The Rupert Graves Project - Garrow's Law (Series 2)
The Rupert Graves Project - Garrow’s Law - Series 2
The real drama in this series of Garrow’s Law is not so much the cases that Garrow takes on - which are the usual mix of the hopeless and the helpless - but the ongoing saga of his relationship with Lady Sarah Hill and how that relationship affects not only William and Sarah but also Sarah’s husband Sir Arthur Hill.
So…and because this is the RGP and not a Garrow’s Law forum that relationship will be the area I will concentrate on.
*****
Garrow has been away in the North and now returns to London to once again take on cases at the Old Bailey. At the same time Lady Sarah Hill returns to her London home having been sent away to have her baby. Initially Sir Arthur seems pleased to see both her and the child, who will become the heir to all of Sir Arthur’s title, money and lands.
Garrow and Lady Sarah meet briefly at the Old Bailey and although they are obviously still attracted to each they do little more than exchange pleasantries. Once William learns that she has a son he wishes her and Sir Arthur well and they part.
When Sir Arthur learns that Sarah went to the Old Bailey he immediately doubts her reasons for doing so and believes that she went there purely to meet with Garrow. He also then begins to doubt that he is the father of the baby, Samuel and confronts Lady Sarah with his concerns. Nothing Sarah can say seems to placate Sir Arthur and he becomes more and more convinced that his wife and Garrow are still conducting an illicit love affair and that Garrow is in fact the father of Samuel.
Sir Arthur asks Sarah to prove her loyalty to him by using her friendship with Garrow to get information on the trial he is defending. She refuses saying that it would be unjust and that she has to be true to herself. This finally convinces Sir Arthur that his wife’s actions are the result of her love for Garrow.
Sir Arthur wants to start proceedings for a Parliamentary Divorce from Lady Sarah on the grounds of her adultery but is turned against the idea when he realises that this course of action would leave Lady Sarah free to marry Garrow once the divorce was finalised. He employs an attorney by the name of John Farmer to help him and Farmer suggest that a ‘legal separation from bed and board’ whilst, admittedly, preventing Sir Arthur from remarrying would be far more ruinous to his wife.
Sir Arthur has a writ served on Garrow for ‘criminal conversation’ and damages.
Criminal Conversation is merely a euphemism for sexual intercourse with another man’s wife - an accusation that Garrow and Lady Sarah are innocent of. They believe that the truth of their relationship will win the day in court even though Sir Arthur only has to have circumstantial evidence of their adultery.
John Farmer suggests to Sir Arthur that if Garrow and Lady Sarah were seen alone together that would be sufficient evidence of their adultery and sets spies in the hotel where Lady Sarah is staying to watch her every movement. However he is unable to catch Garrow and Sarah together until he tricks Garrow into believing that Sarah sent for him and when they are alone in her room allows Sarah’s maid to interrupt them. Farmer intends to use the maid to lie about what she saw and therefore damn the innocent couple.
Garrow visits Sir Arthur in an attempt to try and get him to withdraw the writ. Garrow claims that the action will drag Lady Sarah’s name through both the courts and the press and expose Sir Arthur as a cuckold. Sir Arthur believes that any embarrassment he might suffer from this trial is worth it if it sees Sarah destroyed and Garrow exposed as an adulterer. He also refuses Garrow’s request for Sarah to see her son.
Farmer, now believing he has all the proof they need to win the case (with the testimony of the maid) suggests that Sir Arthur ask for damages in the sum of £10,000 knowing that Garrow will never be able to find that amount of money and that he will be ruined both professionally and personally.
Sir Arthur agrees to see Sarah but it is only to tell her that whilst she might not see Samuel he will allow her to write to him! She refuses his offer and leaves. Sir Arthur is having his own doubts about why he is fighting so hard to keep a child that he doesn’t even really want. Farmer tells him that to expose Sarah as an adulteress he needs to keep the child and show her no forgiveness. He tells Sir Arthur that if they could get Sarah to agree to sign an affidavit to the effect that Garrow was in fact Samuels’ father then Sir Arthur would be able to refute any claim the child might have had on his title and the child could be re-united with his mother.
Presented with the affidavit and the opportunity to be reunited with her son Sarah goes immediately to Garrow and asks if he will consider agreeing to Sir Arthur’s request. He refuses because he knows that if he does it will be used against him in the trial and he will surely be ruined. They argue and eventually believing that she has no future in England without both Garrow and her son she plans to leave for France. Garrow manages to stop her and when he learns that she refused to sign the affidavit thus giving up her son for him he knows that they truly love each other.
Sir Arthur has now taken a mistress of his own, who he has got pregnant. When she gives birth to a daughter and not the son he had hoped for he, in a rage, destroys what had been Sarah’s bedroom.
Just before the trial begins Sir Arthur is given a promotion to 1st Secretary at the Admiralty. The promotion is just another way to ensure that when they win the trial the damages awarded against Garrow will be the full amount of what has been asked for and not because of any merit on Sir Arthur’s part.
