Vernon Henry St John, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke

[4] After the 5th Viscount's death and the revelation of the marriage and children, Mary Howard, now the dowager Viscountess Bolingbroke, moved to live permanently at Lydiard Park, the Bolingbroke family seat outside the Wiltshire village of Lydiard Tregoze, with her sons and her cousin Edward Hiscock, whom she installed as her confidant and estate manager.

Vernon Henry spent the whole of his childhood at Lydiard, while his older brothers moved away in the early years of the 20th century.

He joined the 6th Dorsetshire Regiment and saw service in a variety of conflicts – including Reux and Passchendaele – before being invalided out a week before the Armistice.

The case again made national headlines in 1922 when St John petitioned the House of Lords to be recognized as the 6th Viscount Bolingbroke.

[7] The marriage was annulled two years later after Valezina's claims of her husband's unreasonable behaviour,[8] which many speculated was due to shell shock from his army service.