SECRET WORDS IN WILL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 638, 15 April 1929, Page 12

SECRET WORDS IN WILL

UNIQUE APPLICATION TO JUDGE

WAR CORRESPONDENT’S FORTUNE Romance and law have been cm i- . ously linked by the will of the late ■ Sir William Maxwell, K.8.E., of Long- j fields, Wraysbury, Buckinghamshire. , The public -were first intrigued by the j announcement that the bulk of his lor- | tune had been left to his sister, a Mrs. : Stevenson. of Egremont Place, ; Brighton, says an English exchange, j Here, until her inheritance. a J rs - j Stevenson, a white-haired lady, had maintained an unpretentious little ; boarding house with the assistance o her two daughters, Margaret, 28, and Elsie 22. Both the daughters also supplemented the family income by filling positions as shorthand typists. Mrs. Stevenson became the residuary legatee of Sir William Maxwell’s estate, and apart from one or two small legacies. the only other gifts mentioned m the will is that of Sir William s house and grounds at Wraysbury to Miss Nora Delaney, the actress. TO HAVE WORDS EXPUNGED Directly the contents of the will were i known, Mrs. Stevenson made an un-j successful application in the Probate , Court to have “certain offensive | words’’ expunged therefrom. Her case ; was placed before Mr. Justice Hill by the Hon. Victor Russell, who explained that the words referred to were m paragraph four of the will, dated December 6, 1926. They had no testamentarv effect whatever and could only give pain to the person named. “What is fear.ed,” added Mr Russell, “is that somebody may inspect the j will and see these words in it.” Mr. Justice Hill: They might inspect the document, but would be very ! foolish to publish the words. They; would soon have an action for slander or libel against them. Mr. Justice Hill continued: “I should hesitate a long time before I said the Court had a right to alter a document a man has signed. Of course. in granting probate, the Court has control of the document, and by injunction can restrain anyone from publishing any offensive words. If I could see my way to expunge these words from the will I should not hesitate. A man in his own notebook or diary may write down whatever offensive things he likes, and no tribunal can prevent him —that is, when he is alive. If he leaves any document in existence after his death, no Court has authority to order its destruction, although it may contain libellous statements. I do not see my way to expunge these words from the will, but I can make an order for the words complained of to be expunged from the probate of the will. Mr. Russell: And also from all copies issuing from the registry? Mr. Justice Hill: Yes; no copy of anything except the probate can be Issued.

Sir William Maxwell, a well-known war correspondent, was married as far back as June, 18S6, to Miss Clare Hardy, who is now living at Somerville House, Buttershaw, Bradford, the home of her parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. Adam Hall Hardy. Lady Maxwell is an invalid. There was never any question of legal separation or divorce. It is understood that at the moment Mrs. Stevenson and her two daughters are in residence at Longfields. Naturally they are gratified at the good fortune which has come their way, but so far have not definitely decided where they will settle down.

Longfields is a charming country home on the border of Buckinghamshire, and surely one of the most magnificently furnished mansions in England. Sir William Maxwell had a unique collection of furniture, antiques, and pictures collected on his world-wide travels. In the drawing room is a suite of pale shell-pink brocade, inlaid with pure gold. This suite once graced the palace of a French queen. A similar suite is in an upper bedroom, and is said to have been taken from the Palace of Versailles after the French Revolution. The corridors are inlaid with oak parquet, and the walls hung with priceless paintings by artists of every nationality. The house contains, too, a prized collection of antiques. AT OMDURMAN

Sir William, who died on December ! 23, at the age of 66, accompanied Lord j Kitchener as a war correspondent in ! the march on Khartoum, and was | present at the battle of Omdurman. He ! accompanied the German Emperor j through the Holy Land and I Syria, and was at the first Peace Con- j ference at The Hague. He was be-! sieged in Ladysmith and was with ; Lord Roberts’s army in many South i African engagements. Sir William travelled with the Prince of Wales in India, and shared in other Royal tours. During the Great War he was a correspondent attached to the Belgian Army, and was once taken “prisoner” by a British cavalry troop outside Mons. When it became known that Sir William had left the bulk of his large fortune to Mrs. Stevenson and her two daughters, there was great surprise among their friends at Brighton. One who knows the family well stated: “They are both sweet girls, and their mother is a charming little whitehaired lady. They always said they never expected a ‘bean.’ even when they read of the death of Sir William, and went on working as usual until called to London. Both girls are fond of dancing and pictures, but thev always helped their mother in the house, and no one more than this devoted j little family deserves the great luck that has come their way.”