New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-11-05

Duke of Wharton, and how M successor married
the famous Audrey Cor, as she choee to call herself
Ethelreds) Harrison the mother OF the two last
We have named. and equally celebrated for her
wit;cisins and her eaantries. and Who is believed
10 have act for the portrait Of Lady Belas.on in
Tom Jones.
Since the death OF the first Marques, in l5V7-
or. rather, perhaps, Of the second, in lsll-xho
Was created Earl Of Leicester while bis father was
only yiscount Townshend, on ask ng whose per-
mission TIE old lord replied, with all my
.. heart: take any title you like, except that OF
.syiscount Towusheud from that tine the
name has disappeared from contemporary history.
The death the other day, Of Sarah, Marchioness
Dowaser of Townsheud, at an advanced age re-
calls the memory of passage of scandaious private
history which Lady Mary Wortey or Horace
Wslpole can hardly match out of their overiowing
repositories Of gossip. 1t records one OF the most
impudent attempts to foist spurious heir into the
succession 10 one of the nobest families of England
that has ever been exposed and defeated. George
Ferrars Townshend, the third Marques, who died
in the course of the last year, in the year lSO1
of Mr. John Dunn Gardner, a gentleman of good
estate He was then known by the courtesy title
of Lord Charley his father the Earl OF Leicester.
and his grandfather, the Marques Townshend,
being both living. He seems to have been
,nourGis sujH on the worst of terms with bis whole
family, and hopeessly in debt. The marriage was
an unhappy one, and the ill-mated pair lived to-
gethcr not quite one year. In May, loo', Lady
Charley left her husband in disgust, and CON-
menced proceedings against him for divorce,
rrop'cr impo,ertian. These proceedings, how
ever, were dropped the next year, she having IN
the mean time eloped with Nr. John Margetts,
wealthy brewer, and gone through the form of
marriage with him at Gretns Green, which, of
course, was of no validity, being contracted during
an undissolyed marriage with another man.
Her husband. the late Marques, having never
procured a divorce from his wife for want of the
necessary understanding to his man of business
at the time-she remained legally the MarchOness
Townsheud till her death From 1909, however,
till IS42, she lived with ~ John Margetts as his
wife, and had FIVE or six children by him. Up to
1893 she was called only Mrs. Margetts, rejecting
the detested name of her husband with loathng
and aversion. In 1923 however, the children
were baptized under the name OF Townshend, and
assumed the title and precedence due to the chill
dren of Marques. The eldest son, born in 1911,
was at first called Lord John Townshend, bat az
terward assumed the title of Earl of Leicester,
which was the style granted by courtesy to tho
eldest son and heir of that Msrquesate, it being
its second title. This he held down to the time Of
the interference of the House of Lords Of which
We shall presently speak. Under it he held seat
in the House of Commons for Bodmn in at least
one Parliament From this same period the
Warehouses Townshend resumed her title and
retained it to her death. The purpose of this
sudden transformation Of the Margetts brood into
Townsbends, was OF course to intrude them into
the hereditary hOnOrs of that name. The estates
were secured from them by the will of the late
Marquesss father, who took no notice in it Of his
eldest son, but settled them on his younger sou,
Lord Charles, and in case of his default of heirs,
on his brother, Lord John. That he deserved to
be thus cut of is clear enough from his willingness,
proved by his own letters, to suffer this swindle
to take effect in consideration Of certain pecunary
arrangements in his favor. This was one of the
most disgracefu Developments Of tho whole
business.
Things went on in this way for near five and
thirty years As the Marques TownShend de-
clned, through antpathy to his lawful heirs, ~
appears, to take any steps to divorce his wife and
bastardze her issue, it became necessary for the
next of kin to step forward and vndicate their own
rights, before time had put all the witnesses out of
the way SO, in 1913, Lord Brougham brought |
the subject before the House Of Lords and intro
duced bill 10 bastsrdize the children Of the Mar
chioness Townshend, and declare them incapable
of inheritiDg the honors Of the Townshend family.
Interesting debates were held on the subject, in
which the scrupulous regard for all possible rights
which is an honorable characteristic of the English
nation, was exhibited by some Of the law lords
Evidence heard at the bar, and the facts just
narrated fully subs.antiated. The titular Earl of
Leicester was heard by bis counsel, who put his
claim on the legal presumption Of possibility Of &C.
cess of the husband to the wife, in the face OF the
positive evidence 10 the contrary. The Lords
however, and the Commons afterwsrd, passed tho
bill declaring that the children Of the Marchioness
were not the children Of the Marques, and, under
this enactment, the present Marques succeeded
quietly to the titles as he bad before to the estates
Of the family. He is the son of Lord John Towns
bend, the younger ,on Of the first Marques. an
Admiral in the Navy and was Member for Tamworth,
at the time of his accession. 1t is only fair to say
that the Msrchioness begged Lord Brougham to
state most emphatically that she had always disap
proved OF and opposed the attempt TO pass Of