by Molly Owen | Sep 7, 2013 | Anne Carrole, Blog
Three benches (one at each end and one in the middle) with nine people squeezing into their allotted 15 inches of space, knees rubbing, thighs touching, babies crying, odors wafting, and dust swirling; riding a stagecoach in the nineteenth century Old West was an intimate affair.
Stage Diligence_Wells_Fargo GNU
The stagecoach routes were established primarily to move around mail and money and, as such, Wells Fargo was a major investor and eventually took over most of the Old West stagecoach lines. Passengers were an additional source of revenue but not the main reason for establishing the lines. As such, conditions were not luxurious for the weary travelers who used them. Inside the coach, the seats and carriage walls were covered in durable leather with leather curtains to cover the large openings that served as glassless windows should it be too cold, rainy, or windy to enjoy the view. However, I’m sure they took pains to keep those curtains up, if possible, given the tight conditions in the coach. Two small glass windows, however, were on each side of the door and the door had a glass window.
George Fredrick Ruxton describes the accommodations of his 1847 stage coach journey with a sense of humor:
An American stage-coach has often been described: it is a huge lumbering affair with leathern springs, and it creaks and groans over the corduroy roads and unmacadamized causeways, thumping, bumping, and dislocating the limbs of its “insides,” whose smothered shrieks and exclamations of despair often cause the woodsman to pause from his work, and, leaning upon his axe, listen with astonishment to the din which proceeds from its convulsed interior.
The coach contains three seats, each of which accommodates three passengers; those on the centre, and the three with their backs to the horses, face each other, and, from the confined space, the arrangement and mutual convenience of leg-placing not infrequently leads to fierce outbreaks of ire. (Excerpted from Wild Life In The Rocky Mountains, The MacMillan Company, New York, copyright 1916. For more of George’s humorous recollections read the full excerpt at http://www.over-land.com/ccride.html
The stage was pulled by three pairs of matched horses. These horses had to be sturdy and well-trained for the stage alone weighed 2500 lbs. and with passengers, mail, and gold the weight they would have to pull at a good pace could reach 4000 lbs.
The drivers were the captains of their “ships” entrusted with a good deal of money and goods not to mention the lives of their passengers and thus were accorded respect. Though most often men, there were women who were known to have one of the 50 mile tracts that was the driver’s allotted domain. Women such as Charley Parkhurst, Mary Fields, and Delia Haskett Rawson. The vast majority of drivers were under forty, not the grizzled old fellows typically shown in old Western movies.
Drivers had to be very skilled to handle six horses over rough terrain. They drove their teams through mountain passes and along the steep, curvy, and narrow trails that had been carved out of hillsides. Sometimes the roads gave way under their wheels and they had to hope their speed carried them over such potentially fatal impediments. Because of the cargo they carried, stagecoaches fell prey to outlaws. As symbols of encroachment, the stagecoach was an easy target for Native American tribes as well. There was nothing glamorous about life of a stagecoach driver but it definitely demanded both courage and skill.
The stages traveled about 5 miles an hour and stopped to change horses every twelve to fifteen miles. A stage coach driver could expect to have a route of about 50 miles at which point he would turn over the stage to another driver if the journey was a long one.
