The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife and the Missing Corpse (43 page)

p. 211
  
Letter from Arthur Markham
. Markham’s letter to Turner, along with Crowder’s statement, is at NU Pl L1/11/6/769/2–3.

p. 211
  trouble with the local press
. See
Manchester Evening News
, 28 August 1902.

p. 212
  
Joseph Burns
. See proof of Joseph Burns in
Druce
v.
Howard de Walden
, NU Pl L1/2/6/12.

p. 213
  
Bernard Boaler
. See proof of Bernard Boaler in
Druce
v.
Howard de Walden
, NU Pl L1/2/7/14.

p. 213
  
old teller of underwood cuttings
. See proof of William Ashberry of Holbeck Woodhouse in
Druce
v.
Howard de Walden
, NU Pl L1/2/6/13.

p. 214
  
Henry Powell’s evidence.
See proof of Henry Powell in
Druce
v.
Howard de Walden
, NU Pl L1/2/6/13.

p. 214
  
truss for rupture of the right side of the groin
. See letter from William Higgs to Baileys dated 10 December 1907, at NU Pl L1/11/6/845.

p. 215
  
Message from Mary Robinson at Holloway Prison
. NA Mepol 3/176.

SCENE SIXTEEN

p. 217
  
Mrs Robinson’s confession
. The details of Mary Ann Robinson’s confession are taken from the reports to Scotland Yard by Inspector Dew of a series of interviews with her in Holloway Prison during January and February 1908 (NA Mepol 3/176) and her official statement as submitted during her trial (NU Pl L1/6/1/10).

p. 223
  ‘
Harry the valet’… Conrad Harms
. Both cases were discussed by Dew in his autobiography,
I Caught Crippen
, op. cit.

pp. 223–4
  The
6
th Duke also dismissed the idea… as ridiculous.
See letter to Baileys dated 24 January 1908, NU PL L1/11/6/935/1-2.

p. 224
  
Letter penned by Mary Ann Robinson as one to her from the
5
th Duke.
See NU Pl L1/6/2/1–11.

p. 225
  ‘
Kimber and Coburn into our net’.
NU Pl L1/3646.

SCENE SEVENTEEN

p. 227
  
the town of Kendal in Westmorland
. The background story of Mrs Hamilton is taken from the private investigator reports of J. G. Littlechild at NU PI LI/9/1/3.

p. 227
  
black ringlets
. See letter from Moser & Son to Baileys at NU Pl L1/11/6/942.

p. 229
  
Mussabini and Littlechild.
See Jan Bondeson,
The Great Pretenders: The True Stories behind Famous Historical Mysteries
, London: W.W. Norton & Co., 2004, p. 251.

p. 230
  
Mussabini’s report back to Littlechild.
See letter from Mussabini to Littlechild dated 14 November 1901, at NU PI LI/9/2/1-16.

p. 231
  
tissue of lies
. See letter from Moser & Sons to Baileys dated 9 January 1908, at NU Pl L1/11/6/943/1.

p. 231
  
wreath on the tomb
. See NU Pl L1/11/1/12.

p. 232
  
Thomas Wyatt.
See letter from Freshfields to Baileys dated 22 November 1907, NU Pl L1/11/1/133.

p. 233
  
Botten’s statement.
See NU PI L1/4/2/11, proof of Charles Louis Botten, Manager to Dickson & Rowe of 17 Walbrook (paper dealers) dated 19 November 1907.

pp. 234–5
  Statement of Edward Phillips
. See statement of Edward Phillips to Walter Dew at NA Mepol 3/175.

p. 236
  
tuberculosis of the lungs and throat.
See notes of interview between Dew and Official Receiver’s Office dated 18 March 1908, NU Pl L1/11/6/1111.

p. 236
  
Amateur detective… professional plain-clothes policeman.
For the divergence in public perceptions, see the analysis by Lucy Worsley in
A Very British Murder
, BBC Digital, September 2013.

p. 239
  ‘
all persons who should be brought to book’.
See NU Pl L1/11/6/938.

p. 239
  ‘
Coburn and the whole crew’
. See NU Pl L1/11/6/1103/1.

p. 239
  
Recorder at Newcastle
. See letter from Turner to Baileys at NU Pl L1/11/6/990/1.

p. 240
  
Letter from Home Office dismissing investigation
. See NU Pl LI/11/6/1177.

