DOESN'T APPROVE OF
TITLE IN HIS FAMILY.
CRAIG HUNTER HEARS DAUGH-
TER WEDDED SON OF A LORD.
Post Cards Bear Announcement of
Marriage of Mrs. Adeline De
Mare to Henry Somerset
in England.
MRS. ADELINE DE MARE,
Who May Be Lady Somerset.
Post cards bearing the announcement of the marriage in London, England on June 16 of Mrs. Adeline De Mare of Kansas City, widow of Professor Georges De Mare, the artist who lost his life in the fire which destroyed the University building in this city in 1907, have given rise to the belief on the part of the friends and relatives of the young woman that she has wedded Henry Charles Somers Augustus Somerset, the son of Lord Henry Richard Charles Somerset, husband of Lady Henry Somerset, the famous temperance leader and suffragist.
According to the meager information conveyed by the postals, which were received from England yesterday by the father of the girl, Craig Hunter, a railway contractor with offices at 1002 Union avenue, and Mrs. Herman Lang, 3901 Forest avenue, a close friend of the family, Mrs. De Mare was married to a Henry Somerset in London on June 16. Partly through the way the announcements were worded and more through the presumption of those who received the announcements, the report was started that the Somerset in question is the son of the nobleman. Neither Mr. Hunter nor Mrs. Lang was in a position to confirm the report last night, but both were anxiously awaiting more information, which is expected to arrive by letter in a few days.
FATHER IS NOT PLEASED.
Mr. Hunter is not pleased with the thought that perhaps his daughter has become the wife of the son of an English nobleman.
"I sincerely hope that Adeline has not married into a titled family," he said yesterday. "I have always talked against such marriages, and if she has married Lord Somerset's son, she has acted directly contrary to any wish of mine. A good, plain American boy is my choice."
Mrs. De Mare, who graduated from the Central high school in the spring of 1905, married Professor Georges De Mare, head of the art department of the school, in December, 1906. Professor De Mare the following May was killed in a fire which destroyed the University building at Ninth and Locust streets. The death of her husband greatly preyed upon the mind of Mrs. De Mare and in order that she might be benefited by a change of scene she was sent to Paris to school in September, 1907.
She took up a course of study at the Sorbonne, the University of Paris. She was a proficient artist in instrumental music and completed a course in that study last spring. Last September her mother, Mrs. Hunter, went to Paris to return with Mrs. De Mare to America when her school work was completed. Mrs. Hunter and her daughter were to have sailed for America today form Naples. The plans of Mr. Hunter to meet them at New York are upset by the unexpected announcement of the daughter's marriage in London.
MARRIAGE A SURPRISE.
"Adeline's marriage was a complete surprise to me," said Mr. Hunter. "I received a letter from my wife two weeks ago in which she said that an Englishman by the name of Somerset was madly in love with the girl, but I did not think seriously of it. I did not think, either, that it might be a member of the Lord Somerset family. But now that I compare the meager descriptions I have received of the man with those of the son of the lord, I am firmly convinced that they are one and the same person.
"Mrs. Hunter said that the Mr. Somerset who was paying attention to my daughter was a widower and had a little daughter about 9 years of age. Henry Somerset, they tell me, was married in 1896 to the daughter of the Duke of St. Albans and should be at this time about the age of the man who married my daughter. He has been making his home in Paris for some time, so I guess there may be something to the report of my son-in-law being of a titled family. I hope, however, that it is not true."
Mrs. De Mare was 21 years old last September. She is a beautiful and talented woman and was very popular in the younger social set in Kansas City.
SOMERSET HISTORY EVENTFUL.
EASTNOR CASTLE, ONE OF THE FOUR HOMES OF LADY HENRY SOMERSET.
Somewhat eventful has been the history of the Somerset family. Nor has its domestic relations been of the happiest. The present Lady Somerset was married at the age of 18, after a brief season at court. The match between Lady Isobel and Lord Henry Somerset was arranged by the young girl's mother, and Lady Isobel's dowry was welcome to Lord Henry.
Two years after the wedding the only child, Henry Charles Augustus Somerset, was born. During those two years of married life there had been frequent ruptures between husband and wife with the result that divorce was frequently discussed by each. Shortly after the birth of the son the courts of England granted a divorce and gave the mother custody of the child.
For a while Lady Somerset kept up her social activities, but Queen Victoria looked into the causes of divorce and placed the social ban upon that immediate branch of the Somerset family. In June of 1902, however, King Edward, his wife and sister, Princess Beatrice, restored Lady Henry Somerset to court favor. This action on the part of King Edward occasioned favorable comment on the part of the British public and press.
RETIRED TO PRIVATE LIFE.
When Lady Henry fell into disfavor with the court she retired and lead a sequestered life, teaching her boy. Later she sent her son to Harvard university, from which institution he graduated.
Henry Somers Somerset was married in 1896 to Katherine De Vere Beaucher. There had been no news in America of a divorce or of the wife's death. She has been described as a very beautiful woman and a prime favorite of the Somerset's.
Lady Henry Somerset has been long identified with socialism and temperance work. At the present time she is the president of the world organization of the W. C. T. U. She has spent large sums of money to alleviate the distress occasioned by drink among the men and women of England. She has written many books upon the subject of temperance and has become widely known.
Lord Henry Somerset, the divorced husband, has been lost from sight and there is no record of his death.
Henry, the son, who is said to have married Mrs. De Mare, is 35 years old.