Mark Twain describes his stagecoach journey in Roughing It: Whenever the stage stopped to change horses, we would wake up, and try to recollect where we were – and succeed – and in a minute or two the stage would be off again, and we likewise. We began to get into country, now, threaded here and there with little streams. These had high, steep banks on each side, and every time we flew down one bank and scrambled up the other, our party inside got mixed somewhat. First we would all lie down in a pile at the forward end of the stage, nearly in a sitting posture, and in a second we would shoot to the other end and stand on our heads. And we would sprawl and kick, too, and ward off ends and corners of mail-bags that came lumbering over us and about us; and as the dust rose from the tumult, we would all sneeze in chorus, and the majority of us would grumble, and probably say some hasty thing, like: ‘Take your elbow out of my ribs! Can’t you quit crowding?‘
There are several firsthand accounts of stagecoach travel, many with amusing anecdotes about the trial and tribulations of being knocked about inside a carriage and coming in intimate contact with strangers. You can find some at the following websites:
http://genealogytrails.com/main/stagecoachtrip1.html
http://www.historicthedalles.org/stagecoach.htm
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/stage.htm
The longest stagecoach route was established by John Butterfield with investment from Wells Fargo. It ran from St. Louis to San Francisco beginning in 1858 to transport the U.S. Mail within the 25 days allotted by the government contract. It was a huge undertaking with roads and bridges to build or repair, stations to be set up, and equipment, including stagecoaches, to be purchased. Eight hundred employees were hired to service the contract. While contracted for mail, the stagecoach also accepted passengers for a price of $200 for the full 2,812 mile route. “Twenty-five pounds of baggage were allowed, along with two blankets and a canteen. Stages traveled at breakneck speeds, twenty-four hours a day. There were no overnight hotel stops—only hurried intervals at stations where the teams were changed.” (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25444 One reporter called the trip 24 days of hell.
Though railroads put an end to long routes, stagecoaches continued to carry goods and passengers to towns railroads did not service. It was, ultimately, the car that provided the final blow to the stagecoach.
Any one experience a stage coach ride or want to?
Anne Carrole writes about cowboys who have grit, integrity and little romance on their mind and the women who love them. Check out her contemporary novella, Falling for a Cowboy, and her western historical novella, Saving Cole Turner at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com or Kobobooks.com. Or find her at www.facebook.com/annecarrole, www.facebook.com/lovewesternromances or www.annecarrole.com
Picture: Permission under Creative Commons Wikipedia: Information |Description={{fr|1=Diligence à Kanab, Utah (USA) – U.S.Mail Wells Fargo}} |Source={{own}} |Author=PRA |Date=2007 |Permission= |other_versions
Other sources:
http://www.over-land.com/ccride.html
http://www.wellsfargohistory.com/resources/SF_Stagecoach.pdf
by Molly Owen | Aug 7, 2013 | Anne Carrole, Blog
Game of Croquet by Leon Wyczółkowski 1892-1895
Where did Croquet come from and what made it so popular in the mid-19th century? With summer upon us, outdoor games come to mind and croquet, easy to learn and fun to play, has been a popular pastime since the 19th century. Like many sports, its popularity has waxed and waned but in the mid to late 19th century it was all the rage in America. The object of the game is to use a mallet to pass your ball through a series of nine wickets placed in a pattern on the lawn before anyone else. As with most games, there are variations to the rules [see below] that make it less or more difficult, depending on whether this is a friendly game or a competitive one.
Though legend has it that croquet dates back to the thirteenth century when French peasants were observed hitting balls through bent willow rods, most sites trace the beginning of croquet as we know it from a game called “crooky” which passed from Ireland, where it had been played since the 1830’s, to England around 1852. According to the Houston Croquet Association (one of many such associations in the United States), a Mr. Spratt codified the rules in 1851 and passed those to manufacturer John Jacques & Sons who started to make the mallets, balls, and hoops required to play the game and who remains the leading manufacturer of croquet equipment today where a regulation set can cost you as much as $350-$400.
Croquet caught on quickly, spurred by the opportunities playing croquet presented to courting ladies and gentlemen to be together and perhaps look for an errant ball among the bushes. In the 1860’s the All England Croquet Club was formed and the rules were codified but as the rules got more rigid and the game more competitive, it lost its luster amongst Englishwomen looking for a social activity. However, in America, things were picking up for croquet, with fashionable Newport leading the way via the Newport Croquet Club formed in 1865. More clubs were formed and a new social activity was born.
However, in the 1890’s the Boston clergy spoke out against the “drinking, gambling, and licentious” behavior they associated with the sport, causing a slight set back in the enthusiasm. (http://www.croquetamerica.com/croquet/history ) Despite this, Croquet became popular enough that it was played at the 1900 Olympics and again at the 1904 Olympics. However, due to disputes over rules and formats (England liked 6 wicket croquet and America kept 9 wicket croquet, for example), it was not played at the Olympics again.
