The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery
Page 43
As the century turned …: ibid., p. 27
Every day, after lunch, the old Duke …: ibid., p. 28
Perfection – ‘snow-white …: ibid.
On the days he chose not to ride …: ibid. pp. 29–30
‘My grandfather would uncover his head …’: ibid., p. 30
On Sundays, the Duke’s post-lunch routine …: ibid., p. 31
After the stables came the kitchen garden …: ibid., p. 32
The inspection continued …: ibid.
Last came the kennels …: ibid.
Chapter 28
Its aim …: Lloyd George, House of Commons, 29 April 1909
‘My father was frankly philistine …’: Lady Diana Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958, p. 38
Chapter 29
To avoid a dilution in rank …: Brian Masters, The Dukes, Blond Briggs 1977, p. 20
In the early 1890s …: Ruth Brandon, The Dollar Princesses, Knopf 1980
‘Until then,’ New York heiress …: Daisy Goodwin, ‘Cash for Titles’, The Mail, August 2010
In 1895, the Duke of Marlborough …: ibid.
Her dowry was a staggering …: Amanda Mackenzie Stuart, Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt, Harper Perennial 2005, p. 135
That year alone …: Daisy Goodwin, ‘Cash for Titles’
In 1903, after seeing off the Duke of Manchester …: The New York Times, 11 November 1903
Alva, her socially ambitious mother …: Amanda Mackenzie Stuart, Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt, p. 4
The Duke had never loved her …: ibid., pp. 252–4
Margaretta Drexel was the …: The New York Times, The London Times, May–June 1909
The Drexels had arrived in style …: ibid.
Chapter 34
John’s battalion, the 4th Leicesters …: John Milne, Footprints of the 1/4th Leicestershire Regiment, Naval and Military Press 2006, p. 57
He had been one of thirty to embark …: ibid.
The previous December …: Philip Warner, The Battle of Loos, Kimber 1976
They had fought at Ypres and Loos …: ‘The Long, Long Trail’, www.1914-1918.net/
Chapter 35
The Army Council was …: ‘The Long, Long Trail’, www.1914–1918.net/
We should have been guilty of one of the most …: Grantham Journal, 12 September 1914
Chapter 37
It was first light on the morning of 27 August …: Violet to Diana, 27 August 1914: MR
By any standards …: Lady Diana Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958, p. 52
Unkindly, Margot Asquith …: Richard Davenport-Hines, Ettie, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2008, p. 47
Her daughter-in-law …: Cynthia Asquith, Haply I May Remember, James Barrie 1950, p. 86
The ‘stylized scream’…: Lady Diana Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, p. 24
‘My mother spent the mornings …’: ibid.
Downstairs, Henry …: Violet to Diana, 27 August 1914: MR
I think you ought …: Henry to Violet, ibid.
In the 1890s, she had persuaded …: Philip Ziegler, Lady Diana Cooper, Hamish Hamilton 1981, p. 8
‘I had a letter …’: Richard Davenport-Hines, Ettie, p. 59
By the end of it, she had drawn up a list …: MR
Chapter 38
Three weeks later, on an overcast morning …: Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle, 24 September 1914
To allow plenty of time …: Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle, 24 September 1914; Bedfordshire Advertiser and Luton Times, 25 September 1914; Luton Reporter, 21 September 1914
Opposite the troops …: ibid.
Morale among the troops …: ibid.
Until the King arrived …: ibid.
At Stockwood Park …: MR
The others – the sons of brewers …: Alan MacDonald, A Lack of Offensive Spirit, Iona Books 2008
‘Just as His Majesty took the salute …’: Bedfordshire Advertiser and Luton Times, 25 September 1914
Only a portion of the twelve thousand …: Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle, 24 September 1914; Bedfordshire Advertiser and Luton Times, 25 September 1914
In September 1914 …: Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory, Oxford 2000, p. 9
After completing his inspection …: Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle, 24 September 1914; Bedfordshire Advertiser and Luton Times, 25 September 1914; Luton Reporter, 21 September 1914
‘War is the sovereign disinfectant …’: Samuel Hynes, A War Imagined, The Bodley Head 1990, p. 12
The notion that there was something wrong …: ibid., p. 16
‘I do not suppose any country …’: MR
‘There is one point I particularly want to press …’: ibid.
So convinced was Henry …: Grantham Journal, 29 August 1914
Chapter 39
Detachments of soldiers from the Army Service Corps …: MR
Should I write to Lord Grenfell …: ibid.
Time was running out …: ibid.
‘Beloved, in these always terrible days …’: Violet’s notebook, private collection
A maverick bachelor …: John Lee, A Soldier’s Life, Macmillan 2000
‘Apart from soldiers …’: Sir George Arthur, Not Worth Reading, Longmans 1938
‘Kitchener almost invariably dined …’: ibid.
Kitchener’s dislike of women …: ibid.
Sir John Cowans …: MR
Violet was calculating …: MR
Grenfell parted from Violet …: MR
Alone at Belvoir …: MR
‘Beloved,’ Cust replied …: Violet’s notebook, private collection
Her days were crowded with civic duties …: Grantham Journal, August–October 1914
In the evenings …: ibid.
