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.

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williecross@aol.com