Christabel Russell said she was a virgin when her son was conceived, and the House of Lords made him heir to the Ampthill barony

John Russell, heir to the 2nd Baron Ampthill, married Christabel Hart on 18 October 1918. The marriage was not fully consummated. In 1921 Christabel found she was about five months pregnant. John sued for divorce for adultery, naming two men and one unknown man. Christabel said she was a virgin. Medical evidence showed her hymen only partly perforated before the birth. She described "Hunnish scenes" with her husband one night at Oakley House. Geoffrey was born on 15 October 1921. In 1922 the two named men were cleared and the case on the unknown man was inconclusive. A second trial in 1923 found her guilty of adultery. On 30 May 1924 the House of Lords set that verdict aside by a majority, ruling that a husband or wife could not give evidence of non-access to bastardise a child born in marriage. The press coverage led to the 1926 Act restricting divorce reporting. A court then declared Geoffrey "the lawful child of his parents". John became 3rd Baron in 1935, divorced Christabel and married twice more. After his death in 1973, his son by his third marriage, John Hugo Russell, born 1950, claimed the barony. In the Lords, Lord Platt said blood tests had been done twice with the same result. The Committee for Privileges held the declaration binding unless obtained by fraud, and found none. On 27 April 1976 the Lords confirmed Geoffrey as 4th Baron. He died in 2011 and his eldest son David succeeded.