HON. GWYNETH ERICKA MORGAN : A 100 YEAR OLD MYSTERY

 

POOR GWYNETH

A CENTURY OF COVER UP  

Today, in 1925

A Body!

100 years ago today, on 25th May 1925, around 6am, about half a mile from London’s Tower Bridge, a routine police boat was patrolling the River Thames. In the very same spot, the lifeless body of young boy who had fallen from off a barge was recovered a few hours before.

Towards Pocock Wharf at Wapping, the tidal displacement brought another body to the surface. The object was moving with the action of the waves. After some delicate manoeuvring, it was brought on board. At first, the officers believed it was the corpse of a man for the hair had been rotted away by its long submersion in the water. The clothing, a mackintosh coat was saturated with mud and disintegrated when touched. Some underwear was discernible as was a shoe attached to one foot. It was the body of a woman. Another report mentions that it had been lying in only five feet of water. It was in an advanced state of decomposition. The facial features were unrecognisable.

During the day, this part of the Thames was one of the nosiest and busiest channels on the River. Here several large steamers were anchored, along with numerous barges. At night time and in the early dawn it was quieter stretch with only the gentle tapping of the waves to be heard as the occasional tug passed along.

Sergeant William Mathers took charge of the body and the boat made for the riverfront.

The rotting remains were taken to Old Church Stairs and then onto the mortuary at Rotherhithe. Here they were later examined by a police surgeon, Dr Fox at 7.45am. Into the afternoon and the evening of the same day, the attachments to the body were studied closely. These particulars were to form part of the crucial evidence leading to putting a name to the corpse.

The garments were fragile the fragments of clothing, were considerably decayed. The first clue as to identity was that one of the under-garments. This had a laundry tag bearing the name of G.E.Morgan; the second clue was a brown shoe, and the third clue was some jewellery around the victim’s neck, two chains, one silver, one gold, the first of these a turquoise pendant, in the form of a bird, which had been broken in several places and mended, the gold chain had a small cross.

For five months, the name of Hon Gwyneth Morgan had been in newspaper headlines across Britain and overseas. There had been a widespread search for her, and when it was apparent that the disappearance was not one of Gwyneth’s pranks, including earlier disappearances when she had informed no one of her plans, her father, Lord Tredegar offered a reward for any information.

Was the mystery of Gwyneth Morgan who had disappeared on 11 December 1924 from a house in Wimbledon, now solved?

The newspapers reported it was. But what is the truth?

Welsh writers, Monty Dart and Will Cross spent 7 years reconstructing the events that led to the discovery of the body - assumed to be Gwyneth's- in the process they were warned to leave matters alone. The terrifying truth was plain, Gwyneth's death - whenever it took place- was a crime, a crime that even now 100 years on remains covered up.

Poor Gwyneth!

Monty and Will's book " A BEAUTIFUL NUISANCE" : THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE HONOURABLE GWYNETH ERICKA MORGAN" is still available.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/115644037

CONTACT THE AUTHOR WILL CROSS

 

williecross@aol.com

 

 

Highclere Castle Insider : Rev. H. David Sox
“The Man Who Knew Too Much”

The Carnarvons of Highclere (Downton Abbey) know a thing or two about raising revenue to pay for fixing dry rot, damp patches and mending the proverbial leak in the roof.

The exposure of the Herbert family’s Highclere Castle as the back drop to the well known TV/ film epics  Downton Abbey has increased its coffers on a grand scale.

In the late 1980s Highclere first opened its doors to the public with a flurry of excitement and neat timing about previously unknown Tutankhamun artefacts. The 5th Earl was of course co-discoverer with Howard Carter of the tomb of the boy King.

Later in the 1990s Highclere’s then incumbents, the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, better known as Lord Porchester, the Queen’s Racing Manager, together with his American Countess wife, Jeanie Wallop, were keen to attract American visitors, with American dollars, to their Berkshire Estate.

With a reputation for forking out mega bucks to hear all about the English gentry’s life style, past and present, it was a sure money spinner to seek and aim at Americans craving oldy world history and offer them lavish pampering, supreme hospitality and the high life's hunting, shooting and fishing. So grabbing the huge American tourist market became part of Highclere’s business plan.

What better sweetener for the would be visitors from New York, Los Angeles and Wyoming than for a fellow American to act as the house guide to receive them. The guide had to be someone who stood out as suave, articulate, personable, witty, equally attractive to the eye and ear. It all made perfect business sense.

Enter Rev. H. David Sox as Highclere’s resident history expert in the 1990s.

The idea worked, the Americans came and for several years this man Sox continued as one of Highclere’s most popular insider figures above and below the Castle’s hierarchy, respected by the 7th Earl and Countess, adored by visitors and liked if not more often revered by other Highclere staff.

Sox was a part-time clergyman, author of books on the Shroud of Turin, and an art aficionado. He oozed self- importance and had an inherent ruthlessness that made him reach out for any opportunity to raise his own reputation and notoriety.

That opportunity came when Sox approached the 7th Earl about writing a biography of Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, the Earl’s beloved ‘granny’ – the widow of the 5th Earl of Old King Tut fame.

The idea of Sox’s biography received the green light. He was given unfettered access to Highclere Archives, and although Almina had died aged 93, in 1969, there were many people still alive who knew her and numerous sources to tap into about her extraordinary life and times.

Sox’s work was exhaustive and thorough. Then a bomb dropped upon him when he made an startling discovery in the Archives about a family scandal that, if true, could have monumental consequences to undermine the Herbert family’s succession.

Sox realised he was the man who knew too much. What was he to do with his secret?

The nature of what David Sox found in the Archives and what he did with the information has lain festering in the long grass for 25 years. Now in the run up to the Tutankhamun centenary it is time to reopen this other tomb with an examination of Rev. H. David Sox, his life’s work, research and legacy and revisit and update the facts with reflections on the circumstances that forced him to abandon the Almina project – that led to Highclere burying the proposed biography.

In the long aftermath of David Sox’s study and discovery in Highclere Archives, the unpublished biography of Almina has tantalised and teased  various researchers, journalists and even TV companies, and Sox frequently pursued for enquiry, comment and the hidden truth.

Only the Society author William Cross, FSA Scot has revealed in past publications, the nature of Sox’s find and Highclere’s quandary. Sox died in 2016, leaving behind fears of a wider disclosure. He has left behind much confusion but still unanswered questions about his original discovery. Who knows the truth? Who is willing to tell what they know? Who is too scared ?

It is time to settle this part of Highclere’s history once and for all.

E-MAIL ALL ENQUIRIES ABOUT THIS POSTING

 

williecross@aol.com