The trial starts and all seems to be going in Sir Arthur’s favour, even after the maid tells the court that in fact Garrow and Lady Sarah were not doing anything when she saw them in the hotel. The judge doesn’t allow Garrow and his barrister to call the witnesses they had wanted to and in order to try and save the trial Garrow decides to give his own closing argument.
Garrow has finally got a compulsory witness request signed and this forces Sir Arthur’s mistress, Lady Elizabeth Fox, to testify. Sir Arthur’s masters at the Admiralty are shocked to learn he has a mistress that they didn’t know about and immediately revoke his promotion, thus seriously damaging his career.
Lady Elizabeth admits to her affair with Sir Arthur but tries to blame it on Lady Sarah, saying that it was only as a result of her adultery that they began the affair. She believes that when it is all over Sir Arthur will marry her. Garrow points out that even though she has given Sir Arthur a child, it is not the child he craves and that the terms of the separation order still leave Sir Arthur unable to marry her. Lady Fox is heartbroken, knowing now that all Sir Arthur wanted her for was to provide him with the male heir he craves.
The jury find for Sir Arthur, but only award him damages of 1 shilling! Garrow is saved from destitution and can now begin a life with Lady Sarah. Sir Arthur is left with Samuel and the burning need to seek further revenge on his ex-wife and her lover.
*****
Sir Arthur Hill is not a very nice man!
He is very quick to believe that his wife no longer loves him and that the child she bore is not his own son. Even though he has no evidence of either of these so called facts he allows himself to be swayed by those around him.
In many ways he is weak willed and too much in the pocket of Lord Melville to see beyond his own petty ambitions to climb the social and political ladder.
His victory, if it can be called a victory, over Garrow is a hollow one. He looses not only his wife but also some of his dignity, not to mention a promotion that he had probably craved for years.
He also loses his mistress and her child, although I suspect for a man like Sir Arthur finding another woman to share his bed won’t be an onerous task.
For Rupert the part of Sir Arthur must have been a dream to play, even taking into account the dodgy grey wig - which does give us the advantage of a nice short cropped Silver Fox underneath it! He also gets to parade around in the fashion of the day - all brocade and big hats, which seems to suit him and shows off a fine pair of legs.
It is a part that requires a wide range of emotions and allows Rupert a chance to flex his acting muscles giving him the opportunity to be sensitive, ruthless, destroyed and vindicated as he deals with Lady Sarah’s return and her subsequent relationship with William Garrow.
The part also allows Rupert plenty of chances to chew up the scenery!
He looks as if he enjoyed every minute of it and I wait with baited breath to see what Series 3 brings.
The real drama in this series of Garrow’s Law is not so much the cases that Garrow takes on - which are the usual mix of the hopeless and the helpless - but the ongoing saga of his relationship with Lady Sarah Hill and how that relationship affects not only William and Sarah but also Sarah’s husband Sir Arthur Hill.
So…and because this is the RGP and not a Garrow’s Law forum that relationship will be the area I will concentrate on.
*****
Garrow has been away in the North and now returns to London to once again take on cases at the Old Bailey. At the same time Lady Sarah Hill returns to her London home having been sent away to have her baby. Initially Sir Arthur seems pleased to see both her and the child, who will become the heir to all of Sir Arthur’s title, money and lands.
Garrow and Lady Sarah meet briefly at the Old Bailey and although they are obviously still attracted to each they do little more than exchange pleasantries. Once William learns that she has a son he wishes her and Sir Arthur well and they part.
When Sir Arthur learns that Sarah went to the Old Bailey he immediately doubts her reasons for doing so and believes that she went there purely to meet with Garrow. He also then begins to doubt that he is the father of the baby, Samuel and confronts Lady Sarah with his concerns. Nothing Sarah can say seems to placate Sir Arthur and he becomes more and more convinced that his wife and Garrow are still conducting an illicit love affair and that Garrow is in fact the father of Samuel.
Sir Arthur asks Sarah to prove her loyalty to him by using her friendship with Garrow to get information on the trial he is defending. She refuses saying that it would be unjust and that she has to be true to herself. This finally convinces Sir Arthur that his wife’s actions are the result of her love for Garrow.
Sir Arthur wants to start proceedings for a Parliamentary Divorce from Lady Sarah on the grounds of her adultery but is turned against the idea when he realises that this course of action would leave Lady Sarah free to marry Garrow once the divorce was finalised. He employs an attorney by the name of John Farmer to help him and Farmer suggest that a ‘legal separation from bed and board’ whilst, admittedly, preventing Sir Arthur from remarrying would be far more ruinous to his wife.
Sir Arthur has a writ served on Garrow for ‘criminal conversation’ and damages.
Criminal Conversation is merely a euphemism for sexual intercourse with another man’s wife - an accusation that Garrow and Lady Sarah are innocent of. They believe that the truth of their relationship will win the day in court even though Sir Arthur only has to have circumstantial evidence of their adultery.
