Norwich bulletin., 1922-02-21
FAMOUS TRIALS
MRS. RYVES

One of the most daring claims to a
royal eitIe was that in 1855, made by
Mrs Lavinia Jannetta Horton RyVeS
She asserted that her grandfather was
the Duke of Cumberland and her son
was therefore, legitimate son and heir.
In 1857 Olive, the daughter of DR..
James Wilnot met the Duke of Cum
berland, the younger brother of George
Ill, and short time after married
her, the girl then being II years of
age. heir only daughter, who ough to
have acquired the title Princess of
Cumberland, was born four years af-
ter the marriage and shortly after
ward the Duke deserted her and mar
fied Lady Ann Horton. The princess
Olive was brough up with her uncle.
Robert Wilmot. and $4,000 year was
paid for her support. The petitioner
brought many papers and documents
purporting to the marriage and birth
and some supposed to have been sign
ed by George III. In 1871 Princess
Olive, who had no knowledge of her
royal birth met and married NJ. de
Series, an artist, who the petitioner
claimed were her mother and father.
In 1915 Lord Warwick, being seri
ously i'll gave to Mrs. Series a packet
of documents being very numerous.
She in turn gave them to her daught-
er, who was the Mrs. Ryves. and she
brought them to the court for their in
spection and to prove her claim.
The case was heard before Lord
Chief Justice Cockburn, Lord Chief
Baron Pollock, Sir James Wild and
and a special jury. Many portraits
were brought into court to prove the
likeness of the Ryves to the royal
family, but were not allowed to be
shown to the jury. Another paper had
| it that George III. was married before
! his wedding with Queen Charlotte,
! and by this marriage had children who
were the rightful heirs to the throne.
| Upon these being shown the Lord
| Chief Justice interposed: THE court is
as l understand, asked solemnly to
| declare on the strength of two GER
! tificates, coming I know not from
whence, written on two scraps of pa
per, that the marriage between Queen
| Charlotte and His Majesty was an in
! valid marriage, and consequently all
| the soverigns who have sat on the
throne since his death, including her
present Majesty, were not entitled to
sit on the throne" He concluded by
| calling them two rubbishy bits OF
paper
The attorney general, on behalf OF
the Crown after explaining the pro-
visions of the legitimacy act, proceed
ed to tear the story of the petitioners
to pieces, showing here and there the
weak points, and in othe:- places the
| utter absurdities, and pronouncing its
folly only equal to its audacity He
showed that if George III entered into
any marriage with Hannah Lightfoor
before that of Caroline neither the
wife or the children would have hello
their peace, much less would have re.
| manned in ebscurity
The ''secf ct must have been KEEP
for - years by seven men and ont
; woman who, although never divulgins
a word of the matter, must have beer
day and night writing on scraps O
paper, and telling the whole story, A
very unlikely proceeding.
The claimant was proved to be o
an unfit state of mind In one lette
she offered to hand to the Prince o
Wales 800 900 If he would interview
her and followed it right away witt
one begging for help and representa-,
| herself In pecuniary straits She was F.:
believer in ghosts and wrote about he
occult powers. 1t was proved tina
she had taken lessons in manuscript
work and had gone through a cours
: of work that would well prepare he
to forgery. The deeds were all O
small pieces of paper every one o
which no human being would use TO
/, any transaction at all, much less on
as important as this. None bore dat
, of water marks and the jury We're C
the unanimous opinion Of their spuri
BUSINESS.
r The jury were not satisfied that tn
I mother Of the petitioner was tn
Z daughter of the Duke of Cumberlant
The forged documents were ordere
in1peunded by the jury and Mrs. La
vinia Jannetta Horton Ryves sacri
feed all her pretensions to royal de
S scent.
r