Hobby of Matrimony!

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 934, 29 March 1930, Page 18

Hobby of Matrimony!

Engineer's Four Wives

Matrimony and travelling have been j the chief hobbies of a London en- ! gineer, Frederick Cyril Goddard, 36, j who had nothing to say after he had j listened in the dock at Glasgow Sheriff | Court to the amazing story of his four j wives. I This was his second appearance in [ a court in connection with his mar- | riage tangles, and on this occasion he | was sentenced to 12 months’ hard labour on pleading guilty to bigarni ously marrying a Glasgow woman named Davidson. Mr. J. D. Strathern, who prosecuted, ' explained that in 1916 Goddard was | married in Middlesbrough. In 1920 he | committed bigamy and was sentenced ! at Aylesbury Assizes to nine months’ J imrisonment, after which his wife I secured a divorce. In 1924 he went ! to Glasgow, where he met the woman Davidson. They became very friendly and Goddard promised marriage. Following the birth of a child Gaddard I disappeared, but left a note stating that he was going to London. Davidson then lost all trace of him until February, 1928, when he communi- : cated with her.

| Three months later Goddard met a London Avar widow, whom he married lin September. The widow had a pension of £1 a week, which ceased : i on her marriage. Goddard then mani aged to wheedle a sum of money out lof her. In October he arranged to | meet his wife at a tube station in ; London. When she got there she j found him sitting in a motor-car. | Under the pretence that he wished to garage the car, Goddard asked her to • wait for him, but did not return. On j returning home she learned that he ; had been there, removed his clothing j and left a note stating that he did not j intend to return. I A “marriage” offer by telegram to j Davidson was Goddard’s next move, jHe went to Glasgow and “married” • her, falsely representing that he was ; a bachelor. He lived with his latest “wife” for a month only, and then cleared off to London, stating that he was going to transfer some money from a London bank. Becoming anxious about his disappearance, Davidson wrote to an address in London, and the whole story came out when his wife answered the letter.