MELBA'S SON IN THE DIVORCE COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 315, 5 January 1909, Page 3

MELBA'S SON IN THE DIVORCE COURT.

One of penalties of fame is that whenever „ near relative doeth Out which is wrong the newspapers generaly give great prominence to the evildoers relationship with the famous person. '» .Madame Melba has a son, Mr. George u .Vv.iiu Armstrong. Under his own j" name this young man might (if his relationship to the famous prima donna '" were not disclosed) do all sorts of 1 weird and wicked things without creating any particular stir among the public. J!ut as Melba's son, any little 1 wickedness ill which he may engage, at 1 once becomes matter for contents bills * and big head-lines in .the newspapers. i tto last Friday evening the London i public were faced everywhere with uews- . paper bills which declared in the boid- » est of type, that Madame Melba's son i had been divorced. This announcement , entirely occupied the bills of two even- ' ing papers, and was given special pro- , niiueucc in others. On the morrow, instead of finding the report of the pro- , ceedings in the ordinary columns devoted to the doing.s of the Divorce Court, one found that the Armstrong case had been made a special by most of the papers, being reported at great length and adorned with, in several eases, inches of bold headings. ■Mr George Ncsbitt, Armstrong is Madame Melba's son by her marriage with Mr Charles Armstrong, which was dissolved some eight years ago. In December, l!)Wi, he married the daughter of Colonel Otway, of l'ark Lane. Miss Otway, who was only a schoolgirl at the time, met her husband at a garden party, and after a good deal of parental opposition, the pair were married at St. George's, Hanover square, the. bridegroom being then only twenty-one and the bride nineteen. Their -married life began under the happiest auspices. The ceremony was one of the events of the year, and there were 400 presents, including a magnificent collection of jewellery and gold and silver plate. Madame Melba gavo her son .a castle and estate near Killarney, a large quan- ■ tity of furniture and a cheque for £50,000, and the bride had a handsome dowry. The marriage, however, w> ; not a happy one. Dissensions arose between husband and wife almost immediately. Armstrong had a most vio- 1 lent temper, and, according to counsel, treated his wife very cruelly. In February, 1007, they went to Texas, and there, after a squabble, during which the husband used very bad language, he i used violence to Mrs Armstrong because she would not "kiss and make friends." Again, whilst they were staying at Worthing, because she complained of his language, he "twisted her wrist, dragged across the sands, shook her violently, and pushed her into the sea up to ■

lier knees." Then ensued a trip to Australia, during which, said Mrs Armstrong, '"my husband dragged me out if hunk, .shook mo, and caught me by the throat. On the voyage home ho nearly strangled me. I was terrified." It was after their return to England in May last that Mrs Armstrong discovered that her husband was unfaithful as well as cruel. Mr Armstrong went to Paris for a couple of days, and on his return Iter suspicions were aroused, and he admitted misconduct. He begged his wife not to divorce him, but she left him, and as soon as she. had obtained the necessary evidence filed her petition. The Judge granted the petitioner a decree nisi, with costs.