The 4 marriages of Bella Baruh Lousada

Though Bella Baruh Lousada had 4 marriages, there were only 2 men involved - and thus marriages A and C were for love and made hastily in Scotland, and marriages B and D were for respectability and made somewhat later back in London. A convenient summary of this history comes from Cambridgeshire County Council records. Evidence of Bella's 4 marriages is found here. The first marriage was a partial cause of great misfortune. Her elopement with Charles Kenrick, one of her father's clerks, was reported as having a depressive effect, and her father Moses died by his own hand in early 1826. Her widowed mother oversaw remarriage B in London later in 1826; the dates show that the short-lived infant was conceived in wedlock but perhaps conceived before marriage B. Bella seems to have again been a challenge to respectability with her marriage D to Major Robert Wills - for although the records show this occurred in 1851 just 2 months after the death of her first husband, there is a  record of a 1839 marriage C with Major Wills in Edinburgh while her first husband was still alive! Parental consent for marriage of an 18-year old was not required at Gretna Green in Dumfrieshire in Scotland (which is why the elopees went there). Edinburgh, selected perhaps for anonymity, was the site for marriage C. Divorce was impractical for most people in those days, but the trust fund summary indicates divorce was somehow achieved and we have confirmation of this (see note 1 below). The marriages of Bella Baruh Lousada tell a tale of a strong desire for respectability, sometimes a difficult thing to achieve in the face of youthful exuberance. Mostly, as we illustrate, her siblings and Barrow cousins achieved this - perhaps cautioned by her unfortunate adventures. Click here for her portrait.

Notes:

1. Marcus Whitaker on 15 Apr 2016 advised that he had found Bella's 20 Dec 1837 divorce from Charles Kenrick (sometime of Alwalton in Huntington) in the list of decrees of divorce pronounced in Court of Session from Nov 1836 till Nov 1841: - from The Law Magazine, or Quarterly Review of Jurisprudence XXIX Feb-May 1843 London.