The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-07
BEHIND THE SCENES.
Gossip About the Leaders Of
English Society.
IMMoDEsT AND IMMORAL.
Mrs. Dick Russelps Matrimonial Ad-
MISUNDERSTANDING Lady de Grey,
Mrs. Crutchley, Kate Vaughan.

LONDON, May 24-TSpecial Correspond
ence. Mrs. Russell, wife of Richard Rus
sell. of Wilmington Hall, Kent, has cut a
prominent figure in the divorce court.
Her lawsuit. however, was not one for
divorce. but for the annulment of her
marriage with Mr.. Arthur Sebright,
brother both of Sir John Sebright and the
popular equerry of the Duchess of Teck.
She claimed that she had been compelled
to submit to the marriage ceremony by
the threats and menaces of Arthur Sc
bright, and that she had never
spent any time whatsoever in his
company since the wedding had taken
place. As far as one could gather from her
statements he had insisted on the celebra-
ton or secret marriage before the regis
trar. not in consequence Of any sentiment
OF inclination, but for the purpose of pre-
venting her from holding him legally
accountable for large sums of her money
which she had been induced to trust to
him for speculation, and which he had
squandered. The jury, influenced more
probably by the discreditable record of
Mr.. Sebright, who has repeatedly figured
in the bankruptcy court, than by any
great sentiment or good will or sympathy
for the plaintiff, declared the marriage to
have been null and void, and rendered
their verdict in such terms that it enabled
the fair plaintiff to resume her maiden
name of Scott. A year later she became
the wife of Richard Russell, well-known
and conspicuous member of London
society.
Both the father and mother of Lady
Russell and of Mrs. Russell have been
familiar figures in the law courts. The
mother, Lady Scott, at one time COM
menced divorce proceedings against her
husband, but then dropped the case. She
had any number of lawsuits with trades
men, with creditors and with the trustees
OF her daughters estate. Her husband,
Sir Claude Scott, who died in 1850. was
equally we'll known around the courts of
justice in London. For he was one of the
tools and straw men of the famous, or
rather infamous, money-lender Padwick,
surnamed the Spider" and as such Sir
Claude was summoned as one of the de-
PENDANTS in the lawsuit brought by the
Duke of Hamilton against Padwick for the
recovery of money obtained by means of
fraud.
The Hon. Mrs. Crutchley, whose fame
as an amateur skirt and pas sem dancer is
fully equal, If not superior, to that Of the
Countess Russell and Mrs. Dick Russell,
and who may be regarded as the originator
of the craze, is a member of the Filzroy
family. whose chief is the Duke of Graf
i ton. She is the daughter of the late
Charles Fitzroy, Lord Southampton. Her
mother is one of the favorite ladies of the
bedchamber to the queen, her younger
brother was page of honor to
her majesty, while she herself was
| one of the sovereign's maids of
| honor from 1883 until the date of
her marriage to Captain Crutchley in 1890.
| She has always had a strongly developed
| taste for dancing, and when in waiting on
| the queen at Balmoral she would be fire.
| guently requested by her royal mistress
| and by Princess Beatrice to perform reels,
| jigs, hornpipes and other similar dances
| in the drawing-rooms after dinner. mas
| much as she continues to remain persona
| grantissimo at court, and an intimate
| friend of Princess Beatrice, it may be
| taken for granted that skirt dancing in
! public by amateurs has received the tacit
| appreciation of the queen.
Another we'll known member of London
society who has consented to have herself
| photographed while in the act of perform
| ing pas seul and who has, moreover,
| permitted her portrait in that pose to be
| exhibited in the London shop windows
| for public sale, is the Countess de Grey,
! who on the death of her present husbands
| father will become Marchioness of Ripon.
| Her first husband was the first Earl of
! Lonsdale, who died in such hideous fash
ion whiIe at the house of Connie Gilchrist
The latter shining light of the gayety
burlesque, who is reported to be on the
eve of marriage with the young Earl Of
Orkney. was one of the two originators of
the skirt dance on the professional stage,
the other creator OF the art being Kate
| Vaughan, the wife of Colonel the Hon
| Fred Wellesley. brother OF the Earl of
| Crowley. In view of the fact that the
| sprightly Connie Gi,christ danced her way
| into the good will and affection OF the late
/ Earl LonsdaIe--the Red Earl as ne was
| called-and stole his heart away from his
| beautiful wife, It Is certainly peculiar
that the latter should now have
followed ir the footsteps of her former RI
| val. and become an adept in the very art
| to which she was so largely indebted for
| the indignities and hum:iiations that
| charac ,erized her first marriage. Possibly
! il was Just the very victory achieved by
! the professional danseUse in the contest
| with the pceress for the affections of the
| late Lord Lonsdale. that has induced the
latter's widow to acquire proficiency i'll
the arts which enabled her rival 10 carry
| the day eleven years ago.
! In emulating the graceful pirouettes of
| Connie Gilchrlst, the reiiCt OF Lord Ions
dale, who has now become the wife If the
| Earl 9e Grey, labors under a very serious
| Observation-Disclosures the size of her
feet. These are very large and constitute
from an aesthetic point of view the only
| defect OF an otherwise exceptionally
| beautiful woman. She mas inherited her
! comeiiness and also her largeness OF sole
| from the Herberts, being a sister of the
| Earl of Pembroke. Like all the Herherts.
| both of the past and of the present. she is
| noted for her artistic tastes, which III her
case take the direction of Wagnerian
| music the drama and the Terpsichorean
art: She is one OF the principal patronesses
| and financial hackers OF the operatic
| ventures o: Sir Augustus Harris at Coyent
Garden. and is quite a familiar figure be-
| hind the scenes. Indeed she does not
| disdain 10 associate on terms of social in
| tercourse with the ladies of the
| operatic the dramatic and the opera
bouffe stage, and among her most init
! mate friends was. and possibly still is. the
| pretty Partisan divette. Miliy Never
Lady de Grey, indeed. IS as well known
and as conspicuous figure on the banks
Of the Seine as in Mayfair. and she spends
! so much OF her time in Paris that she
| maintains a permanent establishment
| there. This the great wealth of her present
| husband enables her 10 do without diff
| Guilty. There are some people even who
| are ill-natured enough 10 assert that pecu-
MARY considerations were uppermost in
the mind of the beautiful Gladys when she
conferred her hand upon the exceedingly
unattractive and uninteresting Earl de
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