The Ampthill Peerage

PETITIONS

By a petition dated July 30, 1973, and an amended petition dated April 30, 1975, presented to Her Majesty, John Hugo Trenchard Russell prayed that Her Majesty might be graciously pleased to admit and allow his claim to succeed to the title of his father as Baron Ampthill of Ampthill in the county of Bedford and that he might receive a writ of summons to Parliament by that title.

The case on behalf of the petitioner John Hugo Trenchard Russell was as follows: “1. Under or by virtue of Letters Patent given under the sign manual of her late Majesty Queen Victoria on March 11, 1881, the Right Honourable Odo William Leopold Russell was created a Baron of the United Kingdom by the name and title of Baron Ampthill of Ampthill in the County of Bedford with a limitation of such dignity title and honour to him and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten and to be begotten. The said Baron Ampthill of Ampthill (hereinafter called ‘the first Baron’) took his seat in the Right Honourable the House of Peers on July 5, 1881.

“2. On May 5, 1968, the first Baron intermarried with Emily Theresa Villiers and the eldest son of the marriage was Arthur Oliver Villiers, who was born on February 19, 1869.

“3. The first Baron died on August 25, 1884, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Arthur Oliver Villiers (hereinafter called ‘the second Baron’) who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Ampthill of Ampthill in the County of Bedford and took his seat in the Right Honourable the House of Peers on March 3, 1890.

“4.On October 6, 1894. the second Baron intermarried with Margaret Lygon and the eldest son of the marriage was John Hugo, who was born on October 4, 1896.

“5. The second Baron died on July 7, 1935, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the John Hugo (hereinafter called ‘the third Baron’) who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Ampthill of Ampthill in the County of Bedford and took his seat in the Right Honourable the House of Peers on June 23, 1936.

“6. On October 18, 1918, the third Baron intermarried with Christabel Hulme Hart (hereinafter called ‘Christabel, Lady Ampthill’). On October 15, 1921, Christabel, Lady Ampthill gave birth to a son, Geoffrey Dennis Erskine Russell (hereinafter called ‘Geoffrey Russell’) who is still living and who was the only child born to Christabel, Lady Ampthill during the subsistence of the marriage.

“7. The marriage of the third Baron and Christabel, Lady Ampthill was dissolved by decree absolute of divorce on January 20, 1937. On February 22, 1937, the third Baron intermarried secondly with Sibell Faithfull Lumley, who died on September 13, 1947, without issue. The third Baron intermarried thirdly on July 13, 1948, with Adeline Mary Constance Hone.

“8. The petitioner was born on October 13, 1950, and is the only son of the third marriage of the third Baron.

“9. The third Baron died on June 3, 1973.

“10. The only other claimant to the titles, dignities and honours of Baron Ampthill of Ampthill in the County of Bedford is Geoffrey Russell. The third Baron never accepted Geoffrey Russell as his lawful son and heir and during the whole of his life the third Baron refused to recognise him as such and declined to meet him or have any contact with him or to provide any financial support for him except in so far as he was legally compelled to do so. Throughout his life and up until the time of his death the third Baron maintained and continued to express, his positive opinion that Geoffrey Russell was not his son.

“11. During the months of February and March 1923 there was heard for a period of some 11 days in the High Court of Justice a petition presented by the third Baron for his marriage to Christabel, Lady Ampthill to be dissolved by reason of her adultery (inter alia) with a named co-respondent and further with a man unknown in consequence of which adultery she had given birth to Geoffrey Russell of whom the third Baron was not the father. The said petition for divorce was heard before the Honourable Sir Maurice Hill and a special jury. During his summing up, the Honourable Sir Maurice Hill stated that the first issue for the special jury was ‘Did the respondent commit adultery with a man unknown whereby she became the mother of the child which was born on October 15, 1921?’ The special jury delivered their verdict on March 16, 1923, and found ‘inter alia’ that Christabel, Lady Ampthill ‘had committed adultery with the said unknown man.’ A decree nisi of divorce was consequently granted to the third Baron on the verdict found by the special jury.

“12. Christabel, Lady Ampthill appealed against the verdict of the special jury to the Court of Appeal. This appeal was based upon a question of law, as to the admissibility of the evidence given before the special jury by the third Baron, and upon a contention that the verdict of the special jury was against the weight of the evidence. This latter contention was abandoned before the Court of Appeal, and the appeal on the point of law was unanimously dismissed on July 24, 1923.

“13. A further appeal was then made by Christabel, Lady Ampthill to the House of Lords, during which it was sought to rely upon both grounds of appeal originally raised in the Court of Appeal. The House of Lords ruled that Christabel, Lady Ampthill had abandoned in the Court of Appeal her contention that the verdict of the special jury was against the weight of the evidence and that accordingly the sole ground of appeal open to her was the question of law as to whether the evidence given by the third Baron had been admissible. In the event, her appeal was allowed on May 30, 1924, by a majority of three to two on the ground that the evidence of non-access at the time when Geoffrey Russell must have been conceived, which had been given by the third Baron at the original hearing in the High Court, was not in law admissible. The order of the Court of Appeal was reversed...