FIFTH VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

FIFTH VISCOUNT BOLINGBROKE.

Death is apt to result in unexpected disclosures. Yet, never was there a more unexpected one than when, on his death in November, 1899, it transpired that the sth Viscount Bolingbroke had left a widow to mourn him and a eon to inherit his peerage.

Until then it had always been assumed (and the entries in Burke and Debrett supported the assumption) that Lord Bolingbroke was unmarried; and the heir to the title was held to be his cousin, the Rev. Canon St. John, of Gloucester Cathedral.

It was not until after the funeral that Canon St. John and the public had any reason to think that the succession was challenged. Then a bombshell was suddenly dropped among them. This took the form of an intimation oil the subject issued by the dead peer's family solicitor: ... "The late Viscount married late in life, and leaves a widow, and a son, the Hon, Vernon Henry St. John, who succeeds to the peerage as Viscount Bolingbroke." - t An Eccentric Peer. On the death of his father in 1851 his eldest son,' Henry Mildmay, who was born in IS2O, became sth Viscount Bolingbroke. As a boy he was "eccentric"; and, as he grew up, he developed into a recluse. Just after he had conie into the title he happened to call on a frjend at Blackheath. There he met a young girl of seventeen, Ellen Med ex, who, with her sister, had come from Belgium on a visit to England. This chance meeting was fraught with strange consequences. Shy as he was, Lord Bolingbroke fell in love with Miss Medex, and proposed marriage to her, She was prepared to accept him, when her elder sister interfered and, peremptorily forbade any such match. Ellen Medex, however, declaring that she would' please herself, left England with Lord Bolingbroke. They went first to Holland, and then to Belgium, travelling as a married couple. It is significant, however, that nobody ever saw their marriage certificate.

After wandering about the Continent for some years, in 18G0 Lord Bolingbroke returned to England, accompanied by Ellen Medex. Although he declared her .to be his wife, he adopted a very curious attitude. Thus, instead of taking her to. his family seat and introducing her to his relatives, he insisted that they sßbuld live in lodgings in London as "Mr. and Mrs. Morgan." There, in 18(i3,. a daughter was born to them, whom they called Ellen Rose.

• Peerage- Puzzle. . Although Lord Bolingbroke preserved such a singular reticence about the Ipidy who had originally come to England as Miss Medex, and had returned with him as "Mrs. Morgan," he adopted a very different attitude when 6he died in 1885. She was buried at Highgate, and on her coffin was the inscription, Ellen, Viscountess Bolingbroke; and she was also described as such by him in the register of deaths. Also, Lord Bolingbroke then for. the .first time declared himself in the reference books for the following year as a widower, and the father of two ecms, Henry and Charles, born in 1880 and 1883.

While he had always had a reputation for "eccentricity," it was held that to suddenly declare'himself a widower and the father of two sons (the elder of whom was heir to the-peerage) amounted to something more than this. It gave rise, indeed, to so much talk that the editor of Debrett felt certain qualms lest an'error should have crept into his pages. Accordingly, he wrote and asked ior the birth certificates of these sons. To this request he received the following answer:—

"My certificates remain in my. possession. I am astonished that yo'u have not chosen to accept my information." . The editor of Deb'r.ett r however, stuck to his guns; and the subsequent, issues <y£ hie publication mentioned no marriage of Loi'd Bolingbroke and Ellen Medex as having been solemnised, and no sons as having been born. Further, the name of Canon St. John reappeared as heirpresumptive. During the years that followed Lord Bolingbroke always 6teadily refused to let anybody the birth certiilcates of his sons. He had, however, a very good reason for adopting such a. course. This was that, while* he was their father, Ellen Medex. (whom,, it is significant, he had never called Lady "Bolingbroke ..until after her death) was not their'mother. i Peer's "Double Life." 1 To show who really was the mother of these two boys, : it Is iieceeeary to turn tiack to an earlier chapter in Lord Bolingbroke's domestic history.- This begins in the year 1881 when, leaving Ellen Medex in London, as "Mrs. Morgan," he resumed his name and rank and went off to live by himself at Lydiard Park, his family seat in Wiltshire. There, one morning, he was out riding, when, his horse cast a shoe. While it was being adjusted for him by • Robert Hpwaitf, the village blacksmith, a orirl happened to come out of the adjoining cottage* This was Mary Howaid, the smith's daughter, a beautiful and well-mannered young woman of 20. Lord Bolingbroke had some conversation with her, and was struck by fyer intelligence and charm. 1 * During the weeks that followed the ' elderly peer. paid several other visits to the smithy. On each occasion he saw more of Mary Howard; and at each visit he felt more impressed by her. She was demure, but unaffected, and contrived to make him forget that he was a lonely and disappointed man. Her picture pursued him- when he was back iit the solitary splendours of Lydiard Park) and he found himself wishing that slie was always there' to brighten . tliem. Suddenly an idea struck . him; and, discovering that die wanted employment, he suggested that she should 'JeaveVithe cottage and come to hiui as > housekeeper. I •i- V osll was a dazzling on»v and ; Mary;Hoivard ' I' : hiimW and went from her : .father's While thus I became ; 0 !neS- n f l0n ? Y°™ I than "housekeewx" «. g °° d d( ' al more I pejap,. 2* S5;

PEER'S "SECRET MARRIAGE."