SCENE EIGHTEEN

pp. 241–2
  Letter from Baileys to Home Office
. See NU Pl L1/11/6/1178.

p. 242
  
joint legal opinion
. See Opinion dated 4 June 1908, NU Pl L1/2/1/60.

p. 245
  
Sir Tatton and Lady Sykes.
The full eccentricities of Sir Tatton Sykes and the history of his spectacularly unhappy marriage to Jessie are set out in Christopher Simon Sykes’ biography of the Sykes family and Sledmere House,
The Big House: The Story of a Country House and its family
, London: HarperCollins, 2005.

p. 246
  
A vicar of Sledmere
. From the Sykes papers at the Brynmor Jones Library, University of Hull, DDSY /104/168.

pp. 247–8
  Sir Tatton Sykes’ advertisement.
This advertisement appeared in
The Times
, the
Morning Post
, the
Standard
, the
Daily Telegraph
and the
Daily News
on 7 December 1896.

p. 249
  ‘
left the matter alone’.
See NU Pl L1/11/6/217/1, NU Pl L1/11/6/2/2.

p. 249
  
Mary Ann’s account of meeting with Lady Sykes.
See statements of Mary Ann Robinson in Holloway Prison at NU Pl L1/6/1/10.

p. 251
  
Oakland Tribune.
See
Oakland Tribune
, 20 January 1913.

p. 252
  
Final fate of George Hollamby.
See Stratmann, Linda,
Fraudsters and Charlatans
, Stroud: The History Press, ebook, 2010.

pp. 252–3
  
6
th Duke’s thanks to Dew and other officers
. See NU Pl L1/11/6/1204.

pp. 253–4
  Saturday Post.
See
Saturday Post
, 29 January 1916.

p. 255
  
Dew’s biographer Nicholas Connell.
See Nicholas Connell,
Walter Dew: The Man who Caught Crippen
, Stroud: The History Press, 2013.

SCENE NINETEEN

p. 256
  
Thomas Mann citation.
© 1960, 1974 S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, Frankfurt am Main. All rights reserved.

p. 257
  
Edwin Freshfield had referred to them in a letter to the Home Office
. See NU Pl L1/11/1/191.

p. 259
  
Fire at Harcourt House.
See proof of Henry Powell at NU Pl L1/2/6/13.

p. 259
  
The late Duke well knew the opinion of the outside world concerning him.
See proof of Joseph Burns at NU Pl L1/2/6/12.

p. 260
  
record books split into double columns
. See, for example, NU Pl L1/2/9/5.

p. 261
  
Action against the
6
th Duke over census returns.
See NU Pl L1/8 – documents relating to
Haworth
v.
Portland
and another.

p. 262
  
Kerridge’s statement.
See proof of William Kerridge at NU Pl L1/2/6/13.

p. 263
  
trade circular.
See NU Pl L1/11/3/108.

p. 263
  
French Embassy in London… Albert, the Prince Consort
. See memorandum of former Druce employee Richard Smith at NU Pl L1/2/7/150/1.

p. 263
  
Proofs of Leslie Ward and Henry Hope-Pinker
. See NU Pl L1/2/7/170 and NU Pl L1/2/6/13.

p. 265
  
Lawledge statement.
See NU Pl L1/2/6/9.

p. 265
  
Edward Swift.
See NA MEPOL 3/175.

p. 266
  
Bernard O’Donnell.
See O’Donnell,
The Trials of Mr Justice Avory
, London: Rich & Cowan, 1935, pp. 93–4.

p. 267
  
Plans and specifications for ‘sub-way at Harcourt House’.
See NU PL L1/11/3/34.

pp. 268–9
  Letters from Fanny Lawson to Horace Avory
. See NU PL L1/11/6/1224/2, NU PL L1/11/6/1231.

SCENE TWENTY

p. 276
  
Citation from A Natural History of the Senses.
Cited by kind permission of the author, Diane Ackerman.

p. 277
  
Police photographs of the Druce grave
. NA HO 45/10541/FILE/157177.

p. 279
  
‘a pompous-looking man with a moustache’.
See Masters, op. cit., p. 169.

p. 285
  ‘
upset the applecart’
. See NU Pl L1/11/6/303.

p. 286
  
Military service records of George and Bertram Lawson
. Register No 203497, Portsmouth Division, and Register No 9894, Chatham Division.

p. 288
  
handwritten note of meeting
. See NU Pl L1/2/10/37.

