£1,200 FOR BREACH OF PROMISE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 175, 19 May 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

£1,200 FOR BREACH OF PROMISE.

ARMY OFFICER AND HIS "DARLING QUEEN."

800 LETTERS

Dear Madam—l have to-day been consulted by Mr. Rjchard Ramsbottom with regard to a heart stolen by you from him, and have to inform you that unless the same ba returned, together with 6s Bd, my costs, legal proceedings wdl at once be commenced against you for th« recovery thereof .—Yours truly, R Ramsbottom.

This was one of more than 800 letters written by Mr. Richard Ramsbottom, a solicitor, of Accnngton, now a iecond-lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers, to Miss Nina Dorothy Masters, of Goodwill Villa, Kensmgtonroad„ Blackpool, to whom aOshentf s jury at Preston recently awarded £1250 damages for breach of promise ot marriage. . , The parties, counsel explained, w.vi of some social standing. Miss M istc-rs father was the manager of a la*ie stote in Manchester, while Lieutenant? Kanisbottom, before he joined the Army, practised as a solicitor at Ace mgtcn. They met first at Bispham in Marcn, 1910. when Miss Masters wis a girl ot eighteen and Mr. Ramsbottom was twenty-four. '" , , They soon fell in love, but a formal announcement, of the engagement was not made until November, 1912. From that time Mr. Ramsbottom was treated as a member of the family, and used to accompany Miss Masters' father on excursions in the latter's yacht, tie took M.ss Masters about at week-ends, seemed to have plenty of money, and represent-d that his practice was flourishing. It was agreed that the marriage should take place on Miss Masters' birthday on August 2 1913, and they went house-hunting, but later he suggested that the wedding rhould be postponed until be could give her a better position. Miss Mastets at once consented, and nothing more was said about the wedding until September, 1914, when Mr. Ramsbottom joined the Army. ~ Lieutenant Ramsbottom, said counsel, was a good-looking young man ot pleasant disposition, and his sense ot humou.- was indicated in some ot the 800 letters which he had written to Miss Masters during their five years 'acquaintance. ~ One is quoted above. Another, written on January 21, 1913, began:-

My Fairest Sweetheart,—l was delighted to find your letter waiting for me at the oihea to-day when 1 arrived There were two other letters —business ones-hut i\ must have been quite half an hour before L opened them, I was so busy reading and pondering over yours. Yes, darling, I love you, and nothing will ever alter tnat. A\ hatever vou do or I do, you can always believe, sweetheart, that you hold for eternity the undy:ng love of my whole being. That is something 1 can never take away from you. Believe, me, darling, you are all the world to me-yes, to yourcver-loving sweetheart, Dick -

In the following April be wrote : My Darling Chicken—What a darling little thing you are in your photo taken when you were a chicken ; . . You haven't changed much —you still have that saucy look on vour face that you had then. . ... Got a little bit of fresh business this morning. Things are bucking up fine, fairest of the fair. I shall be with you on Saturday, and let a sweet little smile curve the most perfect mouth that was ever sculptured, for I shall come to kiss those smiling lips. So be prepared, my darling queen, be thou prepared to meet him thus. Who? Why, thy lover, Dick. Au revoir, you dream of be i ity. "FLOWER OF MY EXISTENCE. In September of the same year h-. wrote thtat never in thought or aetioi' had he been unfaithful, and he never would be. He added: "You are tup bloom that I shall never grow tired of, one that will never fade." In January, 1915, when Mr.Kamsbottom contemplated getting his commission, he wrote: "If there te nny chance of going to the front I don't see why we should not be married before 1 go." Counsel went on to sny that in October bv<t vear .\ii>s Masters, at Mr. Ramsbottom's invitation, spent- a week with him at !"t Tcastlo-under-Lynme, and December 1 was the.i fixed as the wedingday, but shortly after oJiss Mas. tors had returned to Blackpool he wroto stating that he could not afford to keep her, adding: "1 know, Nanny, T have made you look a fool, and the thought of it is sending mo mad. I jim awfullv sorry, dear.—Yours lovingly, Dick." In a letter of November la "t'lie stated : "i am pei fovtly candid with you. Nan, and you must understand that our engagement must irrevocably end. Why go on with the forlorn hope? It is '-imply impossible, so please write back and sav it is all off. —Yours, etc., Dick. P.S.—This is absolutely final." Miss Masters, an attractive young woman, formally corroborated counsel's statement, and was not subjected to ci-iisi-oxamnation. Mr. Banisliottom's counsel, addressim; the court in mitignton of damages, said that after considering the position from every point of viow hi-; 'lient c.imo to the conclusion rhpt, : f >■ >'' l I.? foolish in ni.Trv the ?irl p«d bring :yionse upon her and himself.