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English aristocratic fraudster and writer (1860–1939) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lord William Beauchamp Nevill (23 May 1860 – 12 May 1939) was an English aristocrat who was born into the wealthy family of William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny, grew up in Eridge Castle, and attended Eton College. His marriage to Mabel Murietta, daughter of an alleged mistress of Edward VII, Jesusa Murietta, was a glittering affair, attracting many royal and aristocratic guests and 600 wedding gifts. However Nevill lost much of his good fortune when his father wanted to reject him for converting to Catholicism and turning to trade, and the remainder of it when his wife's rich father's business failed soon after the wedding.
Lord William Beauchamp Nevill | |
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.JPG) William Beauchamp Nevill, 1898 | |
| Born | 23 May 1860 Bramham, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 12 May 1939 (aged 78) Kensington, London, England |
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| Known for |
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| Notable work | Book, Penal Servitude (1903) |
| Father | William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny |
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Nevill did not attract newspaper attention in his lifetime for any kind of high living, foreign tours (other than his honeymoon), business ventures or mistresses. He kept one house in London, and had no children to put through public school or provide dowries for. He nevertheless accrued huge debts within eight years of his marriage, and was arrested for a fraudulent attempt to acquire money to pay debts in 1898, putting shame on his family and causing a national scandal. For this he was sentenced to five years of penal servitude with hard labour in Wormwood Scrubs and Parkhurst.
Having earned an early release for good behaviour, Nevill wrote his only book, Penal Servitude, under the pen-name W.B.N., detailing his prison experiences. The book attracted much public attention, and some controversy, although his concern for prison reform, and his considered approach and fair treatment of prison staff, was noted by most reviewers. Nevertheless, by 1907 he was back in prison serving a one-year sentence for another fraud, again committed for the purpose of obtaining money to pay debts. Throughout his incarcerations, his wife continued to support him faithfully.
After leaving prison for a second time, Nevill lived a quiet life, suffering his last years in pain following a road accident.
William Beauchamp Nevill (1860–1939)[1][2][3][nb 1] was the fourth son of William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny (16 September 1826 – 12 December 1915) of Eridge Castle and Caroline Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone (April 1826 – Eridge Castle 23 September 1892).[4] His siblings included Reginald Nevill, 2nd Marquess of Abergavenny, Henry Nevill, 3rd Marquess of Abergavenny and Lord George Montacute Nevill. He was uncle to Guy Larnach-Nevill, 4th Marquess of Abergavenny, and brother-in-law to Thomas Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey, Kenelm Pepys, 4th Earl of Cottenham and Henry Wellesley, 3rd Earl Cowley.[1]
Nevill was born at Bramham, West Riding of Yorkshire, most likely at Hope Hall (now derelict),[5] and educated at Eton.[6] In 1861, William aged 10 months was at home in Hope Hall, Bramham, with 5 of his siblings and 13 servants, the parents being away visiting at Westminster.[5] The 1871 Census sees both parents and all of their ten children at Eridge Castle, with 5 visitors and 31 servants, indoors and in stables and garden.[7] In 1881 Nevill was living at 34 Dover Street, Mayfair, with his father and 4 servants.[8] The 1891 Census finds him at 18 Hans Place, Chelsea,[9] with his younger brother Richard (who was to be his best man at his wedding)[10] and ten servants.[9]
Nevill's wedding "had been the principal topic of conversation for some time past in all sections of society".[11] At Brompton Oratory by special permission of Cardinal Manning,[12] on 12 February 1889, Nevill married Luisa Maria Carmen del Campo Mello (Kensington c.1864 – Kensington 1951), known as Mabel Murietta,[nb 2] who as a child had been a "great favourite" of the Prince of Wales.[13] Her father was Don José Murrieta del Campo Mello y Urrutio, Marqués de Santurce (1833–1915),[10][14][15] of Wadhurst Park, Sussex, a reputed "possessor of great wealth".[11] Mabel's mother was Jesusa Murrieta del Campo Mello y Urritio (née Bellido), Marquesa de Santurce (c.1834–1898), known as Jesusa Murietta, an alleged mistress of the Prince of Wales.[16][17] The Prince of Wales said at the wedding breakfast that "he had been an old friend of the bride's father and mother, and had known [Mabel] from the days of her childhood".[14]
