The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife and the Missing Corpse (41 page)

p. 88
    Law Court Particular
. See George Augustus Sala,
London Up to Date, Ten-Thirty AM at the new Law Courts
, Pt I–II (1895).

p. 89
    ghoulish women.
See
Pall Mall Gazette
, 4 December 1890.

p. 90
    Description of central hall and corridors to probate, divorce and admiralty division
. See Sala, op. cit.; also the description of the entrance to the new Law Courts in Sir Henry Rider Haggard,
Mr Meeson’s Will
, Chapter 19 (1888).

p. 91
    had hastily revised his view.
See letter from Forbes Winslow to
The Times
, 17 March 1898.

p. 93
    ‘a great sameness and simplicity about it’.
See J. E. G. de Montmorency,
John Gorell Barnes, First Lord Gorell: A Memoir
, London: John Murray, 1920, Introduction.

p. 94
    intimacy… loss of individuality
. See de Montmorency, op.cit.

p. 94
    ‘Madam, you cannot have a Special Jury unless you can show that you are able to pay for it
.’ While the full content of the proceedings has necessarily been truncated, the dialogue is transcribed directly from the copy of the short-hand notes taken in the probate court by the court reporter (NU PI/LI/d/2).

p. 101
  committed to a lunatic asylum… bought off by somebody.
The ‘official’ story given to the press was that Mrs Druce was committed to an asylum. However, in an interview with an agent of J. G. Littlechild on 10 July 1907, an informant told him that she was ‘not in a lunatic asylum as reported but was living in opulence, which leads them to believe that she has been bought over, especially as her case finished in the way it did’ (NU PI LI/9/4/61).

SCENE EIGHT

p. 106
  
Unrest in Bury St Edmunds
. See David Addy,
St Edmundsbury Chronicle
2000, St Edmundsbury Council millennial project.

p. 107
  
St Matthew’s Fair
. St Matthew’s Fair – one of three traditional fairs at Bury – was also the most famous, taking place on the three days preceding and subsequent to St Matthew’s feast on 21 September. It was abolished by the Fairs Act of 1871.

p. 107
  
Reverend William Stocking, rector at the village of Tuddenham and reader at St James’ Church in Bury.
See
Suffolk: Bury St. Edmunds
– Biographical List of Boys Educated At King Edward
6
th Free Grammar School,
1550
–
1900: ‘N.B.--Rev. William Stocking, father of this boy, was reader at St. James’, Bury, 1810–29, rector of Tuddenham 1820–29. Died Mar 1829 aged 58.’

p. 107
  
marriage licence
. The licence for the couple to marry was granted on 16 October 1816, three days before the wedding (Suffolk: Sudbury – Marriage Licences, 1815–1839; Book 12. The Hearth Tax. Charles 2nd). In order to obtain the marriage licence, Thomas Charles Druce was required to execute a bond certifying that there was no just cause for the couple not to be married without their parents’ consent, thus certifying that the couple were of age (i.e., at least twenty-one years old). The exact ages of both T. C. Druce and Elizabeth Crickmer, however, remain something of a mystery, as no birth certificate has been found for either. The claimants in the Druce case always alleged that he was born about 1800, as indeed they had to, as that was the birth year of the 5th Duke of Portland. The year of birth of Elizabeth Crickmer, T. C. Druce’s first wife, is given as 1795 in both her death certificate (Death Dec qtr 1851, St George, Southwark, vol. 4, p. 371) and in the record of her burial (LMA, Norwood Cemetery, Norwood Road, Lambeth, Transcript of Burials, 1851, DW/T Item, 0912; Call Number: DW/T/0912). However, in an interview given to J. G. Littlechild by T. C. Druce’s granddaughter in 1898, she is stated to have been ‘about seventeen’ when she married, which would make her year of birth 1799 or 1800.

p. 107
  
one of the most beautiful young women
. Many accounts stood testimony to the beauty of Elizabeth Crickmer: see, for example, the
Daily Express
, 29 June 1903.

pp. 107–8
  attended by the reverend’s own son.
See records of King Edward 6th Free Grammar School, op. cit. above.

