The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife and the Missing Corpse (42 page)

p. 116
  
Charles Crickmer was to follow them.
A Mr C. Druce is listed in the Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists from Plymouth arriving in Sydney, New South Wales, on 24 February 1878, on the vessel
Lochee
.

p. 116
  
marrying after her ‘aunt’s’ death a butcher by the name of John Izard
. Eliza Tremaine died at the house in St John’s Wood in 1857 (2nd qtr, 1857, St Marylebone, London, Vol. 1a, p. 307). Fanny married John James Izard, a butcher, on 14 September 1858, in the parish of St Marylebone (LMA, Saint Marylebone, Register of marriages, P89/MRY1, Item 231).

p. 117
  
John Crickmer
. See account of an interview with the nephew of Elizabeth Crickmer, John, in the
Daily Express
, 29 June 1903.

pp. 117–18
  Letter from Mr Edney.
Cited in
The Idler
, 18 January 1908.

p. 118
  
not been told the truth.
See report by J. G. Littlechild of interview with Fanny’s daughter on 8 December 1898, NU PI LI 9/1/2.

p. 118
  
No carriage in the funeral cortège having been provided for them. Charles Crickmer was present at the official reading of his father’s will.
See interview of Fanny’s daughter by J. G. Littlechild on 8 December 1898, NU PI LI/9/1/2.

SCENE NINE

p. 121
  
born in a mining camp at Campbell’s Creek, Victoria.
The details of George Hollamby’s early life in Australia are taken from an interview given by him in the
Penny Illustrated Press
, 30 November 1907 (
My Life in Australia
).

p. 122
  
Edward Hammond Hargraves.
For a full account of the now legendary discovery by Hargraves of gold in Ophir, see Nancy Keesing, ed.,
History of the Australian Gold Rushes
, New South Wales: Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1967, pp. 11–14.

p. 124
  ‘
That… was the start in life she gave me
.’ See the
Penny Illustrated Press
, 30 November 1907, op. cit.

p. 124
  
George Hollamby in the Australian bush.
The account of George Hollamby’s experiences in the Australian bush is taken from his interview with the
Daily Express
, 8 July 1908.

p. 125
  
younger brother Charles burst into the room.
The story is recounted by George’s brother Charles in evidence given on deposition to the court in Australia at NU Pl L1/2/4/2/23/2.

pp. 127–8
  Letter from Mark Twain
. Letter from Mark Twain to Jesse M. Leathers, 5 October 1875, Mark Twain Papers, California Digital Library.

p. 130
  
confidential offer of £
50
,
000. See statement of Francis Coles to Walter Dew, NA Mepol 3/175.

p. 131
  
bankrupted on several occasions.
See the various petitions for bankruptcy filed by T. K. V. Coburn in the Victoria court at NU Pl L1/11/4/38/12.

p. 131
  
J. Howden comment.
See NA PRO DPP 1/11,
R
. v.
Robinson
.

SCENE TEN

p. 133
  65
London Wall
. The offices once occupied by the Druce supporters at 65 London Wall in 1907 still exist today. The building retains many of its original period features.

p. 134
  ‘
Second floor’.
The description of the location, people and events at the Druce offices at 65 London Wall in this chapter are taken from the two statements given by Amanda Malvina Gibson to Detective Chief Inspector Walter Dew in July 1908, unless otherwise stated (NA Mepol. 3/175).

p. 135
  
30 shillings to £2 a week.
See statements of Amanda Malvina Gibson, NA Mepol. 3/175, op. cit.

p. 135
  
had recently visited George Hollamby and Thomas Coburn
. See statements of Amanda Malvina Gibson, NA Mepol. 3/175, op. cit.

p. 135
  
the New Thought movement
. See Beryl Satter,
Each Mind a Kingdom: American Women, Sexual Purity, and the New Thought Movement
1875
–
1920, Oakland: University of California Press, 2001.

p. 136
  
Amanda’s book
. Amanda Gibson referred in her statement to Walter Dew (NA Mepol. 3/175) to bringing a novel with her to England in 1906, in the hope of finding a publisher. The completion date of
A Marriage of Souls
in 1906 (see Prologue) would suggest it was this novel that she brought with her. It was not in fact published until 1914, in Australia.

