Alfred De Rothschild 1842-1918 : THE BANKER AND THE CARNARVONS

 

Baron Alfred De Rothschild

1842-1918

THE  BANKER  AND THE CARNARVONS OF HIGHCLERE CASTLE

  Alfred de Rothschild : Benefactor

 Everything You Need to Know About Alfred de Rothschild

By William Cross, FSA Scot

Cross is the first biographer of Almina, 5th Countess and author of several books featuring the Carnarvons of Highclere Castle  

Was Alfred de Rothschild Almina's Father?

Highclere Castle occupants  contend that the effeminate dandy [Baron] Alfred de Rothschild, (pictured here) was Almina Wombwell’s real father. A physical resemblance between Alfred and Almina is suggested. The Highclere Countess’ biography of “Lady Almina” is particularly lame in only saying, to back up their bold assertion, that “the question of Almina’s paternity can’t be conclusively determined with any certainty….”  [1]

Indeed, M’Lady!   

Over several paragraphs of William Cross’ biography “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon”[2] he  presents the detailed outcome of research and discussions into the question of who was Almina’s father. There is no other analysis of the question in any other book, with the possible exception of Derek Wilson’s landmark study of the Rothschilds “Rothschild: A Study of Wealth and Power.”[3]

Almina’s birth and Frederick Charles Wombwell

Almina was born in 1876, in London.[4] The name of Frederick (Fred/Freddie) Charles Wombwell is the one given as the father on her birth certificate – albeit that registration was not completed  UNTIL FOUR YEARS AFTER HER BIRTH.[5]

Freddie Wombwell[6] was the son of a baronet. The family seat of the Wombwells is Newburgh Priory,[7] North Yorkshire, and most of them were a well-regarded lot.   Fred’s older brother Sir George Wombwell[8] was a soldier in the 17^th Lancers at the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava.

Young Freddie was not made of the same such honourable stuff. He was a rough-cut type who hung about in classless hotels[9] with other discredited toffs and army ruffians; the tribe were far from straight or worthy. He was a ‘gentleman rider’ for Henry (Harry) Rawdon-Hastings,[10] the hapless 4^th Marquis of Hastings, another cad but of the handsome, baby-faced type, adored by men and women, who broke hearts, and was dead by the age of 26.

Freddie rode the Hastings  horses in Britain and France and socialised extensively with the Marquis – travelling often to Scotland (to the Marquis’ seat at Loudon Castle, Ayrshire) and cruising across Europe’s waterways aboard the Hastings’ fine yachts.

Although a cad himself, Freddie pledged heartfelt loyalty to other cads. He is buried at  Kensal Green Cemetery in London, at the feet of his young  master, Harry, the 4th Marquis of Hastings. They were hard men, diseased by gambling and cheating, much like Lord George Carnarvon and Prince Victor Duleep Singh.

Besides Freddie being a gambler who had blown his inheritance[11], he was a hard drinker who had no regard for the law, especially of trespass, or of paying back his debts. 

In part to escape the pursuit of  moneylenders  Freddie married a French  banker’s daughter, Marie Boyer, in 1868 in London and they lived sometime in Paris, including the time of the Paris Siege in 1870, afterwards coming to England where they can still be traced as living together until at least 1872.

A son, Frederick, was born in 1869[12]  in France; Almina came five years after her brother.

Faced with a choice for Almina’s father of either coming down on Freddie the drunkard and gambler or Alfred de Rothschild the millionaire banker, Highclere’s dismissal of Freddie is not surprising.   

Freddie was doomed for an early grave. On his deathbed in 1889 he touchingly left tokens of esteem in his Will [13] to  his wife Marie, to his darling  daughter Almina, and also to his son, another Frederick Wombwell, Almina’s brother, whose existence is snubbed by Highclere but who has a memorial under their nose at St Michaels and All Angels Church on the Highclere Estate.

Highclere’s vile treatment of the memory of Marie’s husband Freddie Wombwell is to deploy the worst of acts: to ditch a cad in order to slip in Alfred de Rothschild’s paternity of Almina. That’s a foul deed and creates another false trail, something the Carnarvons and their money-makers on TV and film are good at serving up to the gullible who believe as true, every storyline of Downton Abbey. 

