The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-12-17
| MRS. PHYLLIS |, BROOKS
FREED FROM HUSBAND
Aibemaric County Circuit Court Dis.
solves Marital Bond With New
York Nubman.
BENEFICIARY IN TWO WILLS
British Officers Killed i'm Battle, For
mcr .Admirers. Leave Her Sui,stan-
tiai Sums. So That She Is I'm At
fluent Circumstances.

Charlottesville, Va. Dee 16.-Mrs
Phyllis Langhorne Brooks is no longer
the wife of Reginald Brooks. the New
ofk clubman, the Circuit Court of
Aloemarle County having entered q
/ decree Of enforcement.
Just after Christmas. n year ago
Mrs. BROOKS entered a suit for sepa-
ration from her husband; the decree
reeiting that the parties to the suit
were lawfully married on November
H. 1901, and that r ginald Brooks
on September Is, 1912, willfully and
Intentionally abandoned and deserted
his wife, and that the deSertion and
abandonment had continued to the
date of the decree period Of more
tina two years. Judge John W. Fish
burne entered a decree Of divorce, a
mensa ct thoro, The present decree
merges the former one in decree
for divorce from the bonds of natrj-
mony. but expressly provides that
nothing in 1t shall affect the rights
and obligations OF either under sn
agreement bearing date q. February
"a. 1918, in regard to an allowance
for the support OF Mrs. Brooks and
two children. Reginald and David l..
Brooks, and also in regard 10 the Gus
tody. maintenance and education Of
the children as provided for in that
agreement.
Mrs. Brooks is one of the famous
IangIorDe beauties, daughters of
Colonel Chiswell ID. Langhorne. of
Greenwood, this county. She is a sis
ter OF Mrs. Charles Dana Gibson, OF
New York. Of Mrs. William Waldorf
Aston, of 'Cliveden," London, and of
Mrs. Paul phipps. of Long Island.
This is the second divorce in the FAM
lily. Mamie having been granted q de-
cree from her husband. Robert Shaw,
of Boston, some years ago.
The Narquise de FontenoX. who
seems to be usually well informed.
hints strongly that Mrs. Brooks had
created warm and faithful attach
/ ments on the part of AT least two dis
tineuished and well-horn Englishnlen
who gave up their lives in France in
the present terrible war. The mar
quise says:
| Others Bequcath Fortune.
! Lord Penrhyn's soldier brother.
Captain and Hon. George Douglas
pennant. of the Grenadier Guards. is
not the only British officer killed IN
action in France who has bequeathed
fortune to Mrs. Phyllis Langhorne
! Brooks Of Greenwood Va, and of
| New York. for she has also been a
| large beneficiary under the will of
/ Lord f.econfield's brother Captain and
(
| the Seventeenth Hussars, who lost his
life on the battlefields Of France in
! November of last year,
Like Captain Douglas Pennant,
l Captain Wyndham was very rich, and
| the result OF these two requests. one
! following upon the other at an inter-
val of three months is that Mrs.
/ Brooks nnds herself now in very af-
fluent circumstances, her legacy from
/ % mt a IN hon CT annanf alone hpinp
estimated at more than 100000.
Both Frequent Visitors.
/ Both Wvndham and Douglas-Pe
D. nant were frequent visitors to the
/ United States in recent years, and ina
variabiy made long stays at Mrs.
Brooks place in Virginia. Zach was
known as her devoted swain, and at
the time when the steps became
known which she had taken al Char
iottesviile to obtain the dissolution OF
her union IN Reginald Brooks, con-
siderabi speculation was expressed
among her intimate friends and &C
uuaintances as to which of these two
| English soldier admirers OF hers she
would we'd when free. There is no
doubt that each Of them imagined
that he was the preferred one i'll her
affections. Captain Wyndham un-
douhtedly died in November, 1914, in
France. under German Are. In the
belief that she would have become his
wife had he lived. Captain Douglas
Pennant entertained similar idea
I concerning her. namely. that she was
destined TO become his bride. II Is
doubtful whether he learned. before
he fell III March last, that she had
benefited so largely under the will of
Wyndhap, for it is quite recently that
the contents of Captain Wyndham' Z
! will have been made public. Perhaps
/ 1t would not have made any difference
4 to Douglas Pennant, in view of the
H., fact that as the survivor of her two
I admirers he had every reason to be
iieve that he was destined to be the
fortunate man who would lead her to
the altar