The marriage was conducted by the Bishop of Salford, and attended by royalty, and numerous members of the aristocracy,[10] "a very brilliant gathering",[18] including the Prince and Princess of Wales (later Edward VII and Alexandra), the princesses Louise, Victoria and Maud, Prince George of Wales, the Duke of Teck and his son Prince Francis. Due to cold weather, the bride and female guests wore velvet and furs.[10] Each of the six bridesmaids carried a "dark blue enamelled chatelaine watch, the gift of the bridegroom".[19] "It was very interesting to watch the arrival of the guests, several vergers escorting some specially great lady, who would sail along with that wonderful air of being somebody which could never be successfully imitated".[20] Charles Santley sang the passages in the offertory. "The Oratory was packed with sightseers, and the road outside, and other roads approaching the building, were thronged with people".[19]
The wedding breakfast took place at the Carlton House Terrace[10] (or possibly 18 Carlton House Gardens)[11] mansion of the Muriettas. The couple received 600 wedding gifts including "a magnificent cat's eye and diamond horse-shoe brooch" from the Prince and Princess of Wales, "a fine antique George I punch bowl" from the ex-empress Eugenie, and "a blue stick parasol, the long stick of which is mounted with gold, and the handle studded with brilliants as large as peas" from the Duke and Duchess de Fernán Núñez.[10] Quite a few of the other gifts were of diamonds.[19] Nevill and his wife took their honeymoon in Paris and Rome, travelling initially to Dover with the Prince of Wales in a "special train".[14] In Rome, the couple attended the consecration of Monsignor Stonor at St John Lateran "attended by most of the English residents and visitors in Rome".[21] In May, following her return, Lady Nevill was presented to Queen Victoria.[22]
Nevill and his wife had no children.[1][nb 3] Shortly after the wedding, Nevill announced that he henceforth wished to be styled Beauchamp Nevill, not Lord William Beauchamp Nevill.[23] However, by 1898, he was still "commonly called Lord William Nevill".[24] In 1907 Nevill was living at 72 Eaton Place, Belgrave Square, London,[25] and in 1911 and 1921 he and his wife were living with six (later four) servants at 37 Onslow Gardens, SW London.[26][27] In 1931 Dame Nellie Melba left £1,000 (equivalent to £85,824 in 2023) to Nevill and his wife.[13][28]
Nevill was a 2nd lieutenant of the 3rd Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment from 14 March 1879,[29] promoted to lieutenant on 4 May 1881,[30] resigning his commission on 14 April 1882.[31] He was aide-de-camp (ADC) to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at some point between 1876 and 1880.[1][10] At the time of his marriage in 1889 he was a partner in "a wine merchant's business in the city".[10] Another version of this story says that he "secured a position in the office of the firm of the Marquis de Santurce", the rich father of his future bride.[13]
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The Newcastle Courant commented in 1889 that Nevill was "of very distinguished appearance", and that he and his wife were "favourites of society".[10] In 1907 he was still "a tall, handsome, well-groomed figure".[32] However, three or four years before his marriage Nevill converted to Roman Catholicism and went into trade, which gave "great annoyance to his father ... who was at one time credited with an intention to cut him off with a shilling; but the Prince of Wales apparently had interceded on behalf of his young friend with success".[10] However, his father "was stated to have stopped his allowance".[13] The Evesham Journal reported in 1898 that "Lord William Nevill [was] of blue blood but belong[ed] to the splended paupers. His marriage to a daughter of the Murriettas did not repair his battered fortunes, for the great Spanish financiers went to pieces shortly afterwards. Lord William borrowed royally".[33]
