The Supreme Court of British Columbia
In 1892, ten years after leaving his wife Elizabeth and son William Steven back in Widnes, Ike divorced Elizabeth. According to court records, the marriage between Isaac Gandy and Elizabeth Gandy was dissolved on the 24th of March 1892, absolute 26th of September 1892. Petitioner: husband. Co-respondent: Thomas Keeley (Keeling).
The divorce was granted at the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Victoria, and reported in the local press:
“A divorce is to be tried before Mr. Justice Drake at eleven o’clock, this morning, entitled Gandy vs Gandy. The petitioner, Mr. Isaac Gandy, is a Victoria butcher, who has been married for fourteen years. His wife, to whom some years ago he sent a considerable amount to enable her to join him in this country, has never arrived. He has not lived with her since 1882, when he left Widness, Lancashire. Summonses to attend were served two months ago, on the respondent and the co-respondent, the latter a man named Thomas Keeley. Neither party will attend, to-day, at the trial. Messrs. Drake, Jackson & Helmoken, are the petitioner’s solicitors.”
The Victoria Daily Colonist, 24 March 1892, page 6
The following day this notice appeared in the same newspaper:
A Decree Granted
“In the divorce suit of Gandy v. Gandy, heard before Mr. Justice Drake, a decree nisi was granted to the petitioner. Neither respondent nor co-respondent appeared. ”
The Victoria Daily Colonist, 25 March 1892.
Why Wait Ten Years?
This answers some questions, while at the same time raising new ones:
Why did Isaac wait ten years after leaving Widnes to file for a divorce?
Was it that he hoped Elizabeth and son William Steven would follow him across the Atlantic, as he had sent a “considerable amount” of money for their fares?
Why didn’t Elizabeth and son William follow Ike to Canada? Was it because of Elizabeth’s love for Thomas Keeling?
Had Isaac finally given up on Elizabeth and found someone in Victoria he wanted to marry?
Read more about the lives of Elizabeth and William Steven in Widnes, England here.