Early Life
James Edward Saunders was the youngest of four children born to Charles and Margaret Saunders (née Kerns/Kearns). He was born on 30 September 1878 while the family were living at 12 South Street, Rawtenstall. His siblings were Fergus (born 1866), Sarah Frances (born 1869), and Charles Thomas (born 1871). Census records indicate that all of the children were born in Manchester, suggesting that the family moved to Rawtenstall sometime after 1871
Charles Saunders and Margaret Kerns (also recorded as Kearns) were married on 30 August 1863 at St Ann’s Chapel, Junction Street, Manchester. At the time of their marriage, Charles was 20 years old and Margaret was 21. Both signed the register with “their mark,” indicating that neither was able to write — a common occurrence among working-class families in mid-19th century Manchester.
Early Family Life
In the 1871 census, Charles and Margaret Saunders were living on Cobden Street, Manchester, with their older children. Charles was employed as a wire galvanizer and recorded his birthplace as Birmingham. Margaret was listed as being born in Ireland, while all the children were born in Manchester.
James’s birth certificate, issued in 1878, records his father as Charles Saunders (deceased), however no corresponding death certificate could be found. The next available record — the 1881 census — shows Margaret and her youngest son, James, living in Burnley, with no trace of the older children. Margaret described herself as a widow and gave her birthplace as Leeds. Such inconsistencies in census data were not uncommon at the time and do make tracing family histories particularly challenging.
Further research into the 1881 census revealed that the older Saunders children were living in Birmingham — with their father, Charles. This discovery confirmed that Charles had not died before the birth of his youngest son, as stated on James’s birth certificate. It appears that Charles and Margaret had probably separated – maybe prior to the birth of James in 1878, with Charles relocating to Birmingham with the older children and Margaret remaining in Lancashire with James.
There could be any number of reasons for the separation. One possible explanation is that Margaret may have had an affair, with James being the result of that relationship — there was a gap of seven years between the two youngest children. Charles, perhaps unable to reconcile with Margaret, took the older children to Birmingham, where he had family connections, leaving Margaret behind in Lancashire with her youngest son. To protect her reputation, she may have told others that her husband had died and that she was a widow.
We will probably never know the true circumstances behind the family split, but it does raise intriguing questions. Did James ever know that his father was still alive and living in Birmingham? And could this fractured family background have influenced the way he later managed his own relationships — maintaining parallel lives and families?
Marriage to Emily Boot
On 24 September 1901, James married Emily Boot(e) at Christ Church, in the Parish of Bradford, Manchester.
At the time, James was 23 years old, recorded as a bachelor and working as a labourer, residing at 13 St Ann Street, Manchester.
Emily, aged 27, stated she was a spinster; however, she was in fact a widow with three young daughters. Her first husband, John Healey Frier (born 1868), had died in 1900 of phthisis (tuberculosis). Their daughters were Ethel (born 1892), Beatrice (1894), and Lily (1896).
The 1911 census records Emily (listed as Boot) as head of the household, living with four children, all registered under the surname “Boot.” These were Lily Boot (in fact Lily Healey Frier, b. 1896), Maggie Boot (Margaret Saunders, b. 1904), James Boot (James Saunders, b. 1905), and Ada Boot (Edith Ada Saunders, b. 1911).
The family were living at 40 Crissey Street, with Emily’s older sister Bertha living a couple of doors away at number 37.
Emily, who made her mark rather than signing her marriage certificate, was likely illiterate, and the confusion surrounding the family name may reflect this. It is possible that the marriage had broken down or that James was living elsewhere at the time, as his whereabouts in the 1911 census remain uncertain.
By this period, James had entered into a relationship with Dorothy Harley, who lived in Birmingham. It is unclear how long their relationship had been ongoing, but their son was born in July 1912 — just eighteen months after the birth of James’s daughter, Edith Ada, in Manchester.
Tragically, Edith Ada Saunders died in April 1912, just a couple of months before the birth of her half brother in Birmingham. Her death certificate lists her father as a professional football player — the only reference found stating this occupation. His army records stated he had a congenital deformity of the foot and ankle although there is no information as to how this deformity would impact James and, indeed, the army did accept him into the ranks.
You must wonder if James was present when his youngest daughter died or if he was in Birmingham, waiting for the birth of his next child…
Relationship with Dorothy Harley
By 1912, James was certainly living a double life. He and his mistress, Dorothy Harley, had a son, Ronald J. Saunders, born 4 July 1912 at 7 Back 135 Camden Street, Birmingham. The birth certificate lists Dorothy as “Dorothy Saunders, née Harley” and James as the father, a general labourer.