The popularity of Croquet has waxed and waned seeing a resurgence in the 1920’s and again during the 1940’s and yet again in the 1960’s which saw the formation of the The New York Croquet Club and its challenge to the Palm Beach Croquet Club under the 6 wicket version of croquet, which is now the competitive version of croquet in the United States. 6 wicket croquet has an extensive and formal set of rules and requires physical abilities as well as strategic thinking with nuances that are not always apparent upon first glance. The Palm Beach Invitational (6 wicket) is still being played today just as people still enjoy playing a friendly game of Croquet (9 wicket) in their backyards.
Should you wish to play croquet, you can find sets at many places that sell games and/or sports equipment. Here is a link to the rules of croquet should you decide to play:
9 Wicket croquet (backyard): http://www.croquetamerica.com/croquet/rules/backyard/
6 Wicket croquet (competitive): http://www.croquetamerica.com/croquet/rules/american/
Croquet provided a great opportunity for a nineteenth century couple to engage in some unchaperoned time together to whisper sweet nothings or give a flirtatious glance. And then there were those croquet balls to look for behind the flora and fauna and away from prying eyes. Can’t you just imagine the mischief your hero and heroine can get into playing this “innocent” game?
Have you ever played croquet? I have, many times, and really don’t like it when my ball gets whacked out of the field by another player, which is termed taking a croquet. But that’s the breaks.
Picture: A Game of Croquet by Leon Wyczółkowski 1892-1895 Source of Picture: Wikipedia–This is a faithful photographic reproduction of an original two-dimensional work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923. This work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 80 years or less.
Sources of Information:
http://www.croquetamerica.com
http://foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/cfa/history.html
http://www.houstoncroquet.com/history.htm
Anne Carrole writes about cowboys who have grit, integrity and a little romance on their mind and the women who love them. Check out her contemporary novella, Falling for a Cowboy, and her western historical novella, Saving Cole Turner at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com or Kobobooks.com. Or find her at www.facebook.com/annecarrole, www.facebook.com/lovewesternromances or www.annecarrole.com
by Molly Owen | Jul 7, 2013 | Anne Carrole, Blog
On one of our visits to England years ago, we found ourselves exhausted from shopping and in need of a pick-me-up. A proper English tea seemed just the thing so we headed for a quintessential English hotel, Brown’s.
Brown’s hotel was started in 1837 by Lord Byron’s butler, James Brown, and his wife Sarah. Makes you wonder how much Lord Byron paid his butler. A servant’s pay back then was a few pounds a year so he must have gotten quite a bit from vails or tips to be able to buy 23 Dover Street and, within the year, expand it to include 21, 22, and 24 Dover street. Thus Brown’s Hotel was born, one of the first hotels in London.
Celebrating its 175th Anniversary, Brown’s has much to celebrate besides its longevity. It has hosted future Presidents, reigning Emperors, and European royalty. The hotel has starred in a novel, been home to a novelist, and on the front lines of new technology.
Theodore Roosevelt stayed at Brown’s in 1886 while Royal guests have included Napoleon III and the Empress Euginie in 1871. Elizabeth, queen of the Belgians, Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, and George II, King of the Hellenes were also guests. Queen Victoria attended many functions as a dinner patron.
Rudyard Kipling wrote part of the Jungle Book there while Agatha Christie stayed at Brown’s when she wrote the mystery, At Bertram’s Hotel, supposedly using Brown’s as the template for Bertram’s. Other celebrated writers who were frequent visitors included Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, JM Barrie, and Bram Stoker. Alexander Graham Bell made the first phone call in Britian from Brown’s hotel in 1876.
With all that inspiration waiting for us, how could we not go to Brown’s for tea?
