Maundy Gregory
Arthur John Maundy Gregory,
Early life
Gregory was born in Southampton, Hampshire, the son of Francis Maundy Gregory, vicar of St Michael's, Southampton, and Elizabeth Ursula, daughter of Mayow Wynell-Mayow, rector of Southam, Warwickshire, and head of a Cornwall landed gentry family.[7][8][9]
Gregory attended Banister Court school in Southampton. A classmate was
Much of the information about Gregory comes from his own papers and curriculum vitae, the truth of which is questionable. According to these sources, Vernon Kell, head of MI5, recruited Gregory in 1909, possibly because of Gregory's connections from London's nightlife. At MI5, Gregory mainly compiled dossiers on suspected foreign spies living in London. Later, Sidney Reilly allegedly recruited Gregory for the recently formed MI6.
Gregory referred to his alleged time at MI5 and MI6 when he asserted that he had raised funds for the fight against Bolshevism. Official records verify that Gregory served as a private in the Irish Guards, but do not verify his time at MI5 or MI6. Gregory claimed that at about the same time he claimed he was working for MI5 and MI6, he became acquainted with Basil Thomson. Thomson was the Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard's CID. The relationship between Gregory and Thomson lasted for several years.
Selling honours
Around 1918, Gregory approached the Liberal Party to arrange payments to the party in exchange for peerages. He was one of many to do this. David Lloyd George hired him as a broker to gather funding for the United Constitutional Party Lloyd George was planning to form.
At the time, prices for honours ranged from £10,000
Gregory made many friends who were prominent members of British society, including the Duke of York, later
Some believe that Gregory was involved in Grayson's disappearance in 1920, because Grayson was stated to have been last seen entering a house that belonged to Gregory. Grayson's
There are also claims that Gregory was involved in the
In 1927, the ensuing Conservative government blocked Gregory's honours-selling scheme. He began selling non-British honours, such as noble titles from
According to published MI5 files, when Russian diplomat Ivan Korostovets tried to recruit Gregory to work against the Bolsheviks, Gregory used the Anglo-Ukrainian Fellowship as a front to continue his peerage sales and kept all the money for himself.[15]
Gregory also continued to accept money for British peerages from people unaware that he could no longer provide them. Those who paid him had no legal recourse; they could neither report him to the authorities nor sue in civil court without themselves being prosecuted under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. In 1930, Gregory was sued for £30,000 by the estate of a baronet who had died before receiving a peerage purchased from him,[13] and had to return the money.
Edith Rosse
Gregory had been friends with actress Edith Marion Rosse for many years. He leased a house called Vanity Fair located on Thames Ditton Island to Rosse and her husband in 1920, and moved in with them the following year.[6] After Rosse separated from her husband in 1923, she and Gregory continued to live under the same roof in a platonic relationship (Gregory was a homosexual).[15] The couple later moved to Abbey Lodge in St John's Wood (the house was later converted into the recording studios).[11]
In 1932, she turned down his request for a loan, but was persuaded to change her will only a few days before her death.[11] He inherited £18,000. Some suspect Rosse did not die of natural causes, but rather was poisoned by Gregory. After Gregory's fall in the "Honours" Scandal trial, Scotland Yard exhumed Rosse's body to look for postmortem evidence of poison. However, Gregory had seen to it that Rosse's grave was located in very wet ground and was unusually shallow with an unsealed coffin lid.[11]
It was later alleged that Gregory delayed Rosse's burial until he found a location that frequently flooded because he believed that this would prevent later recovery of evidence.
Later life
In 1932, Gregory tried to sell Lieutenant Commander E. W. Billyard Leake a peerage for £12,000. Leake pretended to be interested, but informed the police and Gregory was arrested. Gregory could now threaten to name in court those who had bought peerages. Because he pleaded guilty (possibly persuaded to do so by embarrassed buyers), Gregory did not have to give evidence in court. He did, however, give interviews to the press trying to prove his innocence.
In 1933, Gregory was convicted under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 of selling honours. He was fined £50 and jailed for two months.[15] As of 2023, he remains the only person to have been convicted under this act. The names of those who bought their peerages are still unknown. His case file was moved to the National Archives in 2002.
Gregory declared bankruptcy in 1933. After he was released, he moved to Paris, France, where he lived under an assumed name made up of the third and fourth given names ('Peter' and 'Michael') he had adopted, on a £2,000 annual pension from sources close to the Conservative Party.[citation needed] British historian Andrew Cook claims that Gregory took his records with him.
Gregory took an interest in the life of the author
After the German occupation of France during the
References in popular fiction
In the 1993 novel Closed Circle by Robert Goddard, the main character, Guy Horton, meets Gregory, who employs him to encourage wealthy businessmen to use his services to obtain peerages.
See also
- Cash for Honours
References
- ^ The Green Room Book: or Who's Who on the Stage, ed. John Parker, T. Sealey Clark & Co., 1908, p. 297
- ^ Armorial Families, 7th edition, A. C. Fox Davies, Hurst & Blackett, 1929, vol. 2, p. 1331
- ^ A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, 8th edition, Sir Bernard Burke, 1894, vol. II, p. 1369, 'Mayow of Bray and Hanworth' pedigree
- ^ The Honours System, Michael De-la-Noy, Allison & Busby, 1985, p. 105
- ^ Antiquarian Book Monthly Review, vol. 8, ABMR Publications, 1981, p. 419
- ^ a b c d e f Graham Stewart (26 March 2006). "Honours broker supreme – and crafty poisoner". The Sunday Times.
- ^ The Green Room Book: or Who's Who on the Stage, ed. John Parker, T. Sealey Clark & Co., 1908, p. 297
- ^ Armorial Families, 7th edition, A. C. Fox Davies, Hurst & Blackett, 1929, vol. 2, p. 1331
- ^ A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, 8th edition, Sir Bernard Burke, 1894, vol. II, p. 1369, 'Mayow of Bray and Hanworth' pedigree
- ^ The Queen Has Been Pleased: The British Honours System at Work, John Walker, Secker & Warburg, 1986, p. 82
- ^ a b c d e f g Roger Wilkes (10 February 2001). "Inside story: Vanity Fair". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013.
- ^ "A history of the UK's honours scandals". The Week UK. 4 March 2022.
- ^ a b c "Maundy Gregory / Theatre impresario, political fixer, and resident of Thames Ditton". exploringsurreyspast.org.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ "No. 33676". The London Gazette. 2 January 1931. p. 53.
- ^ a b c Ben Fenton (25 July 2006). "MI5 still keeps secrets of man jailed for selling peerages". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Symons (1992) pp. 241–253.
- ^ His death is listed in the GRO Consular Death Indices 1941–1945, Consulate Berlin, Germany, Vol 39, Page 129G, Gregory, Arthur J.M., Age at Death 64. Also listed under Maundy-Gregory, Arthur J.
Sources
- Aldington, Richard - Frauds (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1957), pp 158-184.
- Andrew Cook – Hawking Peerages (History Today November 2006)
- Douglas Brown and E.V.Tullett – The Scalpel of Scotland Yard: the Life of Sir Bernard Spilsbury (New York: E.P. Dutton and Co.Inc., 1952)
- Tom Cullen – Maundy Gregory: Purveyor of Honours (1974) ISBN 0-370-01373-5
- Symons, A. J. A, int. Sir Norman Birkett and Sir Shane Leslie (1992). The Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography. London: Folio Society.
- John Walker – The Queen Has Been Pleased: The British Honours System at Work (1986) ISBN 0-436-56111-5