THE WEEKLY MAIL

Cardiff, Wales

27 November 1909

(page 1)

STRANGE DIVORCE SUIT.

KILTED COUNT’S PECULIAR WAYS.

A curious action for divorce was heard at Edinburgh at the instance of Rose Edith Kelly, aged 35, against her husband, Alister [sic] Crowley, who both gave addresses in London.

The petitioner said she was the daughter of the Rev. F. F. Kelly, vicar of Camberwell. She was married in 1897 to Captain Frederick Thomas Skerrett [Frederick Thomas Skerrett], who died in August, 1899. In 1902 she was staying in Paris with her brother, Mr. Gerald Festus Kelly, an artist, and there made the acquaintance of defendant.

Counsel: Was he then calling himself Alister Crowley?—No. He was then Count Skellett. I knew, however, his real name was Alexander Edward Crowley. Later he called himself Macgregor, to identify himself with Scotland.

In July 1903, petitioner went to Strathpeffer, and again met Mr. Crowley, whose name had then become Alister Crowley Macgregor. He tried to identify himself with Scotland as much as possible, had bought a home in Inverness-shire, named Boleskine, and used to wear the kilt, and all that sort of thing. At Strathpeffer on August 11 he asked her to marry him, and she consented. They were married next day in Scottish fashion, and went to stay at Boleskine. Shortly after the marriage the defendant assumed the name of Lord Boleskine, because people in Scotland, he said, took the names of their property.

WIFE LEFT AT HONG KONG.

I think he is a little eccentric—Oh yes. In June, 1904, a child [Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hectate Sappho Jezebel Lilith] was born, which died 21 months later. Then for a year we travelled about together in the East. At Hong Kong my husband left me, saying he would return home by America, and telling me to go straight home.

The Petitioner said she was very annoyed at being thus left, having regard to her condition, and she came back to England to her father’s house, and there gave birth to her second child [Lola Zaza] in September, 1906. Her husband re-joined her, and they lived at Chislehurst for two years, and in March, 1908, went to Warwick-road, London, where he was becoming a little impecunious. She left him last summer because he had been treating her cruelly.

Before that he had asked her to take care of a child, saying it was for one of his most intimate friends, and she believed that until she accidentally opened a letter addressed to him, which gave the address of the mother, a Miss Zwee. She went to see that woman and learned that the defendant himself was the father of the child. Miss Zwee had been a milliner in the Burlington Arcade.

A CABALIST.

Mr. Kelly, the artist, brother of the petitioner, gave additional details of the defendant. They became acquainted at Cambridge, where in 1897 both were undergraduates. The defendant had curious ideas of how to fit up a house, and when he bought Boleskine he had one room covered with mirrors, which he called a temple. He was a cabalist and studied ancient MSS. Boleskine was a big house; he heard it cost £4,000, and defendant’s many objects of art were stored in it. When witness went to Strathpeffer in 1903 defendant was appearing in the complete Highland costume and his Macgregor Tartan was very bright.

Further evidence proved the defendant’s misconduct.

Lord Salvesen granted a decree, with custody of the child to the petitioner and alimony £1 a week.