p. 136
  
a central tenet of her own beliefs.
See Veni Cooper-Mathieson,
Australia! Land of the Dawning
, Sydney: Universal Truth Publishing Company,
c
.1904; also
A Marriage of Souls: A Metaphysical Novel
, Perth: Truth-Seeker Publishing, 1914.

p. 137
  
Letters poured in daily
. See statements of Amanda Malvina Gibson, NA Mepol. 3/175, op. cit.

p. 141
  
a ‘short time between their births’
. See the statement of Mrs Fanny Hughes at NU Pl L1/11/4/33/2.

p. 141
  
Agreement between George Hollamby and Charles Edgar:
see NU P1/L1/2/4/13.

p. 143
  
Case that Druce and the duke were one and the same person.
The correspondences between T. C. Druce and the 5th Duke of Portland that convinced Amanda Gibson are taken from
The
Idler
pamphlet of 1905 entitled
Claim to the Portland Millions. Was Druce the Duke? Facts shortly stated
, which was privately circulated (see NU Pl L1/2/4/15–20).

p. 146
  
Caldwell’s story.
Caldwell’s story as told to Amanda Gibson, along with those of Mary Robinson and Mrs Hamilton, are based on the witness evidence given by the three in the subsequent court hearing.

SCENE ELEVEN

p. 154
  
sawdust, turpentine and cheese
. See the description of Great Grubby Street Police Court in George Augustus Sala,
London Up to Date
, 1895:
Ten AM at Great Grubby Street Police Court
(Pt. I & II).

p. 154
  ‘
blue or black eyes of some goddess’.
See Alfred Chichele Plowden,
Grain or Chaff? The Autobiography of a Police Magistrate
, London: T. F. Unwin, 1903, p. 46.

p. 155
  
sickly blue tiles
. See Plowden,
Grain or Chaff?
op. cit., p. 176.

p. 155
  
so is the wig to a Judge.
See Plowden,
Grain or Chaff?
op. cit., p. 223.

p. 156
  
leniency towards homosexuals.
See Matt Houlbrook,
Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis
1918
–
1957, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005, p. 252.

p. 156
  ‘
Illegitimate?’
etc.
The dialogue in this chapter, although necessarily abridged, is accurately reported from the court transcript of the perjury proceedings (NU PI L1/4/3).

p. 157
  
attenuated hands… mask-like face
. See
A Judge of Distinction
– The Life and Work of Horace Avory
, in the
Law Society Gazette
, 29 May 1991.

p. 158
  
notices had been posted in the newspapers
. See NA Mepol. 3/174.

p. 166
  
Georgina Hogarth.
See letters and memorandum of interview with Miss Georgina Hogarth at NU Pl L1/11/6/568 and NU Pl L1/2/7/33/1.

p. 167
  
Thomas Edward Crispe, KC.
For an account of Crispe’s informal cross-examination of Mrs Hamilton and his conviction that she was telling the truth, see his memoir,
Reminiscences of a KC
, London: Methuen & Co., 1909, p. 179.

p. 173
  6
th Duke of Portland’s pressure on Herbert Druce to consent to open the grave.
See NU Pl L1/11/1/67/1.

SCENE TWELVE

p. 174
  
a small group of men.
The description and circumstantial details of the exhumation are taken from the report in
The Times
, 31 December 1907.

p. 175
  
a morbid obssession
. See Nicholas Connell,
Walter Dew: The Man Who Caught Crippen
, The History Press, 2013, ebook edition, Chapter 2 (citing Dew’s memoir
I Caught Crippen
, London: Blackie & Son Ltd, 1938).

p. 175
  
Born in humble circumstances
. See Connell, op.cit., Prologue.

p. 175
  
nickname ‘Blue Serge
’. See Connell, op.cit., Prologue.

p. 176
  ‘
“swell” mobman… Dew.’
Saturday Post
, 29 January 1916.

p. 177
  
plot afoot surreptitiously to open the Druce grave
. See letter from Edmund Kimber to Superintendent Froest of Scotland Yard, 26 November 1907, NA Mepol. 3/174.

