Biography of Sarah Sophia Fane Countess Jersey 1785-1867

8th November 1845. The Lady Adela Villiers [aged 17]. Brighton, Nov. 5. The name of the gentleman with whom the young lady has fled is pretty well known, and there is very little doubt, from the inquiries that have since been instituted, that she has gone off with Captain Ibbetson [aged 27], of the 11th Hussars.

East Lodge is situated opposite Upper Rock Gardens, and Captain Ibbetson lodged with his mother for some time at a house in Lower Rock Gardens, and he has been frequently seen looking towards East Lodge, which was about a couple of hundred yards from his abode, with an opera glass to his eye. He left his lodgings about & fortnight ago, and quitted Brighton; but on Wednesday morning he came down by the train and was seen in Brighton. It has been already stated that the young lady left her home about five o'clock in that afternoon. On inquiry we find that she proceeded short distance down St. James's-street, turned down the New Steine, and engaged a fly opposite the Chain-pier, to convey her to the terminus of the London and Brighton Railway. As the fly-man was mounting his box another fly-man asked him if he knew who he had taken up, and on answering in the negative, he was told that it was Lady Adela Viliers, the daughter of the Earl of Jersey [aged 72]. On arriving at the terminus, a gentleman with a moustache handed the lady from the fly, and having paid him his fare, the lady and gentleman went immediately into the office. On inquiry at the railway termious, we ascertained that a lady and gentleman, answering the description of Captain Ibbetson and Lady Adela, came into the office about the time alluded to, and there was one circumstance which induced the clerk to notice the gentleman, 'When he came into the office he held a handkerchief to his mouth, but being attacked with rather a severe cough, the handkerchief was removed, and the clerk saw that he wore a light moustache. We have it from another party, who knew Capt. Ibbetson well, that he saw him in the train seated by a lady who was closely veiled, so that there is very little doubt that Captain Ibbetson is the man under whose protection the young lady has placed herself. Captain Villiers, the brother of the young lady as soon as he became acquainted with the clandestine departure of his sister from her parents, lost no time in going in pursuit of the fugitive, and since his departure, the Earl of Jersey has received letters from him to the effect that he is in the track of the fair runaway, and her companion in flight; but that he has not been able to overtake them. Although the elopement took place on Wednesday evening, very few persons knew anything of it till they saw it in one of the London morning papers on Friday.

Further Particulars

SUNDAY MORNING. We understand that the young lady succeeded in removing a great portion of her wardrobe, but that she left her jewels on the bed. The Earl of Jersey received a letter from his son, Captain Villiers, this morning, informing him that he bad been to Gretna, and had ascertained that his sister and Captain Ibbetson had been married by the old blacksmith. Captain Villiers had returned to London.

We understand that the Earl of Jersey received a letter this morning from the Commander.in-chief, in reply to one which his lordship had sent to the duke, and that his grace spoke highly of the character of Captain Ibbetson.

Captain Ibbetson has leave of absence till the 14th inst., and it is supposed that after the marriage ceremonies were completed he proceeded at once to join his regiment in Ireland.

The character which the Earl and Countess of Jersey have of the partner of their daughter's fight has, so softened the grief into which her sudden m home had thrown them.

The Earl and Countess of Jersey and the Prince and Princess Nicholas Esterhazy intend to take their departure to-morrow for London.

Lady Adela Villers is seventeen years of age, and Captain Ibbetson, we believe, about six or seven and twenty,

The "mystery" attendast upon the departure of this young lady from the temporary residence of her noble parents in Brighton, has been cleared up, and resolves itself into the exceedingly unpleasant fact that her ladyship has eloped with a gallant captain of the 11th Hussars—a gentleman, as we are informed, wholly unknown to the family, and, if report speak truly, a very recent devotee at the shrine of his youthful innamorata.

We believe we are correct in stating that the first clue to a discovery of the nature of the young lady's flight was obtained from an admission made by the female attendant of her ladyship to the following effect: During the temporary absence of the Earl of Jersey from Brighton, a few days since (his lordship having been called to town), Lady Adela expriased a desire to take a walk on the beach before breakiast one morning. In this walk she was accompanied by the female attendant alluded to, and the latter now states that while upon the shingles (beach) her ladyship was addressed by a gentleman of military appearance (whose person she so accurately described as to leave no doubt as to his identity), that words were exchanged between the parties, but that of the nature of the conversation which passed, she (the attendant referred to) is entirely ignorant.

A comparison of the personal appearance of the gentleman referred to with that of an individual who had been more than once observed to pay particular attention to Lady Adela in the walks and drives about Brighton, and who upon one occasion, a few Sundays since, obtained admission into the pew occupied by the Earl of Jersey's family at the parish church, satisfied the officers that it must be the same person, and upon inquiry being made at the lodgings of the gentleman in question, it was ascertained that he had left Brighton on Wednesday evening. More corroboration could scarcely have been required; but the one clue having been obtained, a train of elucidations followed, which, we believe, warrants the announcement that Captain Charles P, Ibbetson, of the 11th Hussars, is the officer under whose protection Lady Adela has fled her home.

Captain Ibbetson, we understand, is the eldest son of Henry Ibbetson, Esq., a proctor of long standing and extensive practice, and is much esteemed both in his regiment and in general society. It appears that Lady Adela or Wednesday afternoon addressed letters to her mother and to both her sisters. The nature of these communications may be readily guessed. — They were left by her ladyship on the drawing-room table for the evening's post. Shortly after leaving the drawing-room, Lady Adela rang the bell and desired her attendant to bring her dressing-case up stairs, which she immediately did. Her ladyship then it seems hastily dressed herself (very plainly), and left the house unobserved, as above stated. The small bundle which the old porter says her ladyship carried, was doubtless the case in question.

Upon reaching the Steine or East Cliff, her ladyship was observed by a "chairman," who knew her person, to enter a fly which was upon the stand near the pier steps. The driver of this fly has been discovered, and he perfectly remembers the circumstance. He states that he drove the lady to the railway station, and that before she alighted from the carriage, a gentleman, answering the description above given, advanced to the window and spoke to her ladyship—. subsequently assisting her to alight and paying him his fare.

At the Euston station, on Wednesday night, at a few minutes before nine o'clock, the hour for the departure of the York train, the parties were observed on the platform, and the gentleman, addressing one of the officials, requested to be accommodated with a coupé for himself and his fair companion, an act of attention which was immediately afforded. We regret exceedingly to learn, that the Earl of Jersey is overwhelmed with grief at the imprudent step his child has taken, The countess [aged 60] bears the affair as well as can be expected.