THE HARTROPP DIVORCE CASE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9638, 13 January 1903, Page 4

THE HARTROPP DIVORCE CASE.

THE HOSPITALITY OF HUNTING j PEOPLE. •a ! >J ii '.:■>' (.I/OND(3IJ^ T w 28. Before Mr Justice. Barnes and a special jury, Sir XJbjwtUvi Inward Cradock-tlar-j topp is seeking tti dfvorceMifet wife', Lady' Millicent--Florence Eleanor, .Craclock-Hai^ topp, on the aground of her alleged misconduct with. Moringtoh Wdlfesley, Karl of Cowley, who not very, long .ago was divorced by his wife. Both respondent Ynd -co-respondent deny the charge, und. .the Mdy retorts by charging linr,. husband,, with cruelty and misconduct with Mrs Sand. A great away of K.G.s including- . Air. Law son Walton'ToV tiii:' 'jilitftioher, Mt }ad#rwjick and Sir Edward^ Clarke, acting, strange to say, as junior counsel, for the respondent, and BargnfveJDeanfe, and^lxjC. V. Gill for the "c 0.," is. engaged m the social laundry, and the -newspapers are treating the suit as a 'cauSe eelebre and repfnting^questipn and answer m full. So far we have heard only one side of the case, but the-adniitted facts throw a lurid light on the ways of society. Sir Charles Hartopp, "Topps," as his friends call him, or "Bundle Darling," as his wife addressed him when m tender mood, married m 1895 the daughter of Mr Charles Wilson, of Water Priory, m Yorkshire, an M.P. for Hull. The circumstances of the, alliance were inauspicious from the beginning. Mr Wilson had to find £1200 to buy off the mistress affair Charles, and although the latter had an income of £1400 and his wife 1 had £1800 a year settled on her by her' father, Mr Wilson m the course of the next three or four years had to provide some £10,000 to discharge Sir Charles debts, some of which, at all events, were the result of betting and gambling. '■ , : Lady Hartopp was also interested m hunting and racing, and seems to have ucq,uir.ed the^toe-and-ea^^yinnpr^nd disregard for conventionalities generally attributed to hunting folks. For a wliij'e she. and her husband lived together amicably enough, and the first serious of friction arose about 1893, wlien'Slr Charles disapproved of his wife's friends and associates. A remonstrance against her taking tea alone with Sir John Willoughby at his chambers led to a slight scuffle between husband and wife. ' Sir John and Lady Hartopp were on >i friendly terms, and "saw a good deal of each other, i Htf presented her with- iii | watch and a peurl necklace. Their 'relationship seems to have been perfectly »penv«Uut Sir iChaides, jfindjng>.tliH,ti gossip had been linking the names of the two together m no very complimentary manner, .; demanded that she should break off lie/ relationship with Sir John. There was correspondence, beiiwean-them. For a while, owing to Sir John's departure to the war, the matter dropped, but on his return m the summer of 1900, Sir John demanded an explanation of the "lies -MaP'w'tie being told behind hjs. back," and a somewhat stormy lneetirig"' ktfwe.en .the two men took place at [IJphcaster. In the autumn of 1900 Lady Hartopp went to her parents' home m Yorkshire, and from that time onwards she and her husband never came together. ( There was a lengthy correspondence, aiyl there were interviews arranged by mutual , friends, but While Lady ' Hartqpp insisted on leading her own life, Sir Charles insisted, on^ preserving his o,wn „.honor., .honor. '. ' -• 'AccordingAto Sir (Milfes,. l-ady Hartopp's terms of reconciliation were (1) not to refer to the past ; (2) no London house/ 4 ut ".to,keep Gadsby Cottage^ wlych Lady Hartopp had taken m Leicestershire, 2J miles from Baggrave Haft, Lord j Cowley's- a-esidence; (3) six- months', -.Ijvittl;;: jf Sir Charleshmarie Ijisj-wifq^p 'unhappy, that she could not. stay J.ie^wijs to "let her divorce him.- -At all events neither party would «gsee. I to,)theviengs of tlje, -,of:lier. ami though m theu- letters to one another some. traces of affection still lingered, the estrangement grew-widep and wider. Meanwhile Lady Hartopp, m the aut-' umn of 1900, .had met Lord GWley, a distant cousin of liers (he was a WellesIpy ftnd sq.^yax L^idy Hartomi's mptlier.) 1 he" "two soon became fast friends, hunting together and passing a. great deal of .iime- in, each other's society. -The. main, question ;the jury' .fuiye'to determine ,is' whethei- their fr"iend»ln'p" r artd disregarct pf ;'les qonvenances'' can be explainQ(J...;by tine -careless,, .liail-fcllofo-weifl-inet ways of hunting' folk's/ or vv.hetliei^iuiot.hei- ' inteKpretatidn .must be plaxfed -otl'thefr association. ■ *•'•: '.:'' i ■•:.<> .. According to the evidence of petitioner's witnesses (the maids who lived at Gadsby Cottage), this house was secured vwith Lord Cowley's aid, lie helped to furnish it., presenting Lady Hartopp with a sofaand a Dutch bedstead, and there were photographs of Lord Cowley and Lady Hartopp t<2ge±kJLin_t!ie i WUiiii . Lady Hartopp^ except .when she had visitorsm theiifiGHJ^VJiaS no sort of chaperohliving; with. her. -In the summer <uid ,wii- • .ter of 1901 Lord Cowley used to Tbe.con-starttly-a-t tlie'-'cdtfh^ 1 - 'He would come over from Engrave. Hall .at eleven m the moi'nw'und mf nritiMeveir at h'iglit -^^• T ..ii irto PP -'tn,d he wmild-i'etunr.froin hunting and \v6lild ' dine togetlier andspend the evening at the cottage m the drawingroom or m her boudoir. Lord Oowley had the run of the numve bedroom on the mm 'floor asLadr-HiiV-topp s, and used frequently to doff his Umn ting dress and put on his dress clothes t-here. The maids said ' that he caJU?d Lady Hartom) "Millicenfc"> and sofiKJUmes "dferling,'f and Ue Addressed him as "Bobs" oi- 'Toby." fWe hay« Aem-dvby pable that the pe-' tition was diHhissed.l 1 1 r< — ■ ■'. . -.■"! - \■' 'vt i ;'-