RUSSELL, HON. MRS. JOHN
Neg. No: (GP) 8398
Neg. Size: 12"x10"
Neg. Date: 30-09-1924

Sitter: Hon. Mrs. John Russell, née Christabel Hulme Hart (1896-1976).

Biog: 2nd dau. of Lieut.-Col. John Hart; m. (1918) Hon. John Hugo Russell, later 3rd Baron Ampthill [who petitioned for a divorce on the grounds of her adultery, 1922; was granted a decree nisi, 1923; Mrs. Russell's successful appeal to the House of Lords, 1924; their son's legitimacy judicially confirmed, 1926; Mrs. Russell obtained divorce, 1937].

Date: 30 September 1924.

Occasion: "The Russell Baby Case":

The famous law case over a legitimacy of Hon. J.H. Russell and Chrisabel Hulme's son, Geoffrey Denis Erskine, present Baron Ampthill (b.1921), which established the principle (reversed by Parliament in 1949) that no evidence can be given by a husband and wife in any legal proceeding, if the effect of it would be to bastardize a child born in wedlock (see: Eileen Hunter, Christabel: The Russell Case and After, London, 1973).

Location: The Lafayette Studio, 160 New Bond Street, London, W.

Descr: HL.

Costume: -

Furniture & Props: -

Evidence of photographer at work: -

No of poses: 4.

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Biog: Burke's Peerage; Eileen Hunter, Christabel: The Russell Case and After, London, 1973.

Occasion: The Times, [contemporary reports on the case - CK!]; Eileen Hunter, Christabel: The Russell Case and After, London, 1973.

Costume: -

Reproduced: -