Almost certainly Almina was never allowed to see her father  Frederick’s sentimental offerings or any messages he imparted when in extremis. The ambitious Parisienne, Marie Boyer, was only too keen to expunge Freddie’s existence and climb the social ladder in Britain through the scapegoat, the homosexual Baron Alfred de Rothschild.  And she set out to corner him, and succeeded. 

There are suggestions that Marie and Freddie were estranged before Almina was conceived. It is a fact that Marie and Freddie were part of the Marlborough House Set, a High Society group, and would have observed Alfred. Rothschild flitted around like  the proverbial butterfly in that very same Marlborough House Set, often in the presence of his friend, the Prince of Wales. Alfred’s favourites (of both sexes) were invited to his country house at Halton, Tring, Buckinghamshire where he laid on treats, had a zoo, a circus and a full orchestra, the latter personally conducted by Alfred wielding a silver baton.

A hypochondriac, Alfred had doctors at hand day and night.

He was mocked by the artist and wit Max Beerbohm as below:

A caricature showing Alfred ensconced on a sofa with a huddled group of gentlemen behind him.

 It is titled: “A quiet evening in Seamore Place. Doctors consulting whether Mr Alfred may, or may not, take a second praline.”

 Alfred’s head swelled at laying on ‘adoration concerts’ at 1, Seamore Place, Mayfair (his London Town House) where the very finest opera singers of the era like Melba and Patti[14] were paid £1000 for one night, plus a diamond trinket or two besides.  One participant said of  these soirees that “you met Bohemia and Belgravia – the best of both worlds!”[15]

 There was an element of self-mocking too, as in Alfred’s choice of outfit for the 1897 Devonshire House Ball. Here he is dressed as King Henry III. Oh! My Dear!

Alfred as King Henry III

 Marie Wombwell

Almina’s mother, Marie Wombwell, was a smart operator and a Madame Fixer. Her  father, Alexander Boyer, was a banker in Paris and did business with the Rothschilds.  Before she came to Britain and married a  Wombwell  Marie heard of the rumours about Alfred from Parisian friends, and  later watched in person the implied displays of Alfred’s darker proclivities – his foppery and effeminacy, all a clue to his depraved nature, a man with “a good heart but a mean and miserable  little mind”[16].

Marie was a beautiful woman. Along with her elder sister, Victoria[17], another French beauty who married the Earl of Effingham, Marie gained ground with a crowded circle in London and Parisian salons, although she was less popular at the Royal Court, and amongst some of her female contemporaries she was seen as pushy and cunning.   

 

Cleveland Street Brothel Users

Marie’s insider knowledge of Alfred’s weaknesses for young men was a powerful weapon for blackmail at a time of the Cleveland Street male brothel scandal.[18]

This cause celebre could be traced in part to well-connected  names in the portals of learning at Cambridge University where the son of the Prince of Wales, the Carnarvon heir (Lord Porchester) and his friend Prince Victor Duleep Singh were all contemporaries. They knew of the activities of Lord Arthur Somerset,[19] one of those up to his neck in accusations and who was later arrested. The Cambridge boys, George and Victor, lay low, but  played out dangerous  games with money lenders as well as continuing their pastimes on the fringes of the gross indecency laws.

 The company kept by Porchester of fast, loose living, immoral street crawlers – and the inference oozes out from the seedy photograph alongside (Porchester appears on the right holding a cigarette) - has echoes of the later entrapment of Oscar Wilde by predatory brothel keepers and blackmailers.

Alfred de Rothschild may be “the Jewish financier” cited by one gossip writer in the Colonies as being caught up in the Cleveland Street affair.[20]

The tactic Alfred used to lure young men into his orbit, then draw them into his Venus fly trap, was a well conceived piece of importuning. He had a glad eye for chauffeurs, valets,  porters and delivery men calling at Seamore Place. On the pretext of acknowledging their good work Alfred handed them a tip of a few pounds, with a  request they drop round to see him each week for a further few pounds.[21]

The men and  youths in question were never going to report Alfred’s abuse; they soon became dependent on the payments received from him for a grope or fumble.

Anyone Alfred told not to come back again – attractive youths had a certain shelf life and quickly tarnished - could be very easily replaced. However, when anyone turned up intending to squeeze a few more pounds from the banker, they were seen off by Alfred’s permanent Metropolitan Police guard who stood on duty outside 1, Seamore Place.