Having already borrowed "considerable sums" totalling up to "£80,000 (equivalent to £11,693,141 in 2023) from various firms",[33][34] in June 1896 Nevill visited moneylender Samuel "Sam" Lewis of Cork Street, London, carrying a promissory note for £8,000 (equivalent to £1,169,314 in 2023) signed by Herbert Henry Spender-Clay (1875–1937) [of the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards], with the intention of raising money on the note.[35] Spender-Clay was "a young man just of age, and heir to a large share of the Bass brewers at Burton",[33] and a person whom Nevill had known as a youth and with whom he had lived on terms of intimacy.[36] Following a telephone conversation, Nevill returned to Lewis's office with a second note for £2,000 (equivalent to £292,329 in 2023) and letters of authority from Spender-Clay. However, Nevill did not permit the moneylender to contact Spender-Clay, but stated that only he, Nevill, should be contacted, at his address at 27 Charles Street, Mayfair. Nevill ultimately had Lewis agreeing to pay out "£17,000 or £18,000" (equivalent to £2,630,957 in 2023) as a loan on the security of the bills offered, and when the bills fell due to be paid Lewis wrote to Spender-Clay at Knightsbridge Barracks for his money. Spender-Clay promptly sent Lewis' letters to his solicitor, Spender-Clay did not get paid for the bills, and Lewis was told that Nevill "could do without the money".[28][35] In The People's 1939 obituary of Nevill, it was suggested that the crime was committed because Nevill was "unable to keep up with the riotous extravagance of his friends of the gay 'nineties". However, Nevill did not attract newspaper attention in his lifetime for any kind of high living, foreign tours (other than his honeymoon), business ventures or mistresses. He kept one house in London, and had no children to put through public school or provide dowries for.[34][nb 4]
Nevill discreetly removed himself to Paris, in March 1897.[36] After Lewis failed to retrieve his money from Spender-Clay in the High Court, the Treasury took up the case, and Nevill's solicitor Sir George Lewis was informed in January 1898. He "at once advised his client to have the matter threshed out", and Nevill was "very prompt to surrender to the charge of fraud", returning forthwith to Sir George Lewis' offices in London – to be met there by a detective inspector who took him by cab straight to Bow Street Magistrates' Court.[37]
These cases of 1897 and 1898 were known as the Hidden Signature Cases.[38]
The first action pertaining to Nevill's eventual imprisonment was the High Court action of 1897, Lewis versus Spender-Clay. The moneylender Samuel Lewis sued Spender-Clay for "£11,000 (equivalent to £1,576,504 in 2023) on promissory notes, alleged to have been signed by Mr. Clay and Lord William conjointly ... Mr Clay's defence was that his signature had been obtained on false representations – that he had signed documents covered with blotting paper, having no idea that they were promissory notes".[37] Spender-Clay said that "Lord William told him they were documents in connection with the divorce proceedings which his sister was taking against her husband, Lord Cowley. and on that representation he signed the documents".[33] Nevill had followed Spender-Clay into his bedroom in order to complete this transaction.[39] The Evening Herald (Dublin) reported, moreover, that Spender-Clay was induced to sign "through holes in some blotting paper", and that Spender-Clay had known Nevill for "a long time" and believed him.[40] This occurred at an Ascot house party.[3] The jury decided in favour of Spender-Clay, and the Treasury "took up the affair".[28][37]
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At Nevill's first appearance at Bow Street in January 1898, having arrived post-haste from Paris to face the charge of fraud, The Herald reported that "[Nevill] created quite a sensation by his appearance at Bow-street this week, standing faultlessly attired in the dock, and frequently writing little notes to Sir George Lewis", his solicitor.[37]
At his second appearance at Bow Street on 31 January 1898, Nevill was charged on remand by magistrate Sir John Bridge with "unlawfully, and with intent to defraud, by means of false and fraudulent pretences inducing Herbert Henry Spender Clay to write and affix his name to certain papers, in order that the same might be used as valuable securities". Nevill was committed for trial without bail. His securities were Colonel Gathorne-Hardy and Nevill's brother Lord Henry Nevill. The prosecution was represented by Horace Avory and Mr Sims of the Treasury. Sir George Lewis stood for the defence.[35]
The East and South Devon Advertiser remarked,