Dorothy Harley was born on 29 January 1888 in Gourley’s Row, Lincoln, and lived to the remarkable age of 101, passing away on 15 March 1989. The 1911 census records her as Dorothy Saunders, claiming a (fictitious) marriage date of 1905–06 — a record which does not exist.
In January 1918, while James was still serving in France, Dorothy married Arthur Stiles in Lincoln.
Military Service and Aftermath
In 1917, at the age of 37, James enlisted in the Durham Light Infantry. His enlistment papers describe him as 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 142 pounds, with false teeth, varicose veins, eczema on one leg, and a congenital deformity of the foot and ankle — despite these issues, he was accepted for service.
In 1919, the address James provided for forwarding his army pay was 18 Gourley’s Row, Lincoln — the home of his former partner, Dorothy Harley. This suggests he still regarded her as his next of kin and was perhaps unaware of her changed circumstances. It does, of course, raise the question: what did his wife, Emily Boot, know of his philandering ways?
After the War
The 1921 census shows Emily Saunders (née Boot), aged 46 and describing herself as a widow, living with three of her children — Margaret, James, and Joseph Saunders. The head of the household was William Nixon, aged 66, a widower and incapacitated worker. It seems likely that Emily and her children were lodgers. Her description as a widow suggests that she had not heard from James after the war and may have assumed him dead.
Meanwhile, the 1921 census records Dorothy Stiles (née Harley) lodging with her sister Elizabeth. Dorothy’s husband, Arthur Stiles, and her son Ronald — listed under the surname Stiles and aged eight — were also living at the same address. Later that same year, Dorothy and Arthur welcomed a daughter, completing their new family.
A New Identity: The Birkenhead Marriage
On 30 January 1921, while his first wife Emily possibly believed him dead, James married again — bigamously. His new wife was Emily Almond (née Uytendahl), a war widow. Emily Almond was born in April 1885, married Peter Thomas Almond in 1908, and they had a son and a daughter. Peter was killed in action in France in July 1917.
In the 1921 census, James is head of the household in Birkenhead, living with Emily Almond and her two children from her first marriage. James is described as a builder’s labourer but was out of work.
The Indictment and Conviction
James’s double life eventually caught up with him. There is no record of how his duplicity was reported but he was arrested and tried in Liverpool, on 5 November 1923, on a charge of bigamy, contrary to section 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
Statement of Offence:
Bigamy, contrary to Section 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
Particulars of Offence:
That James Edward Saunders, on the 30th day of January 1921, at the District of West Derby in the County of Lancaster, did marry one Emily Almond, his lawful wife being then alive.
The principal witnesses were Emily Saunders (née Boot), his first and lawful wife; Emily Almond (née Uytendahl), the woman he bigamously married; and John Higham.
James pleaded guilty, was convicted, and sentenced to 12 calendar months’ imprisonment.
What Became of Emily Almond
Emily Almond appears to have rebuilt her life. In late 1924, she married again — this time to John Brennan, a builder’s labourer.
Tragically, less than two years later, on 10 September 1926, Emily Brennan (formerly Almond, née Uytendahl) died in Borough Hospital, her last residence being 322 Laird Street.
Her cause of death was carcinoma of the ovary, and the informant was her husband, John Brennan. Emily was just 41 years old.
The Final Years
We don’t know where James went after his release from prison in 1927. His next confirmed appearance is in the 1939 register, where he is once again living with his first and lawful wife, Emily, in Failsworth, Manchester.
The household also includes their daughter Margaret (born 1904) and Lily Saunders (born 11 September 1917) — Emily’s granddaughter, the child of her eldest daughter Lily Healey Frier from her first marriage. However, Lily Saunders (b. 1917) required a little more investigation, as she should have been recorded as Lily Perkins, the daughter of Lily H. Frier and Frank Perkins.
James is recorded as a bus cleaner, and Emily is listed as a housewife. The family lived on Miriam Street, Failsworth, an area Emily had remained close to all her life.
On 19 February 1943, Emily Saunders (née Boot) died aged 69. Her death certificate gives the cause as chronic myocarditis and senile dementia. She died at 449 Rochdale Road, likely the Blackley Workhouse Infirmary (also known as the Oldham Union Workhouse or Boundary Park Institution), which by that time provided medical care for the infirm.
James was the informant on her death certificate, giving his address as 87 Miriam Street, Failsworth.
Emily was buried in plot F4 in Failsworth Cemetery on 24 February 1943.
James lived for almost another decade. He died on 22 June 1952, aged 73, at 205 Moss Lane East, Moss Side. His cause of death was carcinoma of bronchus (right), and his occupation was listed as “formerly a vehicle cleaner.”
The informant, present at his death, was E.E. Kay.
James was buried with Emily in plot F4 in Failsworth Cemetery on 26 June 1952.
And so ended the complicated life of James Edward Saunders.
Family 