William Frederick Le Poer Trench, 5th Earl of Clancarty, 4th Marquess of Heusden (29 December 1868 – 16 February 1929) was an Irish peer of the House of Lords, a Dutch nobleman, and a deputy lieutenant and justice of the peace of County Galway. He was known for the controversy that ensued after a petition for divorce was argued in 1890, which was based on an affidavit accusing his wife at the time, Belle Bilton, of adultery.
The Trench lineage on England began with Frederic de la Trenche, who emigrated to Northumberland, England from the Spanish Netherlands in around 1575.[1] Frederic de la Trenche's grandson, Frederic Trench, emigrated to Ireland from England in 1631.[1]
Lord Clancarty was born on 29 December 1868,[2] the elder son of Richard Trench, 4th Earl of Clancarty and Adeliza Hervey. He used the courtesy title Viscount Dunlo after 1872, when his father succeeded as 4th Earl. He succeeded to the earldom and other titles in 1891 upon the death of his father.
Dunlo married in 1889 and succeeded his father as the 5th Earl of Clancarty in 1891.[4] The period between those events saw his father, who strongly objected to the marriage, try to undermine it, and place as much as possible of the family estate beyond Dunlo as heir. His initial step was to order Dunlo, who was still under the age of majority of 21, to travel to Australia.[5]
A petition for divorce was argued in court in 1890, on behalf of Dunlo, before Sir James Hannen.[6] It was based on an affidavit signed in Australia by Dunlo, who later claimed he had signed it without understanding its implications, and named Isidor(e) Emanuel Wertheimer in alleged adultery with his wife Belle, now Lady Dunlo, in London.[5] It became a cause célèbre.[7] The jury found that no misconduct of Lady Dunlo with Wertheimer had been proved; and she was given a highly-paid role in a burlesque Venus by the impresario Augustus Harris.[8]
The Countess of Clancarty, the former music hall performer Belle Bilton, 1902 photograph
Clancarty, then known as Viscount Dunlo, married Belle Bilton on 10 July 1889. She was a well-paid music hall performer with the real name of Isabel Maude Penrice Bilton, daughter of John George Bilton, a sergeant in the Royal Engineers.[9][11] She died on 31 December 1906.[11] They had five children:[12]
Hon. Power Francis William Le Poer Trench (27 December 1891 – 9 June 1894), twin brother of Richard[9]
Lady Beryl Franziska Kathleen Bianca Le Poer Trench (8 October 1893 – 17 May 1957)[9] - Capt. Hon. Richard Philip Stanhope, son of Arthur Stanhope, 6th Earl Stanhope
Hon. Roderic Charles Berkeley Le Poer Trench (19 October 1895 – 23 January 1937)[9]
Lady Sibell Alma Kathleen Le Poer Trench (21 May 1918 – 1974)[9]
Mary, Countess of Clancarty
Death
Lord Clancarty died on 16 February 1929 at the age of 60. He was buried in the Clancarty family vault in Highgate Cemetery.[2] He was succeeded in the earldom and other titles by his eldest son, Richard.
Clancarty vault containing the remains of the 4th Earl, Richard Somerset, and the 5th, William Trench, in Highgate Cemetery
In literature
The story of the early relationship troubles of Lord and Lady Dunlo is the subject of the 2018 novel Becoming Belle by Nuala Ní Chonchúir, writing as Nuala O'Connor.
References
^ abcMosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Vol. 1 (107th ed.). Burke's Peerage. p. 792.
^Burke, Bernard (1903). Burke, Ashworth P. (ed.). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (65th ed.). London: Harrison and Sons. p. 314.
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