In November 1924, Temple Thurston's second marriage ended. Joan Katherine (née Cann), whom he had married a year after his first divorce, told the divorce court that they had lived happily together until 1922, when her husband had engaged a private secretary, Emily Cowlin. Objecting to the fact that the two of them were 'on friendly terms', Mrs Thurston left for a holiday in India, hoping that it would give her husband time to 'get over it'. While there, she received news that Emily Cowlin was expecting a baby. The following summer Temple Thurston married Emily Cowlin at Kensington Register Office. It had been kept secret and only six people attended. Afterwards the couple slipped away in a car before crowds had time to gather.