SUTHERLAND ROMANCE.

Evening Star, Issue 14931, 18 July 1912, Page 4

SUTHERLAND ROMANCE.

DEATH OF A FAMOUS DUCHESS. FIRST HUSBAND'S TRAGIC FATE. A romance interwoven with the history of the peerage is recalled by the death of Mary Caroline, Duchese of Sutherland, wife of Sir Albert K. Rollifc. The late duchess was thrice married. Born in 1848, she was the youngest daughter of the late Rev. l>r Richard Michel], Principal of Hertford College, and Public Orator and Professor of IjOgic at Oxford. She married first, in 1872, her cousin, Arthur Kindersley Blair, of the 71st Highland Light Infantry, who died in 1883; secondly, in 1889, George Granville William, third Duke of Sutherland, who died in 1892; and thirdly, in 1886, Sir Albert Kaye Rollit, LL.D.," then M.P. for South Islington. She had by her first husband one daughter. Trene Mary Counted Bubna, who survives her. Her first husband. Captain Blair, met a tTPtric death, a shot from his own min killing him. He was a factor to the ihi d Duke'of Sutherland, and the affair caused a tremendous sensation, especially as an intimacy between the duke and Mrs Blair subsequently led to the complete estrangement of the duchess, with whom Queen Victoria sympathised to the extent, of excluding the "duke from Court. The duke lived at' Trenthn-m Hall, and the duchess was perforce obliged to seek another residence with hsr children, for whose fake she refrained from taking divorce proceedings. Afterwards the duke left the country with Mrs Blair. "On November 25. 1888, the duchess died, and the duke, who was then in New York, immediately wont to J)nned : n (Florida) and married Mrs Blair, who thus became Duche?s of Sutherland. In August, 1892. the duke made a will just before his death leaving all the property not entailed to the duchess. He left his widow a legacv of £IOO,OOO, payable within a year of his death, with a further £50,000 bv a codicil. He also left her a jointure of £5,000 over the English estates, and an annuitv of £4.000 over the Scottish estates. He gave her a lease of Tit-tensor Chaec, Staffordshire, for life, the use of the family diamonds for life, a life interest in all his collieries, and absolute bequest of the Sideway Estate, near St-oke-on-TTent. and a legacy of £12,000 to Miss Irene Blair, the duchess's only child by her first husband. Under this will the whole of the furniture at Stafford House, Tre-i:thnm, and DunTobin, with the plate, china, pictures, and a number of objects of ait, would have passed to the dowager |}uche ; s. Naturally, this will was bitterly opposed by the duke's eldest son, the present duke, j and the whole of the Sutherland family, j Litigation started, the will being disputed under Scottish law. There was also an action in the Chancery Court, in which the late Duke of Westminster and Mr Henry Chaplin, as trustees of the Sutherland "estates, sought to compel the dowager duchess to give up certain diamonds which they alleged were heirlooms. It appeared that after the third duke's death search was made, and these jewels could not be found at either Trentham or Stafford House, and it was disoove-.ed that they had been deposited at the dowager duchess's bankers. She declined to hand them over until she had access to Stafford House. —lmprisoned at Holloway.— Sir Fran: is Jeune, in the Probate Couit, had made an order which d reeled that certain tables and boxes containing papers should be removed from Stafford House and transferred to the offices of the solicitor of the administrator, to be there opened in the presence of the ducness and of the solicitors to the parties in the probate suit. During the removal of the papers, a- bundle of them from one of the tables was produced. The duchess took possession of the bundle, and, taking one of the papers in her hand, crossed the room and placed the document in the fire, causing it to be destroyed. The duchess apologised, but was ordered to pay a fine of £250 and to be imprisoned in * Holloway for eix weeks for contempt cf court. She was released on May 23, having had her cell in Holloway furnished with nl"« plush and having received her friends there. In June, 1891, the litigation was settled, the dov,ag?r duchess receiving £500,000 down and an annuity of £SOO. The tactful intervention of the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Ivdwaid) is said to have contributed to the eettlement. In 1896 the dowager duchess married Sir Aibu't Koliit, at that time M.P. for South Islington. After eight years' married life, however, they decided in 1904 to live apart, without any formal (separation. In 1838 Her Grace once more came into notoriety through the theft of her jewels, valued at £20,000, at the Gare du Nord in Paris, and their sensational discovery in a house in Fulhara