The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse

January 5, 2015
Eatwell (They Eat Horses, Don’t They?) offers a meticulous examination of a late Victorian/early Edwardian cause célèbre involving the fifth Duke of Portland, a well-to-do London merchant, and a case of disputed identity. Straightlaced Victorians reveled in the salacious details of this court case, which began when Anna Maria Druce alleged that the deceased duke had led a double life as businessman T.C. Druce, also deceased; she petitioned the court for an exhumation of Druce, convinced that her son was the duke’s legitimate heir. Ten years passed before the case ended in January 1908, ultimately involving 12 judges, 14 hearings, and numerous investigators and witnesses. Eatwell follows the case from beginning to end, providing background on judges, lawyers, evidence (some fraudulent, some circumstantial and problematic), and unreliable witnesses; details the duke and Druce’s similarities (appearance, mannerisms, diet, infirmities, habits); and covers the provocative madness of the trial. The rigorous research is the book’s strength. Eatwell often digresses to insert background, enriching the narrative with juicy details from the time period, or to note other sensational cases (both George Eliot and Charles Dickens were involved in double lives, for instance), positing that the period’s restrictive social mores often forced people into scandalous situations.

September 15, 2015

The Victorian and Edwardian eras were not immune to media scandals, as this fantastically detailed new work from Eatwell (They Eat Horses, Don't They?) explores. The excitement starts in 1897 with a court case requesting an exhumation of T.C. Druce, who died in the 1860s, with claims that he was really the Fifth Duke of Portland (complete with wives and children, illegitimate and legitimate), a recluse with purported skin conditions and a mania for building tunnels. Welbeck Abbey, the duke's estate, still boasts miles of underground tunnels, rooms, and passageways for one to move around out of sight. Eatwell's exhaustive investigation into a case that captured the fancy of the press reveals that it was all about inheritance, class status, and, of course, money. There were multiple sets of lawyers involved, the uncovering of secret families of both Druce and the (maybe) duke, and everyone's dirty laundry getting aired in the newspapers, which were rabidly followed by the populace. VERDICT This true crime tale that reads like a novel is recommended for lovers of historical crime stories, Victorian and Edwardian scandals, media history, and historical legal thrillers with many twists. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 9/1/15, p. 30.]--Amelia Osterud, Carroll Univ. Lib., Waukesha, WI

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