View Full Version : Madge Belmont - Handcuff Queen
I have seen my great aunt described as such.
She is on a Streatham memorial: http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Burials.htm#streatham
But her real name was Mary Jane Elizabeth Hawkins, nee Darling.
Here she is in 1911: http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/2352/rg14_09994_0012_29/53205426?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.u k%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3f_phsrc%3dsXh914%26_phstart%3dsucce ssSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue%26db%3d1911england%26so %3d2%26pcat%3dROOT_CATEGORY%26gss%3dangs-g%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsfn%3dmary%26g sfn_x%3d0%26gsln%3dhawkins%26gsln_x%3d0%26msypn__f tp%3dEssex%2c%2520England%26msypn%3d5264%26msypn_P Info%3d7-%257C0%257C0%257C3257%257C3251%257C0%257C0%257C0%2 57C5264%257C0%257C0%257C0%257C%26MSAV%3d1%26cpxt%3 d1%26cp%3d4%26catbucket%3dr%26uidh%3d9vh&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults
Do you think a Portsmouth woman could have passed herself off as an American?
btw, she and her infant daughter Mabel are completely missing from the 1901 census.
Olde Crone
15-07-16, 17:44
O Phoenix the shame! I can hardly believe I have been consorting with someone e who has such LOW relatives.
*Lies down with the Sal volatile*
OC
Lol!
That is only half the story.
The bits that I know to be true are that her husband gassed himself, she raided the children's piggy banks: http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=14274&highlight=belmont
and she abandoned said children to her long suffering mother in law.
Do you think a Portsmouth woman could have passed herself off as an American?
Absolutely, my theatricals were always fibbing a bit to make themselves more glamourous (and harder for me to find!). My plain old Percy Maling born in Rawtenstall moved the Blackpool, became Neville Warrender then Otto von Konigsmark.
So Madge/Mary is aged 32 in 1911 and 40 in 1931?
What name is her death registered under?
Yes, I think she could have passed herself off as an American!
On the 1911 census she has had her marriage years and births figures crossed through. 14 years for her marriage seems right. Three living children one dec'd. Would that be Mabel and Sidney alive and Charles dec'd? Do you know who the other living child is?
Is that Mabel aged 9 born Gray's Essex with her Hawkins grandparents in 1911? But registered Q1 1901 as Mabel Victoria? If Mabel's brother Sidney was in hospital I wonder where the other living child was?
Did Mabel marry Frederick Mellon in 1934? In 1939 she says her dob was 31 Jan 1905! if that is her then I would imagine it's likely she was born 31 Jan 1901. Ah, her death reg says 31 Jan 1901 so that's good.
Ah, so this is the other son
Births Dec 1902
HAWKINS Walter James D Orsett 4a 633
as he's with his father in 1911.
So when did William George Hawkins commit suicide?
I note that William George thought he had two dec'd children rather than one, as reported by Mary.
George is on the same monument in Streatham - as George Belmont - June 1929 aged 55. Allegedly, he left my family his masonic regalia (there was, of course, no will) but when my grandfather turned up at the house, he was sent away with a flea in his ear.
Here is George on Freebmd in June 1929:
Hawkins William G 55 Lambeth 1d 173
Oh, I'd assumed she had left him when she took up the handcuffs! So there should be a Hawkins death reg for Mary too?
According to Mabel, she and two small brothers were dumped by Mary. In 1911, Mary is in the workhouse and George in Portsmouth. According to my Dad, George took up with someone else, and had children by them.
However, it is Mary reporting the death, so whatever happened, she and he got back together.
For the record, this is Mary in 1881:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/7572/HAMRG11_1151_1154-0568/6599500?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk %2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3f_phsrc%3dsXh935%26_phstart%3dsucce ssSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue%26db%3duki1881%26gss%3d angs-d%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsfn%3dmary%26g sfn_x%3d0%26gsln%3ddarling%26gsln_x%3d0%26MSAV%3d1 %26cpxt%3d1%26cp%3d4%26catbucket%3dr%26uidh%3d9vh% 26gl%3d%26gst%3d%26hc%3d50%26fh%3d100%26fsk%3dBEEG ZmYIgAAdlABbKbc-61-&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults
She is aged 3, so should be aged abt 53 when she dies. Not 40.
Yes, I realised that, but where is her death reg?
This seems the most likely, but I cannot be sure:
March 1931
Hawkins Mary 53 Camberwell 1d 1112
From Deceased Online:
BuriedOn:
17 March 1931
Recorded at:
Camberwell New Cemetery (Southwark)
Oh well done!
I wasn't actually sure what it was that you wanted to know from your first post, unless it was just 'could she have pretended to be American?', but I did look hard for her with Mabel in 1901 but found nothing.
If she were the Handcuff Queen, then there are plenty of instances of her appearing on stage that I can find in newspapers.
If the HQ were American, then there might be American newspaper articles about her as well.
But she might be Maud Belmont burlesque dancer, who I can also find.
Curiouser and curiouser.
