THE DAILY NEWS

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

27 December 1909

(page 3)

WIFE'S EVIDENCE AGAINST

A STUDENT OF ANCIENT MSS.

TEMPLE OF MIRRORS.

London, November 28.

Many curious stories were told in the Scottish Court of Session, on Wednesday, 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 Invernessshire 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 names of their property.

Wife Sent Home.

Counsel: I take it he is a little eccentric?—Oh, yes.

In July, 1904. a child [Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hectate Sappho Jezebel Lilith] was born, who died twenty-one months later. For a year they travelled about in the East together, and in 1906 she and her husband were at Hongkong. Her husband left her there to return home by America, telling her to go straight home. She was very annoyed at being left in that condition.

She came back to England and joined her father in June, 1906 and she was suing for the custody of that child [Lola Zaza]. Then they lived in Chislehurst for two years, and in March, 1908, she went to stay at Warwick-road, where the house was taken in her name, the defender wishing to avoid responsibility for the rent, as he was becoming a little impecunious.

They stayed there until the summer of this year, and she left because her husband treated her cruelly. He had been frequently bruising her. She left him on July 21.

On August 5 she learned from the charwoman that her husband had a woman staying with him the previous night. Some time before he had asked her to take care of a child for one of his most intimate friends. She, however, accidentally opened a letter addressed to him; which gave the address of the mother, a Miss Zwee, and she went to see her. She learned that her husband was the father of the child. Miss Zwee was a milliner in the Burlington Arcade.

Mrs. M. Danby, of Fulham, a charwoman, stated that the stayed the night at 21, Warwick-road. After Mrs. Crowley left, in order to finish some work, the husband, about midnight on August 4 rang for two cups of tea, which Mrs. Danby took up to the library. There she saw a short, and dark woman, who was gaily dressed, and wore a lot of jewellery.

She heard a lot of laughter during the night, and in the morning took up two cups of tea to the husband and his companion.

Charles Randle, of Chelsea, chauffeur, said Miss Zwee, who was a friend of his wife, boarded with them. The defender, whose portrait he identified, frequently visited her.

Lord Salvesen (looking at the photograph): He looks as if he belonged to the stage.

Counsel: He is a literary character; he rather affects the artistic.

Very Bright Macgregor Tartan.

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 fond of having Scottish blood in his veins, as he thought, and in 1900 or 1902 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 travelling 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 Boleskine.”

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

He took his title from Scotland, and Boleskine is a good estate?—Oh yes.

There is a good deal of land about it?—Yes, but it is perpendicular, most of it. (Laughter).

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

Lord Salveson: Personally, I never could get up my admiration for the Macgregor tartan from an artistic point of view, although its associations were romantic.

Lord Salvesen 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 to the wife, aliment at the rate of £1 per week.