Dr. Tristram,
the judge, granted the faculty, but notice of appeal was given to
prevent the coffin being opened.
The case then came before the Divisional Court, which ruled that the
London Cemetery Company was right in resisting the order of Dr.
Tristram, and that the grave could not be opened without the licence of
the Home Secretary. The decision was in effect that Dr. Tristram had no
jurisdiction to make such an order, except as conditional on the
authority of the Home Secretary being obtained.
At length the case reached the Court of Appeal in December, 1899, when
Mrs. Druce made no appearance to support the faculty she had obtained,
and the appeal was dismissed with costs against her.
In the course of the proceedings the statements of two or three persons
who knew Mr. Druce were published in the Press.
Mrs. Hamilton's narrative was to the effect that from a girl she had
known the same gentleman both as Mr. Druce and the Duke of Portland, her
father, Mr. Robert Lennox Stuart, being a great friend of his from
boyhood days, and, it was averred, distantly related.
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