We were dressed casually, including the requisite sneakers, as one would for a good day of heavy shopping. When we presented ourselves in the front hall for seating among the overstuffed chairs, doilies, and mahogany tables one would expect to find, the maître’d nodded his head, gave us an encouraging smile, and then bustled behind us to rustle in a closet from which he pulled out an brightly colored jacket and an equally bright tie and extended them to my husband. Dressed in kaki’s, sneakers, and a polo shirt, my husband politely inquired: did the maitre’d really want to seat us with my husband wearing that jacket and tie because the combination looked odd, at best. We were quite prepared to find another place for tea and give up the wonderful treats we saw out of the corner of our eye.
“Absolutely,” the maitre’d said in his friendliest voice. “It’s just the dress code and you won’t be the only one. We keep jackets and ties for just this reason.” And, apparently, in colors no one would be tempted to steal.
So orange jacket on, patterned tie knotted, we entered the cozy environs of the tea room at Brown’s hotel. This was the type of room where people came to read a book or newspaper, to play a game of checkers, or to nod off as they waited for their room to be ready. Think English library with lots of nooks. We chose a settee and chair in the corner where we could see the rest of the room (and people might not notice the man in the orange jacket) and waited for the tea things to be brought out.
Arriving with a flourish were large tiered stands layered with plates of assorted tea sandwiches including those cucumber sandwiches you read about, raspberry scones, and the most wonderful pastries we had seen yet on our trip. A steaming pot of tea and china cups came next with a pitcher of milk and a bowl of sugar cubes. We drank and feasted with relish (enthusiasm, not the condiment, lol).
We settled back to enjoy this very British experience as we watched the hotel guests go to and fro. Every man was dressed in suit and tie (as my husband watched from the embrace of his orange jacket), every woman wore a dress or skirt and heels. All looked like they were in business or with the government, as Brown’s was a favorite meeting spot for those in office. We didn’t see anyone “famous” , but everyone outside in the reception area seemed busy. It was fun guessing what people were up to.
Famished, we tried everything. We ate the plates clean. We relaxed. We chatted. We enjoyed the show. And then we realized…we had not asked how much the tea was. Inquiry to the waiter revealed that at Brown’s you only paid for what you ate, which was quite a nice arrangement if you wanted just a bite and some tea for a reasonable sum. But we had eaten everything.
The bill was large, the most we had paid for tea then or now, but we were stuffed and decided that tea would suffice for dinner. Taking our departure, my husband readily handed back the orange jacket and patterned tie. Refreshed and well fed, we headed to the theater district with a lovely memory to share many years later.
We partook of many teas in England—from The Ritz to Harrods—all wonderful, but none more memorable than our feast at Brown’s with hubby in his orange jacket.
Where is your favorite place for a “spot of tea?”
Anne Carrole writes about cowboys who have grit, integrity and little romance on their mind and the women who love them. Check out her contemporary novella, Falling for a Cowboy, and her western historical novella, Saving Cole Turner at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com or Kobobooks.com. Or find her at www.facebook.com/annecarrole, www.facebook.com/lovewesternromances or www.annecarrole.com
Picture: Wikipedia CC 2.0- Used with permission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brown%27s_Hotel_London.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt
by Molly Owen | Jun 7, 2013 | Anne Carrole, Blog
Tea_at_the_Rittenhouse_Hotel, author Joyosity, CC 2.0
The English love their tea, or at least did. Being a tea drinker, when I boarded a plane for my first trip to England many years ago, I remember teasing my husband (a coffee drinker) that finally we were going to someplace where my choice of hot beverage would be primary. Imagine my surprise on our first night there, as we sat in a high-end pub and I confidently asked for tea after dinner, being told that tea was not served! Not served?
Apparently tea was no longer served in this establishment after 5 p.m. and, no, they couldn’t accommodate me by heating some water and brewing up some tea but if I’d like some coffee, they had several types to choose from. You can imagine my husband’s laughter.
Gratefully, I found more accommodating establishments the rest of the trip, but it served as a reminder that the British like their tea best during tea time.