Homosexuals in Alfred’s Inner Coterie

Among Alfred’s wider male coterie were the Earl of Rosebery, Cyril Flower, Ferdinand de Rothschild (Alfred's cousin), Sir Edward Hamilton and others who made up little-known Victorian homosexual cells until recently highlighted in detailed accounts of cover-up, decadence, boy seduction and prostitution by Peter Jordaan.[22]

Was Alfred a member of this secret grouping? Alfred suppressed his sexual instincts, although Almina revealed that she was a witness to “all male gatherings at Halton of the Oscar Wilde kind”[23].  

Tony Leadbetter recalled that Almina added that Alfred was obsessed with his privacy: “it amused Almina that none of the servants quarters at Halton faced any part of the gardens where Alfred entertained his many male friends.” [24]

Almina also spoke at length to Tony Leadbetter of being “tickled by Alfred’s whiskers.”[25] 

He called her “Pussy Cat”.[26]  She adored him and constantly fleeced the banker for extra financial handouts.

Stay-overs at Halton were a prized escape for some, but Almina and Carnarvon had to wait to be invited. There was a stern warning against just dropping in, if passing. Almina told Tony Leadbetter this was because Alfred often welcomed Princes and Prime Ministers, as well as great financiers, to Halton and there were special friends too that visited who demanded  absolute privacy.    

Marie Wombwell (pictured here second left beside Lord Carnarvon, Almina is on the far right), stepped out year on year during the London season. She often visited Highclere Castle, but never Halton. She  lived at 20 Bruton Street, Mayfair with servants and her son Frederick (until he married in 1908 but died in 1912). 

 With a passion for watching horse racing, Marie had a lease on a house at Newmarket. However, she very rarely met one to one with Alfred after the 1890s except at weddings and funerals of connections they had in common, and the opera (where they sat well apart, in different company). However, Alfred was one of  Marie’s executors (with Lord Carnarvon and a cousin, Walter Lethbridge) in seeing to the execution of her Will of 1913.[27]

  Alfred de Rothschild: The Provider

 Alfred’s gifts of food parcels to his cliques were a legend, but many generous gestures were intended for people in all walks of life; from the Royal family to charm them, down to life-saving for the hungry in London’s East End.

From the gardens at  Halton flowers and fruit and foodstuffs were sent to London, and produce from the Capital’s markets at Smithfield, Billingsgate and Covent Garden was distributed gratis to hospitals and to the needy.   

 Almina also told Tony that she often met Alfred at the opera, at Covent Garden where he had a private box, and where he lavished fresh fruit and chocolates upon all his guests and to friends in attendance in the auditorium.

 It was also Alfred’s passion for hats that stuck in Almina’s mind :

 “Dear Alfred had a fetish for ladies hats. New hats were a favourite gift, chosen with exquisite taste and absolute disregard of cost. My mother was a regular recipient of a new hat – but she often took them back to the shops and swapped them.”[28]

Freddie Wombwell Dead 

Alfred de Rothschild Hooked

After the death of Marie’s husband Frederick Wombwell on 7 July 1889 he was all but forgotten save for aficionados of the Hastings racing clique, as the cutting alongside reveals.

One remarkable oddment is that Marie made provision in her Will for the ongoing maintenance (by Almina and her descendants) of  Freddie Wombwell’s grave at Kensal Green Cemetery.[29]

In the 1890s Marie Wombwell wanted a rank and position for her debutante daughter of 1893. She coerced Alfred, saying Almina must be matched to a titled  Englishman with a landed estate.

Alfred, Lord Carnarvon and Almina’s uncle Sir George Wombwell were all on nodding acquaintance on racecourses and in the London auction houses.[30]

Almina was thought attractive:  “a pretty girl, with a very clear complexion and fair hair rather elaborately dressed.”[31]

Alfred knew George Herbert, the 5^th Earl of Carnarvon, as a habitual gambler with ‘Tulip’ Singh, who was thought a bad influence.[32] Alfred detested the Prince and his late father.[33] 

Carnarvon lost hard on the horses and at the gaming tables at Monte Carlo. He would be an easy catch with the offer of a large-sum marriage settlement, plus the payment of his debts, a bill that set Alfred back £650,000. George was not known as being sound husband material: he was known for being chronically sick and short tempered; there was also a 10-year difference in age with Almina, but  it was concluded that Marie would see that Almina (pictured above in 1894) was prepared to have a semi-invalid to nurse for life but, on marriage to Carnarvon, she would be jubilant at becoming an instant Countess. 

