CHEQUERED CAREER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 18, 22 January 1937, Page 11

CHEQUERED CAREER

COUNTESS OF VISMES

A FORMER SYDNEY GIRL

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, January 15.

Great interest has been taken by Sydney people in the announcement from London that the Countess of Vismes sought by the Perpetual Trustee Company, of this city, in respect of an income of £150 a year under a deed of settlement, had been found working, practically penniless, in a London milk-bar, one of those operated by the former Sydney boxing promoter and theatre and newspaper owner, Hugh D. Mcintosh. The Countess of Vismes was formerly Miss Eileen Bede Dalley, of Sydney, a daughter of Mr. William Bede Dalley. The settlement under which she benefits was made as between William and his brother John Bede Dalley nearly 30 years ago. John Bede Dalley made the settlement on his brother William, or William's children, the trustee being the Perpetual Trustee Company. The settlement yields an income of £150 a year, which is paid under the authority of the trustee company. John Bede Dalley, who was associate editor of the "Bulletin," disappeared from the rocks while fishing at Avalon near Sydney on September 9, 1935. His car was found near the rocks. On August 6, 193G, leave to presume his death having been given, probate of his will was granted. Eileen Bede Dalley is a granddaughter of William Bede Dalley, who served three terms as AttorneyGeneral in New South Wales between 1875 and 1885. He was the first Privy Councillor in Australia, and was one of the best-known statesmen of his day. The Countess, who is 40 years of age, married during the war a lieutenant in the Guards. The couple lived affluently and travelled extensively on the Continent. Eventually the tide of fortune went against the Countess, and she was reduced to necessitous circumstances, eventually having to obtain employment. OUT OF SIGHT FOR 20 YEARS. "I have not seen my daughter for more than 20 years," said Mrs. Baxter Bruce, mother of the Countess of Vismes. Mrs. Baxter Bruce was the wife of Arthur Chambers Baxter Bruce, a solicitor who practised in Rabaul (New Guinea) until 1928. She has been married three times. Her first two husbands were cousins, both Dalleys. One of her daughters married P. G. Taylor, the aviator.

"My daughter Eileen was born in London. I brought her here when she was quite a little thing," she said. "She went to school in England and later in Paris with her aunt, Mary Degan, who was an artist. I have been awfully upset about all this publicity. I have not heard from her for many, many years. It is very sad, but I am very happy that some of her hard times seem to have ended. I will write soon."

Telling of her life, Countess de Visraes said in London that she was a ward. in Chancery after her father was divorced. "Then I went on the stage," she said. "I was acting when I met my husband. We were married and went to South America. We entertained lavishly. We travelled in England, the Gold' Coast, and Africa until we settled in the wonderful home my husband gave me in the South of France. Then I met another man ana fell madly in love with him. I confessed to my husband and asked him to divorce me. He refused and I ran away with my lover. My husband started proceedings in the French courts. It dragged on for two years. Six weeks before the decree my lover died. After that I just didn't care. I lost my income in the financial crash. I have been in the piano department of a store, touted for a vacuum cleaner firm, sold goods from door to door: [any thing that would keep me alive/'