THE VANCOUVER DAILY WORLD

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

17 December 1909

(page 32)

“LORD” IN KILTS HAD TEMPLE OF MIRRORS.

Many curious stories were told in the Scottish court of session recently of a husband who called himself a “lord,” wore a kilt, studied ancient manuscripts, and built himself a temple of mirrors in his house in Scotland.

These statements were made in an undefended action for divorce brought by Rose Edith Kelly, aged 35, against her husband, Alister Crowley, who both gave addresses in London.

The wife is the daughter of the Rev. F. F. Kelly, vicar of Camberwell. She was married in 1897 to Capt. 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 the defendant.

“Was he then calling himself Alister Crowley?” asked counsel.

The reply was: “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 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 Invernesshire named Boleskine, and used to wear a 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. The marriage was registered in the usual way. Shortly after the marriage the husband assumed the name of Lord Boleskine, because people in Scotland, he said, took the name of their property.

Evidence of cruelty and infidelity were then given by the wife and some of the servants, and subsequently some of Mr. Crowley's peculiarities were described by Gerald Festus Kelly, artist, who is brother of the wife. He said he became acquainted with Alister Crowley in Cambridge about August, 1897. They were both undergraduates. Since then they had been intimately acquainted. The year after leaving Cambridge he went to Paris to study art, and Crowley was a frequent visitor at his studio, where he met his sister. Crowley was very proud of having Scottish blood in his veins, as he thought, and in 1900 or 1901 he bought Boleskine to be his permanent home. He had curious ideas of how to fit up the house. He had a room covered with mirrors which he called a temple. He was a Cabalist and studied ancient MSS.

When he got to Boleskine he took the name of Macgregor, to identify himself with Scotland. While traveling abroad he sometimes signed himself Crowley and sometimes Macgregor. He changed his name from Alexander to Alister because it was Scottish, but he retained the name of Alister Crowley for literary work. He got some mark of distinction from an Indian chief and he announced his intention of calling himself “Lord Boleskne [sic].”

Counsel: “That is the history of how he became a peer?—in every way he tried to identify himself with Scotland.

Boleskine, said Mr. Kelly, was a big house, and many objects of art were stored in it. When he went to Strathpeffer in 1903 Crowley was appearing in complete Highland costume and the Macgregor tartan was very bright.

Lord Salvessen thought the domicile had become Scottish whatever it was originally, and seeing also that the marriage took place in Scotland, he thought there was sufficient ground for granting a decree. Accordingly His Lordship granted a decree with custody of the child [Lola Zaza] to the wife, with alimony at the rate of ₤1 per week.