John Farmer suggests to Sir Arthur that if Garrow and Lady Sarah were seen alone together that would be sufficient evidence of their adultery and sets spies in the hotel where Lady Sarah is staying to watch her every movement. However he is unable to catch Garrow and Sarah together until he tricks Garrow into believing that Sarah sent for him and when they are alone in her room allows Sarah’s maid to interrupt them. Farmer intends to use the maid to lie about what she saw and therefore damn the innocent couple.
Garrow visits Sir Arthur in an attempt to try and get him to withdraw the writ. Garrow claims that the action will drag Lady Sarah’s name through both the courts and the press and expose Sir Arthur as a cuckold. Sir Arthur believes that any embarrassment he might suffer from this trial is worth it if it sees Sarah destroyed and Garrow exposed as an adulterer. He also refuses Garrow’s request for Sarah to see her son.
Farmer, now believing he has all the proof they need to win the case (with the testimony of the maid) suggests that Sir Arthur ask for damages in the sum of £10,000 knowing that Garrow will never be able to find that amount of money and that he will be ruined both professionally and personally.
Sir Arthur agrees to see Sarah but it is only to tell her that whilst she might not see Samuel he will allow her to write to him! She refuses his offer and leaves. Sir Arthur is having his own doubts about why he is fighting so hard to keep a child that he doesn’t even really want. Farmer tells him that to expose Sarah as an adulteress he needs to keep the child and show her no forgiveness. He tells Sir Arthur that if they could get Sarah to agree to sign an affidavit to the effect that Garrow was in fact Samuels’ father then Sir Arthur would be able to refute any claim the child might have had on his title and the child could be re-united with his mother.
Presented with the affidavit and the opportunity to be reunited with her son Sarah goes immediately to Garrow and asks if he will consider agreeing to Sir Arthur’s request. He refuses because he knows that if he does it will be used against him in the trial and he will surely be ruined. They argue and eventually believing that she has no future in England without both Garrow and her son she plans to leave for France. Garrow manages to stop her and when he learns that she refused to sign the affidavit thus giving up her son for him he knows that they truly love each other.
Sir Arthur has now taken a mistress of his own, who he has got pregnant. When she gives birth to a daughter and not the son he had hoped for he, in a rage, destroys what had been Sarah’s bedroom.
Just before the trial begins Sir Arthur is given a promotion to 1st Secretary at the Admiralty. The promotion is just another way to ensure that when they win the trial the damages awarded against Garrow will be the full amount of what has been asked for and not because of any merit on Sir Arthur’s part.
The trial starts and all seems to be going in Sir Arthur’s favour, even after the maid tells the court that in fact Garrow and Lady Sarah were not doing anything when she saw them in the hotel. The judge doesn’t allow Garrow and his barrister to call the witnesses they had wanted to and in order to try and save the trial Garrow decides to give his own closing argument.
Garrow has finally got a compulsory witness request signed and this forces Sir Arthur’s mistress, Lady Elizabeth Fox, to testify. Sir Arthur’s masters at the Admiralty are shocked to learn he has a mistress that they didn’t know about and immediately revoke his promotion, thus seriously damaging his career.
Lady Elizabeth admits to her affair with Sir Arthur but tries to blame it on Lady Sarah, saying that it was only as a result of her adultery that they began the affair. She believes that when it is all over Sir Arthur will marry her. Garrow points out that even though she has given Sir Arthur a child, it is not the child he craves and that the terms of the separation order still leave Sir Arthur unable to marry her. Lady Fox is heartbroken, knowing now that all Sir Arthur wanted her for was to provide him with the male heir he craves.
The jury find for Sir Arthur, but only award him damages of 1 shilling! Garrow is saved from destitution and can now begin a life with Lady Sarah. Sir Arthur is left with Samuel and the burning need to seek further revenge on his ex-wife and her lover.
*****
Sir Arthur Hill is not a very nice man!
He is very quick to believe that his wife no longer loves him and that the child she bore is not his own son. Even though he has no evidence of either of these so called facts he allows himself to be swayed by those around him.
In many ways he is weak willed and too much in the pocket of Lord Melville to see beyond his own petty ambitions to climb the social and political ladder.
His victory, if it can be called a victory, over Garrow is a hollow one. He looses not only his wife but also some of his dignity, not to mention a promotion that he had probably craved for years.
He also loses his mistress and her child, although I suspect for a man like Sir Arthur finding another woman to share his bed won’t be an onerous task.
For Rupert the part of Sir Arthur must have been a dream to play, even taking into account the dodgy grey wig - which does give us the advantage of a nice short cropped Silver Fox underneath it! He also gets to parade around in the fashion of the day - all brocade and big hats, which seems to suit him and shows off a fine pair of legs.
It is a part that requires a wide range of emotions and allows Rupert a chance to flex his acting muscles giving him the opportunity to be sensitive, ruthless, destroyed and vindicated as he deals with Lady Sarah’s return and her subsequent relationship with William Garrow.
The part also allows Rupert plenty of chances to chew up the scenery!
He looks as if he enjoyed every minute of it and I wait with baited breath to see what Series 3 brings.