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Waterford Peerage Claim The respondents’ case Beresford v Attorney General and Others (Before Mr. Justice Coleridge) The hearing of the claim to the Waterford peerage was continued in the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division today. The claim in made in the form of a petition by ‘George Beresford, sometimes know as George Tooth, of 8 Crescent Wood road Sydenham, in Surrey’ a gardener for a declaration under the Legitimacy Declaration Act that he is the lawful son of John Henry De la Poer, fifth Marquess of Waterford. The respondent, the present holder of the title an infant by his mother as guardian ad litem, denies that the petitioner is the legitimate son of the fifth marquess. He alleges that the petitioner is the natural son of Georgina Tooth, the sister of a cook in the service of Mrs. Vivian, who became the first wife of the fifth marquess and that he was born in a workhouse in the Holborn Union.
Evidence for the respondent was give today.
Mr. Alexander Cairns and Mr. Towers Settle appeared for the petitioner: Mr. Gill, K. C. and Mr. Bayford for the present Lord Waterford; and Mr. J H Pilcher for the Attorney General. Mr. John Clay superintendent registrar of births deaths and marriages for the district of Shoreditch produced the register of the birth of ‘John Tooth’ on January 25 1872, in the Holborn Union. The mother was described as a servant of the age of 27 years and it was stated that she had died in the workhouse.
William Catley who is now employed at the Bexley Asylum said that in 1872 he was a footman in the service of Mrs. Vivian at 7 Upper Brook Street. Priscilla Kynastone was a maid in the house and had a sitting room of her own. Between the spring and the summer of 1872 a child was brought to the house by a middle aged women who seemed to be very respectable. She was shown into Miss Kynastons room. He heard that the baby’s name was George Tooth. In the autumn he moved with the household to 27 Chesham Place. He remembered Lady Waterford being confined in March 1973. The child was born in the early morning. The house was aroused and the doctor and the monthly nurse were sent for. The nurse remained in the house until Lady Waterford’s death. A coffin was brought and he saw it when it was taken away. It was a blue velvet coffin. It was taken away in Lord Waterford’s brougham by Lord Waterford himself and the undertaker. He (the witness) went over to Ireland and was present at the funeral. He saw a small blue velvet coffin buried with that of Lady Waterford. In cross examination, the witness agreed that he never saw the dead body of a child. All that he saw was the blue coffin.
Mrs. Sophia Woolston, a sister the last witness said that her brother was in Mrs. Vivian’s employment at Upper Brook Street. She visited her there and she remembered Miss Kynaston. She (the witness) was married on February 27 1873 She went to see her brother about the last day in March of that year. She went into the house and heard of the confinement of Lady Waterford. Sarah Cook, a housemaid took her upstairs and showed her a coffin covered with white cloth. Cook removed the cloth and showed her a stillborn baby in the coffin.
Mr. Cains (cross examining) – When did you first hear of a mock funeral? Yesterday (Laughter)
Did that make you come forward and say that you saw the child? – Oh No. When I saw in the newspapers that a claim was to be made I said, ‘Well I saw that dead baby’.
Burial of the still born
Mr. Alfred Pitney, of Great Portland Street, said that in 1873 his father and he were in business in South Audley Street as house furnishers and undertakers. They were in the habit of doing work for Mrs. Vivian. In March 1873 he received instructions for the burial of a stillborn child. He arranged for a grave at Brompton on the same day. His father sent him to Chesham Place where he saw Miss Kynaston, who brought the body of a stillborn child out of a wardrobe in the dressing room. He measured the child and had a coffin made for it by Messrs Farstin, in Welbeck Street. He took the coffin to Chesham Place and put the child into it. The coffin was covered with pale blue velvet. On the following day he took the coffin to the cemetery in Lord Waterford’s brougham and Lord Waterford accompanied him. When they got to Brompton they found the grave open, and the coffin was put in.
The witness identified the doctors’ certificate which was lodged with the cemetery authorities when the child was buried.
It was a follows:-
The Marchioness of Waterford was delivered of a stillborn male child on Saturday March 29 and was attended by me at 27 Chesham Place, Belgrade Square – G .T. Gream M.D.
There was an endorsement in the coroner.
'Received March 31 1873’ Brompton Cemetery Office’.
He went to Brompton with one of Messrs Garstins men and the grave was opened and the coffin which had been buried was raised and handed to him. It was taken to Messrs Farstins premises and they opened it and took out the body.