For those not familiar with the custom, there are two types of tea services: low tea and high tea. You might think that low tea, or afternoon tea as it is often called, was a service practiced by the lower classes and high tea was a service for the upper classes but, historically, the reverse is true.
High tea was served between 5 and 7 p.m. in the households of workmen (what we would call supper) and included a hot dish and cold cuts of meat, followed by cakes. It was also served to children of the upper classes who would not be partaking of the more formal (and later) dinners of their parents. The term “high” referred to being more advanced in time or later in the day and the term was first used around 1825.
According the book What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, what we think of as afternoon tea (low tea) did not become the custom in England until around the 1840’s. (p.209) By the 1860s, the afternoon tea, served between 4 and 6 p.m. was a “recognized social ritual” and by 1877 there was “even a special costume—the tea gown—with which ladies could grace the occasion.” (p. 209)
The afternoon tea (filled with caffeine) served as an afternoon pick-me-up and provided some sustenance before the more formal dinners which might not be served until past 8 o’clock.
Making tea for the afternoon tea service required boiled water, tea leaves—usually from China or, later, from Ceylon or India, sugar cubes and milk (not cream). The tea must steep in its pot for at least 4 to 6 minutes before pouring. In England, it is not uncommon for the milk to be added to the tea cup first, before the tea is poured. This was to prevent the boiling hot tea from cracking the delicate china cup. It became a status symbol, as pottery techniques improved, to put your milk in after the tea to show that you had superior quality china. It was also good manners to stir the tea without the spoon hitting the side of the cup, again to prevent the potential for cracking the cup.
Part of the food items accompanying the tea were tea sandwiches, though no peanut butter and jelly allowed. Tea sandwiches were typically made with cucumber, watercress, ham, or eggs in between pieces of crust-less bread. Scones were also served with clotted cream and jam—no cholesterol watching here. Smaller versions of cakes and pastries rounded out the menu and came to be referred to as tea cakes.
My daughter once befriended a elderly British woman and I invited her over for a proper afternoon tea with cucumber sandwiches, scones, and pastries. My biggest issue was finding clotted cream, but I managed to find a recipe which consists of putting cream in the oven for a long period of time and then scooping off the clotted part of the cream. She was thrilled with the results—or perhaps was just being polite. In any event, here is the recipe. http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2009/09/clotted-cream-recipe-making-clotted.html
Have you hosted afternoon teas or attended any and, if so, what was served?
Next month I’ll post about Brown’s Hotel in London, founded in 1837-38 and celebrating its 175th Anniversary and our interesting experience having tea there.
Anne Carrole writes about cowboys who have grit, integrity, and little romance on their mind and the women who love them. Check out her contemporary novella, Falling for a Cowboy, and her western historical novella, Saving Cole Turner at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com or Kobobooks.com. Or find her at www.facebook.com/annecarrole, www.facebook.com/lovewesternromances or www.annecarrole.com
Sources:
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_(meal)
Picture-Wikipedia used with permission. CC 2.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tea_at_the_Rittenhouse_Hotel.jpg http://www.flickr.com/people/33993074@N00
by Molly Owen | May 7, 2013 | Anne Carrole, Blog
Courtesy of Wikipedia:This work is in the public domain in those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 90 years or less.
Perhaps one of the worst example of noble excess throughout the last two hundred or so years can be claimed by the House of Montagu aka the Dukes of Manchester. The title, Duke of Manchester, came into being under George I. The family’s origin is Italian by way of France. The family’s fame came during the Normandy Invasion and under the rule of Charles I; their notoriety began about 170 years later.
By the time Lord Mandeville (the soon-to-be 8th Duke of Manchester) burst on the scene in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1875 he was already a well-known rake to the English aristocracy. Pictured to the left, he came by his profligate lifestyle honestly via a reckless father and a mother, (an attractive but decidedly unladylike German princess) whose guests “played cards for money after her dinner parties; [and] married women flirted and carried on with men not their husbands. The Duchess of Manchester was the sort of woman who went to a music hall with the Prince [of Wales] and danced the can-can.” –To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl. In any event, no respectable member of the British Aristocracy would encourage a marriage between their daughter and this particular English Lord. What was an extravagant playboy to do?