The accused was looking much brighter and smarter than on the occasion of the previous hearing, when it was evident that he was still suffering from the effects of recent illness. He stepped into the dock with a light step, and took a commanding view of the court, being apparently in no way unnerved by his position ... There was a large number of ladies and gentlemen in the court – the Extradition Court – which, being small, was inconveniently crowded. Many of those present were personal friends of one or other of the parties directly concerned in the proceedings. There were also several Scotland-yard officers watching the case.[35]
Avory said that "it seemed clear to him that the defendant had been guilty of forgery". However Justice North had said that "it was not a forgery fraudulently to induce a person to execute an instrument upon a misrepresentation of its contents", because Nevill had persuaded Spender-Clay to sign a document which was mostly covered up. Sir John Bridge considered this "a matter of great gravity ... in which a man of experience was charged with taking advantage of his experience to get money out of one who was practically only a boy".[nb 5] Nevill responded, "I am perfectly innocent of both these charges".[35]
Nevill appeared at the Old Bailey on 15 February 1898, in front of Justice Lawrance.[40]
The defendant was brought up from below and advanced to the front of the dock, which he grasped tightly while standing upright and looking straight before him, throwing but one brief glance towards the ladies seated below the Bench ... The defendant, though outwardly calm, was labouring under suppressed excitement which he endeavoured to hide. He was dressed in a black morning coat and wore a high turned-down collar and black tie, and his general appearance was spruce. An attendant pushed forward a chair into which he readily subsided.[24]
The Faringdon Advertiser commented: "Lord William Nevill is a tall, slim, clean-shaven man. He wore a dark overcoat and a black tie, and carried a silk hat in his right hand. He appeared quite at ease, and took a seat in the dock, permission having been obtained, as Sir George Lewis stated that he had been in bad health recently".[39] Nevill was charged with "forging and uttering promissory notes for £3,113 and £8,000, and with forging and uttering a request and authority for the same sums, and with the intent to defraud Samuel Lewis by inducing Henry Herbert Spencer Clay to sign certain papers which might be afterwards used as valuable securities". The prosecution included Horace Avory again, and the defence team was John Lawson Walton, QC, MP, Henry Charles Richards, MP and William Otto Adolph Julius Danckwerts. Nevill pleaded guilty only to misdemeanour. On this day, Spender-Clay was exonerated from the former High Court accusation of complicity, and the total sum of signed bills was settled at £17,000 (equivalent to £2,391,964 in 2023).[28] In mitigation, Nevill's counsel Lawson Walton said in his closing speech:[40]
... that there was a material distinction between the crime of forgery and misdemeanour of the class to which Lord William Nevill had pleaded guilty. Lord Wm Nevill, who undoubtedly obtained the signatures by deception, had come forward voluntarily to face the consequences of his act. He had made a full confession. He was in great financial difficulties at the time and did not properly realise that he was committing a breach of the law. He never intended that Mr Clay should suffer financially. He believed that the securities might remain in the hands of Mr Lewis until he got money from other quarters to meet his liabilities. Lord William Nevill had already suffered intensely by reason of his present position. He belonged to a family respected in all ranks of English life, and the suffering cast on his friends must have had a severe reaction on Lord William.[40]
Lawson Walton's brave defence was soon undone when the court heard that Nevill had written a letter in December 1897 "in which he said Mr. Spender Clay ought to be made to pay the money, and that he hoped he would be made to pay".[24] According to the Evening Herald Dublin, Justice Lawrance summed up that:[40]
The offence was a grave one. It seemed to him useless to distinguish between the offence of which William Nevill had pleaded guilty and that of forgery. He had looked in vain for any circumstances of extenuation. The case was as bad a case of fraud as he could conceive. He sentenced the prisoner to five years' penal servitude.[40]
However, the Buckingham Express reported a more severe reprimand by the judge:[24]
