WHO IS HEIR TO AMPTHILL ESTATE?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17862, 2 June 1926, Page 8

WHO IS HEIR TO AMPTHILL ESTATE?

RUSSELL BABY TO APPEAR AGAIN IN GREAT LAW FIGHT. (Special to the " Star.”) LONDON, April 10. The Russell baby will again be in the limelight shortly. Among the cases set down for hearing on the defended list of the new Law Court session is that under the Legitimacy Declaration Act of G. D. E. Russell, by his guardian, v. the AttorneyGeneral. The result of the case will decide the fate of the future of Lord Ampthill and the heirship to the Ampthill estates. The lion John Hugo Russell, eldest son of Lord Ampthill. petitioned in 1922 for a divorce from his wife, the Hon Clare Christabel Russell, and after a nine days’ hearing the jury disagreed. The following year, after a fresh trial, he was granted a decree nisi, and Mrs Russell appealed, but the Court of Appeal decided against her. The case was then taken to the House of Lords, and Mrs Russell secured a verdict in her favour. The divorce case did not affect the status of the child because he was not a party to the suit. The House _of Lords’ decision, however, made it impossible for the Hon John Russell to raise the question of the child's legitimacy. In the application to be heard in the Law Courts shortly the child is asking for a formal declaration of his legitimacy. The Attorney-General, on behalf of the Crown, becomes a respondent by putting the applicant to the proof of his legitimacy.