p. 177
  
Dew had advised against it
. See internal CID report of Walter Dew dated 28 November 1907, NA Mepol. 3/174.

p. 178
  
was it not a coincidence.
See internal CID report of Walter Dew into the incident of the stolen diary dated 9 November 1907, NA HO. 45/10541 File/157177.

p. 179
  
Russell and Whistler
. See account in
Black and White
, 19 August 1899, p. 230.

p. 180
  
offered in excess of £1000
. See NU Pl L1/11/1/153.

p. 180
  
different coloured handkerchiefs
. See memorandum from Edwin Freshfield to the Home Office dated 4 January 1908, NA Mepol. 3/174.

p. 181
  
a tarpaulin was spread over a portion of the floor
. For this and the subsequent details of the procedure for opening the vault, see
The Times
, 31 December 1907.

p. 182
  
approximately six feet five and a quarter inches in length
. See internal CID report of Walter Dew dated 31 December 1907, NA Mepol. 3/174.

SCENE THIRTEEN

p. 184
  
fourteenth and last court hearing.
See documents relating to the proceedings of
R
. v.
Herbert
Druce
at NU Pl L1/4.

SCENE FOURTEEN

p. 194
  
warrant for Caldwell’s arrest.
For this and the subsequent events at Albert Square, see the reports of Walter Dew at NA DPP 1/11.

p. 195
  
a coded message
. See NA DPP 1/11.

p. 196
  
hanging around his master’s London residence
. See NU Pl L1/11/6/882–3.

p. 197
  
Subterfuge by which the duke’s coat was obtained from Harrington’s daughter.
See the statement of Bertha Lambourn, daughter of John Harrington, at NU Pl L1/2/7/102.

p. 198
  ‘
I have been on the track all day’.
See letter dated 8 December 1907 from T. W. Turner to Horseman Bailey, NU Pl L1/11/6/633/1.

p. 200
  
Burning of Welbeck paintings.
See letter from Richard Goulding to Baileys, Shaw & Gillett dated 12 December 1907, NU Pl L1/11/3/102.

p. 201
  
dismissed three workmen… caricature
. See the evidence of the mechanical engineer James Rudd for the prosecution in the Druce perjury case, NU PI L1/4/2/7; also the proof of John William Tinker at NU Pl L1/2/6/13.

SCENE FIFTEEN

p. 203
  
Battle for Caldwell’s extradition
. The account of the battle for Caldwell’s extradition for trial in Britain on charges of perjury is taken from the Department of Public Prosecutions file on the subject at the National Archives, NA DPP 1. 11.

p. 204
  
fellow passenger… daughter of the late Captain Joyce
. See statement of Robert Caldwell’s fellow passenger Roulston at NU PI L1/4/2/17; also Dew’s investigations into Captain Joyce at NA Mepol 3/174 and NA DPP 1.11.

p. 205
  
‘Woman just arrested.’
See telegram from J. G. Littlechild to Bailey dated 17 January 1908, NU Pl L1/11/6/960.

p. 206
  
Account of Robinson’s arrest
. The account of Mary Robinson’s arrest is taken from the report submitted to Scotland Yard by Walter Dew dated 21 January 1908 at NA Mepol 3/176.

p. 207
  
Kimber accused of perjury
. See
Leeds Times
, 7 November 1891.

p. 207
  
Kimber representing the Tichborne claimant
. See
Manchester Evening News
, 13 September 1880.

p. 208
  
Background of Mrs Robinson.
Dew’s research into Mary Ann Robinson’s background is contained in the National Archive police files on the case, in particular NA Mepol 3/176.

p. 209
  
Royal Hotel
. Inspector Dew stayed at the Royal Hotel on his visit to Worksop in August 1908 (NU Pl L1/11/6/1199). It is therefore likely that he stayed there during his earlier visit that year, in January. The hotel stood on the old market square at Worksop, and has since been demolished.

p. 210
  
‘loose character in Worksop.’
NA MEPO 3/175.

p. 210
  
Researches into Mary Robinson
. For these events during Inspector Dew’s visit to Welbeck, see the letter from Turner to Baileys dated 24 January 1908, at NU Pl/L1/11/6/985/1-3.