Hawaii - Baron Cobham

[RosieThomas]

Robert Disney Leith Alexander (Lord Cobham) arrived Honolulu from LA Jan 1947 with a companion (Katherine Vandenbergh). He left the Islands late 1949. What did he do in the intervening period? Did he marry Ms Vandenbergh (who is believed to have died in a tragic accident)? Where did he live? Did he work as a journalist (racing/bloodstock was his expertise). Any information greatly welcomed by author. Thank you.

 

[Erato]

Katherine Vandenbergh is listed as 'married' on the 1947 passenger list so she may not have been free to marry Lord Cobham.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-36725-6112-71?cc=2141044

[*Sandra*]

According to the Peerage - Robert Disney Leith Alexander, 16th Lord Cobham (of Kent) was born on 23 April 1885.1 He was the son of Reginald Gervaise Alexander and Alicia Mary Greenwood.  He married, firstly, Christianna Jean Honeybourne, daughter of Albert Edward Honeybourne, in 1923. He and Christianna Jean Honeybourne were divorced in 1934.  He than married, for a second time , Evelyn Sinclair Turnure on 10 December 1934.  He married for a third time Christianna Jean Honeybourne, daughter of Albert Edward Honeybourne, in 1949. He died on 21 February 1951 at age 65.

http://www.thepeerage.com/p1188.htm

Sandra

[RosieThomas]

Dear Erato & Sandra - many tks for your replies. Katherine's husband died not long after she went to Hawaii so she could have married, though I doubt it. It's a very convoluted story. Lord C went on to re-marry first wife in Hawaii Sept 49, before going to NZ then Aus where he died 1951. It's the 2-year 'black hole' 47-49 in Hawaii  I'm particularly anxious to fill.

[keith drage]

I note that Robert Disney Leith was declared bankrupt in the UK in 1936 and the accountants were still trying to sort out his financial affairs after his death, eventually paying less that 2/- in the pound.

The accountants were Rupert Frederick William Fincham and Arthur Douglas Fincham, respectively grandfather and father of Peter Fincham, currently director of television at ITV.

According to Case Text, in 1948 the accountants were trying to obtain access to a trust fund left by Evelyn Sinclair Turnure to her husband.

[RosieThomas]

Thanks Keith .. interesting about Fincham, I hadn't picked up on that. The attempt to get at Evelyn Sinclair Turnure's funds is quite a well-quoted case .. still pops up on Google searches of her maiden name.

[jorose]

What do you know about Katherine Vandenbergh? (maiden name, previous husband, etc). Was she left money from her husband's estate?

Was she a British citizen? It's possible in that case for there to have been a consular death certificate but under what name? (were they going by Cobham? Alexander? Something else?)  A burial/cemetery record might be another option.

[RosieThomas]

Katharine Rogers born 14 August 1913 Klang, Malaya (Malaysia).  Parents (Dr) Frederick Ernest Woodham Rogers. Mother Bessie Amelia Greening. Yes, a British citizen. Married April 1935 in Hampshire to Adalbert Rodger Van den Bergh, son of a clergyman. He fell on hard times and committed suicide October 1948 in Gloucestershire. Nothing would have been left in a will. Evidently Katharine (Kay) spent some time in Ireland after leaving her husband, from where she travelled to the USA and then on to Honolulu. I am guessing she met Lord Cobham (more usually known as Mr Alexander) in Ireland. She travelled under the name Van den Bergh. I have searched under her maiden name and married name. Also searched under Alexander and Cobham on the possibility that, if she and Lord C were living together, she may have adopted his name unofficially. So far have been unable to find anything.

[keith drage]

The proceedings under the bankruptcy act (between 1936 and 1953) were in the name of "LEITH, The Right Honorable Robert Disney, Baron Cobham"
His 1933 divorce was under the name ALEXANDER.
I could not find a will in England and Wales, and suspect that there would be no reason for one, given that he was insolvent, his trustee in bankruptcy had all his assets in England and Wales which were insufficient to cover his debts, and that therefore the only assets he could exclude from this was sufficient to cover reasonable funeral and testamentary expenses, which presumably did not take place in England and Wales. Any wills made prior to his final marriage would have become invalid at that point, and he was already bankrupt by then.
Was he abroad because he was avoiding his creditors or were there other reasons for his travelling.
Keith