Saratoga was the perfect hunting ground for an American heiress and Lord Mandeville found one at the Grand Union Hotel when he met the “irrepressible” Consuelo Yznaga. Consuelo was great friends with Alva Vanderbilt and indeed Alva named her daughter after Consuelo (Consuelo Vanderbilt subsequently married the Duke of Marlborough through introductions from her godmother, the then Duchess of Manchester). Consuelo Yznaga’s father was a wealthy Cuban plantation owner and her mother was an American planter’s daughter. The family moved to New York after the Civil War and Conseulo became part of the New York social scene, though not accepted by the Knickerbockers set due to her un-American antecedents. Marriage to a Duke would solve all of that, or so she thought. Consuelo also had a good friend in author Edith Wharton who immortalized her story in The Buccaneers as the character, Conchita Closson.
It is said that Lord Mandeville fell in love with her as she nursed him through a bout of typhoid at the Yznaga home in Orange, NJ (Consuelo’s father was involved in Wall Street at the time). They married on March 22, 1876 in a lavish wedding at St. Grace’s church. “It was considered a great marriage for a poor girl who had been cruelly known as the heroine of the spare bedroom for her many sojourns to friends’ houses.” (August 19, 1892 New York Times) But fate dealt a cruel blow to House of Montagu when Consuelo’s father refused to give her a dowry as he disapproved of Lord Mandeville. In turn, the Lord Mandeville’s family were “exorcised” over the marriage, perhaps because the 7th Duke had wasted the family fortune and was looking to his son to save it.
By 1883 creditors were knocking. What started out as a marriage for love and produced three children in rapid succession, quickly devolved as Lord Mandeville returned to his old ways and blatantly took up with a male impersonator, the actress Bessie Bellwood. He was subsequently “ostracized” from London drawing rooms. By 1889 he filed for bankruptcy with liabilities of £600K. Consuelo and Lord Mandeville were now living apart. Lord Mandeville eventually tired of Bessie and sunk even lower in his licentious pursuits after being elevated to the title of Duke of Manchester upon his father’s death in March 1890. He inherited the title but his father had pretty much left a bankrupt estate. On August 18, 1892 the 8th Duke died of dissipation, just two years after becoming a Duke.
His and Conseulo’s son, William Angus Montagu, became the 9th Duke of Manchester. He followed his father in hunting for an American heiress to restore the family’s fortunes. He secretly married the society beauty, Helen Zimmerman, in 1900 whose father was involved in stock trading and who owned a large share of Standard Oil. While her money helped, as well as some money from his mother’s estate upon her death, the 9th Duke was also a spendthrift, like his father and grandfather. He spent much of his life abroad, running from creditors. A 1903 article in the NY Times describes a typical incident as it announces the seizure of 125 pieces of the Duke and Duchess’ luggage as they disembark from the Lusitania due to an unpaid $695 jeweler’s bill. His wife divorced him in 1932 after 32 years of dodging creditors. He declared bankruptcy more than once, tried to pawn his mother’s jewels, and was sentenced to prison for fraud. Not very noble, indeed.
When the 10th Duke of Manchester succeeded upon the death of his father in 1947, there wasn’t really any money left to inherit. He eventually landed in Kenya where he raised cattle and had a plantation. He was instrumental in selling off some of the family’s holdings to raise money to indulge his spending habits, but, unlike his father, his name wasn’t found on court dockets.
His eldest son who became the 11th Duke of Manchester in 1977 maintained his residence in South Africa and died in 1985 with no issue. Having been involved in a prolonged and ruinous legal battle with his stepmother, he sold off any remaining land holdings for a pittance of their value in the 1970’s. Upon his death, with no issue, the title passed to the younger brother who became the 12th Duke of Manchester—the title being pretty much all that was left to inherit. Very much in the family tradition, Angus Charles Drogo Montagu inherited the dukedom while he was awaiting trial for fraud at the Old Bailey in 1985.
