Tripp (June)

A remarkable archive of correspondence between June and her solicitor, a Mr Wilson, regarding her acrimonious divorce following a short-lived marriage to Baron Inverclyde and comprising 17 autograph letters and six typed ones, all signed ('June Inverclyde'). The actress discusses, sometimes in quite intimate detail, the circumstances of her ill-fated marriage and her desire for a divorce from her husband. One letter reads in part "I would like to say that after thinking things over carefully I have decided that I will not make any gesture whatsoever which would give my husband a chance to divorce me. There is no reason, under the circumstances, why I should do so...I have absolutely made up my mind, so will you very kindly let me hear, as soon as possible, the position in Scottish Law?", 25 June 1930. Other letters say "Can I ask for an overdraft of say £3,000 from my bank. I have of course no securities. If they will not allow the overdraft, I shall have to raise the money on] jewellery. I believe I am right in thinking that a wife must not dispose of jewellery given by her husband— but I have some pearls of my own which I did not self with the rest and on which I could get a substantial loan - not from an ordinary pawnbroker, but from the person who gave them to me|"(22 July 1930) and "Your father told me that should I not be satisfied with Lord Inverclyde's idea of a 'maintenance' allowance, I was to instruct you to take the matter to court and it looks as though...this will have to be done. I have been forced to sell my pearls in order to pay pressing bills" (6 August 1930). A few months later she writes "In order to carry on I have had to pawn my engagement ring….I am not being any more extravagant than I can possibly help, but must, for appearances sake, live well. If anyone guessed the straits I am in it would greatly damage my reputation as a highly paid artiste and would drag my salary and prestige down…..If it is possible to make a film in New York on arrival I shall do so, though against doctors orders, because this money business is driving me mad. A friend of mine tells me he saw and talked to my husband about five weeks ago in a very low night-club and my husband said “June is having a holiday in America – I am having one in London and I am looking for a woman to sleep with tonight”…..Mrs. Pierce [sic; Pearce – Olive Sylvia Sainsbury, daughter of Arthur Sainsbury] asked me not to bring her into all this – that her Father has threatened to cut off the allowance he makes her if she implicates herself. Therefore there is no possibility of making her a witness to my husband’s impotence in a public case…..Lord Inverclyde should not be allowed to get with this – if the more tangible proof can be secured somehow. Doctor Rogers examined me the other day…..The symptoms which I experienced after intercourse with my husband are the same as those of Mrs. Pierce…..I really must beg you to follow this up…..She told me she was a virgin when she married but added that as she had ridden astride all her life she was not perhaps a virgin in the actual technical meaning of the word – at any rate there was never any difficulty in Lord Inverclyde approaching her. I do hope we can get the necessary proof of what I feel so sure in my mind is the cause of my husband’s impotence – and even perhaps his drinking" (21 November 1930). At the beginning of the following year she wrote "I am consulting a lawyer here with regards to obtaining a divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty, non-support and irreparable damage to health and financial means. The courts out here are extremely sympathetic towards such cases...The mental cruelty will be easy to prove -also the non-support- since in America they are far more lenient regarding living expenses, particularly for actresses...I adhere absolutely to my statement regarding my husband's impotence...His assertion that he is not impotent and that he can produce evidence of intercourse with other women is interesting . His capability with other women will have to date back to long before his marriage to me and will suggest that he was guilty of misconduct while he was divorcing his first wife for infidelity...If I find he is having sexual intercourse of any kind with anyone, I shall file my petition for divorce at once" (26 January 1931); fifty-two pages in total, 8vo and 4to, various places (London, Paris, Beverly Hills), April 1930-March 1932; also including an interesting miscellany of other letters, manuscript and typed documents relating to the divorce, highlights of which are an autograph statement signed (‘June Inverclyde’) by the actress, nine pages, 4to, n.p., 10 July 1930, being a record of her married life to Lord Inverclyde and stating, in part, ‘Before marriage Lord Inverclyde requested me to sell some jewellery given to me by a certain person and I did so at once. But when I asked whether I should also give up the income of £1000 a year settled on me by the same person he said: “Oh no. People might recognise the bracelets but they won’t know about the money”…..He gave me his word of honour, before we were married, never under any circumstances to rebuke me for my association with --------------- but during our very first quarrel and in many subsequent ones he made most unkind and disparaging remarks about this person and myself. Unhappiness began during the honeymoon because of his incapacity. Only once did he succeed in “making love” to me – all other times he tried and failed and when he failed he wept. At first I put it down to nerves but when this embarrassing state of affairs had lasted several weeks I began to think he did not love me. Then I discovered that he drank steadily every day…..I have never known him to come to bed completely sober……Towards the end of the month Mrs. Ertz, a great friend of mine and of my husbands came to spend a few days at Wemyss prior to our joining our yacht at Venice…..The next two months on the yacht were ghastly. He drank even more heavily and his attempts to do his duty as a husband only successful on one or two occasions. I