Baron Alfred de Rothschild fixed it all for Almina. Among the first presents was the engagement ring (bought by Alfred) and a diamond and turquoise pendant.[34] This was to please Marie and to avoid being exposed and damned. Alfred’s clandestine life was now secure, and being designated, to his delight, Almina’s godfather/guardian, the cover story of the romantic link about Marie being Alfred’s mistress – even dubbed  ‘Mrs Wombchild’-  was an unnecessary pretence or slur. It  has been over-egged by later scribes still anxious that certain illegal and unattractive aspects of Alfred’s lifestyle should never be unearthed, even after his death. 

The present day Wombwells are amused by Highclere’s warblings and casting off Freddie Wombwell. Some of them think Almina was Freddie’s daughter, and they would be pleased to have it tested  and are  ready to co-operate to see the outcome of the DNA process.[35]

When Almina married Lord Carnarvon in 1895 her uncle, Sir George Wombwell, gave her away at the ceremony at St Margaret’s, Westminster. George’s wife, Lady Julia Peel - whose standards were impeccable - would not have allowed it if there had been any shadow of a doubt that Almina was not a Wombwell.[36]

After the wedding Carnarvon and Almina spent much of their honeymoon  “in the gaieties of Aix-les- Bains.”[37] They hardly saw each other there until ready to return back home to England.[38]

Baptism of Lord Porchester in 1898

One event in 1898, the baptism of the Carnarvon heir, Henry (later 6^th Earl), stands out on its own, not only to see Alfred de Rothschild taking centre stage, but also Prince Victor Duleep Singh.

As can  be seen here in a news cutting, Marie Wombwell  was also present as a sponsor at the baptism of her grandson Henry George Alfred Marius Victor Francis (Herbert) in the Chapel Royal, St James Palace, on 12 December 1898. 

Other sponsors were Lord Ashburton and Lady Winifred Burghclere.[39]

Tony Leadbetter smiled on seeing this cutting and remarked :

“One thing is clear, Henry’s father was at his Baptism.”[40]

Loose Threads : DNA Testing

The string of paternity issues in the Carnarvon family over questions surrounding  Almina’s father, the father of Almina’s son Henry, and Almina’s daughter Lady Evelyn may never be known for certain. The Carnarvons will not subject themselves to DNA testing; the result could be a fate not worth risking for any aristocrat since the Pringle case.[41] 

What did Almina believe about Alfred?

Tony Leadbetter said: “Almina thought Alfred was her father, more because I think she wanted him to be .... a little bit like Pip wanted Miss Havisham as his benefactor in Great Expectations and not the murderer, Abel Magwitch.”[42]

Tony added: “Freddie Wombwell also thought he (Freddie) was Almina's father, hence the sentimentality aspects of his last Will.

Highclere's narrative of Freddie Wombwell just turning up now and then to see Marie  (think about it, he also wanted to see his young son, born in 1869) is a good argument to settle on there being the ample opportunity for Wombwell to have access to his marital rights.”[43] 

Freddie and Marie never divorced, although they lived sometime apart. Tony Leadbetter thought that Freddie leaving his collection of Wombwell family pictures in his Will of 1889 to Marie (by default to Almina) convinced him that they were always on close terms, and that Almina was Freddie’s daughter.

Doting on Almina 

It was said Alfred de Rothschild doted on Almina. Freddie Wombwell doted on both his son, Frederick (an army Captain in the 16^th Lancers, as pictured here) and daughter Almina.

Frederick died aged 42 in 1912 (the year before his mother). It was a devastating blow. He had married in 1908 and had a son who later proudly took his place among the Wombwell clan.[44]

Death of Marie Wombwell in 1913

Almina and Frederick’s mother Marie died in 1913. She was attended by Dr Marcus Johnson, the Carnarvon family physician. Almina had faith in Dr Johnny’s empathy for her beloved parent.

Almina went into a period of mourning after her mother’s death, and absented herself as a hostess from the social scene.  Lord Carnarvon carried on regardless, arranging his usual winter recreation of watching his horses on the race track or shooting partridges with a hand-picked group of his gentlemen friends who, in many cases like him, were married but still sought and enjoyed the bachelor life.

What David Sox Said

For completeness there are flimsy elements to highlight from one writer – the early biographer of Almina, named  David Sox, whose manuscript was bought by Highclere to stop unsavoury truths from entering the public domain. 