Mr. Hume Williams – Was it the same on that you had put in? – Undoubtedly.
The witness went on to say that a new lead lined coffin was provided and the body was placed in it. He thought that a plate was put on it with the letters ‘D L P’ they stood for ‘De la Poer’ the body of Lady Waterford was taken to Waterford. He followed the same evening with the child’s body in the coffin, which was packed in a deal case. Two of Messrs Farstins men and Lord Charles Beresford’s Chinese valet accompanied him on the journey.
The witness continued;- The funeral at Curraghmore took place about midday. There was a new brick grave. The body of Lady Waterford was put in first. Then the child’s body was lowered.
The witness said that he knew Mrs. Duncan. She came to see him with a baby boy three or four months after Lady Waterford’s death. She said that the name of the child was George Tooth. For 10 or 12 years he paid her two guineas a month on behalf of Lord Waterford.
Mr. Hume- Williams produced a letter, dated December 28 1884 which the witness identified as being in the handwriting of Lord Waterford. The postscript was: ‘What is the age of George Tooth now?’ The witness said that that referred to the child for whom he had been making the payments. Mr. Tom Richards, superintendent at Brompton Cemetery, produced the burial book for 1873 and proved the following entry:-
‘Stillborn male child of the Most Honourable John Henry De la Poer Beresford, Marquess of Waterford K.P. 27 Chesham Place Belgrave Square 11 o’clock Tuesday April 1 1873.
There was also an entry of the removal of the body on April 7. Attached to the book was the certificate given by Dr Gream.
Mr. Edward Boddington, manager of Messrs Garstin and sons undertakers Wigmore Street produced the order book of the firm for 1873. It showed that on March 29th 1873 Mr. Pitney ordered a coffin for the still born child of Lady Waterford with the letters ‘D.L.’ over a ‘P’ on the plate. The shell was of elm and the case of oak, covered with light blue velvet.
Lord Marcus Beresford in the Box
Lord Marcus Beresford said that he remembered the birth of the stillborn child in Mary 1873 Lord Charles Beresford and he were both sent for and they stayed with their brother on the night that his wife died. Lord Waterford was then in a state of great distress. After the death of Lady Waterford he went to Ireland to the funeral. Lady Waterford’s coffin was buried in a separate grave away from the family tomb and the coffin of the child was placed with it.
Mr. Samuels of the Morning Post produced that newspaper for March 31 1873 it contained the announcement:-
‘Waterford – On March 29 at 27 Chesham Place the Marchioness of Waterford, of a son stillborn’.
On April 5 1873 there was an announcement of Lady Waterford’s death and on April 9 1873 an announcement that Lord Waterford had left London to attend his wife’s funeral in Ireland. Formal evidence was then given of the payment of cheques to Mrs. Duncan in 1873.
The books of the Holborn Union Workhouse were produced for January 1872 showing an entry of an application by Georgina Tooth because she was pregnant and was without means. Admission was granted on January 13 1872. An entry of January 24 1872 showed that Georgina Tooth, a servant, aged 23 single was admitted on that day, and that she died on February 3.
On January 25, 1872 an entry showed the birth of ‘John Tooth’ and that that child was discharged on February 19 when three weeks old to ‘Vivian, Upper Brook Street, Governor Square.
The examination of Mrs. Priscilla White, formerly Miss Pricilla Kynaston, taken on commission was then read. She said that in 1872 Lady Waterford went to the Franciscan Convent. Lady Waterford had a cook named Sarah Tooth. Sarah Tooth told her that her sister, Georgina Tooth, had had a child in a hospital. Lady Waterford told her (Mrs. White) to go to the matron of the hospital and see if something could be done for the child. In February the child, was given to Mrs. Vivian and was taken to the convent. Afterwards arrangements were made for Mrs. Duncan to take care of the child, and she was ‘to be paid £25 a year. The child was to be called George Tooth. She (The witness) had remained with Lady Waterford till her death and she was in the room when Lady Waterford gave birth to a dead child on March 29th 1873. Lord Waterford was there too in the room. The dead child was handed to her. Lady Waterford wished her baby to be buried with her.
She (the witness) was present at the funeral at Curraghmore. The child’s coffin was beside the coffin of Lady Waterford all night, and both were buried together.