Her afternoons were spent …: Lady Diana Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958, p. 118
For the most part, good horses …: Grantham Journal, 29 August 1914
Chapter 40
On his way there …: Charlie to Marjorie Anglesey, private collection
The wagons, which were long and grey …: Lyn Macdonald, The Roses of Picardy, Penguin Books 1993, p. 171
‘The public weren’t allowed in the station …’: ibid., pp. 172–4
Charlie had seen him twice …: Letters from Charlie to John, August–October 1914, MR
In an effort to cheer himself up …: ibid.
Along Victoria Street …: The Times, 16 October 1914
Chapter 41
Violet was at 16 Arlington Street …: Violet to Charlie, 17 October, MR. This is the first of the letters which Violet wrote to her brother that day – letters which enabled me to track her exact movements over the course of this important day
It was almost three o’clock …: ibid.
The minute Violet received …: ibid.
She was dressed in the clothes …: Lady Diana Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958, p. 51
On the approach to it …: Violet to Charlie, 17 October 1914, MR
On leaving Belvoir …: ibid.
The true purpose of her visit …: Violet to Charlie, 18 October 1914, MR
It was with a ‘heavy heart’…:Violet to Charlie, 17 October 1914, MR
‘One of the greatest worries …’: C. Callwell, Experiences of a Dug-Out 1914–1918, Constable 1920, p. 29
The thousand-room building …: Hampden Gordon, The War Office, Putnam 1935
‘A mere recital of official events …’: ibid., p. 291
‘They helped to keep such people at bay …’: C. Callwell, Experiences of a Dug-Out 1914–1918, p. 29
Violet had not been kept ‘at bay’…: Violet to Charlie, 17 October 1914, MR
Hood, a bachelor …: Wikipedia
It was General Bethune’s love …: Violet to Charlie, n.d., MR
Born in 1865, Bethune …: The Times, 3 November 1930
Hood’s office …: Violet to Charlie, 17 October 1914, MR
T
he elation she had felt …: Violet to Charlie, 18 October 1914
Chapter 42
Out on the Western Front …: Lyn Macdonald, 1914, Headline 1994
Thirty miles to the east …: ibid.
The offensive …: ibid.
At the battles that had preceded it …: Ian F. W. Beckett, Ypres, The First Battle, Longman 2004
‘He was sad and depressed …’: E. G. French, The Life of Field Marshal Sir John French, Cassell 1931, p. 248
At 7.10 the previous evening …: Lyn Macdonald, 1914
By noon …: Ian F. W. Beckett, Ypres, The First Battle
He had received …: Alan Palmer, Ypres, 1914–1918, Constable 2007, p. 60
The report was one of a number …: Lyn Macdonald, 1914, p. 357
They were the troops of the Fourth Army …: Alan Palmer, Ypres, 1914–1918, p. 61
Extraordinarily, though the evidence …: Ian F. W. Beckett, Ypres, The First Battle, p. 62
Numbering 84,000 …: C. R. Simpson, The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment, 1914–1919, The Medici Society, 1931, p. 74
It was to General Edward Stuart Wortley …: ESW to the Duke, 22 October 1914, MR; Vernon Jones to the Duke, 20 October, 1914, MR; telegram, Violet to the Duke, 19 October 1914, MR
Chapter 43
The details are sketchy …: Charlie to John, 21 October 1914, MR
‘A darling of the Gods …’: Alan MacDonald, A Lack of Offensive Spirit, Iona Books 2008, pp. 25–8
Chapter 44
In those last weeks in October …: Lord Grenfell to Violet, various letters, October 1914, MR; Sir John Cowans, QMG, to Violet, various letters, September–November 1914, MR
At the eleventh hour …: ibid.
Regardless of their actual readiness …: Violet to Charlie, n.d.
Violet, however, was not going to …: Letters to Charlie, various, October – December 1914, MR
His closest friend – a ‘sinister’ American …: Ziegler, Lady Diana Cooper, Hamish Hamilton 1981, p. 62
Aged thirty-five, he was …: George Gordon Moore, unpublished memoir, private collection
His fortune …: ibid.
His olive skin …: Diana Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958, p. 96
Their friendship went back …: George Gordon Moore, unpublished memoir, private collection
An elegant six-storey …: ibid.
‘Dined with Johnnie French …’: Richard Holmes, The Little Field Marshal, Cassell 2005, p. 135
Over the years, Sir John …: George H. Cassar, The Tragedy of Sir John French, University of Delaware Press 1985, pp. 181–3
Before the war, the goings-on …: ibid.
Winston Churchill …: George Gordon Moore, unpublished memoir, private collection
Unabashed …: ibid.
Whenever he visited …: ibid.
Swallowing her pride …: Diana to Marjorie Anglesey, private collection
Chapter 45
Violet sat ‘sorrowing and silent’…: Diana Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958, p. 119
Half a century earlier …: Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
The buildings were black …: J. G. Broodbank, History of the Port of London, D. O’Connor 1921
Huge wooden crates …: Diana to her sister Marjorie, private collection
Large signs …: John Pudney, London’s Docks, Thames and Hudson 1975
Diana had set her heart …: Philip Ziegler, Lady Diana Cooper, Hamish Hamilton 1981, pp. 47–8
Her first intention …: ibid.
Violet had put up every obstacle …: Diana Cooper, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, p. 118
First, she had tried …: Violet to Charlie, various letters, August–October 1914, MR
‘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