The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery (61 page)

‘Old Dr Hood
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 126

The thought that
…: Violet to Charlie, various letters, August–October 1914, MR

It took courage
…: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 118

Although she was twenty-two
…: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, pp. 48–50

‘Guy’s looked very Dickensian
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, pp. 119–20

‘My mother writhed
…’: ibid.

‘Mother was in a despairing blue
…’: Diana to her sister Marjorie, private collection

‘I was still forbidden
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 76

At night
…: ibid., p. 111

There were other rules too
…: ibid., pp. 76–129

Most eligible was
…: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, pp. 30–31

It was one that the Duke of Connaught
…: ibid.

If this plan failed
…: ibid.

Diana rejected
…: ibid.

In private, her parents
…: Duke of Rutland to Marjorie, n.d., MR

Diana loathed
…: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, pp. 62–4

They had met at a house party
…: ibid.

The director of a merchant bank
…: George Gordon Moore, unpublished memoir, private collection

‘His riches were evident
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 96

At dances before the war
…: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, pp. 23–4

Enid Bagnold
…: ibid.

Raymond Asquith
…: ibid.

Her beauty, Cynthia Asquith remembered
…: Cynthia Asquith,
Remember and Be Glad
, J. Barrie 1952, p. 90

‘I understood very little of what he said
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 96

Describing Moore as a ‘most unusual man
…’: ibid.

In a letter to Raymond Asquith
…: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, p. 62

At 8 Fitzroy Square
…: ibid., pp. 54–6

She was probably the only virgin there
…’: ibid., p. 56

‘My brother John
…’: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, p. 61

‘To get my brother
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 144

Chapter 46

At her mother’s insistence
…: Violet to Diana, various letters, October 1914–January 1915, MR

Among them, as Diana recalled
…: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958, p. 96

… and he gave her jewels
: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, Hamish Hamilton 1981, p. 63

‘I was very young
…’: ibid., p. 62

Nicknamed the Dances of Death
…: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, pp. 142–4

‘Parents were excluded
…’: ibid., p. 143

‘The parties were the delight
…’: ibid., p. 144

Mindful that her brother’s life
…: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, p. 63

‘I wanted to leave
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 144

The thirty-minute service
…: ibid., p. 122

Despite the strict discipline
…: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, pp. 49–50

‘I was given
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, pp. 122–3

Her conduct sheet was immaculate
…: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, pp. 49–50

‘I was moved after a few months
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 131

‘I had earned the hard name
…’: ibid., p. 95

‘On the whole my own impression
…’: Philip Ziegler,
Lady Diana Cooper
, p. 64

‘I can’t understand
…’: ibid.

‘The Commander-in-Chief
…’: Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, p. 146

Out in France
…: Alan Clark,
The Donkeys
, Hutchinson 1961, p. 39

‘Water is the great
…’: Lyn Macdonald,
1915
, Headline 1994, p. 18

Chapter 47

A short distance
…: Richard Holmes,
The Little Field Marshal
, Cassell 2005, p. 255

‘The spider in his web
…’: ibid., p. 121

His mood was euphoric
…: Letters to Winifred Bennett, Imperial War Museum

‘Winter in the trenches
…’: Lyn Macdonald,
1915
, Headline 1994

Nowhere had
…: ibid.

The front along which
…: ibid.

Using spotter planes
…: Alan Clark,
The Donkeys
, Hutchinson 1961, pp. 48–9

Against this flimsy barrier
…: ibid.

If Neuve Chapelle
…: Lyn Macdonald,
1915

Sir John had spent
…: Letters to Winifred Bennett, Imperial War Museum

‘I’ve just come back from
…’: ibid.

Sir John’s self-belief
…: George H. Cassar,
The Tragedy of Sir John French
, University of Delaware Press 1985

On the morning of 9 March
…: Letters to Winifred Bennett, Imperial War Museum

We are now about to attack
…: Lyn Macdonald,
1915
, pp. 112–13

‘It is a solemn thought
…’: Esher War Journal, 9 March 1915, Churchill College, Cambridge

‘Trust me to see that he is all right
…’: Sir John French to Violet, February 1915, MR

The previous week
…: Sir John’s war diary, Imperial War Museum

‘I explained to him
…’: ibid.

Darling, I must finish
…: Letters to Winifred Bennett, Imperial War Museum

To avoid the risk
…: Lyn Macdonald,
1915
, p. 82

There, bivouacked
…: Alan Clark,
The Donkeys
, p. 50

Charles Tennant
…: Lyn Macdonald,
1915
, p. 91

‘Snow swept down on us
…’: ibid.

‘We were Territorials
…’: ibid., pp. 89–90

‘We put up climbing ladders
…’: ibid., p. 102

‘When dawn came
…’: ibid., p. 92

At 7.30 punctually
…: ibid.

‘The bombardment started
…’: ibid., p. 93

‘Through all the bombardment
…’: ibid.

In the run-up
…: Alan Clark,
The Donkeys
, pp. 50–51

As the weeks passed
…: Lyn Macdonald,
1915
, pp. 84–6

It was only on
…: ibid.

The 2nd Middlesex led
…: Alan Clark,
The Donkeys
, p. 55

Chapter 48

He was driving
…: John to Charlie, 15 March 1915, MR

It was seven o’clock
…: ibid.

In the two weeks
…: ibid.

For three days
…: 137 Brigade war diary, National Archives, WO 95/2683

‘I suppose people would say
…’: John to his sister Marjorie, 14 March 1915, private collection

‘The way the Staff Officers
…’: ibid.

