THE "BOGUS" ARISTOCRAT.

NZ Truth, Issue 139, 15 February 1908, Page 8

THE "BOGUS" ARISTOCRAT.

IMPERSONATING LADY ROSE NEVILL. Side-lights of British Aristocracy. Accused's Visit to Melbourne.

[ In the spring of 1904 there blazed, !for a time, m the "sub-social" firm- ' ament o£ Melbourne a bright, particular and very fascinating star. ■ So nebulous and ethereal were her movements, so erratic her course, and so brief her occupancy '■ of this sphere that she may have been - likened to a comet. But during her reign there she blazed for all she (and others) were worth. The story of her . life would probably be worth the . writing if one could only get at the ! real facts. Some of them are. now, apparently forthcoming. According to the ever veracious cablegrammer, whose evidence would doubtless not be accepted always m a court of law, f W'hat is described as "an audacious case of impersonation" was recently unravelled m the Westminster (London) Police Court, where a woman, under the I" NAME OF ROSE ROBINSON, was "prosecuted" upon -a charge of fraud by impersonating the' Countess of Cpttenham. The cablegram states that the Countess, m giving evidence, stated that the accused masqueraded m Melbourne under the name of Lady Rose Nevill (the Countess's maiden name), and that as a result she (her ladyship) "had been annoyed for years by Australian visitors to Eng- <, land calling upon her and claiming ber acquaintance." The idea of a "real live and titled. lady" being "annoyed" by common "Australian visitors"—possibly of the type ordinarily met with m Melbourne's "subisassiety"—is sufficient to turn the blue blood of British aristocracy m'to the thinnest of water at the very thought ! But Lady Cottenham seemingly went further m her. allegations against the accused, for it is reported from under the oceans, that the Countess declared ,that Rose Robinson had once been the mistress of ! John B. Leigh, who had the pleasure of once-upon-a^-time being the present Countess's husband. Thereby hangs a talc. And it is one that is not recorded m Burke, s "Peerape." For that* story we have; to go back a bit. The Countess of Cottentam was originally Lady Rose Nevill. She was the fourth daughter of the Marquis of Abergavenny, and therefore A SISTER OF LORD RICHARD NEVILL :— "Dicky"— who was Private Secretary and A.D.C. to Lord Brassey when Governor of Victoria, and also to Lord Tennyson when the latter was Governor of South Australia, a.Tid subsequently occupied a similar office to Tennyson when he became Governor-General of the Commonwealth. We all remember "Dicky." His family is an old but somewhat impecunious one. The Marquis is the possessor of landed estates and valuahle mineral properties, including 'final fields, and therefore would be deemed to be wealthy. But the younger members of the family— the Nev--1 ills are somewhat, peculiar— are, m a comparative sense, pecuniarily deficient. "Dicky" was a chip of the fami Iv block. And, when he had it, he made his money fly. Vice-regally, he was looked upon as „ A "TAME POODLE," very useful for danoing attendance upon the ladies, carrying their wraps, and otherwise comporting himself m the approved fashion of a "sassiety Johnnie." It is true that there" were many rumors concerning his amours and "liasions, the name of a prominent lady now m Melbourne being m once instance co-operated with his own. What truth there may have been m this gossip "Truth" is not prepared to vouch for. But "Dicky" shook the dust of Australia from offi his patent leather boots evidently with satisfaction, and, possibly, m the odor of sanctity. . At vice-regal functions, garden-parties, bazaars, and similar ceremonials, "Dicky" was the embodiment par excellence of the vice-royal toady upon the group's to •which he was attached. Suave, debonnair, slight, \'Dicky" was "good goods" with the ladies ;' and when he departed hence there were many mourners— not all of whom, by the way, were of the fair and frail sex. "Dicky's" sister, Lady Rose Nevill, has also had „ A VARIED CAREER. ; Born 41 years ago, she passed her early years m that ' atmosphere of half-education which is the lot of so many English girls m "high society." Later on she developed- athletic tastes, and became a noted huntswoman, riding to hounds m the shires, and generally being "m at the death." It was during some of these excursions that she met John Bluntlell Leigh, a wealthy land-owner of Bucks, who was Master of the Bucks: Hounds. And •m 1887; when Lady Rose was 21 years of age, she mivried Leigh, and apparently settled down to a life of double blessedness with her "hubby" at his ancestral home not very far away from , Lord, Carrington's place at High Wycombe. But the serpent wriggled into the Leigh's matri'moniar dovecot. Leigh,' by the' way, is a relative of Lady Jersey, who years ago was Governess of New South Wales, the while her ruddy-headed but most affable husband" there filled the vice-regal office. The snake- m the Leigh's menage appeared m the person of the Earl of Cottenham, a rich but not prominent peer, whose chief claim to notice lies m the fact that he had as an ancestor a noted occupant of the Wool-