“Described as a “business consultant”, he was accused, with several co-defendants, of conspiracy to obtain £38,000 by deception from the National Westminster Bank in Streatham, south London. Counterfeit American bonds had been offered as security for cash. Four months later, the Duke, who had denied the charge, was acquitted. He had, however, been described during the trial as “gullible and a bit of an ass”, and as “a very stupid person”. “On a business scale of one to 10,” said the judge, ‘the duke is one or less – and even that flatters him.’”-The Telegraph (UK), July 30, 2002
The 12th Duke of Manchester was not content to confine his misdeeds to Britain, however. In 1996 the Duke was found guilty by a Florida court of trying to defraud the Tampa Bay Lightning ice hockey team. The Duke “went on to serve 28 months in a state penitentiary – where he ran the laundry. His inmates, he said, were “hard men who wanted to try me out . . . but I stood up to them and they left me alone after that”. –The Telegraph, July 30, 2002. The Duke married four times but his eldest son from his first wife, an Australian, inherited the tarnished title of Duke of Manchester upon his father’s death on July 25, 2002.
Being the current and 13th Duke of Manchester with an unlucky number and an even more unlucky moniker, could Alexander Montagu do any worst by the title? Apparently the answer is yes.
The current Duke of Manchester has been imprisoned twice in his native Australia, was deported from Canada, committed bigamy, having both an Australian and an American wife for a period in the 1990’s, and has been married three times, and counting. Once friendly with Michael Jackson, he was a character witness at Jackson’s trial.
Not content to stay out of the limelight for long, in January 2012 he accused the Royal family of covering up the death of a young woman on their Sandringham estate.
The current Duchess of Manchester has a blog defending the Duke of Manchester legacy. For a picture of the current Duke check it out at http://theduchessofmanchester.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html
As for the Montagu family, this headline from the Mail on-line sums it up: Dukes of degeneracy: Fraudsters, drug addicts and jailbirds – the Dukes of Manchester have shamed the aristocracy for generations.
You can’t make this stuff up. Any noble scandals you’d like to comment on?
Sources:
New York Times
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017091/Dukes-Manchester-Fraudsters-drug-addicts-jailbirds-shaming-aristocracy.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1402980/The-Duke-of-Manchester.html
Anne Carrole writes about cowboys who have grit, integrity and little romance on their mind and the women who love them. Check out her contemporary novella, Falling for a Cowboy, and her western historical novella, Saving Cole Turner at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com or Kobobooks.com. Or find her at www.facebook.com/annecarrole, www.facebook.com/lovewesternromances or www.annecarrole.com
by Molly Owen | Apr 7, 2013 | Anne Carrole, Blog
Frances Work
My research into the Victorian Gilded Age revealed that from the late 1800’s through the Edwardian era, more than a 100 American heiresses were married off to British nobility with the result that most of the great British noble families can now trace their ancestry through American bloodlines. And that includes the Royal family. Princess Diana’s great grandmother, Frances Work (an American stockbroker’s daughter) married the Hon. James Burke-Roche and gave birth to twin sons, the elder of whom was the maternal grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales and, therefore, great-grandfather of William, Duke of Cambridge. Diana’s middle name, Frances, is taken from her mother and great-grandmother.
The Hon. James Burke-Roche was a younger brother of an Irish baron named Lord Fermoy (James became the 3rd Baron Fermoy after his brother’s death in 1920). While the family owned some 16,000 acres in County Cork and County Waterford, the land only earned about £7000/year leaving little for a younger brother. So James set out for America to use his good looks to advantage. After attempting to raise cattle in Wyoming, he made his way to New York City and then Newport in 1880 where he met Frances Work, a beautiful daughter of stockbroker, Frank Work, protégé of Commodore Vanderbilt, and married her that September. (more…)
