A paying patient

When Ethel Bullivant wanted to find evidence of her doctor husband's misconduct, she got a private detective to pose as his paying patient...

In 1905, the divorce case between Dr Samuel Bullivant and his wife Ethel Mary Godber Bullivant was heard in court. Ethel alleged that her husband had committed adultery with another doctor's wife - Beatrice Apthorp, who lived at Burgess Hill in Sussex. She also stated that Samuel had been cruel to her.

In turn, Samuel - who denied his wife's charges - alleged that she had committed adultery with 'a medical man' named Robinson. Ethel denied this.

Ethel Mary Godber Butler was the daughter Alfred Butler and his wife Mary (nee Godber), of Nottingham. Arthur was a wealthy man, who had worked his way up from a warehouseman to the managing director of a lace merchants. His daughter had a bit of a wild side - she had entered into a secret engagement with Samuel Bullivant when she was just 15 and he was 21. When her father found out, he was opposed to their relationship, but slowly came round, and the couple married at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, on 4 February 1891.

It proved to not be a happy marriage. Ethel had four children, born in quick succession: Arthur, Beatrice, Alfred and Beryl, all born in Nottinghamshire. By 1900, still only in her 20s, she was a mother of four, managing children and servants. Samuel was not rich, and in fact, he was kept afloat financially by his father-in-law. In addition, he had a temper, and Ethel bore the brunt of it. Before the birth of their youngest child, Beryl, Samuel decided they should all move to the south of England, and argued that it would make his temper better.

Dr Bullivant and Dr Robinson: a battle of the stethoscopes?

In 1899, therefore, he had entered negotiations to buy a medical practice at Burgess Hill belonging to Dr Frederick Apthorp. He and Apthorp ended up going into partnership, with Ethel's father contributing financially to the practice. The 1901 census shows the family living in Hurstpierpoint.

As time went on, though, it became clear that Samuel liked Beatrice Apthorp - his partner's wife - a little too much. She was very different from Ethel, who was described as 'a lady of a religious turn of mind', and she was stuck in what she claimed was a loveless marriage with a man 25 years her senior. But as Samuel's feelings for Mrs Apthorp grew, he became more violent towards his wife. Eventually, Ethel walked out on him and started proceedings for a judicial separation in 1902. Her father paid for her to move temporarily to Skegness, well away from Bullivant.

They continued to communicate, as Ethel wanted to save her house - it was home to their children. But their negotiations stalled, their relationship became more strained, and then Samuel suddenly accused Ethel of committing adultery with a doctor named Robinson - possibly Percy Robinson, a Mansfield surgeon and deputy medical officer at Mansfield Workhouse. Samuel stated that his younger son, Alfred, was not his child "but was always taught to call me 'daddy' to shield my wife". He also claimed that Ethel had come to him on her knees, three months after the birth of their youngest child, Beryl, to confess to sleeping with Dr Robinson.

Dr Robinson had been an acquaintance back in Nottinghamshire; he and Samuel had both been members of the Rufford hunt. Yet some time before they had moved, a jealous Samuel had expressed a desire to force Robinson from the city, and had even asked his father-in-law to give him money to achieve his aim. He seems to have tried to make Robinson's life hell, and finally, in 1897, Robinson had to tell his wife of two years, Rosalind, of the allegations Bullivant had made. He denied them, and Rosalind believed him, as their marriage had been perfectly happy. Samuel was clearly convinced that his wife had had a long relationship with Robinson, though, and his campaign against Dr Robinson led him to sell his practice.

Now, charged with adultery herself, Ethel responded. She decided to employ a private detective to watch Samuel, to see what his relationship with Mrs Apthorp was really like. The unnamed detective showed that the couple were constantly walking around Brighton and Burgess Hill together. So far, so common a job for a private detective. However, Ethel had a novel idea to find evidence.

Brighton: where Samuel Bullivant was spotted by a private detective walking with Beatrice Apthorp

The professional partnership between Samuel Bullivant and Dr Apthorp had been dissolved in 1903, and so she installed the detective in Dr Abthorp's house, as a paying patient, so that he could watch what happened when the doctor was absent, and whether Samuel Bullivant still visited. This is not as strange as it might sound, for Dr Apthorp's medical practice was based at his home, Ravensworth, in Burgess Hill. He therefore often had patients resident while his family went about their business. Unlike the Bullivants, however, he only had one child to worry about - his young son, Dudley.

Ethel Bullivant believed the private detective had proved her husband's adultery, and so she petitioned for divorce. The unfortunate Dr Robinson had sadly died in 1899, at the same time that Bullivant was trying to enter into the Sussex medical partnership (Robinson’s wife blamed the stress of Bullivant's behaviour, which had made them move away from Nottinghamshire), something Samuel Bullivant was unlikely to have commiserated with anyone about. Dr and Mrs Apthorp were both very much alive, though. Beatrice Apthorp and her nursemaid, Frances Roberts, stated in court that she had once found a photograph of Bullivant under Mrs Abthorp's pillow. When she asked her mistress about it, she replied, "I must have something to love."

The conclusion of the case was not what either husband or wife had predicted. It was found that neither party had committed adultery, but that Dr Bullivant had indeed been cruel to his wife. It was not enough for a divorce. Instead, Ethel was granted a judicial separation and custody of their children.

Ethel did not have to stay legally married to Samuel for long, for in 1907, he died, aged only 42. The following year she married private tutor Ernest Ford, and the couple decided to use the hyphenated surname Godber-Ford, joining her middle name (and her mother's maiden name) to his surname. The Bullivant children still lived with their mother and stepfather, and they were joined by three more children: Geoffrey, Muriel and Ruth. The family spent time in Somerset, Sussex and back in Nottinghamshire, and Ethel hopefully had a happier marriage this time round.