WIFE INSANE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 21, 26 January 1939, Page 9

WIFE INSANE.

ON WEDDING DAY. HUSBAND NOT BLAMED. UOTJIUAI. DIVORCE. (By Air Mall.) LONDON, January 1. On the ground tAat hie wife, an earl's cousin, was insane on the day she was married, Mr. Hubert Hawkes Woodward, London theatrical producer, successfully asked for a decree annulling the marriage in the Divorce Court. Mr. Woodward, who lives in Queen's Gardens, Lancaster Gate, W., asked for the decree on the ground that his wife, Dorothea Mary Helen Woodward (otherwise Arbuthnot), "At the time of the ceremony had not the capacity to understand the nature and obligation of the marriage contract." Mrs. Woodward, a cousin of the Earl of Dudley and a kinswoman of the Duke of Atholl, was married on August 10, 1927, at Paddington, W., Register Office. Mr. Justice Bucknill, giving judgment, said the marriage had never been consummated. He added: "This unfortunate lady has been in a mental institution since September, 1030, and there seems to be very little, if any, hope of her being cured. "It is suggested that if the marriage is annulled it taay be of some benefit to her mental state. But one has to be satisfied that a case has been made" out. "West to Kill Hex self." "The chief question is whether at the time of marriage,-Mrs. Woodward knew what she was doing, and realised the obligations of the marriage eercmony.

"I have heard medical and other evidence, and have been told that on one occasion she went to the seaside with the object of committing suicide, but did not do so. That, of course, had nothing to do with her husband. "I am satisfied that when Mrs. Woodwood went through this ceremony of marriage she did not know what she was undertaking. She had some vague idea in her mind that by doing this she would get froih Mr. Woodward a stage engagement. "Mr. Woodward see me to have acted with kindnesß, gentleness and forbearance towards her. He is not to blame in any way for what has taken place. "I Have Adopted the Stage Career." "In my view he is entitled to the relief asked for, and I grant him a decree." Mrs. Woodward, who is now 36, is the daughter of the late Mr. Gerald Arbuthnot, M.P. for Burnley (Lanca-

shire) and vice-chancellor of the Primrose League, who was killed at the war in 1916. She was presented at Court.

As Dareen Arbuthnot she firet lappeared on the London stage in March, 11926, at the Duke of York's Theatre in a melodrama "Life Goes On," under the management "of Mr. Woodward. At that time she said to a reporter: "I have adopted the stage as a career because I like it. It was only last summer I completed a long course of training. Then I went on tour with Mrs. Patrick Campbell in 'The Thirteenth Chair.'"