Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet
William Gordon-Cumming | |
---|---|
Morayshire, Scotland | |
Died | 20 May 1930 Forres, Morayshire | (aged 81)
Military career | |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1868–1891 |
Rank | Lieutenant-Colonel |
Unit | Scots Guards |
Battles/wars | (1882) Mahdist War (1884–1885) |
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Alexander Gordon Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet (20 July 1848 – 20 May 1930), was a Scottish landowner, soldier, socialite and a notorious womaniser. He was the central figure in the royal baccarat scandal of 1891. After inheriting a baronetcy he joined the British Army and saw service in South Africa, Egypt and the Sudan; he served with distinction and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Something of an adventurer, he also spent time hunting in the US and India.
A friend of
A handsome, arrogant man, Gordon-Cumming was a philanderer, particularly with married women. After the court case he married Florence Garner, an American heiress; the couple had five children, but their relationship was unhappy. He was the grandfather of the writers Katie Fforde and Jane Gordon-Cumming.
Early life
William Gordon Gordon-Cumming was born on 20 July 1848 at Sanquhar House, near
At the age of eighteen he inherited the
Military career
Although Gordon-Cumming had
Gordon-Cumming was promoted to the regimental rank of captain and the army rank of lieutenant-colonel on 28 July 1880.[11] He served in Egypt during the Anglo-Egyptian War (1882) and in the Sudan in the Mahdist War (1884–1885), the last of which was with the Guards Camel Regiment in the Desert Column.[2][4][c] He was promoted to the regimental rank of major on 23 May 1888.[13]
He also found time for independent travel and adventure, stalking tigers on foot in India and hunting in the Rocky Mountains in the US;[1][4] in 1871 he published an account of his travels in India, Wild Men and Wild Beasts: Scenes in Camp and Jungle.[14] The work covers the best routes to travel to and from India and which animals are available for hunting in which season, as well as the equipment a hunter would need to take on an expedition.[15] He concluded his work with the following:
The record of my doings might no doubt have been more acceptable to the general reader had it been more varied with matter other than mere slaughter, and had the tale of bloodshed been more frequently relieved by accounts of the geography, scenery, and natural history, human and bestial, of the country; but all these have been well described elsewhere, and by abler pens.[16]
Royal baccarat scandal
In September 1890
During the evenings of the weekend, Edward insisted on playing
After the second evening of play Lycett Green, Stanley Wilson and Arthur and Edward Somerset confronted Gordon-Cumming and accused him of cheating.[18][e] Gordon-Cumming insisted they had been mistaken, and explained that he played the coup de trois system of betting,[f] in which if he won a hand with a £5 stake, he would add his winnings to the stake, together with another £5, as the stake for the next hand.[28][g] Edward, after hearing from his advisors and the accusers, believed what they had told him.[29] In order to avoid a scandal involving the prince, Gordon-Cumming gave way to pressure from the attendant royal courtiers to sign a statement undertaking never to play cards again in return for a pledge that no-one present would speak of the incident to anyone else.[30][31]
In consideration of the promise made by the gentlemen whose names are subscribed to preserve my silence with reference to an accusation which has been made in regard to my conduct at baccarat on the nights of Monday and Tuesday the 8th and 9th at Tranby Croft, I will on my part solemnly undertake never to play cards again as long as I live.