This book could not have been written without reliance on the vast collection of documents housed at Nottingham University Manuscripts & Special Collections; in particular, the important Portland (London) Collection that is the primary source of unpublished material relating to the Druce–Portland case. To the patience and forbearance of the staff there, I owe much in the way of thanks. Other important collections are held by the National Archives at Kew and the London Metropolitan Archives, to whose staff I am likewise most grateful.

The task of researching this book has been truly enormous, and many people have generously stepped in with advice and assistance on the way. I am grateful to Norma Bulman for her painstaking photographing of literally hundreds of documents to facilitate my task, and also to Sue Newman for invalu-able assistance on the genealogical research front. Gordon Ashbury generously provided vital clues to Fanny Lawson’s Scottish connections, and Geoff Wright gave helpful pointers to the ultimate fate of George Hollamby. Forces War Records were of great assistance in retrieving the service records of George and Bertram Lawson, and Michael Goldschmidt provided detailed insights into their interpretation, bringing the invaluable benefit of his expertise as a military historian. Dr Lionel Thevathasan MB BS FRCS spared some time from a busy schedule to give medical advice. Thanks are also due to Charles Dalglish and Melvyn Tan, both of whom put me in touch with the right people. I am grateful also to Shelley Thevathasan, for her careful review of the manuscript.

To Derek Adlam, the curator at Welbeck Abbey, I owe an enormous debt. His generous allocation of time for a visit and guided tour, together with his passionate enthusiasm for the abbey and its occupants throughout time, made the story come alive in a way that would not have otherwise been possible. I also have him to thank for a careful scrutiny of certain passages relating to the incredibly complicated family history of the Cavendish-Bentinck family.

I should thank my incredible agent Andrew Lownie, and my best and severest critic, my editor Richard Milbank. I am also very grateful to Anne Newman for her fabulously rigorous copyediting. Love and thanks also to my mother Sarah Das Gupta and, as ever, to my husband, Nikolaï Eatwell. To my sons Alek, Oscar and Noah, I am perhaps the most grateful of all: for allowing their mother to sneak off, at times, to her double life.

PRIMARY SOURCES

The primary (unpublished) sources for this book come from two principal archives:

The Portland (London) Collection at Nottingham University Manuscripts & Special Collections department.
This important collection, consisting of several thousand documents, is the most comprehensive record of the Druce–Portland proceedings in existence. It includes all the court papers from the numerous hearings of the case, the correspondence of the 6th Duke’s solicitors Baileys, Shaw & Gillett that related to it and the private-investigator reports of J. G. Littlechild, along with numerous press clippings. Detailed references to the Nottingham University Portland (London) archive are contained in the endnotes, and are prefaced by the reference NU. Files reviewed were:

Pl L1/1      Pl L1/8

Pl L1/2      Pl L1/9

Pl L1/3      Pl L1/11

Pl L1/4      Pl L1/12

Pl L1/6

The National Archives.
The National Archives contain important documents from the Home Office, Director of Public Prosecutions, and Metropolitan Police files relating to the initial claims by Anna Maria Druce and the later perjury and conspiracy charges. A number of the files were classified until the 1980s. Detailed references to the National Archive files relating to the Druce case are contained in the endnotes, and are prefaced by the reference NA. Files reviewed were:

PRO BT 31/11183/85345

PRO BT 31/12175/95549

PRO DPP 1/11

PRO HO 45/10541/157177

PRO HO 144/1020/160196

PRO MEPO 3/174

PRO MEPO 3/175

PRO MEPO 3/176

PRO TS 18/272

BT31/12141/95200

HO45/10253/X27066

J14/560

In addition, there are references to documents in the London Metropolitan Archives, particularly relating to nineteenth-century workhouse records, which are prefaced by the reference LMA. References to birth, marriage and death certificates, together with census records, are identified by the appropriate source reference.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Adlam, Derek:

–
  
Miss Butler Remembers: A Laundry Maid’s Recollections of the
5
th Duke of Portland
, Florida: The Pineapple Press, 2003.