David Sox offers the excuse that Marie would have had to became a Jew to marry Alfred when she was a devout Roman Catholic. The Rothschild clan were far from happy at Alfred diluting the family’s wealth; Alfred saw it as the price he had to pay to  keep Marie silent.

Rothschild women like Alfred’s sister-in-law Emma, Lady Rothschild, howled at the very sight of Marie; there was no love for her, although Almina was made welcome.

One Jewish historian remarks: “Almina’s mother was ostracised…..and rarely invited to Rothschild gatherings…. Mrs Wombwell was merely tolerated by the family.”[45]

Marie stood her ground against unfriendly Rothschilds and fought off equally awkward members of Lord Carnarvon’s female entourage. Elsie, the (second) 4th Countess[46], the Earl’s stepmother, attempted to block Marie from holding the wedding breakfast for Marie pushed ahead and hired Lansdowne House from her friend William Waldorf ‘Willy’ Astor, 1st Viscount Astor - poking the Carnarvons in the eye after the fuss they made of being under the same roof as her for the reception.  Elsie attended and bit her lip. A coup for Marie. Alfred paid for it all.

Rothschild Gossip

According to  David Sox, Almina was  favoured as Alfred’s daughter by a later  Rothschild insider – Miriam Rothschild.[47]   However Miriam’s testimony hangs on a brittle thread and is not proof. She only claims to have discussed the question with Almina’s son Henry, the 6th Earl, which mitigates the story given by Porchey in his unreliable memoirs.  She conceded that not all the Rothschilds in Alfred’s generation  thought Almina was Alfred’s child. Miriam and Porchey were horse-riding companions in their youth, although he was 10 years older. 

Miriam was acting in good faith too - she was anxious to clear Almina’s name as the  peeress who was (allegedly) blackmailing her uncle Walter, 2nd Lord Rothschild[48] over the existence of an illegitimate child. A pen picture of the blackmailer by Derek Wilson in “Rothschild: A Study of Wealth and Power”[49] bore a resemblance to Almina, but Miriam cleared Almina from blame, whilst choosing to leave the name of the real blackmailer unmentioned.  

Miriam also put it in writing as no more than a tease to David Sox – Highclere’s forbidden biographer of Almina - that whilst the 5^th Countess did NOT look like any of the other Rothschild women, a plea for recognition could be made over Almina’s daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert’s “[Rothschild] looks”[50].

There is Rothschild DNA on tap – the family thrives – there are also DNA sources from Lady Evelyn and her husband’s  line – with several  surviving  grandchildren etc.

Perhaps Lady Evelyn does portray a stronger-edged Rothschild appearance – some see a Jewess - some see an oriental sway – some see a Wombwell.  To ensure that the full residue of genetic material is included, one ought also to sweep in a certain French, North African and Spanish American appearance from Almina’s gene pool. And that all falls down as being  less convincing – in fact irrelevant - if Dr Marcus Johnson fathered Lady Evelyn.

Alfred de Rothschild’s Scrapbook

A great deal of fuss is made by Highclere (echoed by David Sox) of the apparent evidence of Alfred bequeathing Almina a personal scrapbook with some intimate  letters. This unique heirloom was given by Almina to Highclere (to Lord Porchester) in 1968, just before her death. It is further asserted that the contents of this gift from Alfred to Almina proves that she was his daughter.

As the ‘Scrapbook’ contains some personal letters between Alfred and Bertie, Prince of Wales (later, Edward VII) Lord Porchester presented the scrapbook to the Queen.

On a visit to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle by this Author, the scrapbook was examined in very close detail. There is NO material therein that relates to or establishes a genetic blood link between Alfred and Almina. That is why, quite rightly, Highclere are forced to admit that there is no conclusive evidence backing Alfred’s corner.

Alfred’s Clump of Hair

There is something that could resolve it all or part of it. In an attractive sealed container within the scrapbook, and of particular note, is a clump of Alfred’s hair. 

Therefore, in short, Highclere/others have accessible Wombwell and Rothschild DNA available to them to pursue and test the matter by science rather than clinging to hot air and what ifs.

Alfred de Rothschild’s Legacy to Almina in 1918

The Author was sent this question in correspondence:

“What I found an interesting point is that Alfred had an enormous fortune. If Almina was not his daughter, why would he basically leave virtually everything to Almina and her husband?”[51]

But, did Alfred de Rothschild (as one biography claims) leave Almina “virtually everything” in his Last Will?

