TO HALIFAX

NZ Truth, Issue 1203, 20 December 1928, Page 8

TO HALIFAX

Comedian St. Clair ~ Divorced LADY FRIEND (From "N.Z, Truth's-" Melbourne Rep.) Half the world knows Hector -St. Clair, the comedian, with his fiddle, his baggy pants, and his habit 1 of laughing at his own jokes, but very few know Hector Alfred Tomkins, as he is off the stage. Doris Nina Tomkins, who lives m Spring Street, Melbourne, got a divorce from Hector recently, and the only thing lacking m the show was that the little comedian was not there to ask the audience — as he has done a thousand times before—."lsn't he wonderful?" and smile at the applause. IyTRS. TOMKINS said she married * , Rector at Halifax, England, m October, 1920, and strangely enough it was at Halifax, Queensland, that they parted m November, 1924. When she spught a- reconciliation he. didn't actually advise her to go to Halifax, but he certainly inferred it. She was an actress when she married Hector, who was' born at Portsmouth, England, m 185)5. They came to Australia a month after their wedding, and lived very happily together till 'October, 1924. At that time they were touring Queensland with a theatrical company, and also m the company was a Miss Carnegie. ■ - . .Hector paid -marked attention to this; girl, and there were ructions . behind the scenes m the Tomkins quarters. Mrs; Tomkins became ill at Halifax, and Hector left her there while : he went on with the company, which eventually disbanded. •• Hector lost several hundreds at gambling, she said, and later he obtained another eng-agrement and -went to West- Australia. She awaited his return m Sydney, but he didn't come back, and- from .November 1924, to February, 1925, he had not sent her any money. She was stranded and had to borrow her fare to Melbourne to track him down.. She located him at the Tivoli Flats, where his lady friend of the Queensland tour was also staying. . A solicitor arranged a .meeting between them. Hector definitely refused to live with his wife again, and declined to give up the other woman. Mrs. Tomkins later sued him for maintenance. He admitted deserting her, and offered to pay £8 a week. She accepted this,, and he kept up his payments till May. 1927, when he went to New Zealand, leaving her without any money. When * next she heard of him, his intriguing address was Cape Horn Vineyard, via Echuca. At the moment, Hector is showing m Sydney) *