Francis Hay Moulton

Francis 'Frank' Hay Moulton was the husband of Hatty Doran. He plays an important role in "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor".
==History==
Moulton met his future wife in 1884, when he and Hatty's father Aloysius Doran were prospecting for gold in the Rocky Mountains. Moulton and Hatty were engaged. But when Mr Doran struck his fortune, he decided the penniless Moulton was no longer an appropriate match for his daughter. Mr Doran broke off the engagement and took Hatty with him to San Francisco. Moulton followed her, and they arranged to marry in secret without her father knowing. Afterwards Moulton went away to make his fortune, so he could return to his wife as a rich man, while Hatty stayed with her father to wait for him. However, while he was in New Mexico his camp was attacked by Apaches, and Moulton was taken captive. When news of the raid reached California, it listed Moulton among those killed. Believing her husband to be dead, Hatty accepted a proposal of marriage from the British noble Robert St Simon, and moved with her father to England. However, Hatty did not really love Lord Robert and remained emotionally committed to Moulton.
When Moulton got free, he traced Hatty to Britain and ended up in London. He learned about his wife's imminent marriage to Lord Robert in a newspaper, but the article mentioned only where and when the ceremony was going to take place and not where Hatty lived. Moulton therefore had no choice but to turn up at the church on the wedding day to find Hatty. After the ceremony, he passed her a message written on a hotel bill asking her to meet him. Hatty did so after the wedding breakfast, and went together his lodgings. Moulton wanted to come clean publicly about their marriage, but Hatty couldn’t bring herself to face the weddings guests after having accidently committed bigamy and persuaded her husband into disappearing with her. They planned on going to Paris, but Sherlock Holmes managed to track them down and convince them to come forward with their story. After revealing the truth to Lord Robert, who left angrily, Holmes and Watson entertained the couple at dinner, with Holmes sharing his peculiar idea of a future political union between the United States and Britain.
==Description==
Watson describes Moulton as a "small, wiry, sunburnt man, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner." Moulton seems to have made his way in the world, since he could afford staying at one of the most select London hotels.
Category:American characters
Category:Characters: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes