The Secret Rooms: A True Gothic Mystery (60 page)

Chapter 27

Household Accounts
…: All price comparison figures throughout the book are calculated using Economic History Services (
http://eh.net/hmit
)

There was never an hour
…: Lady Diana Cooper,
The Rainbow Comes and Goes
, Rupert Hart-Davis 1958

‘The watermen are difficult to believe in today
…’: ibid., pp. 35–6

Joining the watermen
…: ibid.

Throughout the night
…: ibid., pp. 36–7

Then there was Betsy
…: ibid.

Diana’s favourite was the Duke’s tailor
…: ibid., p. 35

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

The 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