Alfred de Rothschild  died on 31 January 1918. His usual title was ‘Baron’ but this was more of a courtesy address stemming from the Rothschild family’s wider European extraction. Only his brother Nathan Mayer Rothschild (known as ‘Natty’), 1840-1915, was made a British Peer: he became the first Lord Rothschild, a title which continues in the Rothschild family to the present day.  

In the Author’s book “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” the final conclusion reached was that Alfred “left much of his wealth to Almina.”

This is the relevant reference in the text: 

“Throughout his life Alfred, “the joyless lonely bachelor”, had cared for “the importunate and extravagant” Almina emotionally and financially; now in death he sought to ensure that this security would last her lifetime. The Baron left much of his wealth to Almina, including his magnificent London home at 1, Seamore Place,[52] with its priceless artwork and furniture worth several hundred thousand pounds. In addition, he left her £50,000 in cash and declared, “the covenant he had entered into on the marriage of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon for the payment of £500,000 to the trustees of their marriage settlement remained in full force”. Only his estate at Halton remained within his family, inherited by his nephew Lionel de Rothschild (1880–1942).”[53]

The claims of  “virtually everything" and “much of his wealth" are at variance with each other. So which is it?

The answers lie in the files of National Archives, Kew, Class IR59 (IR 59/519, IR 59/520 and IR 59/521) to which access was granted to this Author under the Freedom of Information Act.

Having seen these files, that was the reason for stating in the 2011 biography that Almina was only left “much of his Alfred’s] wealth”.    

Alfred left Almina cash of £50,000, together with the freehold of 1, Seamore Place, Mayfair, valued at £27,500, and also the impressive contents of 1, Seamore Place, valued at almost £500,000. The income from the 1895 marriage Settlement was worth £12,000 a year. Alfred paid the latter sum annually to Almina and Lord Carnarvon. Therefore, deducting what had been paid between 1895 and 1918 the final balance payable out of Alfred’s estate to the Carnarvons was  £212,000.

The combined legacy (with £25,00 cash also paid to Lord Carnarvon in Alfred’s Will) was £787,000. From this statement it’s apparent that Alfred’s legacy to Almina was a substantial one. By including the 1918 value of the 1895 marriage settlement in the calculations, it can be argued that Almina, with Lord Carnarvon, were Alfred’s principal beneficiaries.  In fact this Author says this elsewhere in “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon”.

Alfred's estate - when the Rothschild partnership assets of £1.4million are added - was worth £2.4 million. Legacy Duty, Exemptions (for Art / Ceramics / Pictures etc.) and debts etc owed reduced the size of the Estate to approx £1.5 million, as was sworn by his Executors. The State benefited hugely. Almina’s pay-off was £787,000 and this is the Author’s declared judgment of it being “much of his wealth” but it is certainly not “virtually everything”.

Alfred de Rothschild’s nephew Lionel's share was worth around £483,000. He was left Alfred's country home at Halton, Buckinghamshire ( pictured left). As well as Almina’s cash legacy of £50,000, cash left by Alfred to others was over £200,000 including £50,000 (i.e. £25k each) to Almina’s two children. Alfred left several works of art and other personal possessions to several others too, including to the nation. 

 Sadly, there were many old retainers and charity cases whose small pensions were ended on Alfred’s death. He simply did not write these weekly/monthly sums down for sureness of continuance after his death; such amounts were simply paid out willy-nilly, often in person. The Executors were unsympathetic to representations. Evidence seen in Alfred’s papers in the Rothschild Archives suggests this caused severe cases of poverty and hardship. Only Almina was able to wheedle additional sums out of Alfred’s executors for repairs and renewals at 1, Seamore Place.

Even famous men like Sir Edward Marshall Hall, who was an executor of Alfred’s estate and who helped to defend Almina’s second husband in the 1925 Court Case of Dennistoun v Dennistoun, was putty in Almina’s small hands.

Interestingly, Alfred funeral costs were a mere £161 pounds nine shillings and sixpence.  Now you know!

From the book  “ Lies, Damned Lies and the Carnarvons” 

By William Cross, FSA Scot  Book Midden Publishing ( 2022)

THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE FROM THE AUTHOR

PLEASE EMAIL  

williecross@aol.com

[1] Lady Carnarvon’s “Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey” Hodder & Stoughton (2011).

