New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-09
sir Charles Assheton- Smith. owner Of Way
mol
An American Baronet's Heiress.

sir Charles Assheton Smith, owner of Way
mol
An American Baronet's Heiress.
Catherine Cowell-Stepney. whose forth
coming marriage to Sir Stafford Howard
| OF Thornhury Castle. Worcestershire. has
Just been announced is the thrty-three-
year old daughter and sole heiress of the
late Sir Arthur Cowcll- Stepney who just
snout this time two years ago was found
dead IN village railroad station I'm Ari-
iona. She inherited from her father all
MS property. including about ten thousand
acres of land i'm Wales and some fifteen
thousand acres in California. Sir Arthur
was very eccentric. Indeed. il was on the
strength OF afiidavits Of the late Mr.. Glad
ftone, Of Lord Currie, Of Sir Robert Meade
Chder secretary OF State for the Colonial
Department. and OF Sir Percy Sanderson.
OF TIE Foreign Office with which Sir Ar
thLr had been connected for a number OF
years., regarding his decisions. that the
Court OF Chancery made an order i'm 1891
granting the custody of his daughter. then
minor. to her mother. Afterward Sir
Arthur was under the treatment OF the
late Sir William Gull. OF DR. Bcrdesey and
OF other eminent physicians and specialists
Tor. mental ailments hesides being i'm the
custody of an alenist for more than year
subsequently, he came TO this country. and
gave vent to his anger for the persecution
TO which he considered himself 10 have been
subjected by abandoning his English cti-
zenship and securing letters Of naturalizl-
ton as citizen of the United States.
Sir Arthur was very proud of his Ameri-
can citizenship, and in writing to his fellow
members of the Travellers and Brooks two
of the most important clubs i'm London. 10
which he belonged up to the time Of his
death, always begged that they should ad-
dress him as MIR Arthur Stepney" since
on becoming an American citizen he had
| dropped the baropetcy for good and all.
While over here he was reported to have
obtained a decree Of divorce i'm the state
OF Idaho. with the object of venting his
disnleasure on his wife for the share which
she had taken i'm establishing his mental
unhtnesS for the guardianship of thei"
daughter. But this divorce was never rec
ognized by the English tribunals. and was
declared by them TO be invalid when il
came up for discussion during the proceed
ines which the now widowed Lady Cowell-
Stepney, sister Of Lord dc Tabley. instituted
IN the English courts. which granted her
judicial separation on the ground of de-
sertion. Lady Cowell- Stepnev is connected
with the Wadsworths. Of Genesee, y. Y.
and her elder sister Is the mother Of that
Sir Bryan Leighton who volunteered for
service under the American fag during the
war with Spain, and went through the en-
tire campaign.
All that riverside district Of London now
known as Stepnev formerly belonged to
the Stepney family Henry VII needed it
for docks. and accordingly gave in ex-
change for it several valuable manors and
estates in Hertfordshire and in Wales. the
latter Of which now belong 10 Miss Cath
crime Cowel-Stepney. Alban Stepney sat
IN three Parliaments in Queen Elizabeth's
reign for the Welsh constituency OF
Haverford West, and younger brother of
Sir John Stepney. the first baronet, was
Cup Bearer to Charles I. and saved that
King from drowning on one occasion, when
the ice broke I'm the New River. The
fourth baronot. Sir Joan Stepney, married
Justina. only daughter Of the painter
Vandyke. and Miss Catherine Cowel-Step-
ney has still IN her possession a very fine
portrait by her ancestor, the great painter
Vandyke. known as The Inverted Hand"
descent from the royal house OF Tudor.
and on the tomb in LlanelY parish church
Of Sir Thomas Stepney. grandson Of Van
dyke, and who died in 1916 II is recorded
that the deceased was descended from
Henry VII"
Sir Stafford Howard is the elder brother
of Esme Howard formerly connected with
the British embassy at Washington, AMI
now English envoy at Berne. He sat for
2 number Of years in Parliament, and was
Under Secretary of State for India in the
Gladstone administration of 1886 For the
last eighteen years he has been Commits
sioner Of the ROYAL Woods Forests and
Land Revenues Department that is TO say,
Of the department which IS intrusted with
the administration OF all that vast Crown
property which Queen Victoria, King
Edward and King George have each on
their accession conceded for their lifetime
10 the national treasury in return for
civil list which I'm this manner costs the
British taxrayer nothing. The Howards Of
Grevstoke are a branch OF the great ducal
house of Howard. Of which the Duke Of
Norfolk. premier duke and carl OF the
realm is the chief.
MAROT-ISF DE FONTENON.