The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-12 00:00:00

DEATH OF EARL EITZHARDING-E.

W 4 have to record this day the death of ;the
Right Hen.,William Fitzhard.inge Berkeley, Earl
Fitzbardine, which took place at Berkeley Castle;
Glocestershire, on Saturday night, in the 71st year
of his age.
His lordship was the eldest son of Frederick
Augustus, fifth lEa,rl of Berkeley, by Mary; daughter
of Mr. \Vie. Cole, of Glocester, arid was born iu
Mount-street, Grosvenor-square, on the 26th Dec.,
1786. Those of our readers who are famil'ar with

the peerage and its history will Scarcely need to to
reminded by US that the validity of a marriage
which was alleged to have been contracted so early
as the 30th of March, 1785, between the father and
mother of the nobleman recently deceased became
the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry after the
death of the fifth Earl of Berkeley, and that the le-
suit of a close investigation of the entire circum-
stances connected with the case was a resolution
pAssed by the House of Lords, without a dissentient
voice-that this alleged marriage of 1785 was not
prover, and that consequently the late Lord Fitz-
hardinge had no china: or right to the earldom of
Berkeley. The general reader, however, will thank
us for setting before him the following brief outline
of the facts of the "Great Berkeley Case," which
created so great a sensation some five-and-forty
years ago.

- The late Earl iu the autumn of 1784, or the corn-.
mencement of 1785, on a visit to Glocester from his
caetle at Berkeley, was struck with the charms of
Miss Mary Cole, the daughter. of a butcher in that
city, and took her to live with him at .Berkeley as
his wife. As time went on the lady bore him four
sons, and common reputation affirmed that up to
that date no legal marriage had been solemnized
between the parties, although the lady styled her-
self the Countess of Berkeley. The lady whose
character was thus impugned always asserted, on
behalf of her eldest son andhis three next brothers,
that although. the public solemnization of the union
between herself and the Earl did not take p!ace un-
til May 16, 1796, she had been privately married
snore th•tn 10 years previously, and the same fact
was affirmed under oath iu his lordship's last will
and testament. To establiNli this statement an
entry in the parish register of Berkeley was pre-
ducol, which entry, it was alleged, had Wen made
for certain •rcitions of pleasure and convenience on
the part of the late Earl of _Berkeley, ou a loaf that
had beeii pasted down in the: volume for many
years, until it should be want-ed. The question as to
the genuine or spurious character of this document
came before the House of Lords only after the
death of the late Earl. The clergyman who was
said to have made the entry was then dead, and his
widow declared that she did not believe it to be in
her deceased husband's handwriting. A brother of
the Countess . of Berkeley, however, deposed that
he was-present as a witness at the marriage of 1785.
The evidence of Lady Berkeley, it is stated, was
contradicted- by that of her mother, who after wards
married Mr. Glossop, of O.bournby, in Lincoln-
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Lord Dursley, and was member for Glocestorshire,
presented a petition claiming to be c died to the
House of Lords as sixth Earl of Berkeley. The sub-
ject of his legitimacy had been mooted during his
father's lifetime, and inquiry hadbeen actually coon.

menced, but it was abindoned on finding that no
legal question could arise until after the old earl's
&alb, when, as we have already stated, the evi-
dence brought forward in favour of the legitimacy
of the eldest son was not judged by the House of
Lords to be sufficient to establish the claim. In
consequence of this decsion -Lord Dursley Was
obliged to drop that title, and he retired from public
life for many }ears, and was known only as Colonel

Berkeley, of the South Gloucestershire Militia.
The estates at Berkeley, at Canford in Middlesex,
and elsewhere, were not entailed upon the title,
and hence he remained in undisputed possession of.
Berkeley Castle, which was bequeathed to him,by
his father, and which gave him very. extensive in-
fluence as a landed proprietor in the county of
Gloucester, in which,. as also in Bristol, and in the'
city, of Gloucester he aby supported the Liberal
interest against the powerful influence of the Beau-
fort family. He maintained his ground in this po-
sitiOn extremOY well, and was one of the gentlemen
chosen by Earl Grey for elevation to the peerage at
theooronatiou of William IV., when he was created.

Baron Segrave. The operation of the Reform Act,
instead of limiting his territorial influence, went
far towards doubling it, as he was in general able
to secure one seat at least for the Liberal party in
East as well as in West Gloucestershire. In 1841
he was elevated to the earldom of Fitzhardingo,,
just previouS to the departure of the Melb)urne
Minittryfi om office.
-The earldom of, Berkeley was adjudged by the
decision of the House of Lords in 181.1 to the Hon.

Thomas Morton Fitzbardinge Berkeley, fifth son of

the late earl, but the first child born alter the mar-
riaae of 1796; he has never, however, assumed the
title, as to do so would be to cast a reflection on his
mother's memory. He is unmarried, and in the
event of his dying without issue the earldom of
Berkeley will pass to his next brother, the Hon. G.
C. G. Fitzhardinge Berkeley, formerly M.P. for
West Gloms' ershi, e, who•married a'daughter of the
late Mr. Paul Benfield, and has two sons, the elde-t
. _

of whom will eventually succeed to the title, and,
it is believed, to the estates. The Earl's youngest

brother, Mr. Craven Berkeley, many years M.P.
for Cheltenham, died in 1855.
Earl Fitzhardinge never married, and conse-
quently his ea? ldom and the barony of Segrave has
bicome extinct. His next brother is the right Hon.
Sir Maurice F. Fitzhardiuge Berkeley, K.C. 8.,
and late M.P. for the city of Glocester ; the third
brother is Augustus, and the fourth is Mr. Francis
Henry Fitzhardinge Berkeley, who has sat for
Bristol since 1837, and is well known for his annual
advocacy of the ballot and for his opposition to the
Sunday Beer Bill of 1854.

LIVERPOOL, Oct. 10.—The Royal Mail steam-ship
Enropa, Leitch commander, sailed hence to-day far
Halifax and Boston with the mails, a large cargo, and
it
181 passengers, besides 60,0001. in specie on freight
The steamer Borussia Captain Trantemeahn,nii,
this, port, consigned to Messrs. Le
to New Yor:,. She la ft H
Frooert:ohoedr,
vtooyr:gpeair her propeller, to enreible_hahaarmersirsbl:3tuuonrthgca-litdo--
of passengers and
the let inst., with a large numbertbe sth inst., and then
cargo, put into Greenoek on
is expected to be found in her
chaumileohveoraev.ge.No damage
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