[2] William Cross “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” Book Midden Publishing (2011).  NB The 3^rd Edition published 15 December 2011 is the best print.

[3] Derek’s Wilson’s “Rothschild: A Study of Wealth and Power ”(revised edition).

Cornerstone, London (1994).

[4] Almina’s birthplace, on 14 April 1876, was Number 18, Bayswater Terrace, Bayswater:  a hotel, described as “an establishment for families and gentlemen”. Her mother, Marie Felicie Boyer (c.1846–1913) hailed from continental stock that straddled French and quasi-Spanish heritage. She was the daughter of Alexandre Boyer, a financier/banker, and Victoria de los Dolores de Gogorza, of Paris.

[5] Shortly after Almina’s birth, her mother Marie Wombwell went to France. She neglected to register the child’s birth as required by English law. It was only four years later, on 24 November 1880, that an English birth certificate officially recorded Almina’s birth in Britain. The informant, who declared he had delivered Almina, was William Priestley, MD, of 17 Hereford Street, Mayfair.  Sir William Overend Priestley, MD, LLD, MP (1829–1900), was an eminent obstetric physician and gynecologist.

[6] Frederick (‘Freddie’) Charles Wombwell (1845–1889) was the youngest of the four sons of Sir George Wombwell, the 3rd Baronet of Wombwell (1792–1855). Fred’s mother Georgina (née Hunter, 1807–1875) was the daughter of Thomas Orby Hunter MP of Crowland Abbey, Lincolnshire.

[7] At Easingwold near Coxwold. The site was once an Augustinian priory, granted by King Henry VIII to Antony Belasyse, from whom the Wombwells descend.

[8] Sir George Orby Wombwell (1832–1913) 4th Baronet. His wife was Lady Julia, a descendant of the past British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel.

[9] Fred kept rooms at Limmer’s Hotel, Bond Street, a rough establishment frequented by the dregs of the sporting world.

[10] Henry Rawdon-Hastings, 4th Marquis of Hastings (1842–1868). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Rawdon-Hastings,_4th_Marquess_of_Hastings

[11] At the age of 21 (in 1866) Fred had inherited the sum of 20,000 pounds. But in the year that followed he had run up large debts and made promissory notes against his inheritance.

[12] Frederick Adolphus Wombwell (1869–1912) was born in Paris on the eve of the city’s disruption during the Franco–Prussian War and the ensuing bloody Paris Siege.

[13] Fred’s Will, late of “The Box”, Hampton, Middlesex, died at Hove on 7 July 1889. Among the provisions of the Will dated 3 May 1889  is this:

“I bequeath all the family portraits and pictures which I may be possessed at the time of my decease onto my wife Marie Wombwell absolutely but in case she shall predecease me then I bequeath the same onto my daughter Almina Victoria Wombwell & I bequeath my pony and dog cart onto the said Almina Victoria Wombwell ….and upon his attaining the age of twenty one years I bequeath my chain onto my son Frederick Adolphus Wombwell…” Probate was granted on 19 August 1889. Fred’s Estate was valued at £221-15s 

[14] Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931) was an Australian operatic soprano. Adelina Patti (1843-1919) was an Italian opera singer. 

[15] Frances, Countess of Warwick. “Discretions”. Scribner, (1931).

[16] John Vincent & David  Lindsay “The Crawford Papers”  Manchester University Press (1986).

[17] Victoria Francisca  Boyer (1841-1899). In 1865 she married Henry Howard, 3^rd Earl of Effingham (1837-1898). There was a son Henry (4^th Earl) (1866-1927).

[18] The Cleveland Street scandal in late 1889 was a police investigation that discovered a male brothel on Cleveland Street, near Tottenham Court Road, London that supplied boys from the Post Office to have sex with aristocratic gentlemen. 

[19] One of the ADCs to the Duke of Clarence,  the son of the Prince of Wales, was a  close relative of Lord Alfred Somerset.

[20] See “Social gossip from Home”:  The Argus, Melbourne, 14 December 1889.

[21] One published source consistent with this claim of seducing centres around Alfred asking his business friend Felix Joubert whether his chauffeur was a good man. It appears in  “Memoirs of the Duveen Brothers” by Edward Fowles. Time books (1976).

