DID THE LATE LORD SACKVILLE MARRY A DANCER?

Evening Star, Issue 13091, 26 October 1908, Page 1

DID THE LATE LORD SACKVILLE MARRY A DANCER?

Did the late Lord Sackville, when attached to the British Embassy in Madrid m j'UJ r a . Spanish dancer? is the question which will provide a cause celebre when the Courts resume after the long vacation. The lady was young, beautiful, and accomplished, and her son, who is.now thirty-nine years old, and has lived mostly on the Continent, comes forward as a claimant to the title and estates of the Sackville barony. The matter to be fought in the Divorce Division is thus whether the late lord, spoken, of by biographers as a bachelor, was, in fact, a lawfully married man. It lias been announced that the heir to the deceased nobleman Is his nephew, Major Edward Lionel Sackville-West, of the West Kent Imperial \ lonianry. Now comes-a statement from ■ Messrs Nussey and Fellows, solicitors, of Great Winchester street, that their client , Mr Ernest Henry Jean Baptiste Sackville- ; West, presented » petition last October under the Legitimacy Declaration Act, claiming to be the eldest legitimate son of Lord Sackville by his wife Joscfa Duran, the lady indicated above. Evidence has been gathered in such quantity tliat the cate will occupy the Judges for a considerable period. —Embassy Romance.— The claimant, plaintifi in the coming action, stales that Lord Sackville was married to Josephine Duran De Ortega in 1864 or 1865, either in Spain or France, and that he is the eldest son of the marriage, having been bom in France, and entitled under a settlement dated August 2, 1871, to the estate and title of Baron Sackville, of Knole, on the death of the then living lord. He is aware of the defence to his claim, and denies its allegations that, firstly, the marriage did not take place, and that Lord Sackville was never married ; and, secondly, that at the time of her alleged marriage with Lord Sackville the lady was already married to Jean Antonid Gabriel De Oliva, the marriage having taken place on January 10, 1861. In 1903 the new' claimant brought an action before Lords Justices Vaughan Williams, Romer, and Stirling to perpetuate testimony concerning the validity of the marriage, with a view to establish his claim to the succession when Lord Sackville should die. Against him, in addition to the defence mentioned, there was put in a claim by virtue of a disentailing deed and settlement made in June, 1890, on the plea that there was not then in existence any issue . of Lord Sackville. |. —Trouble Over Witnesses.— ■ .Mr Sackville-West declared that he had discovered, and was able to procure evidence, that his mother was acknowledged .by Lord Sackville to be his lawful wife, and that Lord Sackville acknowledged him as a son. The claim based on this could not, however, bo brought to trial during Lord Saekville’s lifetime. The necessary witnesses, the claimant pleaded, were then old kmi. infirm, and resident in France and Spain, and unlefes the Judges agreed to have their evidence taken immediately and reserved it was likely to be lost by the time the question of the succession could arise. This petition was contested on the ground : that the prospective claimant was entitled to take proceedings at onco under the Legitimacy Declaration Act for the determination of the questions of his legitimacy. An action had already been brought to perj petuate the testimony that he was not the j lawful son of Lord Sackville. It furtlier appeared that an erasure had been made in the registry alleged to hold his mother's earlier marriage of 1851. He declared that 1 to be a forgery, and on the other hand the I contention was that the entry of that mar- . riage had been tampered with. In tho I result tlie Court refused to order the examination of the witnesses abroad-to perpetuate their testimony. The Court of Appeal also decided that inasmuch as the sole question really in dispute was the validity . of the marriage of his mother, he could get , it settled under the Legitimacy Declaration Act. On these grounds the' forthcoming action is to be fought.—‘ Daily Chronicle.’