Barrister's Romance.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14284, 27 August 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

Barrister's Romance.

HIS MARRIAGE WITH HIS SERVANT. REVEALED IN A WILL. A bidden romance of forty-three years has been brought to light by the will of j:- -/, r thur Joseph Muubv, barrister, of I'lg Tree-court, Temple, E.G., and Rvrlord, Surrey. Everyone—even his own brother—thought him a bachelor. No one' had e\oi heard of his having it wife. Vet ill his Will he confesses t-iiat ho married ins servant forty-three years ago, and the wording of the will shows how deep and true iias been his affection Inquiries by a "Dailv Chronicle"' representative proved that his wife died last \ car, aml that ihe sorrow at this had apparently hastened his death Mr. Munby, who was well known as a poet and litterateur, was a Yorksiuremaii. of 45 r<,ss value of ."T 1,1 "'hich the net personalty is he in liis will told the story or ins l.i e romance in the following words: —

"Whereas Hannah Cullwick. servant born at Shif'nai, Salop, and bred at the S harity .School at Aston Brook Shifual has been lor forty-three years and n.jl warcis beloved by me with a pure and honouraule love, and not otherwise, and she, the .said Hannah, had during all tiniu time been as faithful and loviii"" and devoted to nie as ever woman was to mail, and whereas after vainlv trying to explain this state of things "to mv i atner, J,married the said Hannah (she I being then m my service! publu-iv m | tele presence of all her kindred'who could be sot together at the Parish , \'i x ~o t Clerl^'"v.-ell J in the County of Middlesex, on -January 14, IBT3 And whereas there is no issue of the said marriage, and whereas, notwith- ( «"»«>'}« lior said marriage, the said Hannah has always refused and still refuses to have the position which as mv iwiti she might and could have hail and has always insisted and still insists on ,t,,n K my servant as well as mv wife her one grievance being that she cannot be my only servant, and whereas o.ving chleily to this noble and unselfish I le-olvo Ol hers, 1 have ~u ver boon able Hi make- Known my said marriage to my ianniy or to the world at larV -in-1 ! the same is known oniy to her kindred i a lid three, of my most intimate college i rieiK .s, <,r whom Kobert Spencer Binland knows the lull (.•iivumstanoes and ■ knows her personally. I He went on to state that she was' living at Hadley, Salop, and that he ! had made a practice of spending as much of every year as possible with hei, and said that during her years of servitude lor lure "she d.d, from time to tune of lie« own accord, hand over to me the savings of her wages and never asked what I did with them " i He mentioned that these savings amount to about £3OO, which he luul invested in 1,. and N.AY. Railway stock and added that whereas it was"liis desire that ''my most dear and beloved w.ie and servant shall he (as she is now and always has been.) provided for comfortably hi that state of life which she prefers to another, ' and desiring as she does also that she shall not have anv claim as his wife on his estate other than that given to her by his will he left to her £'3oo, "her savings of watres servant,' a life annuity of uMb and his household effects in the residence occupied bv her. I io the Bi itish Museum he bequeath- | ed two deed-boxes, with their contents 1 (manuscript and photographs), if the trustees will accept, the same, but neither is to be examined or onened until January 1 m the vear 1900 * Should the trustees "of the British Museum not accept the bequest of the deed-boxes and their contents noon the conditions laid down, this bequest is to . revert to Trinity College, Cambridge i Mr. Munby expressed the desire to be buried where lie might die, but in a I consecrated churchyard, and "not in any so-called cemetery," unless it be the lirookwood .Necropolis This pathetically interesting will led a, Uailv Chronicle ' representative to make inquiries at Pyrford, ami he found that for over forty years Mr Munbv had rented a. picturesque iw-clad farmhouse nestling a valley within the shadow of the quaint village church. Lvnown in the deeds as YVheeler's 1' arm—the original forty acres of giotinu which was originally attached to it being in other occupation—'Air -Mtinby recliristened it Buttercup Farm' and from here in days gone by he regularly walked to Woking Station to pay a daily visit to his chambers at FinJ ree-eourt. = He was always looked uoon as a bachelor, and not one of the* old vil lagers can remember lys wife visiting ,

there. For iv.'cmv years his housekeeper was a .Mi-s \\ ill.-tone. ami when •she lelt Iks M'rviir ami ucni to reside a|. lli'i'rmv, near duildford, his servant, ."Miss 11 i'LclH-oi k, who went to him as a .voting j.-;;r] Irom school, M as put in licr place, ami oilier ymninT servants were employed. .Miss 11 it 1 ■ hj.•• 1-k, who i- now

living in the neighbourhood ot' <; i:,fnnl, and a umip woman n<nv in the service of I.ady l.ovehice at <Vkh:>'.)i Park, were -till in Ins service when ho. died in .Tanuarv. No one ever hoard him mention that lie had a wife. Inn in late:- years lu< used io fro away for weeks at a lime. Sometimes lie would say ho had been ahrciad, hui. most frequently that lie had been to Shitnnl. in Shropshire. I 1 or sonic years ho has been most 7*etiecnt ami eccentric in his maimer. Ho never took part ill any parochial affairs, hut was a regular attendant- at the village church. lie used to "potior about" in his pardon a little, hut: more irequently lie was touud writing. When lie eventually died <,'f heart trouhie his was buried i u I'vrford v hurchyard. and it was onlv after his death that. lii.s brother. of the linn of ami Scott, solicitors, of Clifton, lurk, found his will, which revealed the oiiy-eoiicealed secret of his niarria"e ■lnquiries were set on foot, and it. was Jound that, his wife had died at HadIt'v. Salop, last Juiy. without knowing the contents of the will ° Residents recall, that it was jnst about twelve months ay:o that tlie old yntlenmn, who was then in his Kind year, paid his last visit to Shropshire. :md It has neen since then that lie had more rapidly broken up, and become more reserved ;nid retieiont. -Alter iiis death the more valuable portion ot some splendid old oak funv ture u-.tli which he had lurnished Buttercup l-arin. was taken to London ..(iid the remainder of the contents <■l the house were sold bv public nudum. " -Mr. .Alunhy always had a love for tins most heautmil corner of Surrev ■"id! :m old resnient recalls that nearlv )a .i century ajio he lodged in an old cottape (.Since demolished; before he took the tartu. Arrangements are beino- made f()r a handsome tombstone to mark his last ivstnir.-p.aee at Pry lord. and a brass tablet with an inscription written bv -Mi -Uunby himselr, is to be placed m tho church just above tho jWle occupied lor so many years.