p. 108
  
She came from a prosperous family.
See the
Daily Express
, 29 June 1903. Elizabeth Crickmer’s parentage has never been traced with certainty and the figure of £7000 has not been confirmed. However, that she came from a prosperous family is evident from the style in which she and T. C. Druce lived in the four years after their marriage. G. H. Druce’s publication
The Idler
of 18 January 1908 (a source that must be approached with caution as it embroiders many facts, but is generally reasonably reliable with reference to background on the Crickmer family) refers to Frances Elizabeth staying in Yarmouth with her ‘cousins’, the Burtons, one of whom – Samuel Burton – was later to become Mayor of Yarmouth. It appears from this statement and the records that Elizabeth’s sister Mary Crickmer made an advantageous match in August 1819 to a gentleman named Samuel Burton. Their marriage was reported in
The Times
– further indicating that the Crickmers were a family of no small status. See register of marriage, Guildhall, St Andrew Holborn, Register of marriages, 1817–1820, P69/AND2/A/01/Ms 6672/3; also announcement in
The Times
dated 3 September 1819, in which Mary Crickmer is said to be ‘of Ditchingham’, a village next to Bungay.

p. 108
  
apparently of good breeding.
See interview given by John Dalgety Henderson, husband to T. C. Druce’s granddaughter, with J. G. Littlechild, 5 December 1898, NU PI L1/9/1/12: ‘From his [i.e., T. C. Druce’s] manners and habits he was evidently of good birth.’

p. 108
  ‘
She ran away from school to get married.’
See NU Pl L1/2/11/3.

p. 109
  
School at Southgate Street
. The exclusive boarding school, at nos 42 and 43 Southgate Street, was run by Miss Cooke at the time Elizabeth Crickmer would have attended it. By 1865, it had been taken over by a Miss Amelia Hitchins.

p. 109
  
Inspiration for school in The Pickwick Papers
. There have been rival claims by the town of Rochester to being the source of the inspiration for the girls’ boarding school in
The Pickwick Papers
.

p. 109
  
impressive house on Great Market.
T. C. Druce is first referenced at the house in Great Market on 22 September 1816, about a month before his marriage, when he was obviously preparing a home for his wife. He remained a tenant of this house from 1816 until some time between September 1818 and June 1819, each succeeding assessment list containing his name. See the confirmation of entries in the rate books from Bury St Edmunds Corporation to Baileys dated 19 August 1907 at NU Pl L1/11/6/612; also certified entries of the rate books at Bury at NU Pl L1/2/12/2/7.

p. 109
  
resident town portraitist
. See the
Daily Express
, 17 July 1903. It is possible that the portraitist in question was the painter James Canterbury Pardon (b. 1792) or a relative.

p. 110
  
overseer of the poor
. See the confirmation of entries in the rate books from Bury St Edmunds Corporation to Baileys dated 19 August 1907 at NU Pl L1/11/6/612; also certified entries of the rate books at Bury at NU Pl L1/2/12/2/7.

p. 110
  
admitted to a nunnery
. See account in
Society
, 3 September 1898; corroborated by a report of J. G. Littlechild, NU PI LI 9/1/1.

p. 110
  
Benjafield… Payne.
See proof of Charles Benjafield at NU Pl L1/2/7/10.

p. 111
  
rented a cottage in… Lower Baxter Street.
See the confirmation of entries in the rate books from Bury St Edmunds Corporation to Baileys dated 19 August 1907 at NU Pl L1/11/6/612; also certified entries of the rate books at Bury at NU Pl L1/2/12/2/7.

p. 111
  
Childhood recollections of George Druce
. See
The Idler
, op. cit., 18 January 1908.

p. 111
  
sent to Yarmouth to live with her cousins, the Burtons
. See
The Idler
, op. cit., 18 January 1908.

p. 111
  
Applications to be excused from having to pay the poor rates
. See the confirmation of entries in the rate books from Bury St Edmunds Corporation to Baileys dated 19 August 1907 at NU Pl L1/11/6/612, also certified entries of the rate books at Bury at NU Pl L1/2/12/2/7.

p. 112
  
William Druce.
The ostensible fifth child of Thomas Charles and Elizabeth Druce, William Druce was born at a time when, according to the available records, the couple were estranged.

p. 112
  
Claim of George Hollamby that William was illegitimate
. See statement of Amanda Gibson to Walter Dew at NA Mepol 3/175.

