AN EARL'S MARRIAGE ANNULLED.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 70, 21 March 1908, Page 13

AN EARL'S MARRIAGE ANNULLED.

COUNTESS OF YARMOUTH SUCCESSFUL IN OBTAINING A DECREE. SKIRT DANCING HUSBAND. After a hearing whieb lasted only twectyflve minutes the Countess ot Yarmouth obtaiued in tbe Divorce Court a decree of j nullity of marriage. J Tbe case wa« heard in camera, only the ' judge iMr. Justice Gorell Barnes), counsel. I the i-uuutess, Sir George Lewis, and the clerk being in court. The countess went into the witness-box and was examiued by Mr. Barnard. Her I eyes were cast down nearly all the time. : and she answered the questions quietly aud ] unemotionally. Occasionally she glanced > round the court and once or twice her hand j went to her head, but for the most part \ she never altered her statue-like attitude. I The Earl of Yarmouth, who was born in I IS7I, is tbe eldest son nnd heir of the Mar- ' guis of Hertford, and is a D.L. ncd County | ■ ( junciilor for Warwickshire. He married : I.n 1003 Alice Cornelia, daughter of" the i [ iate Mr. William Thaw, of Pittsburg. and I ] sister of Harry Thaw, who has been sen- i tenced to be detained in an asylum for I killing Mr. Stanford White In the Madison ] j Square Roof Garden at New York. j About a dozen years ago the earl went ito Australia, and became partner in a sheep j farm. After a varied experience, his j ' health caused him to return home. Dur- ! j ing the Boer war he served in South Africa j with tbe Imperial Yeomanry. j Later he visited the United States, where ■he acquired a reputation among Americans j interested in the doings of the aristocracy ! as the "Dancing Earl." He appeared oil the stage in skirt-dance?, and supplemented his income by playing as a professional actor in New York. It was in Washington in 1902 that he first met Miss Alice Thaw, who had gone there as the guest of her brother Harry, with whom the earl had been acquainted for some years. When Miss Thaw left Washington on a visit to her sister, Mrs. Caruegie. in Georgia, it is recorded that the earl followed by tbe next train. Not long after Mrs. Thaw announced that she gave her consent to tlipir engagement. The wedding, however, did not pass off j without some unusual circumstances. The j ceremony itself was simple and unpreten- I tious. but Mr. Unrry Tbnw, wbo bnd hith- I mo been friendly to the pnrl. chose to { celebrate the ocaslou by staying away and ' taking n drive in tbe country. To make ' this excursion hp took tho first conveyance that was leavinc the house, which happened to be the carriage that was to lake his sister to church. It was uot found till half an hour later. Another brother went to play golf while the ceremony was taking place. Their objections are understood to have related to the terms of tbe marriage settlement In answer to them an official family statement was issued to the effect chat the earl was receiving only a "small complimentary income." The conntess is believed to have inherited £20.000 from her father, while her mother's estate is estimated at about two million pounds. The ear! and countess have no children. I and the solicitors to the Marquis of Hert- ; ford and the Earl of Yarmouth recently I published a disclaimer of the statement I published iv New York to tbe effect that the 1 countess had signed an agreement to leave the whole of her fortune to the Hertford family if she herself should be without issue. It will be remembered that when Harry Thaw was first tried for his life, the conntess crossed to America, and was constantly present in conrt. She said, "Harry is my brother. I stand by Mm to the end."