Mrs. White in cross examination said that Cardinal Manning had influenced Mrs. Vivian and She became a Roman Catholic in 1872 before her marriage to Lord Waterford. There were two marriages, one in a register office and the other in a church. She could not remember what church it was, but she thought that it was a Protestant church. She did not really know that Mrs. Vivian had become a Roman Catholic until she died. She wanted to see Cardinal Manning from her death. Sara Tooth was cook at Mrs. Vivian’s for a short time only. When she told Lady Waterford about Georgina Tooth and her child Lady Waterford said’ What brutes to leave a living child with its dead mother!’ She had never seen George Tooth, Sarah Tooth told her that her sister was ill and asked leave to go and see her. She (the witness) gave permission. Later Sarah Tooth told her that her sister had been confined and had died. When Lady Waterford heard of it she said that she could not sleep for thinking of the child; that she was very fond of children and loved her own two children. Lady Waterford added that she had decided to provide for the child. She (the witness) said Not to adopt him? And Lady Waterford answered. ‘No only to provide for it’ She (the witness) went to the workhouse and received permission to take the child way.
Mr. Cairnes was proceeding to read the evidence at length, when his Lordship suggested that it might be appreciated.
Mr. Caines. – The counsel who present when the evidence was taken was cross examining rather in the air.
Mr. Justice Coleridge – In the aether? (Laughter)
Mr. Caines – It certainly is rare fled, but I am trying to condense it. (laughter)
The witness went on to say that she took the child in Lord Waterford’s brougham to the convent in Portobello Road. They had arranged with Mrs. Jones who was a friend of hers (the witness) to find someone to take care of it. Mrs. Jones said that she could find someone who trustworthy, and they got into touch with Mrs. Duncan. It was arranged that £25 a year should be paid for the child. Mrs. Duncan was to call for the money monthly at Upper Brook Street.
Referring to the birth of Lady Waterford’s child the witness said that the child cried a little on birth and then died.
Counsel – I suggest that there were twins one born alive and the other died? There were not the witness said that at the funeral of Lady Waterford two men carried the child’s coffin behind that of the marchioness and it was buried with its mother.
Counsel – I suggest that on March 29 1873 you were handed a live child by Lady Waterford’s doctor they we took it into an adjoining room and carred for it for a few days and then took it in Lord Waterford’s brougham to Mrs. Duncan’s? – That is a pure invention.
Mrs. Mary Ann Louisa Godfrey, of Woodford Road Thornton Heath, the daughter of Mrs. Duncan, said that she was living with her mother at 56 Seymour Place Fulham Road in 1872. Her mother was a widow, and acted as monthly nurse. She was then working as a dressmaker. She heard from her mother that a baby was coming for her to take care of. One day a little child came from 7 Upper Brook Street. That was the child brought up by her mother and herself of George Tooth. Next morning she made the following entry on the fly lead of a Bible:- ‘Tooth March 8th 1872’.
The petitioner was requested to stand in the well of the Court, and the witness identified him as the George Tooth of whom she had been speaking. Her mother was paid for keeping the child. She (the witness) used to call at 7 Upper Brook Street for the money on the 8th day of every month, and she always took the child with her. She gave the fly lead of the Bible to the petitioner.
Mr. Gill – Has a Mrs. Torr been to see you? – Yes
How often? – Two or three times.
In reply to the Judge, the witness said that after the money was stopped she continued to look after George Tooth.
Mr. Cairnes – You mean that he then went out to work and he continued living with you? – Yes
An entry in a Bible
The witness was questioned about the entries on the fly leaf of the Bible. It was pointed out to her that some of the lines had been crossed out and she said that she thought that that had been done since she had written them. One of the erased entries was ‘George F. M. arrived’.
Mr. Cairns – What did ‘F.M. mean? – We were told that the child’s name was George Fitzgerald Montgomery. (Laughter).
It did not mean ‘from marquess’? – Oh, no.
Mr. Justice Coleridge – I shall not pay any attention to this. It is scratched out, and things are put in. I cannot found any theory on it at all.
The witness went on to say that the petitioner did not like his own name and wanted to be married in hers. She did not hear it said at the church that the petitioner had been called Godfrey since he had been fortnight old ‘after the people who had brought him up’.
The court adjourned till tomorrow.
Solicitors – Mr. F. H. Adams for the petitioner, Messrs. Farrer and Co., for Lord Waterford and the trustees; the Treasure Solicitor.
News of the World March 3rd 1915
Times Editorial February 2nd 1918
The Times Law Report February 26th 1919
The Times A Solicitors Bill February 27th
1919
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