Article X - Jane Levy’s Three Men

Aliases, Adultery and a Family Secret in 1890s Sydney

This post is part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (#AtoZChallenge), where I’m exploring historical newspaper clippings—one story at a time—through my series “Behind the Newsprint.”

The Clipping

It began with a short paragraph buried in the Evening News of 24 November 1890:

“Kahn v. Kahn (Cazneau co-respondent). — This was a suit by the husband for a dissolution of his marriage with his wife, Jane Kahn. This was the second suit he had brought against his wife, the previous one having failed. … The co-respondent in this suit was a private detective, who was employed by him to watch his wife and gain information for the first suit. … Several witnesses were called to show that the respondent and co-respondent had represented themselves as man and wife, and had rented houses together in various suburbs. … The decree nisi was granted, the petitioner to have the custody of the children.”[i]

A private detective, hired to spy on an unfaithful wife, had instead become her lover and co-respondent. His surname was Cazneau. It was the kind of scandal the late-Victorian press loved, but it was also a clue that would unravel a decades-long web of hidden identities.

What It Suggests

On the surface, this is straightforward: a broken marriage, a wife caught twice over, and a detective who betrayed his client. Bernard Kahn, a hairdresser and tobacconist, finally won his divorce after a failed first attempt in 1889.[ii]

That earlier case had named a different co-respondent, a man called James Willoughby, but the petition was dismissed for lack of proof. Kahn then hired Cazneau to gather evidence. Cazneau instead formed a relationship with Jane, and it was this second betrayal that gave Kahn his decree. [iii]

At first glance, the story seems to end there. Presumably, Jane and the detective later married and faded into respectable obscurity. The name Cazneau is uncommon enough to trace, so one might look for a later marriage or a death notice and leave it at that. But when I did, the cracks began to show.

Looking Closer

The first surprise was that the private detective had more than one name. The divorce file itself identifies him as Leslie Hugo Cazneau. Yet when I found his death certificate decades later, he was called Charles Matthew Cazneaux[iv] (the spelling sometimes varied).

The certificate, dated 23 June 1932, describes him as a retired civil engineer, born in California, and states that he married Jane Levy in Sydney at about age thirty. That would place the marriage around 1885, when Jane was still legally married to Bernard Kahn.

Either the marriage never happened, or it was bigamous. The informant, his son Claude Leslie Cazneau, gave his address as 34 Dent Street, Botany—the same address listed in electoral rolls for the early 1930s.

Electoral rolls confirm the household clearly: in 1930[v] and 1931,[vi] Charles (canvasser), Jane (home duties), Claude Leslie (engineer), and his wife Queenie Carlton were all living at that Botany address. By 1933[vii] Charles disappears from the roll—because he had died the previous year.[viii]

A funeral notice in the Daily Telegraph on 24 June 1932 addresses

“Mrs. J. Cazneaux and Family … her late beloved husband, their father and grandfather, Charles.”[ix]

So Charles and Jane had lived as husband and wife for over forty years, apparently without a legal marriage.

Another Twist

The earlier co-respondent, named in the newspaper as “John Willoughby,” was in fact James Willoughby—the press had garbled his first name. He was not merely a passing figure: he was the biological father of Jane’s son, Claude.[x]

A railway employment record reveals that Claude’s full identity was:

Walter Todman, also known as Claude Leslie Cazneau.[xi]

Claude knew the truth.

He used the surname Cazneau in everyday life and named Charles as his father on the death certificate, but in official railway records, he disclosed his biological identity. Willoughby himself had adopted the alias Walter Todman, a fact also documented in the divorce proceedings.

Both men in Jane’s life had shifted identities like actors changing costumes.

The Paper Trail of Truth

Charles’s 1924 naturalisation declaration was, legally speaking, accurate: he stated that he had never been married and had no children.[xii]

But it was also strategic.

By presenting himself as a single, childless man, living at a different address in Alexandria, he avoided scrutiny that might have affected his eligibility for the old-age pension. The separation between legal identity and lived reality is starkly visible in this document.

The file also records his physical description: five feet three inches, white hair, dark grey eyes, and a “face somewhat scarred.” His stated reason for naturalisation:

“For the purpose of obtaining the Old Age Pension.”

That same label—“Old Age Pensioner”—appears on his death certificate.

What Lies Behind It

At the centre of all this stands Jane Levy.

She married Bernard Kahn in London’s Great Synagogue in 1874 before emigrating to Sydney. Their marriage deteriorated amid debt, imprisonment, and hardship. By the late 1880s, she had left the relationship emotionally, if not legally.

