Heenan In The News: A Wife’s Despair
A few months ago I shared a disturbing item that appeared in the Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser of 12 July 1902.
It reported a prosecution of a Mrs Henrietta Heenan for attempted suicide as a result of despair because of her husband’s ill treatment.
In my earlier article on this court case, I noted that it might not have had a happy ending despite Robert Heenan’s promise to be kinder to his wife. There was an indication that by 1939, the couple were living apart.
An item in the Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail on 18 March 1929 now confirms this was the case.
Once again, the couple appeared in court relating to their unhappy relationship. The case was instituted by Henrietta Heenan who claimed she had been deserted by her husband in December 1928. Without any financial support from him, she had been forced to seek work.
She was quite clear however — she didn’t want him back — and he was equally clear that he did not want to return to the marriage.
This answers the question about the identity of a Robert Heenan found in the 1939 census, living in Liverpool with a widow. I’m now very sure that this is the same Robert Heenan who deserted Henrietta Laws.
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