William Cross, FSA Scot - Writer and Lecturer

 

William Cross, FSA Scot is a writer and researcher whose speciality is biography. He is the author of a number of books on British Society figures, including Almina, 5th Countess of Carnarvon, (1876-1969), George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon ( of Tutankhamun fame ), the Honourable Gwyneth Ericka Morgan (1895-1924) and the Honourable Evan Frederic Morgan, ( 1893-1949), the last Viscount Tredegar, the last two mentioned being members of the Morgan family of Tredegar House, Newport, Gwent. He has also written  long biographical sketches of the American, Catherine Wendell ( 1900-1977) and the Austrian dancer, Tilly Losch (1904-1975), the two wives of Henry George Alfred Marius Victor Francis Herbert ( 1898-1987), 6th Earl of Carnarvon.   In addition Cross has written two books on Prince Victor Duleep Singh ( 1866-1918), the eldest son the last Maharajah of Lahore, appraising Victor’s relationship with George Herbert, the 5^th Earl of Carnarvon and his wife Almina.

BOOKS BY WILLIAM CROSS

·                     The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon. Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914081. 2011.

·                    The Dustbin Case : Dennistoun v Dennistoun. Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914043 .2012.

·                    Lordy! Tutankhamun's Patron As A Young Man. Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914050 2012.

·                    A Beautiful Nuisance : The Life and Death of the Hon. Gwyneth Ericka Morgan by Monty Dart and William Cross. Book Midden Publiishing ISBN 9781905914104 2012.

·                    Aspects of Evan : The Last Viscount Tredegar by Monty Dart and William Cross. [ Book Midden Publishing ]] ISBN 9781905914159 2012

·                     Not Behind Lace Curtains: The Hidden World Of Evan, Viscount Tredegar. Book Midden Publishing ISBN9781905914210: 2013.

·                    Catherine and Tilly: Porchey Carnarvon's Two Duped Wives . Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914258 : 2013.

·                     Tilly Losch Schlagobers Sweet Fragments From Her Life . Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914272 : 2014.

·                    Evan Frederic Morgan, Viscount Tredegar : The Final Affairs, Financial and Carnal . Book Midden Publishing [[ ISBN 9781905914241]: 2014.

·                     The Abergavenny Witch Hunt of 1942. Book Midden Publishing ISBN 978190514227 :2014.

·                     Lois Sturt, Wild Child. A Glance at Hon. Lois Ina Sturt, Viscountess Tredegar Book Midden Publishing ISBN 978190514319: 2014.

·                     Evan, Lord Tredegar, Selected Letters, Prose and Quotations. The Mystic Muse of Evan Frederic Morgan. . Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914333 : 2015.

·                     The Engagement Diaries of Hon. Lois Sturt, 1919-1924 Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914340 : 2015. ( 2016).

·                     Carnarvon, Carter and Tutunkhamun Revisted. The hidden truths and doomed relationships. Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914364 . 2016. ( Release date November, 2016).

·                     Sketches of Evan, Viscount Tredegar 'Lord of the Lies' As seen by friends, foes and lovers. Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914463 . 2017.

·                    Myths About The Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport, South Wales. Busting the History Fraudsters Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914425 . 2018.

·                    An album of sexually explicit verses and jokes. From the Collection of Lois Ina Sturt and Reggie Pembroke Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914401 . 2018.

·                     The Morgans of Tredegar House. Great War Roll of Honour: The Hoare, Lindsay and Mundy Great Grandsons of the First Lord and Lady Tredegar Who Died During the 1914-1918 War Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914487 2018.

·                     Prince Victor Duleep Singh & the Curse of the Carnarvons Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914357 2019.

·                     Tredegar House Weekend Parties, Frolics and Fun Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914531 2019.

·                     Footprints on the Sands of Time. A glance at Welsh born photographer Angus McBean Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914579 2020.

·                    More Sketches of Evan, Viscount Tredegar: 'Lord of the Lies' Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914470 2020.

·                     Beechwood A Story of Childhood Book Midden Publishing [ ISBN 9781905914173 ]] 2021.

·                     Tails of Phoebe and Mags Worthington of The Mews, Belgravia. Short Stories With Two Darn Cats Book Midden Publishing ISBN 978-1905914593 2021.

·                     More on Prince Victor Duleep Singh & the Curse of the Carnarvons : The Final Twists Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914739 2022.

·                    “Lies, Damned Lies and the Carnarvons” Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914777 2022.

·                     Highclere Insider-David Sox : The Man Who Knew Too Much Book Midden Publishing [ ISBN 9781905914746] ( Release date 2023.)

·                    Rosemary and Alastair : Everything is More Beautiful Because We're Doomed. Book Midden Publishing ISBN 9781905914289. 2017. ( Release date 2023).