She then formed a relationship with James Willoughby (alias Walter Todman), with whom she had a son, Walter Todman, later known as Claude Leslie Cazneau.

Then came the detective.

Hired to expose her, Leslie Hugo Cazneau instead fell in love with her. The 1890 divorce was granted on evidence that they had been “representing themselves as man and wife.” They continued to do so for the next forty-two years.

Why the aliases?

Willoughby/Todman may have been escaping a past. Caznea, who reportedly had lived in Japan and Hong Kong, may have had his own reasons for shifting identities.

The change from Leslie Hugo to Charles Matthew suggests reinvention: a move from private detective to respectable householder.

Even the surname fluctuated—Cazneau, Cazneaux—perhaps by accident, perhaps by design.

Jane never legally married Charles. The 1885 “marriage” recorded on his death certificate appears to have been fiction—either social convenience or a story repeated until it became accepted truth.

Claude grew up between two fathers: the man who raised him and the man whose identity he quietly preserved in official records.

Reflection

Newspapers caught the public scandal—the unfaithful wife, the double-crossing detective, the cuckolded husband—but they missed the private reality. The court reports never mention aliases, never ask why a private detective would betray his client, and never record that the child at the centre of this domestic triangle would carry the names of both his mother’s lovers in different ways.

Only by cross-referencing the press accounts with divorce files, electoral rolls, death certificates, naturalisation applications, and employment records could the full story emerge. The newspapers gave me the starting point: a single paragraph with a strange surname. The archives gave me the truth—messier, sadder, and far more human. This is the lesson: a clipping is a doorway, not a destination. Behind it, Jane Levy’s life waited, guarded by two men who, between them, used at least five names, and a son who knew exactly who he was.

Further reads:

For those interested in learning more about James Lincoln Temple Willoughby aka Walter Todman,  Walter Todman aka Claude Leslie Cazneau & Jane Cazneaux nee Levy aka Kahn see their profiles on WikiTree.

Sources:

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[i] Divorce Court. (1890, November 24). Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), p. 5. Retrieved April 27, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article113744805

[ii] Divorce papers: Bernard Kahn v. Jane Kahn (with reference to James Willoughby), 5 August 1887 – 5 August 1889; NRS 13495, item [13/14304], no. 424/1888; Divorce and matrimonial cause case papers; Western Sydney Records Centre, New South Wales State Archives. [accessed Divorce papers: Bernard Kahn v. Jane Kahn (with reference to James Willoughby), 5 August 1887 – 5 August 1889; NRS 13495, item [13/14304], no. 424/1888; Divorce and matrimonial cause case papers; Western Sydney Records Centre, New South Wales State Archives. [accessed https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ebnd1l/ADLIB_RNSW111420998 : 27 April 2026]

[iii] Divorce papers: Bernard Kahn v. Jane Kahn (with reference to Leslie Hugo Cazneau), 10 July 1890 – 7 July 1891; NRS 13495, item [13/12397A], file 582; Divorce and matrimonial cause case papers; Western Sydney Records Centre, New South Wales State Archives. [accessed https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ebnd1l/ADLIB_RNSW111420998 : 27 April 2026]

[iv] Death Certificate of Charles Mathew Cazneaux  aged 77, on 23 June 1932 at 34 Dent Street, Botany, New South Wales son of Thomas Cazneaux & Phoebe Jane Mathews buried on 24 June 1932 Church of England in Botany, New South Wales Government. Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages; Registration Place Redfern Registration: 5797/1932

[v] Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1930, Subdistrict: Botany, page 13

[vi] Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1931, Subdistrict: Botany, page 14

[vii] Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1933, Subdistrict: Botany, page 14

[viii] Death Certificate of Claude Cazneaux, died  23rd June 1932; 23 Dent Street, Municipality of Botany

[ix] Family Notices (1932, June 24). The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved April 27, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246331524

[x] Birth Certificate for Walter Todman, son of Walter Todman & Jane Levey NSW, born 1890 Newtown, New South Wales, Australia; NSW, Australia Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, Registration# 26005/1890

[xi] Todman, Walter (also known as Claude Leslie Cazneau), Railway Personal History Card, born 25 October 1890; NRS 12922, item [11/16579], card no. 433; Western Sydney Records Centre, New South Wales State Archives [accessed https://search.records.nsw.gov.au/permalink/f/1ebnd1l/ADLIB_RNSW113713193 : 27 April 2026]

[xii] National Archives of Australia, Cazneaux, C – Naturalisation; Series A1, control symbol 1924/14641; item barcode 1616903. (NAA: A1, 1924/14641) [accessed https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1616903 : 27 April 2026]