Mary was the daughter of James Alexander and Mary Cayley. The 1851 census lists her in the household of her cousin Philadelphia Frances Cayley at Brompton by Sawdon, Yorkshire, age 4, born Brompton.[1]
Mary's parents separated in 1852, and under the 11 September 1852 deed of separation, custody of her and her brother Walter was awarded to her mother, with her father being given monthly visiting rights. On 8 June 1863 a petition of Habeas Corpus was presented to the Court of Queen's Bench on behalf of her father. This alleged that her mother had in 1853 taken her two children to America without his consent, and then returned clandestinely with them to England, living under assumed names, while he continued to receive letters from his wife posted from America. In 1862, the petition went on, Mary's father discovered that his wife had died on 29 February 1860 at Malvern, Worcestershire, where she had been living under the name Willis. He subsequently learnt that his daughter was attending a school in London, and that his children living, under the name Wood, in the Hyde Park area of London with a Mrs Bovill. Requests for the children to visit him were ignored.[2]
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