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- 23 May 1934 (Creation)
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1 item.
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Deudraeth Castle Hotel, Portmeirion Peninsula, Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales. - Thanks Elizabeth for her letter, but thinks she does not quite know the facts: that he and Dora have an agreement which give them equal rights in the children, and he has only asked that this continue, but Dora wants 'sole rights & complete custody'; she is petitioning for divorce and representing herself as a 'completely blameless wife', concealing the existence of Harriet and Roderick [her children with Griffin Barry]. Does not see why Elizabeth talks of both his and Dora's suffering: 'Does the tiger suffer when it kills the deer'?; Dora knows that if she deprives him of John and Kate, 'the whole of the rest of [his] life will be one of unbearable misery', and that to stop her doing so he will probably have to give up hope of divorce. This is very hard on Peter [Spence], 'who wants children, but not bastards', as he himself does. Asks if Elizabeth could let him know 'what version of the facts' she has heard.
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5/212 and 5/214 are also letters from Russell to Elizabeth Trevelyan relating to his divorce.
5/291: draft statement by Elizabeth Trevelyan
5/293: draft letter from Elizabeth Trevelyan to Russell, 26 May 1934, written in response to this letter.
Publication note
Published in Russell, B., & Griffin, N. (2001). The selected letters of Bertrand Russell. London: Routledge, vol. 2, p. 329.
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- Russell, Bertrand Arthur William (1872-1970), 3rd Earl Russell, philosopher, journalist, and political campaigner (Subject)
- Trevelyan, Elizabeth (1875-1957), musician (Subject)
- Russell, Dora Winifred (1894-1986), writer and campaigner for women's rights (Subject)
- Russell, John Conrad (1921-1987), 4th Earl Russell (Subject)
- Tait, Lady Katharine Jane (b. 1923), writer (Subject)
- Ward, Harriet Ruth Barry (b. 1930), writer (Subject)
- Russell, Roderick (1932-1983), son of Dora Russell and Griffin Barry (Subject)
- Russell, Patricia Helen (1910-2004), wife of the 3rd Earl Russell (Subject)
- Barry, Griffin (1884-1957), journalist (Subject)