p. 112
  
Freshfields note stating that ‘William is illegitimate’.
See NU Pl L1/2/10/90.

p. 112
  
poorer area… Eastgate Street
. See the confirmation of entries in the rate books from Bury St Edmunds Corporation to Baileys dated 19 August 1907 at NU Pl L1/11/6/612; also certified entries of the rate books at Bury at NU Pl L1/2/12/2/7.

p. 113
  
Elizabeth leaves Bury for Kennington.
See the
Daily Express
, 18 July 1903.

p. 113
  
Confrontation between Druce and his wife
. The account of Elizabeth tracking down T. C. Druce and compelling him to maintain her is given in the
Daily Express
, 29 June 1903. It was confirmed in many newspapers and witness statements by other members of the Crickmer family.

p. 113
  
12 shillings a week
. See interview with Mrs Clayton in the
Daily Express
, 30 June 1903.

pp. 113–14
  T.
C. Druce’s actions with respect to the Crickmer children.
See
The Idler
, 18 January 1908.

p. 114
  
Mrs Gibbons… Mrs Whitwell
. Reference to Fanny being sent to these establishments is made in
The Idler
(18 January 1908). Mrs Gibbons’ school appears in Pigot’s Directory of 1839 and in the 1841 census, in which Mrs Whitwell is listed as a governess. Fanny is not listed at either address in the 1841 census; possibly because, as noted in
The Idler
, she left boarding school that year.

p. 114
  
Letter from T.
C. Druce to Fanny.
Cited in
The Idler
, op. cit., 18 January 1908. A sample of T. C. Druce’s handwriting in the form of a letter signed ‘your affectionate father’ was handed to the
Daily Mail
, to compare with that of the 5th Duke of Portland.

p. 114
  
assigned the lease
. See record of T. C. Druce’s movements compiled by Freshfields at NU Pl L1/2/9/5.

p. 114
  
Annie May introduced as aunt.
According to an account published in the magazine
The Idler
on 18 January 1908.

p. 115
  
her father told her that Elizabeth had died.
See
The Idler
, 18 January 1908, supported by the interview of J. G. Littlechild with Fanny’s daughter on 8 December 1898 (NU PI LI/9/1/2). G. H. Druce goes on to state in
The Idler
that Fanny continued to see her mother in secret (see also interview with Mrs Clayton in the
Daily Express
, 30 June 1903).

p. 115
  
collecting her weekly allowance from her husband at her brother’s house in Kennington.
See account of an interview with Elizabeth’s nephew John Crickmer in the
Daily Express
, 29 June 1903; also Mrs Clayton in the
Daily Express
, 30 June 1903. Mary Ann Robinson recounted in a statement to police in June 1908 that John Crickmer had told her that he, or sometimes his father Charles, Elizabeth’s brother, would collect her money from T. C. Druce at the Baker Street Bazaar (NA Mepol. 3/175).

p. 115
  
Fanny continued to see Elizabeth… cast-off clothes
. See interview with Mrs Clayton in the
Daily Express
, 30 June 1903. The fact that Elizabeth made shirts to eke a living is borne out by the 1851 census, where there is an entry for an ‘Elizabeth Douce, visitor’, described as a ‘shirt-maker’, in the household of the Waller family at 8 East Street, St George’s, Southwark. Mary Waller, the wife of the household, is listed on Elizabeth’s death certificate as the informant who was present at her death, at the same address.

p. 115
  
Description of Elizabeth Crickmer.
See interview with Mrs Clayton in the
Daily Express
, 30 June 1903.

p. 116
  ‘
appeared to be intoxicated’
. See Pl L1/2/6/9.

p. 116
  
Elizabeth’s real death in 1851
. See records of burials at Norwood Cemetery and Elizabeth’s death certificate (ref:
London Metropolitan Archives, Norwood Cemetery, Norwood Road, Lambeth, Transcript of Burials,
1851
, DW/T Item,
0912; Call Number:
DW/T/
0912; 1851, 4th qtr, Southwark, Vol. 4, p. 371).

p. 116
  
George and William… outbound ships to Australia
. George Druce married Mary Hollamby in Victoria in 1854; William Druce married Hannah Church in Paddington, New South Wales, also in 1854.