can truly say that had I been a virgin he would never have been able to consummate the marriage. There were continual bickerings and quarrels over the most ridiculous things……In October we came to London because I had not been feeling well and wondered whether I was going to have a baby. My hopes were based on the slenderest of chances……I begged him to be examined and assured him that if he were found to be sterile I would not blame him but I would have to return to the stage in order to take my mind of the absence of a baby…..He knew that the greatest longing of my life was to have a child and that this is what I married for…..The climax came when we returned and went to Scotland. We had now been married about fifteen months and there was no sign of a baby…..I could no longer live in such an atmosphere of gloom, and uncertainty of mind. He flared up and accused me of trying to prevent myself from having a baby. The gross injustice of this upset me dreadfully and it finished in my having a fit of hysterical crying on the floor of my bedroom followed by a heart attack which terrified me……After this I felt I could no longer bear to stay at Wemyss so the following night I left for London. I got in touch with an agent at once and received an offer…..I also was asked by Mr. Jack Buchanan to return to the stage as his leading lady…..’ a further holograph statement signed (‘June Inverclyde’), one page, 4to, n.p., 25^th July 1930, stating, in part, ‘I was married to Lord Inverclyde…..on the twenty-first of March 1929. We spent our honeymoon abroad. On the first night in Paris my husband attempted to have connection with me but despite the fact that I was not a virgin (a fact known to him) he failed to penetrate and emission took place outside. He made several completely unsuccessful attempts during the following three weeks….On no occasion has he ever achieved a spontaneous erection……’, an A.L.S., Norman C. Rogers, by June’s doctor, two pages, 8vo, London, 25^th July 1930, to her solicitor, Mr. Wilson, stating, in part, ‘Lord Inverclyde, while on his honeymoon, succeeded in making love to his wife on one occasion only. On the few occasions later on, when intercourse took place, Lady Inverclyde found herself stained with a greenish yellow discharge. This discharge also created a sensation of burning and an acute desire to scratch locally. Further it had a most unpleasant odour. In my opinion this latter fact suggests some abnormality in Lord Inverclyde’s semen’, various other carbon copies of letters regarding Lady Inverclyde’s health during her marriage, a typed copy of a summons issued by Lord Inverclyde against his wife, 27^th January 1931, a carbon typed copy of a letter written by June to a close friend during her honeymoon with Lord Inverclyde and stating, in part, ‘Well, this honeymoon is going very well – better than most I imagine – despite the unfortunate first five days….Alan isn’t absolutely fit yet…..I had a very swollen and painful gland in my left breast which worried me – and when I was five days late I thought that must be the cause, and even wondered if perhaps a very tiny brand-new Inverclyde was on the way. But yesterday everything arrived, and the pain has subsided – so that’s that’, an A.L.S., Alan, by Lord Inverclyde, two pages, 8vo, Park Street, London, 6 February 1930, to his wife (‘Junie’), forwarding a statement of ‘what I have clumsily been unable to tell you in words’ and remarking ‘Before you read it I must ask you to give your word of honour that you will keep it to yourself and treat it as confidential…..And afterwards, please either destroy it, or lock it away’, accompanied by the original typed statement stating, in part, ‘First of all in regard to yourself…..whatever happens, you will be in a comfortable and safe position…..Scottish law being as it is, you must rely on my honour to see that…..you were properly provided for……I know you do not feel this, although I should have thought that the Deed of Provision that I have executed in favour of your Mother and Edgar for Life would have indicated to you how I feel in these matters……during the last three years (1927, 1928 and 1929) my Capital has been reduced by well over £30,000. I have only myself to blame…..I do not want it to affect your enjoyment, and I don’t see why it should. All I ask for is your co-operation, and I shall not ask anything drastic. Just go steadily for a bit…..I am endeavouring to sell the yacht (I must do)…..But I shall be lucky if I get £10,000 for “Beryl”…..I won’t bother you with any more, but, Junie, I do hope you’ll understand, because I am on your side whatever else you are led to believe’ and two T.Ls.S., Inverclyde, each two pages, 4to, Castle Wemyss, Renfrewshire, 25 June & 4 July 1930, both to Dr. Norman C. Rogers, marked Confidential and stating, in part, ‘With the truth unrevealed I find I am placed in a false and very unfair position…..First let me say that far from being unmoved I am extremely upset, unhappy and anxious about my wife…..my wife expressed to me her considered wish (which came as a bombshell to me) that I should go to Scotland immediately…..It is scarcely necessary for me to ask you not to discuss any of this within the hearing of anyone who may be staying with my wife at Park Street at the present time…..My absenting myself must have appeared strange, to say the least, but I, too, have tried to play cricket all my life, and I have every intention of continuing to try’ (25 June 1930), ‘I am very distressed indeed about Lady Inverclyde’s health….But from my wife’s present attitude….I am led to believe that there is an underlying insinuation, inspired from somewhere, that I am the cause of the Patient’s ill-health. Such a suggestion, if it exists, is ridiculous, to say the least, and is without any vestige of foundation….My chief aim in all circumstances has been to make her happy, relieve her of her worries and make life go smoothly for her, and I have not deviated from this…..’ (4 July 1930).

***A truly remarkable, highly personal archive, the contents of which would have certainly caused a scandal in their day.