I've found an old note, saying that THIS is her death registration:
Deaths Mar 1931 (>99%)
Hawkins Edith 40 Camberwell 1d 1146
EDITH?!!!
Who decided that? You or someone else? The age 40 might have been a factor as it matches the age given on the memorial at Streatham. Were there any other female Hawkins in that Q who were aged 40?
Some five years ago, I was contacted by someone researching those celebrated on the Streatham memorial. They were looking for photographs. They had evidently got the death certificate, as the informant was Mabel. Sadly, I have no photos.
So is the death cert in post 22 the one they had, with Mabel as the informant?
Hmmm, well Mabel can't have believed her mother was 40 at a time that she was over 30 herself!
Perhaps the other death cert is the right one and both women had a dau called Mabel? If we knew the address on the death cert we could have checked to e-rolls to see if that helped in any way.
Another piece in the jigsaw: Madge Belmont, handcuff queen reigned approx 1912 - 1924.
:D:D:D:D
Courtesy of bna
Woohoo, a new member has found this thread!
i AM BACK WITH THE BASIC PROBLEM - that Maud/Madge/Mary/Edith was 53 when she died. So do I buy the Mary Hawkins certificate?
The Streatham theatre memorial states that it commemorates actors buried there - while Mary aged 53 was buried elsewhere.
Is it £6 well spent?
kiterunner
05-04-18, 19:20
Having reread the thread, I think maybe you would be better to get the Edith certificate first. But let's see if we can find anything to help before you shell out for a cert.
kiterunner
05-04-18, 22:27
Do you have the address on George's 1929 death cert, Phoenix?
It's Juxon Street, Lambeth Walk, Kite. They'd have been choked and deafened by the railways overhead.
They were obviously in such poverty that I suspected they flitted on a regular basis, and never appeared on electoral rolls.
How frightfully vulgar to have someone with such an appalling epithet! Pass the sal volatile, OC.
I want to thank everyone, especially Phoenix, for the information on Mary Jane Elizabeth Hawkins (Madge Belmont - Handcuff Queen). I am researching her for a series of articles on female escape artists during the Houdini era. Mary was the first person in England, and only the second in the world, to escape from a straitjacket while suspended upside down by their feet high in the air. Houdini, who became known for this feat, did it two years later. Though he did it outside while handing 100 feet in the air, while Mary did it from the theater’s ceiling or over the stage. Her other feature escapes were from a wooden coffin constructed by a local mortician and from a large locked canvas bag after being handcuffed, chained and shackled. In 1919 she was paid 14£ a week. That is about 700£ in today’s money.
It is amazing that Mary went from being in a workhouse in 1911 to dangling over the heads of the audience in a straitjacket just 2 years later.
Her date of death is still a bit of a mystery. Be careful, the information on the Steatham Park Memorial is not always correct.
If anyone has the birth certificates for her children, I would like to find out what William’s occupation was listed as. Trying to find out more about when he started on the stage. If not, I will order copies.
Thanks again for the help.
Gary
Durham, North Carolina, USA
Here is a link to a photo of Mary as Madge Belmont Handcuff Queen in 1923. Enjoy
https://imgur.com/a/ohbuVCN
Gary
Does anyone have the death certificate for Mary Jane Elizabeth Hawkins? I “rolled the dice” and ordered two “Mary Jane Hawkins” that died in March of 1931. Both were the wrong person. Hate to have to order all the Mary Hawkins that died that month. ????
Gary Hunt
Durham, North Carolina, USA
Mary was my great-uncle's wife, so I haven't really been researching her.
According to a contact I had when I belonged to GR, her death certificate was in the name of Edith?!!!
By the time William George died she was as poor as a church mouse, so the only possible places she might have been living were London, Orsett (Essex) or Portsmouth.
Logically she ought to be the Mary who died aged 53 in Camberwell.
O Phoenix the shame! I can hardly believe I have been consorting with someone e who has such LOW relatives.
*Lies down with the Sal volatile*
OC
How frightfully vulgar to have someone with such an appalling epithet! Pass the sal volatile, OC.
I still love you. I wont hold your relatives against you. ;)
I still love you. I wont hold your relatives against you. ;)
Thank you, Kit, much appreciated!:d
Now while I keep on stressing that there is no blood relationship, I do have reason to blush:
My father was promised his uncle's masonic regalia (why he should have wanted it is beyond me, but so it was)
He was taken by his father to visit the widow and demand this valuable legacy.
The widow sent him away with a flea in his ear! I can still recall his indignation. (And my embarassment at the tale)
Having found out about her from various sources, I imagine that if it hadn't been pawned years ago, she would have lost no time in disposing of it as soon as she was widowed.
But would you make a special trip to London to visit a grieving widow and demand your share of the loot?
Not for masonic regalia I wouldn't. I have all my granddad's stuff though but I doubt it is worth anything
Olde Crone
03-10-18, 21:40
You can't give masonic regalia away unless it is very special indeed, I have found. I once bought a huge box full at auction and eventually gave most of it to the charity shop.
OC
Just been contacted by a descendant of the Handcuff Queen!
