GRETNA GREEN

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 119, 22 May 1930, Page 17

GRETNA GREEN

M INVALID MARRIAGE

LADY AND HER FORTUNE -

(From "The Posts's" Representative.) LOA TDOI\, 4th April

.. ,A,..Gretna Green . "marriage'? cere-... mDhyhad a sequel before Mr.' Justice Maugham in the Chancery: Division Oil 28th 'March, when liis Lordship -ruled';..;' against its validity. . - . :.-.. Helen Sefton-Toms was the plaintiff,• .. • ami-the defendants were Hugh "William.1" Stirling, Cecil Davis Jackman, and Julian Campbell, the trustees of a Settlement, dated Bth January,, 192(5,,inad0 between Miss Sefton-Toms and Derek Sel'ton-Toms. -1 •■■-:- Plaintiff asked..for .an order that the three ;dcfcndants,.as trustees of a deed,.. ■ of settlement dated" B'tli January,■:■ 1926,..; ; sjioiild hand over her investments, p,ro-. pertics; and moneys/ as legally -belong-•„',. ing tb -her. ■ ■ ■ ;, ;'"•"'■ ""'•'' ''"'' The defendants said that they" -were ;" prepared to accept any order that;the.:Court1 might make. ■ Sir Thomas Hughes explained that ■ his.client was Miss Helen Betts before she married Mr..Derek; Sefton-Toms.on 9th'January, 1926. She had a.fortune of about £40,000, settled by deed the ■ day before the marriage. The marriage;' • • was not a happy one, ..and was ,dis-.^.-: solved by decreejihade,absolute.pn.Srdr.-.-October, 1928. :;On 25th-November, :.-,,- ---1929, the ■ lady iexercised -a powers'of ; ; r appointment, M'hicli she had under the: : deed of settlement, transferring the in*.;",-.' vestments, etc., to herself.: ■ ■'■:■■ ?J"'. Diffleulty arose consequent on:.: her. ' going through a form of JnarriS'geVc.ere- ', mouy. "with her present husband, Miy.'.' Eric Mansfield Cairns, at Gret-ria,. Greerij''_ on 29th-September,-i9"29.!! If that T inar- v . fiage was valid, ...then" the .;go.TCC.t\flf ..#£«■,£■,.• pointment was invS)i<i;,'"and: tjic vques-'7:.-':r tion.-for the determination,of tTio Court.;-;-,-, -was whether it was'valid/or not. Subse-- '■'■ qileht, to thn Gretna. Green ceremony..-: namely, on 22nd January, :1930, which-.' was after the date: of the power pf appointment, the parties went through a regular form of marriage. .■;..■. X His Lordship: "Apparently.the lady tlid not take the name of Mrs.* CairnS." " Sir Thomas: "She ia ■■. described a<- - Sefton-Toms."

THE CEREMONY. ,

It seemed that the parties went to Gretna Green by motor-car, and the plaintiff described herself as Helen Betts, from, the parish of Dornoeh, Sutherland; which place she had in fa,ct only visited ten years before. My. Cairns described himself as of Short.Jands, Kent. The marriage certificate was signed "Kichaid Kennison, priest," and 'it... bore a picture of the Grctna Green smithy. As a. matter of fact,' npithqr of thr> parties had lived in Scotland for tho requisite twenty-one days before the date of the marriage ceremony. : ■ . Mr.' Cairns, describing the Gretna Green ceremony, said that ho and the ' lady were shown into a room and directed to hold their hands over an anvil.: The blacksmith then asked them both if they were- single, and being answered "Yes," witness put a ling on. the lady's finger, and they were pronounced man anil wife. Two wit-nesses-were present, one being a Dutch tourist. Both he and the ]ady were living- in London during tho twentyone days before tho marriage. • -Mr., Justice Maugham held that th& Gretna Green ceremony was not a valid marriage^ and therefore that the plaintiff's exercise of the power of appointment was valid. lie made a deelara- ' tion.;;directing thai, the „ defendants'■' Should transfer to "the plaintiff the in-' ivestments, etc., comprised in the Settle- ' ment; subject to their costs and charges' being provided for.