SUIT FOR AN EARLDOM

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 48, 25 August 1925, Page 5

SUIT FOR AN EARLDOM

SEAFIELD TITLE AND

ESTATES

A SCHOOLMASTER PETITIONER

SON OF THE SEVENTH EARL,

(nOM ODE OWN COKKMPOHDIHT.)

LONDON, 30th June. Of considerable New Zealand interest is a case Get down for hearing in the Court of Session, Edinburgh, for it affects the title and estates of the Earldom of Sesfield. It has been entered by Mr. Alexander Grant, v a retired Scottish schoolmaster, more than 70 years of age, now- living in Cromwell road, South Kensington. He claims to lie the son oE the seventh Earl of Se.v field, and his wife, Caroline, and, as such, entitled to succeed to the estates. The present holder of the title is, of course, a girl of nineteen, one of the few countesses in her own right, who succeeded to the title ten years ago, when her father, the eleventh earl, a captaiu in the Cameron Highlanders, was killed in action. He married Miss Towend, of Christchurch. Mr,. Grant seeks to prove that his mother .was the famous Carolitic, Countess of Seafield, a friend of Queen Victoria, who died in 1911. Caroline, Countess of Seafield, was the daughter of.the eleventh Lord Blantyre,' and for twentyfive years was in full control of the Senfield estates of more than 300,000 acres. She left them to trustees, who were instructed to keep up Cullen House and Castle Grant ior the use of the Earls of Seafield, to whom a suitable allowance was to be made. On the properties being freed from debt they were to be entailed so that Gullen should descend to the Earls of Seafield and Castle Grant and Balmacaan to the Chiefs of Grant. THE CLAIMANT'S STORY Mr. Grant declares that he was legitimised .by the subsequent marriage*of the earl and the countess, and that he is the rightful heir to the Sr.afield titles and estates. Caroline, ComAess of Seafield, died in 1911.

"For the past fifty years," said Mr. Alexander Grant to a- " Weekly Dispatch " representative, " I have been trying at intervals to clear up the problem of my parentage. It was not until 1912 that I became possessed of certain information which left no doubt in my mind that I am the rightful Earl of Seafield. Among eight parties whom I have called in the action is the present Baron Strathspey, who, I understand, contemplates laying a claim' to the earldom on the grounds that the title should only have devolved through the female line in default of male heirs. But that is no concern of mine.

" I was born in Scotland, and put in the charge of foster parents. I was sent to college, and afterwards to Aberdeen University. At the age of twelve I remember being introduced to my father, the seventh Earl of Seafield; but I must confess the incident did not impress me, ns it happened at a. cricket match, and I was very much more interested in the game. A DRAMATfC MEETING " The earl and countess paid for my education, and I had a liberal allowance. During these early years of my life I was set upon discovering who my real parents were, but I never seemed to get at the ' real bottom of things. When I. left the University a solicitor —who, I believe, was in possession of all the facts—mysteriously disappeared, mid I have never heard of him since. I continued my studies, and eventually took a master's position in a north country school, finally accepting the headmastership of Cohvyn Baj College. I retired some little time ago from active work, confining myself to coaching a Te-.v pupils. " I saw my mother, the Countess Caroline, face to face in 1906. I need ■ hardly say that tho meeting was a dramatic one. When the countess 'died she bequeathed her fortune in such a way that the present young countess cannot completely benefit by it until she reaches the_ age of forty. If I succeeded in my action I. shall, of course, live at the ancestral home, Cullen House. The people are anxious to have a chief, and as lons as I live I shall endeavour to fulfil this honourable office.".' A WOMAN CLAIMANT j In the event of Baron Strathspey pursuing his claim to the earldom, his action would be decided by the. Committee of Privileges in the House of Lords. At the present time (says the "Weekly Dispatch ") he is in the anomalous position of being a Scottish Chieftain who holds not one rood of Scottish land. He has a daughter,- the Honourable John I Ogilvie Grant, and.a son, the Master of Grant, who is to enter Stow School next term. Both'were born in' New Zealand. Lord Strathspey said that he had seen . some of the evidence which Mr. Grant waa putting forward. "I can say nothing," ho stated, "but Mr. Grant's claim is _ not the only one. There is a j woman in America who also hopes to establish her position if the right of the female line is maintained. She calls herself Lady Seafield over there already. To establish my own claim would, I am told, cost £50,000 to carry-the thin<* through—and I haven't got the money! I am allowed by the trustees £700 a year out of these vast estates, and not a penny more. On my return from New Zealand I managed to find a house in Putney, yet all the time Castle Grant and Cullen House, the ancestral .gents in- Scotland, are neglected, and for the better part of the year empty. "I have never seen or communicated with Mr. Alexander Grant, an'j I shall await the result of his action in the Court of Session before I make any move." The eleventh earl, a captain in' the Cameron Highlanders, was killed in action, He, in 1888, succeeded his father, who had lived and worked in humble circumstances in New Zealand.