The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-05-06
BRITISH WRITER
FLAySLADY AST0R
Editor Of John Bull Bitterly At
lacks Her Divorce Views
In Parliament.
Continued from First rage)

Out my PUBIC GUY cothpels hcs W
denounce Lady Aston as a hypocrite
Of the first water"
In enlsrging on the divorce incl
dent he indicates a further charge
of discrimination, pointing out that
Burke's "Peerage" and other refer
epce books describe Nancy Astor AS
the widow OF Robert Gould shaw.
whereas her frst husband is still
siivs In New York. where he Is a
member OF the Brook Club.
"And this is the honorable and
noble lady, a peerless by marriage,
who comes into the British House OF
Commons and dares to sermonize
against slackening our divorce laws"
Bottomley's article declares.
Lady Astor, as the protagonist OF
the great experiment OF female repre-
sentation In Parliament, has dismally
failed"
Bottomley points out that Lady
Astor opposed prolonged separation as
being grounds for divorce, thus de-
nying others the liberty she found
no easy and convenient, and accuses
her of deliberately fooling the
English people by describing herself
Ia Burke's "Peerage" and who's
Who" as the widow Of shaw.
Nov we know that her earnest
pleading and her emotion In Commons
were mere camoufage," Bottomley
continues. MANY members who were
pfnhuenced. being ignorant OF her col
lusive divorce, are nov Indignant
over her rank hypocrisy and cant"
The FIRST woman member of Parlia-
msnt recently forecast this attack by
saying publicly:
ga. Quotes Divorce Views.
1T know that my advocacy of tenn
A Ia aft hA
tAntagonisms, ard that i have to fight
for my future political existence"
After making the charge that Lady
,Astor deceived the Plymouth electors
ion the prohibition question, he fol-
lows with quoting from Lady Astor's
speech in the House of Commons last
month, urging that there be no weak
ening OF the marital ties by freer di-
vorce facilities. In that speech Lady
Aston said:
II am convinced that making d.
vorce harder really makes. happy mar
riages more possible. In America,
when the States have such easy di-
vorce laws. I do not think that women
have gained.
II beg the House. thinking this
measure over, to consider ii from a
large viewpoint. and not to dwell
merely upon miseries and inequali-
ties. I think the world is too loose
altogether. and what it needs is tight
eniug up"
Cites Her Divorce.
Bottomley says Lady Astor spoke
with her tongue in her cheek" and
ayers she Is, guilty of frank hypic-
risy" because she obtained a divorce
! from her first husband, Robert Gould
) Chaw, at Charlottesville, Va, on Feb
ruary 3. 1909, "by arrangement be-
tween her and her husband"
The editor reproduces New York
newspaper report which states that
Shaw went to Europe to make the
divorce easy and comments:
This was a collusive divorce such
as certainly would not be possible in
this country. Every practicable step
was taken to hush 1t up.
This is the honorable, noble lady,
American by birth. who in the House
of Commons dares to .sermonize upon
the spiritual aspects of the marriage
tie and protest against slackening our
laws of divorce.
81 am not a moralist, nor a purist
II Lady Astor's first marriage was
unhappy. ] congratulate he'd upon
getting rid of her husband. but l want
to see similar facilities. with due limi-
tations for unhappily married persons
in this country. l do detest cant.
Rcsents American I'm House.
II am not an enemy of female rep
resentation in Parliament, although ]
confess / would prefer a plain. Brit
ish- born Mrs. Smith to the most noble
oiscountess of American birth. Lady
Astor was the protagonist of a great
experiment, and she has dismally
failed"
Bottomley predicts that these
revelations will come as the final
shock to the members of all parties
in the House of Commons who object
TO being fooled"
Although some English social and
biographical registers have listed
Lady Aston as widow" making
no mention of her divorce. there has
been no secret on this side of the
Atlantic about the legal action which
separted her from Robert Gould
Shaw, II.
. The two were married in the fall
of 1897 at the brides birthplace
Mirader, Va, when she was then Miss
Nancy Langhorne. Soon after the
birth of her son, Robert Gould Shaw
III, she left her husband, and Feb
ruary 4, 1903, obtained "A divorce un-
der the State law on the ground of
desertion. Three days later. Mr.. Shaw
married Mrs. Mary Converse, of
Brookline, Mass, widow of c. II. Con-
verse, of Newton.
Mrs. Shaw, however, was somewhat
Bkeptical about the complete validity
OF her decree, and in 1906, when she
was to become the bride of Waldorf
Aston. she questioned the genuineness
Of the divorce. postponing her mar
rage for some months until the case
was threshed out in the United States
Supreme Court.