— (Signed) W. Gordon-Cumming[32]
Despite the pledge of silence, rumours of the incident began to circulate and were brought to Gordon-Cumming's attention. In an attempt to stop the rumours, he demanded a retraction from five of the house party: Stanley Wilson, Ethel and Edward Lycett Green, Mary Wilson and Levett. With no withdrawal forthcoming, on 6 February 1891, Gordon-Cumming issued writs for slander against the five, claiming £5,000 damages against each of them.[1][33][h]
The trial opened on 1 June 1891 at the Royal Courts of Justice, where entry to the court was only with a ticket. The Prince of Wales had been summoned as a witness, and he sat on a red leather chair on a raised platform between the judge and the witness box;[34] his appearance was the first time since 1411 that an heir to the throne had appeared involuntarily in court.[1][35][i]
The trial closed the following week, on 9 June 1891: the judge's summing up was "unacceptably biased" against Gordon-Cumming, according to Jason Tomes, Gordon-Cumming's biographer in the 2010 edition of the
Aftermath
As a result of the scandal, Gordon-Cumming was dismissed from the army the day after the trial concluded,[1][39] and he resigned his membership of his four London clubs, the Carlton, Guards, Marlborough and Turf.[1] The same day he married his American fiancée, the heiress Florence Garner, who had supported him throughout the trial although Gordon-Cumming twice offered to break off their engagement because of the scandal.[40][j] The service took place at the Holy Trinity church in Chelsea with only a small congregation. Major Vesey John Dawson of the Coldstream Guards was Gordon-Cumming's best man and Lord Thurlow gave the bride away.[42][43] When the couple returned to Scotland a few days later the locals from near his estate had decorated the station, and pulled the couple and their carriage through the streets by hand. According to the former Lord Chancellor, Michael Havers, the lawyer Edward Grayson and the historian Peter Shankland, the local people did not care that society considered Gordon-Cumming a social outcast.[44] The Prince of Wales was determined Gordon-Cumming should remain ostracised and he let it be known that anyone who acknowledged Gordon-Cumming or accepted invitations to shoot at the two Scottish estates Gordon-Cumming owned, would not be asked to Marlborough House—Edward's mansion in London—or be acknowledged at court.[1][5] Edward wrote to his son, Prince George, the day after the trial "Thank God! – the Army and Society are now well rid of such a damned blackguard. The crowning point of his infamy is that he, this morning, married an American young lady, Miss Garner, ... with money!"[45][3]
Later life
Gordon-Cumming remained outside high society for the remainder of his life. He later told his daughter "among a host of acquaintances I thought I had perhaps twenty friends. Not one of them ever spoke to me again".[46] Others of his friends only relented after the death of the prince in 1910, who was by that stage King Edward VII.[1][47]
Gordon-Cumming and his wife had three sons and two daughters between 1892 and 1904.
After Gordon-Cumming visited South Africa in 1913–1914, the couple rented houses in Chelsea and Pitmilly, Fife, but increasingly they began to live apart.[1] They had effectively separated before she died in 1922.[2] In 1916 Gordon-Cumming ensured that the former leader of the Labour Party, Ramsay MacDonald, had his membership rescinded from the Moray Golf Club because of the latter's opposition to the First World War.[1]
Gordon-Cumming died on 20 May 1930 at his Altyre home at the age of 81. He was succeeded in his title by his eldest son, Major Alexander Penrose Gordon-Cumming. His obituary in The Times stated "Though public opinion at the time did not dispute the verdict, it is fair to recall that it roundly condemned those who had taken part in the incident, recognising that a gallant career had been tragically ruined."[2]
Private life
Tomes thought that his subject possessed "audacity and wit [and] gloried in the sobriquet of the most arrogant man in London",[1] while Sporting Life described him as "possibly the most handsome man in London, and certainly the rudest".[49] The historian Philip Magnus thought him "guilty, predatory and mean".[3] William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland, a friend of Gordon-Cumming, wrote of him:
I knew Bill Cumming very well, and for a long time liked and admired him greatly, both as a gallant soldier and as a fine sportsman. ... A friend of mine who went on an expedition with him was loud in praise of Bill's sportsmanship, bravery and unselfishness. ... But he had one serious failing: he could not play fair at cards, even when the stakes were extremely small.[50]
Gordon-Cumming often peppered his speech with swearing, which he did in English and Hindustani. He was a regular at racecourses and casinos.[1] The writer Elma Napier, one of Gordon-Cumming's daughters, described him thus in late age:
He never, not even when he was eighty, lost the touch of the swagger in his walk, the hint of scorn for lesser mortals, the suggestion that he was irresistible. He had worn it so long that neither trouble nor disgrace nor old age could change his habit.[51]
Gordon-Cumming was a womaniser,[52] and stated that his aim was to "perforate" members of "the sex".[1] His preference was for uncomplicated relationships with married women, and he said that "all the married women try me";[53] his liaisons included Lillie Langtry, Sarah Bernhardt and Lady Randolph Churchill.[1][54] Gordon-Cumming also owned a house in Belgravia, London; he would lend the premises to the prince for assignations with the royal mistresses.[2][54] In 1890, three days before the events at Tranby Croft, the Prince of Wales returned early from travelling in Europe; he visited Harriet Street where he found his mistress, Daisy, Lady Brooke, "in Gordon-Cumming's arms", which soured the relationship between the two men.[49]
After Gordon-Cumming's death in 1930, his house at Gordonstoun was obtained by
Two of Gordon-Cumming's granddaughters, Katie Fforde and Jane Gordon-Cumming, became writers.[56][57] Gordon-Cumming has been portrayed in radio dramatisations by Michael Jayston,[58] Conrad Phillips,[59] Noel Johnson[60] and Duncan McIntyre.[61] On screen he has been portrayed by John Justin[62] and Donald Douglas.[63]
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ According to calculations based on the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation, £60,000 in 1890 is the approximate equivalent to £7,030,000 in 2021, while £80,000 the same year is equivalent to £9,370,000 in 2021.[6]
- ^ Officers in the foot guards regiments held substantive regimental ranks and a higher army brevet rank.[10]
- ^ Edward was such a fan of baccarat that when he travelled he took a set of leather counters, valued on one side from five shillings to £10 and engraved with his feathers on the other; the counters had been a present from his friend Reuben Sassoon, a member of the well-known banking family.[18]
- ^ Edward's biographer, Jane Ridley; and the former Lord Chancellor, Michael Havers, the lawyer Edward Grayson and the historian Peter Shankland, draw similar conclusions to the cause of Lycett Green's statement: that it was less connected to the act of cheating, but owed more to Gordon-Cumming's reputation as a womaniser, possibly including the propositioning of Lycett Green's wife.[26][27]
- ^ Also known as the masse en avant system.[28]
- ^ £5 in 1890 is approximately equivalent to £600 in 2021, according to calculations based on the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation.[6]
- ^ £5,000 in 1891 is approximately equivalent to £580,900 in 2021, according to calculations based on the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation.[6]
- ^ In 1411 it was Prince Henry who was committed for contempt of court by Judge William Gascoigne.[35]
- ^ He had offered in January, once he had decided to take legal action and again after the verdict had been given.[41]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Tomes 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f "Sir William Gordon-Cumming". The Times.
- ^ a b c Magnus 1975, p. 286.
- ^ a b c Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 41.
- ^ a b Hibbert 2007, p. 160.
- ^ a b c Clark 2023.
- ^ "23336". The London Gazette.
- ^ "The Scots Guards". National Army Museum.
- ^ "23737". The London Gazette.
- ^ Bruce 1980, p. 41.
- ^ "24871". The London Gazette.
- ^ Neillands 1996, pp. 117–119.
- ^ "25824". The London Gazette.
- ^ "Wild Men and Wild Beasts: Scenes in Camp and Jungle". WorldCat.
- ^ Gordon-Cumming 1871, pp. ix–x.
- ^ Gordon-Cumming 1871, p. 351.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 22.
- ^ a b c Magnus 1975, p. 280.
- ^ Arnold 2017, p. 172.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 23.
- ^ Ridley 2012, pp. 280–281; Hibbert 2007, p. 160; Attwood 1988, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Dixon 1991, p. 89.
- ^ Diamond 2004, p. 33; Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 26; Attwood 1988.
- ^ "The Baccarat Case". The Times.
- ^ Teignmouth Shore 2006, pp. 114–115.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 31.
- ^ Ridley 2012, p. 283.
- ^ a b Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 27.
- ^ Teignmouth Shore 2006, p. 79.
- ^ Teignmouth Shore 2006, p. 31.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, pp. 35–37.
- ^ "The Baccarat Scandal: The Truth About Tranby Croft". The Manchester Gazette.
- ^ "The Baccarat Scandal". The Times.
- ^ "The Baccarat Case". Pall Mall Gazette.
- ^ a b Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 69.
- ^ McHugh 2008, p. 174.
- ^ "Leading Article: The Baccarat Case". The Times.
- ^ Clarke 1918, p. 298.
- ^ a b "No. 26171". The London Gazette.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 248.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, pp. 42 and 248.
- ^ "Cumming Takes a Bride". The New York Times.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, pp. 248–249.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 251.