In His Lordship's judgement, the crime was as great as if he had extracted this large sum from Mr. Clay's pocket, or had broken into Mr. Lewis's office and had stolen the money. There were absolutely no extenuating circumstances. Concluding an impressive address to the prisoner, the learned judge, amid profound silence, said: "You have brought dishonour upon an ancient and noble name, you have brought sorrow and suffering and shame upon those who are near and dear to you, you have forfeited the position which you held and which ought to have been a guarantee for your honesty at least, if not for your honour. Your crime has been great, and your punishment must be great also. I sentence you to five years' penal servitude". The announcement of the sentence created a great sensation in court. The prisoner was immediately removed from the dock.[24]
Nevill "showed no emotion" in the dock, in response to the sentence.[36] The Buckingham Express added: "Much sympathy will be felt with Lady William Nevill in this new and terrible catastrophe which has befallen her. It was only the other day that her mother, the Marquisa de Santurce, died suddenly and unexpectedly".[24]
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This was known as the Black Diamonds Case.[3][nb 6] Nevill was committed for trial from Westminster Police court,[41] then on 13 April 1907, he appeared before the Chairman of Clerkenwell Sessions, Robert Wallace KC and a "full bench of country magistrates" on a charge of theft.[42] "The court was crowded, and many fashionably-dressed women were present".[43] "Lord William was at the court in good time ... carefully groomed and neatly dressed he was unmistakably an aristocrat. He wore a double-breasted blue suit, with a light waistcoat, showing beneath the breast opening, and presented a lavish display of tie. Over his arm he carried a light ulster. His dark hair was neatly brushed back from his forehead, which was seamed with the wrinkles of intense anxiety. His slight moustache was almost grey".[44]
On 31 October 1906 at his house in Eaton Place, London, Nevill had induced a Chelsea jeweller and pawnbroker Alfred William Fitch, of Miller & Fitch, to place £400-worth of Nevill's jewellery in a sealed box as security for a loan from Fitch to Nevill, Nevill having himself prepared a similar sealed box containing coals. Then Nevill surreptitiously swapped the jewellery box for the box of coals.[42][25] The jewellery items included: "a diamond and emerald ring, a pearl necklace, two diamond and sapphire rings, a diamond half-hoop ring, a diamond necklace, a diamond pendant and a valuable diamond and pearl ornament".[34] The next day, Nevill pledged five of the pieces of jewellery with pawnbroker Mr Attenborough of Buckingham Palace Road. Although Nevill redeemed the five pieces on 26 February, they and the rest of the jewellery "vanished". On 8 March, Fitch opened his box and found the coals.[42]
When arrested by Chief Inspector Drew, Nevill said, "What did you want to open the box for? For God's sake don't do that [meaning charge him] for the sake of my wife. I was coming round in a day or two to give you the money". Called as a witness in court, Nevill's wife said that she usually paid off Nevill's debts because she had an income,[42] "derived from mines and land in Spain and interests in the firm of Murietta & Co.",[45] and Nevill had none, "other than that which she gave him",[46] and that she could have redeemed the pledge on this occasion if she had known earlier.[42] The debt to Fitch was paid by her in March.[34][45] "The prisoner ... only once betrayed any emotion, and that was when his wife appeared in court. He covered his face with his hands and wept".[32] Nevertheless, after two minutes' deliberation,[47] the jury pronounced the defendant guilty, and Nevill was sentenced to one year's imprisonment,[42] with hard labour.[48]
The 1901 census finds Nevill in Parkhurst prison.[49] While he was imprisoned, his wife "stood by him, and visited him often",[50] and on "every possible occasion".[13] Nevill was discharged on 8 November 1901, having completed three years, nine months.[51] Following his release, "he lived quietly and little was heard of him".[34] Nevill was a "particularly active man",[13] but then he fell from a bus in 1929 and fractured his femur, and he "was afterwards almost a cripple".[50] He suffered "intense pain" and lived in retirement for the rest of his life.[38] He died in Bramham, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 12 May 1939.[1][2][3]
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(Note: In this section: normal font = quotations from reviewers; italics = quotations from Nevill's book, given by reviewers; square brackets = the Wikipedia editor's paraphrase or clarification of sections of the review.)
The above publication received much attention from the Press; the following is a selection from those reviews.
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