THE TIMES

London, England

25 November 1909

(page 4)

A SCOTTISH DIVORCE SUIT

In the Court of Session, Edinburgh, yesterday Lord Salvesen heard proof in the undefended action of divorce brought by Rose Edith Kelly, or Skerrett, or Crowley, residing at the Vicarage, Camberwell, London, against Alister Macgregor Crowley, formerly called Edward Alexander Crowley, of Boleskine, Foyers, Inverness-shire.

The pursuer, who is 35 years of age, stated that she was a daughter of the Rev. F. F. Kelly, vicar of Camberwell, and was married in 1897 to Captain Frederick Thomas Skerrett, who died two years later. In 1902 she was staying in Paris with her brother, Mr. Gerald Kelly, an artist, and there made the acquaintance of the defender. He was then calling himself "Count Skerrett"; she knew, however, that his real name was Crowley. Later he called himself Macgregor, in order to identify himself with Scotland. In July, 1903, she went Strathpeffer, and while there she again met the defender. He was then calling himself Alister Crowley Macgregor. She knew he bought Boleskine before 1900. He was very much attached to Scotland and tried to identify himself with it as much as possible. He used to wear the kilt and gave himself out as a Scotsman. At Strathpeffer on August 11, 1903, he asked her to marry him. She consented, and they were married the next day in Scottish fashion because he told her he was a Scotsman. Shortly after the marriage he assumed the title of Lord Boleskine. He did so because he said people in Scotland took the name of their estates. He was a little eccentric. The defender assaulted her, and she left him in July last. Afterwards, by accidentally opening a letter, she ascertained that he was the father of a child by another woman.

Mr. Gerald F. Kelly, an artist, said he was the brother of the pursuer. He became acquainted with Alister Crowley at Cambridge when they were undergraduates together. Since then they had been intimately acquainted. After leaving Cambridge the witness went to Paris to study art, and the defender was a frequent visitor at his studio. In 1900 or 1901 he bought Boleskine. He had curious ideas of how to fit up a house. He put mirrors round a room and called it a temple. He had invented a new sort of religion. Boleskine was the only home he had. He changed his name from Alexander to Alister because it was Scottish, but he retained the name of Alister Crowley for literary work. The defender got some mark of distinction from some Indian chief, and he thereupon called himself Lord Boleskine. At Strathpeffer the defender appeared in highland dress, and the kilt, of Macgregor tartan, was very bright.

Lord Salvesen said he thought he might assume that the defender's domicile had become Scottish, and that the marriage took place in Scotland. He would grant a decree of divorce with the custody of the child [Lola Zaza] to the pursuer, with aliment at the rate of £1 weekly.