EARL RUSSELL'S DIVORCES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 22, 26 January 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

EARL RUSSELL'S DIVORCES.

HIS NEWEST ROLE.

THE TREACHEROUS FRIEND.

Earl Russell must be tolerably well acquainted with the atmosphere of the Divorce Court by this time, but he did not put in an appearance there last Tuesday. Nor were "Giddy" and 'Babs" on the promises upon the present occasion. For once, indeed, both were "out of the show," though Countess Russell's "turn" is, I hear, s»on to come. The petitioner on Monday was Mr G. J. Somerville, husband of the lady who recently . divorced her husband in America and then married Earl Russell. The process was not exactly a novelty. Prior to wedding Mr Somerville the lady had espoused a Mr Watson, but, finding him unsatisfactory had divorced him. Her grown-up son by this union seems, ! curiously enough, to have viewed her matrimonial divagations with composure and rather helped her than not to become Countess Russell. Of course, however, the American divorce and marriage did not make the excellent Mrs Somerville an English Countess, as the Earl discovered when he brought his wife to Amberley Cottage. Some English people have not lost all sense of decency yet.

The story of this divorce is that of a mean and treacherous act and will rob Lord Russell of any public sympathy hitherto felt for him. According to counsel Earl Russell became acquainted with the Somervilles when Mr and Mrs S. were much interested in municipal matters and canvassed Hammersmith for him. They then saw a great deal of each other. Lord Russell visited them at their house and they went down and stayed at Lord Russell's house, Amberley Cottage, Maidenhead. That continued until May, 1599, when Mrs Somervile, who said she was suffering from an affection of the heart, went to Maidenhead with her two children for the summer and lived in a cottage which they rented from Lord Russejl. Kindly and affectionate letters passed between the husband and wife, ana then in July Mr Stanley Watson, her child by her first marriage, brought the two children up to Mr Somervilie, and from that time Mrs Somervilie disappeared for several months. Later on petitioner learnt that Larl Russell had married the respondent in America, and on their return to England petitioner had their movements watcned. They went to Amberley Cottage, Maidenhead, where they lived as man and wife, and passed as Earl and Countess Russell. ... The co-respondent (Mr Deane said) had put in an answer denying the charges, although the lady had not done so. Counsel representing Earl Russell to-day informed him (Mr Deane) tnat he did not contest the adultery, and the petitioner had agreed that the damages should be assessed at a sum which Lord Russell had offered, £1500. The jury would probably agree that the parties were the best judges as to whether that was a sufficient sum, and as to its amount he mentioned that Mr Somervllle'a children had lost a mother's care, and he had lost a position.

He had been offered the post of manager to the Glasgow Telephone Company, at a salary of £600 a year; but felt it his duty to tell them that thi3 terrible story was coming before the public, and, thanking him, they asked him to consider the offer withdrawn.

Mr A. Llewellyn Davies, on behalf of Earl Russell, said he was not in a position to dispute the evidence.

Mr Somerville, the petitioner, a serious, black-bearded Scotchman, who i 3 secretary of the Electrical Power Dis-

tribution Company, of Surrey House, Victoria Embankment, gave brief evidence in support of Mr Bargrave Deane's opening. He stated that for some months before her disappearance his wife had neglected their children and took no interest In them.

Mrs Baldwin, who was in Earl Russell's service when he returned with Mrs Somerville to Maidenhead in May, 1900, also gave evidence.

Neither the respondent nor co-respond-ent was in Court, and the decree nisi was granted, with £1500 damages against Earl Russell. -

Earl Russell was born in 18G5, and is the grandson of \the celebrated Lord' John Russell, whose public services were recognised by his elevation to an earldom. Earl Russell's father, Viscount Amberley, formerly M.P. for Nottingham, and a man of very advanced religious views (which he embodied In a work, "An Analysis of Religious Belief"), died at the early age of 34, and before his father, the second Earl Russell, who at Oxford was an Esoteric Buddhist, afterwards became an electrical engineer. He married in 1890 Miss Mabel Scott ("Babs'), the younger daughter of Lena Lady Scott' b :of Oatlands Park, Weybridge. The ten years that have intervened have been crowded with Russell litigation.

In December, IS9I, Countess Russell's petition for a judicial separation was heard and dismissed.

In May, 1694, Countess Russell's petition for a restitution of conjugal rights: was heard, and at the same time theEarl's petition for a judicial separation on the ground that the false allegations of Countess Russell amounted to the legal definition of "cruelty.*

On 24th April, 1595, the Countess' petition was dismissed, while the Earl was successful.

In August, 1895, the Countess appealed and the Court of Appeal dismissed both her petition and her husband's counterclaim.

Earl Russell then appealed to the House of Lords, which sustained the Court of Appeal.

In November 189G, Earl Russell proceeded against' his wife's mother, Lena Lady Scott, for libel. She was sentenced in January, 1597.

Countess Russell subsequently went oa the stage. In April, 1900, it was reported from Carson City, Nevada, U.S.A., thnt Earl Russell and Mrs Somerville had been granted divorces at Genoa, a small town on the border line of California and Nevada—she from her husband, he from his Wife. They subsequently went through the marriage ceremony. The Countess Russell has now petitioned for a divorce from the Karl: and. as « is in the undefended list, it may he hoped that it will conclude the long list of the Russell litigation.