“ Rothschild saw Joubert’s car waiting outside the house [at 1 Seamore Place]. “ Is that your car, Joubert?” “Yes,” replied Joubert. “And your chauffeur – is he a good man?”  “ Yes, indeed, I have had him for some years and must say he is a devoted servant”.

 

Rothschild sent for the chauffeur, told him he was happy to learn that he was a good and faithful servant, handed him £2.00 and told him he would receive the same amount again every Saturday he called at the house.”

[22] “A Secret Between Gentlemen: Lord Battersea’s hidden scandal and the lives it changed forever” & “A Secret Between Gentlemen: Suspects, strays and guests”. Alchemie Books (2022)

[23] Tony Leadbetter Interviews 2009-2019.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid

[27] Marie left an Estate in excess of £86,326. See William Cross’s “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” Book Midden Publishing (2011).

[28] Tony Leadbetter Interviews 2009-2019.

[29] Marie declares in her Last Will:  “I express my earnest wish that my said daughter [Almina] and my said grandchildren [Henry and Evelyn] will during their lives maintain and keep in proper repair and condition the vaults at Kensal Green Cemetery and at Montmartre Cemetery, Paris.”  Kensal Green was the location of her late husband Fred’s grave and her Boyer sister Victoria’s family connections [Earls of Effingham]. The Boyer and family collaterals have graves in Paris.

[30] St James Gazette, 7 June 1893.

[31] Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 17 October 1894.

[32] See William Cross’ book  “Prince Victor Duleep Singh and the Curse of the Carnarvons” Book Midden Publishing (2019).

[33] Ibid.

[34] Mansfield Reporter, 2 November 1894.

[35] Correspondence between members of the Wombwell family and William Cross.

[36] See William Cross’s “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” Book Midden (2011).

[37] St James’s Gazette, 3 September 1895.

[38] Tony Leadbetter Interviews 2009-2019.

[39] Berkshire Chronicle, 12 December 1898.

[40] Tony Leadbetter Interviews 2009-2019.

[41] See William Cross’ book “ More On Prince Victor Duleep Singh and the Curse of the Carnarvons” (2022).

[42]Tony Leadbetter Interviews 2009-2019.

[43] Ibid.

[44] Frederick left a widow May Harrison Smith and a son Frederick Philip Alfred William Wombwell (known as Philip ) who was born in July 1910. Frederick’s widow remarried. After a great upheaval in the Wombwell family (following the death of Sir George Wombwell in 1913)  Philip (Almina’s nephew) took the family honours in the shape of  the Wombwell baronetcy in 1926. Sir Philip Wombwell married Elizabeth Leitch in 1936 and died in 1977. Philip’s son  George, born 1949, succeeded to the Wombwell title in 1977. He and wife live at the family’s ancient seat, Newburgh Priory; they have a son and daughter.

[45] Jewish Chronicle 2 October 2015 : Doreen Berger “Downton’s Jewish Chatelaine”.

[46] Elizabeth Howard (1854-1929). Married her cousin, Henry Herbert, 4^th Earl of Carnarvon in 1879. Mother of Aubrey and Mervyn Herbert who died in 1923 & 1929.

[47] Dame Miriam  Rothschild (1908-2005). British scientist and author.

[48] Walter Rothschild, (1868-1937)  2^nd Lord Rothschild. Zoologist & Banker.

[49] Derek’s Wilson’s “Rothschild: A Study of Wealth and Power ”(revised edition) Cornerstone, London (1994).

[50] The exact quote from Miriam in a letter dated 20 November 1995 was “In my mind there has never been the slightest doubt that Almina was Alfred’s daughter, and her daughter had a strange likeness which Almina herself did not have. Almina’s gifts have never been adequately publicised, not least the role she played in the Tutankhamun discoveries. PS Porchey had no doubt at all of his relationship with my family, and we often discussed this”.  Source DS papers.

[51] E-mail exchanges with an Australian genealogist/historian “Leo” in 2011. Leo comments. “I am going to remove Alfred in my system as Almina's father. Legally her mother's husband is her father but we can only wonder who the natural father was?”   

[52] Almina inherited 1 Seamore Place in 1918 from Alfred’s Estate. She eventually sold it to Westminster City Council c.1936 (after it had lain empty and neglected for several years – almost all the contents were flogged, in a sale of the century, on Almina’s behalf, by Christie’s in 1925). In 1937 the house was demolished for a road widening scheme around Curzon Street and Park Lane.

[53] From “The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon” Book Midden ( 2011).