THE UMPIRE

Manchester, Lancashire, England

28 November 1909

(page 5)

HE WAS FOND OF HIS TARTAN.

Respondent who Adopted

Titles to Please Himself.

“LORD BOLESKINE” DIVORCE.

A gentleman whose self-accorded title of Lord, Laird, Count, or plain “Mr.” varied according to his whims and surroundings, was held in the Court of Session at Edinburgh to be no fit mate for his wife, Rose Edith Kelly [Rose Kelly] or Skerrett or Crowley, residing at the vicarage, Camberwell, London.

This was done at the lady’s asking, the husband, Alister Macgregor Crowley, of Boleskine Foyers, Inverness-shire, Scotland, and residing in London, offering no defence.

The plaintiff, a woman of 35 years, in her examination by Mr. Jameson, said she was the daughter of the Rev. F. F. Kelly, vicar of Camberwell. She married in 1897 Captain Frederick Thomas Skerrett, who died in August 1899. In 1902 she was staying with her brother, Mr. Gerald Kelly, an artist, and there made the acquaintance of Mr. Crowley.

Was he then calling himself Alister Crowley?

Knew Him First as “Count.”

No, he was then Count Skellet. I knew, however, his real name was Alexander Edward Crowley. Later he called himself Macgregor to identify himself with Scotland.

In July, 1903, she went to Strathpeffer, and while there she met Mr. Crowley. He was then calling himself Alister Crowley Macgregor. She knew he bought Boleskine before 1900, and that his home was there—the only home he ever had. He was mush attached to Scotland, and tried to identify himself with it as much as possible.

He used to wear the kilt and all that sort of thing, and always gave himself out as a Scotchman. At Strathpeffer on August 11 he asked her to marry him, and she consented. They were married next day in Scottish fashion, because he told her he was a Scotsman. The marriage was registered in the usual way, and in the certificate he gave his name as Macgregor, but his father’s name was given as Edward Crowley. After the marriage they went to stay at Boleskine, which was a large house with two or three farms on the property.

“Lord Boleskine.”

Shortly after the marriage he assumed the name of Lord Boleskine. This was, he said, because people in Scotland took the names of their property.

Counsel: 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 twenty-one months later. For a year they travelled about the East together, and in 1906 she and her husband were at Hong Kong. Her husband left her there to return home by America, telling her to go straight home to be confined. She was very annoyed at being left in that condition. She came back to England, and joined her father in June, 1906. At her father’s house she was confined in September, 1906, and was suing for the custody of that child [Lola Zaza].

They then lived at Chiselhurst for two years, and in March, 1908, she went to stay at Warwick-road, where the house was taken in her name, as her husband wished to avoid responsibility for the rent. He was becoming a little bit impecunious. He stayed there until the summer of this year, and she left on July 21, because he had been treating her cruelly. He had been frequently bruising her.

On 5th August she learned from the charwoman that her husband had a woman staying with him on the previous night. Some time before that Mr. Crowley has asked her to take care of a child for one of his most intimate friends, and from what he said she thought he was a friend’s child. She, however, accidentally opened a letter addressed to the respondent, which gave the address of the mother, a Miss Zwee, and she went to see her. She learned that the defendant was the father of the child, and she thereupon raised that action.

Replying to Lord Salveson, Mrs. Crowley said Boleskine still belonged to the respondent, but it was let for five years. Later she stated that it was bonded.

What is your nationality?—My father says he is Irish. I was born in England.