(By HORACE WYNDHAM.)

Bolingbroke did not attempt to disguise i the satisfaction he felt in 'having this beautiful and charming girj to minister i to his comfort. The "consequences' . that ensued were entirely their owi affair. Lord Bolingbroke, however, die not shirk his responsibility; and, whei Mary Howard found it necessary to gc away for a period, he took her to Bath where they lived together in lodgings as "Mr. and Mrs. Wilson." There, ir December, 1882, Mary Howard gav« birth to a boy, whom they called Henry and, in 1885, to another one called Charles. These then were the sons whom Lord Bolingbroke had declared were born tc himself and Ellen Medex in 1880 and 1883. A Mysterious Marriage. On the death of Ellen Medex, in 1885. Lord Bolingbroke returned to* Mary Howard at Bath, where they continued living as "Mr. and Mrs. Wilson." He was then getting on in years, and his health was failing. The care and devotion with whicli Mary Howard, as "Airs. Wilson," nursed him during a long and tedious illness, awakened in him a sense of gratit'ude. She had given him her youth; and he resolved, as soon as he was recovered, to make such return as was possible. In 1893, accordingly, lie married her by special license at a register office'. He signed the certificate in his correct name as Viscount Bolingbroke but, remembering the inscription on the tombstone of Ellen Medex, he added, "condition widower." Yet, Avhile he gave his wife his name, Lord Bolingbroke would not permit her t<s use it,. and insisted that they should continue to live at Bath as "Mr. and Mrs. Wilson." ' There,' in 1896, another son, Vernon Henry, was born to them. Lord Bolingbroke realised tnat this son would eventually inherit the peerage, instead of Canon St. John. To safeguard the boy's interests, accordingly he handed the marriage and birth certificates to his wife, but when doing so, giving her strict instructions not to disclose her identity until after his death. Lady Bolingbroke, having no ambition to live as a peeress, accepted the trust. In the autumn of, 1899, Lord Bolingbroke, an old man of 79, and fast failing in health, returned to his ancestral seat at> Lydiard Park. There ha fell ill, and on November 7 of that year, be died. The day before his death he made a will. It was a brief documontj and in it he left everything he possessed to "My wife, Mary Emily Elizabeth St. John, Viscountess Bolingbroke, absolutely." Battle for a Title. In of his late cousin's "double life," Canon St. John, on hearing of the death of Lord Bolingbroke, naturally regarded'himself as the heir. When, however, his solicitors had investigated the story revealed to them by the widow, and found no flaw in it, he withdrew his claim. Nor Avas any claim to the peerage advanced by either of the two sons, Henry and Charles, who had been born prior to their father's marriage to their mother. As a result, the three-year-old boy, Vernon Henry St. John, succeeded as sixth Viscount Bolingbroke.

When his long minority had come to an end, the new Viscount Bolingbroke prepared a formal petition, claiming a Writ of Summons to Parliament in the Peerage of Great Britain. This, having been referred to the Attorney-General, was examined by the/ Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords.

Counsel for the Petitioner was asked if he had any evidence to give the committee that the late Lord Bolingbroke was "business-like in ethical matters."

"My evidence," was the answer, "is that he was not quite business-like. He took rather a circuitous route about doing anything."

This, in view of his representations to the editor of Debrett, seemed a mild way Of putting it.

The facts were not really disputed; and such as offered any element of doubt were cleared up by the productions of the necessary certificates of marriage and birth, together with extracts from baptismal and burial registers. As a result, the committee announced that "they would report in accordance with the petition presented." When they did so, it was to the effect that the claim had been established, and that Venion Henry St. John succeeded as Cth Viscount Bolingbroke. This, in due time,,was followed by a formal notification in the "London:, Gazette," declaring that a "Writ \>f Summons had been passed under the Great Seal, summoning the petitioner to the Upper House of Parliament, under the name, style and title of Vernon Henry Viscount Bolingbroke and St. John."

Thus, rang down the curtain on the long drawn out drama of the "Bolingbroke Peerage Claim."