Alexandria Gazette

The House of Lords have before them a new and difficult question in determining the succession to the Earldom of Leicester, upon the petition of George Ferrars, Marquis Townsend, Earl of Leicester, &c., who was married in 1807, and lived with his wife one year, when she left him, and after residing with her father about a year, she eloped with John Margetts, deceased, and cohabited with him till he died in June, 1812.—In August, 1809, she was ascertained to be pregnant for the first time; and during her cohabitation with Margetts she had several children, all of whom took his name, by which they went till Dec. 1823, when they were baptised in the names of Lord John, and Lord That Townsend, and Mrs. Margetts also assumes the title of the Marchioness Townsend. The petitioner is now 70 years of age, old and feeble, and may die any day, and the marriage never having been annulled, the consequence would be that John Margetts might become the Earl of Leicester. John Margetts now occupies a seat in the House of Lords. The committee to whom the petition was referred, reported in favor of bringing in a private bill for the relief of the petitioner.