THE DUPPLIN DIVORCE CASE.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 123, 17 November 1876, Page 6

THE DUPPLIN DIVORCE CASE.

VISCOUN'I' BUPPLTST V. VISCOUNTESS DUPPLK. Proof was lad in this ease, before Lord Shane!, in the Court of Session on Tuesday. The pursuer is the eldest son of the Earl of Kmnoul, and the defender is a daughter of the Earl of Fife. They were married in 1871, and lived together rill April last, when the defender went to Ilfracombe, and subsequently to Dartmouth, with a Mr Herbert Flower, and passed under the name of Mrs Flower. The first witness called was Bishop Puther, Aberdeen, examined by the Dean of Faculty. He deponed; I am a bishop of the Episcopal Church in Scotland. I am acquainted with Viscount Dupplin, the pursuer of this action, and the Lady Agnes Cecil Emme.liue Dnffnor Hay, Viscountess Dupplin, 'he defender. I know them both well. When they were married, I performed the marriage ceremony. That ceremony was performed according to the forms of the Church, aud after I had been duly satisfied that the banns of marriage were duly prepared. The ceremony whs pm-formed at Mar Lodge, in the chapel there, parish of Grathie •aud Brueinar, on Wednesday, October 4, 1871. As the officiating clergyman, i signed the certificate of their marriage. I believe that after the marriage Lord and Lady Dupplin lived together, hue I never visited them. By the Court : I know that they were together until recently. John Revell, examined : lam at present resident at Lord Dupplin's house, 13 Grosvenor Gardens, London. I have acted as valet to the Viscount for two and a half rears. When I entered the service of Viscount Dupplin, the Viscountess was living with him. They continued to live together for a considerable time afterwards, till akmt 23rd April last. I know a gentleman of the name of Mr Herbert, Flower. He was a frequent visitor at Lord Dupplin's house. He lived, when in London, in Park Place, St. James-street. By the instructions of Lord Dupplin, I went to the Castle Hotel at Dartmouth in the month of May last. I think it was on Friday, the 26th of the month On the following; day, the 27th, I was in the coffee-room of the hotel, and while there I saw Mr Flower and Lady Dupplin. Th«y went out at the door, and walked across the front of the hotel together. I know Mr Buckland, the proprietor of the Castle Hotel. He pointed out these two persons to me, and informed me that they were livingtogether in the hotel as Mr and Mrs Flower. I saw them outside for a short, time afterwards. They were in each other's company. I had no doubt, whatever about their identity. William Cooper said : For three years past, I have been coachman to Viscount and Viscountess Dupplin. I am at present residing at his lordship's establishment, 13 Gr.>svenor Ga;'d -ns I knew her ladyship very well by sight. I have driven her about for many vtars. Lord and Lady i)upplin were livingtogether at the time i vv^nt to their service, and they continued to do so until April this year. His lordship had a residence at Melton Mowbray last winter. In the course of last winter I souiHtimes saw a visitor of the name of Herbert Flower at his lordship's Mcl- ! ton Mowbray residence. Mr Flower may have continued his visits to Lord Dupplin's after the family went to London ; but f could not say whether he actually did so, as I had not the same opportunity of seeing- who visited the house in London as at Melton Mowbray. About the end of May last, I accompanied the last witness to Dart mouth, and I was with him on Saturday, the 27th, there. I saw Lady Dupplin and Mr Fiower. They were outside the hotel. They were together. The landlord of the hotel, Mr Buckland, pointed them out to me as Mr and Mrs Flower, and sad they were living in his hotel under that name. I had suffi--0 ent opportunity of satisfying myself that the. two persons were Mr Flower and the Viscountess Dupplin. I did not speak to them. John Buckland said : I am proprietor of the Castle Hotel, Dartmouth. (Shown

t^grom bearing data Ilfraeombe, 17th iYJny, 1870, fVom H. Flower to the mamiger of the Castle Hotel, Dartmouth, in these terms : — " Can I have a sitting-room and two bedrooms and servants' rooms on Saturday next? Answer paid.") I received that, telegram on the date which it bears. I replied. I said I could give the rooms. On the 3 9th May persons whom I understood to be connected with the party f-ora whom I received the telegram, come to the hotel and examined the rooms, and on the 20th a lady and gentleman came to stay at the hotel, who gave "the names of Mr and Mrs Flower. They came in as persons referred to in the telegmm, and I at once assumed they were Mr and Mrs Flower The rooms which they occupied were — a sitting-room, a dressing-room (which also contained a bed), and a bedroom j their servants occupied two other bedrooms. The dressing-room and bedroom opened to each other. They remained till the 2nd June, when they went to a villa close by the hotel, where they have been living since, f don't know how the dressing-room and the bedroom were occupied during the stay of Mr and Mrs Flower at the hotel, I mean that I do not know personally. I recollect of two persons coming to the hotel — I have seen them here to-day — to whom I pointed out the two persons who were living in the hotel under the assumed name ai Mr and Mrs Mower. These two persons recognised the lady and gentleman as Lady Dupplin and Mr Flower. Mr and Mrs Flower were constantly together. They had no visitors. They occupied the dressing and bed rooms themselves alone, except when the servants were in I under* stood them to be man and wife. I saw nothing in their deportment that might lead me to suppose they were living on any other terms. B} r the Court : They were sole occupants of the room mentioned during tlieiv stay. Mrs Buck-land, wife of the former witness, *aid she recollected of a lady and gentleman coming to stay at the hotel upon Saturday, 20th May last. They occupied upon their arrival and for some time aftewards a sitting-room, dressing-room, and bed-room. X saw the telegram. The names the lady and geutlaman bor*» wore Mr and Mrs Flower. They left our hotel on the 2nd June, and went to reside in a cottage in the neighborhood of Dartmouth. They lived in the rooms I referred to tog-ether alone. There was a bed in the dressing-room as well as in the bedroom, but only one of the beds was used. The dressing-room bed was not made up. '['here was only one letter came to the hotel adressed to Mrs Flower. That letter was given either to the lady or the gentleman, but I could not say positively which. By the Court : They seemed to live tog-ether just as husband and wife. The Dean here declared his proof closed, and The Lord Ordinary thereupon granted decree of divorce as 'craved.