Boddington families

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Notes for Benjamin BODDINGTON JP DL

Of Burcher, Titley, Herefordshire UK. JP & DL for both Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Samuel Boddington, Grace's first husband, was in business with, among others, his first cousin Benjamin Boddington (Grace's second husband), who spent time with Samuel and his family, and was swept away by the charms of his cousin's wife. Samuel was apparently somewhat suspicious of the friendship with his wife, and took her to Bath in June 1797, but having got Samuel out of the way on the pretext of pressing business elsewhere, Benjamin proceeded to run off with Grace from Bath, heading off into Lancashire with the intention of going to America. Samuel's solicitor deduced the plan and sent his clerk after them with notice of a lawsuit against Benjamin for "criminal conversation" with Grace, which notice was served on Benjamin at Preston in Lancashire. There were multiple newspaper reports of the elopement and a subsequent court case, some of which can be found in Google Books. Eventually, the lawsuit was settled, with Benjamin being ordered to pay £10,000 damages to Samuel, who obtained a divorce in 1798 by Act of Parliament (again, some details available in Google Books). Benjamin Boddington subsequently married Grace on 31 May 1798 at Hornsey, London UK. The whole affair was evidently quite a scandal at the time. [265]

Additional information.

The incident resulted in a drama called 'The Stranger'. [309]

Notes for Grace ASHBURNER

Her first child with her second husband was born only 8.5 months after her marriage to husband #2, Benjamin, which was very soon after her divorce from husband #1. See notes for Benjamin for the full and scandalous story, or see the full picture of Grace and read the associated blog. [265],[398]

Sources