- ^ Hibbert 2007, p. 164.
- ^ Havers, Grayson & Shankland 1988, p. 263.
- ^ Matthew 2004.
- ^ Attwood 1988, pp. 116–117.
- ^ a b Attwood 1988, p. 88.
- ^ Cavendish-Bentinck 1937, pp. 199–200.
- ^ Napier 1948, p. 20.
- ^ Diamond 2004, p. 33.
- ^ Ridley 2012, p. 285.
- ^ a b Ridley 2012, p. 281.
- ^ Attwood 1988, p. 117.
- ^ "Katie Fforde". AudioBooksOnline.
- ^ "Jane Gordon-Cumming". The Richford Becklow Literary Agency.
- ^ "Saturday Playhouse: The Royal Baccarat Scandal". Radio Times.
- ^ "Jury Room: The Baccarat Scandal". Radio Times.
- ^ "The Scandal at Tranby Croft". Radio Times.
- ^ "The Verdict of the Court". Radio Times.
- ^ "The Baccarat Scandal (1960)". British Film Institute.
- ^ "Scandal (1975)". British Film Institute.
Sources
Books
- ISBN 978-1-250-06914-6.
- Attwood, Gertrude (1988). The Wilsons of Tranby Croft. London: Hutton Press. ISBN 978-0-907033-71-4.
- Bruce, A. P. C. (1980). The Purchase System in the British Army, 1660-1871. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-9010-5057-1.
- OCLC 4632837.
- OCLC 837472347.
- Diamond, Michael (2004). Victorian Sensation. London: Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-84331-150-8.
- Dixon, David (1991). From Prohibition to Regulation: Bookmaking, Anti-Gambling and the Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-825616-8.
- Gordon-Cumming, William Gordon (1871). Wild Men and Wild Beasts: Scenes in Camp & Jungle. Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas. OCLC 776685270.
- ISBN 978-0-285-62852-6.
- ISBN 978-1-4039-8377-0.
- ISBN 978-0-1400-2658-0.
- ISBN 978-1-86287-705-4.
- OCLC 2316211.
- ISBN 978-0-7195-5631-9.
- ISBN 978-0-7011-7614-3.
- Teignmouth Shore, W., ed. (2006) [1932]. The Baccarat Case. London: Butterworth & Co. ISBN 978-1-84664-787-1.
Journals and magazines
- "Jury Room: The Baccarat Scandal". Radio Times. 26 September 1965.
- "Saturday Playhouse: The Royal Baccarat Scandal". Radio Times. 28 December 1991.
- "The Scandal at Tranby Croft". Radio Times. 20 September 1971. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- "The Verdict of the Court". Radio Times. 23 October 1959.
News
- "The Baccarat Case". Pall Mall Gazette. 1 June 1891. p. 4.
- "The Baccarat Case". The Times. 4 June 1891. p. 7.
- "The Baccarat Scandal". The Times. 3 March 1891. p. 10.
- "The Baccarat Scandal: The Truth About Tranby Croft". The Manchester Gazette. 19 February 1891. p. 8.
- "Leading Article: The Baccarat Case". The Times. 10 June 1891. p. 9.
- "Sir William Gordon-Cumming". The Times. 21 May 1930. p. 21.
- "Cumming Takes a Bride". The New York Times. 11 June 1891.
Websites
- "The Baccarat Scandal (1960)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- Clark, Gregory (2023). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
- "Jane Gordon-Cumming". The Richford Becklow Literary Agency. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- "Katie Fforde". AudioBooksOnline. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
- "Scandal (1975)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32975. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- "The Scots Guards". National Army Museum. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
- Tomes, Jason (2010). "Cumming, Sir William Gordon Gordon-, fourth baronet (1848–1930)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39392. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- "Wild Men and Wild Beasts: Scenes in Camp and Jungle". WorldCat. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
London Gazette
- "No. 23336". The London Gazette. 24 December 1867. p. 7008.
- "No. 23737". The London Gazette. 16 May 1871. p. 2350.
- "No. 24871". The London Gazette. 6 August 1880. p. 4312.
- "No. 25824". The London Gazette. 5 June 1888. p. 3127.
- "No. 26171". The London Gazette. 12 June 1891. p. 3118.