 

EMAIL  WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT

williecross@aol.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lady Burghclere, Sister of Lord George Carnarvon of Tutankhamun Fame

 William Cross, FSA Scot considers  Winifred, Lady Burghclere, Sister of Lord George Carnarvon of Tutankhamun Fame 

Winifred Anne Henrietta Christiana Herbert (1864-1933), best known as Lady Burghclere was the bookish older sister of Lord George Carnarvon of Tutankhamun fame. To make certain her brother’s less noble life was relegated to the long grass Winifred quickly and smartly appointed herself his chief protector on earth when she stepped into the shoes of making herself his earliest biographer and champion. All comers thereafter writing anything of his Lordship’s unhealthy, chequered life and times have been muted and left in the shadow of Winifred’s elegantly drafted gloss- over.

In 1923, some months after Lord Carnarvon died  in Egypt in a famous death scene at the Continental Hotel Cairo, Lady Winifred ( by then a widow, with two husbands down) left her London home at Green Street, Park Lane to spend the autumn at the beautiful Lake House at Burghclere, this close proximity to the old family’s seat at Highclere Castle ensured exactly the right setting for literary inspiration and mendacity.

In the wake of Howard Carter and Arthur Mace publishing the first volume of their narrative on the discovery of Tutankhamun, Winifred had agreed to write an Introduction to the book about her beloved brother Lord Carnarvon. 

This long tirade secured a pre-emptive strike, a glamorous, orchestrated sketch before any one else could or  ever would effectively sum up his life. It's content has woven a damaged, flawed chronology as it had been used as gospel by a successive line of history vandals at Highclere Castle to suit their own ends.

It had been a difficult year since Winifred's accomplished half-brother the Hon. Aubrey Herbert, dubbed ‘ The Man Who Was Greenmantle’ died in a London nursing home on 16 September, 1923 aged 43. Aubrey had been an adventurer, soldier and politician, he was one of his sister- in-law, Almina's early crushes. Almina ( Carnarvon's wife) always preferred the gallant but caddish Aubrey to the creepy Lord Carnarvon, he [ Aubrey] had been her patient to nurse first hand at Highclere Castle ( when a military hospital) during the Great War. After a series of botched operations to improve his sight, Aubrey’s doctors missed a serious underlying health condition, he suffered a ruptured gall bladder and bled to death. Almina always said Aubrey was her lost love, she campaigned for him in Somerset to help him win a seat in Parliament.

Grieving for two siblings Winifred sought seclusion and quiet solitude, writing proved the restorative she needed.

As there was a good deal to hide from the public’s knowledge about Lord Carnarvon’s life, death, proclivities and foibles. Winifred ‘s tribute to him had to be manipulated. She records with great laffection, respect and dignity things she uniquely felt ought to be said but as the whole of the language used is floral and full of terminological inexactitudes its effect was to scorch the truth as seen by others. There were those who knew the real Carnarvon, a sad man tormented by demons who snarled, bullied and never smiled. One witness for the prosecution was a woman whom Winifred detested but who was eminently qualified to contradict her slick treatment on the subject of the Earl, when or if provoked. This onlooker was Almina Wombwell, Carnarvon’s lusty widow, who, although no angel, endured almost 30 years humiliation in a loveless, sham marriage to the 5th Earl of Carnarvon in a commercial deal brokered by the banker Baron Alfred de Rothschild.

Speaking of Lord Carnarvon Almina told her godson Tony Leadbetter that

 “ all his sisters knew him for being irksome ....he was always shouting at them. My dear husband was moody, he was hell to live with and put his own pleasures first” Almina added “ I was always afraid of him, and so was Howard Carter ”. Carter was less forthcoming in public about the man who as his patron with whom he was often badly treated and ridiculed. As a character who regularly recoiled and bit out at friends and foes he took his Lordship's ear bashings with few back comments.

Winifred Burghclere knew of this too and what family face was saved in her homage, she would not admit to having a wayward brother nor come clean on Almina’s marriage charade or Carter's snipes. 

Lady Burghclere was an experienced scribe, the author of a number of well received yet obscure biographies featuring the exploits of past English noblemen ( as above in her book on George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham) she set their histories in a overly romantic as well as the historic mould. As with in her tribute to Lord Carnarvon, Winifred’s aim was to make her writing convincing; one obituary writer observed that she had style, and “ had edge, but with no acerbity or malice”. 

“Biographical Sketch of the late Lord Carnarvon by Lady Burghclere"

first page of pages 31-72 of the book below:

"The tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, discovered by the late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter; by Howard Carter and A.C. Mace...." ( 1923)

This article is an update on a previous Blogger posting in 2016.

ANY QUERIES CONTACT THE AUTHOR OF THIS PIECE BY EMAIL

williecross@aol.com

The book " Lady Winifred Burghclere and her Troublesome Daughters", withheld from wider circulation is now available from the Author William Cross, FSA Scot

FURTHER READING

"Lies, Damned Lies and the Carnarvons" 

By William Cross, FSA Scot

A NEW BOOK

Published 1 September 2022

AVAILABLE DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR

BY EMAIL CONTACT, BELOW

williecross@aol.com