ROMANCES OF GRETNA GREEN.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 1986, 6 March 1890, Page 39

ROMANCES OF GRETNA GREEN.

We abridge from the Scotsman the following interesting records of Border weddings in high life, performed by the celebrated blacksmith : —

The Gretna registers contain the names of a considerable number of persons of high rank, and of several who were distinguished for great abilities and eminent services to the State. Among them are scions of the noble families of Villiers, Beauclerc, Coventry, Paget, and other great English houses. The foreign princes who patronised Gretna Green appeared to have married " nobodies," who, no doubt, did not come to them emptyhanded. The tenth Earl of Dundonald, better known as Lord Cochrane, probably the greatest naval warrior our country has produced, with the exception of Nelson, while quite a youth, persuaded a Miss Katherine Barnes, a young lady in her teens, to elope with him, and go through the Gretna marriage ceremony. Old Lang used to boast as his greatest achievement in the " wedding line" of his having officiated at the second marriage of Lord Erskine, the famous pleader and Lord Chancellor, when in his old age he stole down to Gretna in disguise to espouse his Mistress, Sarah Buck. Viscount Deerhurst, eldest son of the Earl of Coventry, was one of those who were compelled to pay the large sum of £100 for the services of the Gretna parson,

Probably the most remarkable case of the kind was the marriage of 1782 of Lord Burghersh, afterwards tenth Earl of Westmorland, to the only daughter and heir of Mr Child, the wealthy banker. Mr Child had shortly before purchased and furnished in the most perfeot taste the house at Osterley Park, near Brentford, filling it with the most beautiful objects that he could collect, in the style of the last century. To his great indignation, his only child, a most beautiful girl, eloped with Burghersh, at that time an officer in the Guards. Mr Child promptly pursued them with all haste, and so near was he to their capture, that, but for the presence of mind of Lord Burghersh, he would have succeeded in preventing the marriage. Between Carlisle and Springfield, Mr Child was within a few yards of the post-chaise in which the runaway couple were travelling, but Lord Burghersh, leaning out of the window, fired his pislol, and struck one of the leaders of Mr Child's carriage between the forelegs. The horse staggered asid fell, and the lovers were thus enabled to reach Gretna in time to carry out the purpose for which they had crossed the Border. Mr Child, however was determined that although he could not deprive Lord Burghersh of his wife, he would effectually deprive him and his family of her fortune. He accordingly settled it upon the eldest daughter that might be born of the marriage. The Earl and Countess had one son, who became a general in the army and an eminent diplomatist, and three daughters, the eldest of whom, Sarah Sophia, inherited the immense fortune of her grandfather, including Osterley, and a share in his bank. She married in 180' i Charles, fifth Earl of Jersey, and became a celebrated leader of fashion during the Regency and the reiern of George IV. The Countess of Westmorland survived her Gretna Green marriage only 11 years, but the Earl lived to a great age, and became totally blind. Even in that sad condition he was to be seen almost daily riding at a smart trot along the crowded cliff at Brighton. Another incident of a similar kind which excited a great comment and gossip at the time was the elopement in November 1845 of Lady Adela Villiers with Captain Ibbetson, an officer of the 11th Hussars, the son of a proctor in Doctor's Commons. She was the youngest daughter of the Earl of Jersey — her mother, the leader of fashion, was styled "The Queen of Mayfair," and, curiously enough, her grandmother was the lady who eloped with Lord Burghersh, so it seems to have run in the blood. Lady Adela's eldest sister had married Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, the Hungarian mangate, and she was expected to form an alliance equally distinguished. The anger of her parents was not lessened by their knowledge of the fact that her elopment had given great satisfaction to Lady Jersey's spiteful rivals in the fashionable world. But as Captain Ibbetson's character was unexceptionable, and the Duke of Wellington declared that he was an excellent officer, they made a virtue of necessity, and after the marriage ceremony had been repeated at a fashionable church in London, the runaway couple were received into the family circle. A Cumberland landed proprietor on one occasion paid a visit to the Scottish Border, and spent some time in one of the inns at Springfield. He was accompanied by hia daughter, a beautiful and interesting girl only 17 or 18 years of age. It appeared that both father and daughter were curious to know everything about Scotland and Scottish marriages, and they expressed a strong desire to see the blacksmith. They seem to have expected to see a veritable son of Vulcan in his begrimed and working dress, and were somewhat surprised when an elderly, well-clad, and respectable-looking person called and asked their pleasure. Tha gentleman, somewhat taken aback, began to jest with his visitor, stating among other similar things that he wished to introduce to him a young lady that she might know both the officiating parson and the way back again. Elliot answered dryly to this remark that he had known as unlikely things come to pass. Three or four months after the same young lady actually reappeared at Springfield in company with one of her father's ploughmen, to whom Elliot married her. He recognised at once his old acquaintance, and after the ceremony was performed he ventured to express to the bride his hope that her father would not be angry with her for proving so apt a scholar and profiting by the lesson he had himself taught her. But, as might have been expected, the Cumbrian landed proprietor was f uriously indignant, and indeed almost beside himself by the blow. The ultimate result is not known; but as in the course of time the son-in-law, having conducted himself with great propriety, had a farm taken for him and stocked nobody knew how, there is reason to believe that a reconciliation was afterwards effected.

The last noteworthy incident of this kind was the elopement of the last Marquis of Hastings with Lady Florence Paget, daughter of the Marquis of Anglesey, and betrothed bride of Mr Chaplin, now Minister of Agriculture. But in this case the ceremony was performed by Murray in the tollhouse on the Sark.

It ie a curious fact that Lord Eldon, who in his twenty-first year eloped with Miss Surtees, of Newcastle, and Lord Brougham, his successor in the office of Lord Chancellor, both made what the country people call an "o'er the march marriage." But these legal luminaries patronised Coldstream. on the eastern border, which was frequented mainly by ploughmen and servant girls.

This demoralising traffic was at length put an end to by an act of Parliament passed in 1849, rendering a residence of 21 days in Scotland necessary to give validity to the marriage of English men or women contracted in that country. The measure was introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Brougham, and supported by Lord Campbell who, as we have seen, had himself taken advantage of this "safety valve," as it was called, to the rigid marriage system of England. A witty satirical writer, commenting at the time, half in jest, half in earnest, on the bill, declared that the Scotch Marriage Bill was a blow at high life, and that there was not a young lady of 17, nor a gentleman of small means and handsome mustachios, who ought not to feel the bill an attack upon their mutual interests ; that but for Gretna Green holding out its arms for a refuge many a,

young lady would have been sold into the bond of matrimony, chained up to somebody old enough to be her grandfather; that henceforth there was to be no romance in life— no example of an ensign eloping with a nobleman's daughter — no high family to be thrown into despair, because Lady Sophronisba, defying her parents, had refused an old count of the Empire (a hit at the case of Lady Adela Villiers), and run off with noching better than a perfect gentleman, caring nothing even for the disappointment and sincere regret of the fashionable journals. Gretna Green, it was alleged, " was made for younger brothers and for handsome, virtuous young gentlemen without fortune," and if it were abolished there ought to be an indemnity provided— a sinking fund to give pensions to young bachelors whose vested interests were threatened by Lord Brougham's Bill. It was amusing to find that the staid, venerable Lord Aberdeen had a good word to say on behalf of Gretna Green, and could not see any valid reason why it should be interfered with. The bill, however, became law, and as the " wedding trade " subsisted almost entirely on wealthy customers trom England, and the fees paid by ploughmen and mechanics "on the spree " would not suffice to eke out a living for the marriage operators, the institution is virtually defunct.