Turns out she was not Mary Jane Elizabeth, but the woman William George was shacked up with in 1911. Will tell more when I know it, but it sounds as if life was very different "from that of our own dear queen"
Curiouser and curiouser.
I've found an old note, saying that THIS is her death registration:
Deaths Mar 1931 (>99%)
Hawkins Edith 40 Camberwell 1d 1146
EDITH?!!!
The woman he took up with was Margary Edith :)
Oh, wow! I have a cousin, I have a cousin!!!
kiterunner
28-07-20, 11:57
So William George was your actual relative? I've reread this thread but I'm still not sure!
Yes. William George was my relation. The problem lay with his women.
He married the girl next door - Mary Jane Elizabeth Darling. She and baby Mabel are invisible in 1901.
Three boys are born during the early C20th, in Essex.
In 1911, Mary is in the workhouse in Essex.
Family story is that Mary turned up at her mother-in -law's house, with Mabel and her two surviving brothers in tow, saying she couldn't cope, and abandoning them.
Mabel is with her grandparents, Sidney in hospital in Portsmouth and Walter with his father, also in Portsmouth.
William describes himself as an advertising agent, and in the same household is Edith Batchelor, aged 22 and called a housemaid.
I knew that William took up with another woman, and had daughters Rose and Margary, but never correctly identified them. This is why:
Births Dec 1911
Hawkins Lady M B Batchelor Fulham 1a 554
Births Sep 1913
Hawkins Lady C B Batchelor Fulham 1a 570
Births Sep 1915
Hawkins Lady R E Batchelor Newcastle T. 10b 71
And these are the full entries:
HAWKINS, LADY CONSTANCE BELMONT BATCHELOR
GRO Reference: 1913 S Quarter in FULHAM Volume 01A Page 570
HAWKINS, LADY MARJORY BELMONT BATCHELOR
GRO Reference: 1911 D Quarter in FULHAM Volume 01A Page 554
HAWKINS, LADY ROSAMOND ESTHER BATCHELOR
GRO Reference: 1915 S Quarter in NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE Volume 10B Page 71
Constance presumably died as a baby.
It was Edith Batchelor, with the stage name of Madge Belmont, who was the Handcuff Queen.
Two boys were born in Wales:
Births Jun 1920
Hawkins Squire J B Batchelor Pontypool 11a 434
Births Mar 1922
Hawkins Harold G Batchelor Merthyr T. 11a 1754
Allegedly there was a third brother, born in Newcastle, but no sign in civil registration.
It looks as if the boys of the first marriage settled at 144 Kilburn High Road. It was Sidney's address, although he died in Salford as well as Walter's when he married:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1623/images/31280_198734-00186?pId=18021993&backurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2Ffamily-tree%2Fperson%2Ftree%2F65116570%2Fperson%2F1822137 49185%2Ffacts%2Fcitation%2F662294909054%2Fedit%2Fr ecord
Now comes the puzzling bit. When William George dies in 1929, it sounds as if he is living in Juxon Street: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1904/images/31874_222499-00141?backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&queryId=7870661b8ecb062ad1a34ea6dd93924a&pId=1024393&backurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2Fcgi-bin%2Fsse.dll%3Fdbid%3D1904%26gsfn%3DWilliam%2BGeo rge%26gsln%3DHawkins%26cp%3D4%26msddy%3D1929%26msd dy_x%3D1%26ssrc%3Dpt_t65116570_p30131359772%26pcat %3D%26hc%3D50%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26uidh%3D9vh%26 redir%3Dfalse
The inquest report suggests he and his wife had been living together, possibly for the last couple of years:
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0001179%2f19290613%2f032&stringtohighlight=william%20hawkins%20juxon
Mary takes her pound from the poorbox, discovers she's entitled to money from William's estate and the two sons who predecease her. She then vanishes.
It is not clear what has happened to Edith in the meanwhile, but she dies in 1931, aged 40.
My cousin is a descendant of Harold. While Rosamund and Margary appear to have been in close contact with each other, the boys were abandoned along the way. Harold was brought up in Hitchin, but treated so badly, he ran away. He completely lost contact with his family, but rediscovered them via Surprise Surprise.
kiterunner
28-07-20, 15:06
Amazing story, Phoenix.
It has just got wierder. In 1928, 144 Kilburn High Road is home, amongst others, to Esther Batchelor, mother of the Handcuff Queen. How incestuous is that!
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1795/images/40020_189992-00052?backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&queryId=6926b0bac54910ec7ab8f452f8183979&pId=79757974
Hello. I hope you’re still using this site. I’m the great grand daughter of Madge Belmont. My nan was her daughter.
Woooo!
Hello cousin! Welcome to the site! This is amazing. I'll pm you with my contact details.
The Stage 9 June 1921 and Madge Belmont is looking for work for 20th June:
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0001179%2f19210609%2f084&stringtohighlight=madge%20belmont
She was in Sheffield in the previous week, and Maryport Cumberland the following. What's the betting she was in Scotland on 19th June??
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