sack. Cottenham was at tfiat time only 25 years of age ; Lady Rose Leigh was : .33. He was m a crack cavalry regiment, and was generally! occupied with the life of "a man a-, bout town." Cottenhaxn fell m love with Lady Rose, and it was m consequence .of the illicit amours of this pair that husband Leigh sought the protection of the courts for HIS WOUNDED MARITAL HONOR and family pride.. Briefly, he petitioned Justice Jeune m the Matrimonial Causes and Divorce Jurisdiction for .the dissolution of his marriage with Lady Rose on the ground of her adultery with his lordship. The -prayer of the petition was granted, the marriage was dissolved, and the earl, who was named as co-re-spondent, was ordered to pay the costs. But Cottenham appears, despite his illicit attachment to a married -woman; to have had some spark of manhood? m "him, for he solved, the query, "Why don't you marry the woman?" by answering it m the affirmative. So Lady -Rose Leigh once more changed her name, and became I/he Countess of Cottenham, the wife of the fourth earl. The divorce took place m 1899, and the lady's second marriage eventuated m • the . same year. . So much for the family story o£ My Lady of Cottenham. Now we come to the woman who is now charged at a London Police Court, and who is supposed to be identical with the bright, particular female comet, who oast ..,'..■ ' HER IRRIDESCENT RADIANCE upon Melbourne a little more than three years ago. She was a large and handsome woman, with dark hair, and deep lustrous brown eyes —"eyes m which a man's soul would seem to drown," as the erotic poet phrases ; it. Dashing m style, she was always well dressed ;• yet not too lavishly, but with that quiet and tasty splendor which is characteristic of the ladies of the "real bon ton." She was aboiii 30 years of age, and Had most ■ evidently seen a good ; deal of "life" in-good . society. One of the features by which she is best recollected now m Melbourne is the fact that she invariably carried either a stick or riding whip, . which she used to flip her skirts with v m the approved masculine fashion. Though, she bore THE AIRS AND, GRACES of a society dame, as she was a freauent. attendant at- " face meetings, and— this was before" the" Bent-Jud-kins Gambling Act was passed— was a regular punier, often scoring drcnnt wins. The lad v— who finsspd updpc she name ~ql "Lady Rose Ne 1 ill" — was also a frequent diner-out at swell restaurants, where she inevitably indulged, coran publico, m her post-prandial cigarette. It was riven out that she was travelling for her own pleasure. For a time she stayed at TVTenzies' Hotel, s but after remaining there for some weeks she proceeded to a swell boarding-house m Pavliament-plfce. at. the hack of th« Federal Parliament, House, and there she nut in' the rest of her time m Melbourne. The lady was generally attended by several well-groomed "John^es," but on> m particular of the throng of male admirers appears ' to have been especially favored. • iFor'he was constantly m attendance ; Twit who he was afld whence he name does hot appear. At any rate, he seems' to have disappeared .as suddenly, as his meteoric consort. : He HAD PLENTY, OP MONEY apparently, aid he spent a f?ood deal of it m the company of "Lady Rose .Nevill." Some folks say that the lady first reached ' Melbourne, from West Australia, and that she returned there. But that is merely hearr say. There can be no doubt about this fact— "Lady Rose Nevill," as she called herself, frequently spoke of her aristocratic friends m Britain. There were, however, one or two circumstances that should have opened the eyes of tboee who accepted her representations at her own estimate. She spoke many a time of "My father, the Marquis of Abergavenny," pronouncing the latter name as it is spelled. Of couicse,: everyone should .know that the Marquis and the town are called, in 'the circles, of polite society, "Abergenny.'' That was a clean give away. She also spoke of. ' 'MV brother 'Dicky'— Lord Richard NevilK" And she certainly had pho-tographs,-Which she liberally displayed, of Lord Richard Nevill and other;? who were alleged to be more prominent members of the British aristocracy. Likewise, she occasionally referred to . the Earl of 'Cottenham, again pronouncing the name according to the spelling, and not as "Cot'nam," as - A REAL BLUE-BLOODED DAME would. ' That was give away No. -2; . ".It was asserted, that this "Lady Rose Nevill" (and m 1904, it will be remembered, the -real Lady Rose was not a Nevill , and bad not been so for many years, but was the Countess of Cottenham) endeavored to obtain the entree to both Federal and State Government Houses, both m Melbourne and m Sydney, which latter place she visited also, but was judiciously, if politely, repulsed. Anyhow, she did secure admission into that outer fringe or circle of "life" to Which "Truth" has given the appropriate name of "sub-society." Doubtless her hosts and hostesses | were fittingly regaled with anecdotes j concerning "the very nicest" m England with whom and whose famiJv j histories the lady was evidently well acouainted. Alsb, "Lady Rose Nevill" was a li'bfexai ■.. :' PATRONESS OF SWELL DRAPERY ESTABLISHMENTS m Melbourne, with whose proprietors ■ she ran up fairly large accounts'. Most of these appear to have been mat. But s» the snriw of J9u4 lengthened into summer, "Lady Ro\c Nevill" and her particular pet escort ! suddenly vanished, leaving behind . t<hf*m two or three lam outing tradespeople. "Lady Rose" undoubtedly had "a good time" during her stay-