Officers and other ranks were segregated
…: Paul Fussell,
The Great War
, OUP 2000

Twenty-one divisions
…: Roy Westlake,
British Battalions on the Western Front
, Leo Cooper, 2001

In the two weeks that John
…: John’s war diary

The châteaux John slept in
…: ibid.

His empathy with the living conditions
…: John to his family, various letters, February/March 1915, MR

Fortnum’s offered
…: Fortnum & Mason Christmas Catalogue for the Expeditionary Force, 1914

1¼ pounds fresh meat
…:
Derbyshire Times
, 28 August 1914

In the trenches
…: Paul Fussell,
The Great War
, p. 49

‘I am very comfortable
…’: John to his sister, Marjorie, n.d., private collection

‘They might as well
…’: ibid., 14 March 1915

Chapter 49

‘I am very sad
…’: Letter to Winifred Bennett, 13 March 1915, Imperial War Museum

After spending
…: ibid., 14 March 1915

There, they saw
…: Diary of Sir John French, Imperial War Museum

Some months earlier
…: George Moore, unpublished memoir, private collection

The project
…: Major-General C. H. Foulkes, ‘Gas!’, Naval and Military Press 2009

Foulkes, a charismatic
…: ibid.

Moore wanted John
…: Charlie to John, various letters, March–April 1915, MR

In mid-February
…: Sir John French to Violet, February 1915, MR

That morning
…: Violet to Charlie, various letters, March 1915, MR

I went in to St Omer
…: Diary of Sir John French, Imperial War Museum

I motored GM
…: Sir John French to Winifred Bennett, 14/15 March 1915

So shaken
…: John’s war diary

Chapter 50

The division had been
…: 46th North Midland Battalion and Brigade war diaries, WO 95 2662/2663/2683

They were three miles
…: Captain J. D. Hills,
The Fifth Leicestershire
, Naval and Military Press 2002

Outside the North Midlands headquarters
…: John to Charlie, 15 March 1915, MR

It was shortly after
…: John’s war diary

Stuart Wortley read
…: John to Charlie, 15 March 1915, MR

John had barely skimmed
…: ibid.

A few minutes later
…: John to Charlie, 16 March 1915, MR

John shared
… John to Charlie, various letters, January–February 1915, MR

The next morning
…: John to his sister, Marjorie, n.d., private collection

Since John’s arrival at the Front
…: Letters to John from Charlie, Violet and the Duke, February–March 1915, MR

Chapter 51

Early the next morning
…: Charlie to John, 25 March 1915, MR

‘Your boy’s failed me
…’: ibid.

The drawing room
…: Charlie to John, May 1914, MR

John’s refusal
…: Charlie to John, 25 March 1915, MR

But, before proceeding
…: Charlie to John, 16 March 1915, MR

‘Find out why
…’: ibid.

Depending on the answers
…: The Duke to Edward Stuart Wortley, 18 March 1915, MR

Two days later
…: Note, Violet to Charlie, MR

Chapter 52

Shortly before 7.30 p.m.
…: Note, Violet to Charlie, MR

It was a wet, blustery evening
…:
The Times
, 26 March 1915

Well into her eighties
…: Various references, MR

Earlier that day
…: Note, Violet to Charlie, MR, 25 March 1918; Violet to Charlie, 18 March 1915, MR

Lady Holford had opened
…: ibid.

At the appointed hour
…: George Moore, unpublished memoir, private collection

To ensure their conversation
…: This is not documented, but it is reasonable to assume that they would not have wanted the footmen to hear the conversation that followed. In extremis, the practice of the day was to dismiss the footmen after dinner was served.

While Violet had convened
…: Inferred from Violet’s note of meeting, MR. A scrap of paper: ‘1. GHQ – too many titled officers. 2. Sir J – spurned/reissue? 3. J? How?’

In tackling
…: Charlie to John, 25 March 1915, MR

Chapter 53

In March 1915
…: G. E. Cockayne,
The Complete Peerage
, Vol. VIII

Her bedroom at Arlington Street
…: Violet to Charlie, March 1915, MR

The previous October
…: Violet to Charlie, 18 October 1915

Determined to stop her
…: At the time, Violet and Diana were trying to set up a hospital at Hardelot in France. However, the project had run into problems. Anticipating that it would fail, the Arlington Street Hospital was Violet’s fallback. But it was not until the following year that it became operational.

Other dukes
…: Chatsworth archives; Lost Hospitals of London (website); Wikipedia

He thought it would be ‘knocked about’
…: Henry to Violet, n.d., MR

Violet, who had had several lovers
…: Besides her long affair with Harry Cust, which began in the 1880s and continued until well into the 1900s, Violet also had an affair with Montagu Correy, Disraeli’s private secretary, who was thought to be the father of her second daughter, Letty.

Later that day, Henry watched
…: Marjorie to John, private collection

Chapter 55

At General Headquarters
…: The full extent of Sir John’s troubles that spring and early summer was reported in
The New York Times
in a long article published on 4 July 1915

‘I have more trouble
…’: Sir John to Winifred Bennett, Imperial War Museum

‘We had not sufficient
…’:
The Times
, 14 May 1915

The finger of blame
…: Richard Holmes,
The Little Field Marshal
, Cassell 2005, pp. 288–91

The scandal served
…:
The New York Times
, 4 July 1915

‘The impression
…’: ibid.

‘The absence of any
…’: ibid.

The fact of the matter
…: ibid.

It was his War Office file
…: National Archives, WO 374/28523

It was only when I read the war diary
…: National Archives, WO 95/2670

Chapter 56

According to Colonel Beevor’s
…: National Archives, WO 95/2670

19 July, 7.30 am
…: ibid.