Melksham? Edward and family moved to Melksham a year or so before his death in 1845.

But, this is what happens when I pull a small thread and an entire jumper unravels.

I happened across a dissolution of the Melksham law partnership of Alexander Blucher Smith and Edward Morton Daniel (the son of Edward Morton Daniel, mentioned above, and brother to Elizabeth Eugenia (Daniel) Robertson. The younger, the son, Edward Jr had a daughter Eliza (sorry if this gets confusing). This daughter married Alexander Blucher Smith on the very same day the law practice (between her father and her husband) was dissolved: 24 May 1848.

I wondered why. It was Edward Jr’s testimony in the lawsuit that opened that other story, and it had me wondering if Edward Jr objected to the marriage between his daughter and Alexander, who was 10 years older than Eliza. The announcement of the dissolution came on June 7th, and stated to be as from 24 May. There’s no basis to my thinking, but I was imagining Edward saying to Alexander, “If you marry my daughter our partnership is over!”

Is this why Edward Jr and family moved from Melksham to Islington, and then to Australia, all in a span of three years? In any event, it wasn’t a particularly wise move on his part. Two days after he arrived in Australia, Edward died and his wife moved back to England. 20 years later, the two sons who did remain in Australia died within 10 days of each other, aged 37 and 40.

Eliza (Daniel) Smith remained in Melksham and their children either became or married into some of the more illustrious Melksham families, such as the Taylors (Avon flour mill) and Strattons (grocers), as well as sons who were also solicitors.   

Pictured: the Bristol marriage register entry of Elizabeth and James Robertson; her 11-year-old brother Henry also signed.