Sir Hall Caine (1853-1931)

Writer

Thomas Henry Hall Caine was born in Runcorn on 14 May 1853. He started an apprenticeship at an architectural practice in Liverpool. Later he joined the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, contributed articles to local newspapers and became a theatre critic. Through these activities he became well known and met William Morris, John Ruskin, Henry Irving and Bram Stoker. He moved to London where he made friends with leading figures among the Pre-Raphaelites and published a tribute to Dante Gabriel Rossetti after his death. This was followed by a series of successful novels with several being adapted for stage and screen - the most famous, 'The Manxman', was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Hall Caine had a son with a very young Mary Chandler and they moved from Kent to Keswick after a secret marriage in Scotland (see below). He championed many causes including votes for women and helped draft the proposal for the setting up of the League of Nations after the First World War. He moved to Greeba Castle on the Isle of Man and died there on 31 August 1931.

Marriage in 1886

T Hall Caine, journalist, bachelor, aged 33, married Mary Chandler, spinster, aged 23, at No 35 Cockburn Street, Edinburgh on 3 September 1886. The entry in the statutory register of marriages for the district of St Giles in the City of Edinburgh gives his address as No 83 Princes Street. His parents are John Caine, Ship Smith-retired and Sarah Hall. This was an irregular marriage by declaration in the presence of two witnesses - Angus Campbell, Coachman and John McNaughton, Hotel Waiter. The couple had to obtain permission from the Sheriff Substitute of Midlothian, dated 3 September 1886, in order to register the marriage.

Marriage entry for Hall Caine (79 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, 1886/685-4/268