Post by Catsmate on Feb 4, 2016 13:41:56 GMT
Well perhaps 'mad' is a little extreme for William John Cavendish Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland, but that's what he was often called. In an era when one wasn’t a ‘real’ aristocrat without a few personal eccentricities he took things to extremes.
The Fifth Duke.
Born on 17SEP1800 in London, Portland served for five years in the army and and two years as an MP (Tory, for King's Lynn, not quite a 'pocket borough' but basically a family sinecure). He travelled in Europe for a period and in 1854 succeeded his father to become the 5th Duke of Portland. He eventually took his seat in the House of Lords as a Whig.
Portland is best known for the extensive building works he ordered at his estate of Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, and his personal oddities.
The construction works included a number of underground chambers; a great hall (50m high and used as a ballroom), a riding school sufficient to accommodate more than a hundred horses (120m long, 33m wide and 15m high, lit by four thousand gas jets), three libraries (the largest 80m in length), a huge billiards room, a glass domed observatory, and more than 25km of tunnels connecting the underground and above-ground parts of the estate.
All painted pink.
This programme employed an estimated 15,000 workers over 25 years. The Duke was well liked by his employees, despite his personal quirks. The total cost is unknown but enormous.
He encouraged his staff, especially young women, to skate on the lake in winter and later had one of the earliest roller-skate rinks in Britain constructed for their use.
The Duke's main quirk was his intense shyness and introversion, which he took to extremes. The only person who saw him on any regular basis was his valet; his staff and workers were forbidden to communicate with him, or even acknowledge him if they met him, on pain of instant dismissal. He communicated his orders and instructions by written notes, with rooms all having two letterboxes, for incoming and outgoing mail. Despite this he was an extensive communicant, corresponding with a network of family, friends and acquaintances, including luminaries like Disraeli and Palmerston. He never married, and was never known to have any intimate associations with either sex other than a youthful dalliance with the opera singer Adelaide Kemble, who refused his proposal of marriage. He appears to have been deeply agoraphobic.
When travelling to London the Duke proceeded by closed carriage to Worksop where it was loaded onto a special railway wagon. On arrival in London the carriage was offloaded and went to his London residence, Harcourt House in Cavendish Square. There all the household staff were under strict orders to keep out of sight as he hurried into his study through the front hall.
In London the Duke frequently took in the opera, travelling by closed carriage to a private box. He was noted as being extremely fond of the opera. This, and politics, were the only things that took him to London.
Politically Portland was fairly apathetic, rarely appearing or speaking in either chamber, though he was a noted supporter of the Established Church, including donating two thousand pounds in 1868 to National Protestant Union and speaking against the 1870 Education Act which he viewed as excessively beneficial to nonconformists. He disliked both Gladstone and Disraeli but communicated with both. He twice refused a knighthood, the Order of the Garter.
The Duke took frequent nocturnal walks around his estate where he'd follow (at a distance of about thirty metres) a female servant carrying a lantern. On those rare occasion when he ventured out by day, he'd wear two overcoats, one with a huge collar, and a tall hat, and would carry an umbrella which he'd use to conceal himself if anyone addressed him. He was a keen, if generally solitary, hunter.
Despite the extensive equine accommodations, the Duke never rode but was a widely acknowledged expert on horses and a keen follower of horse-racing. He stationed a number of grooms at the telegraph office at Worksop for important races so the news could be brought to him rapidly.
Post-mortem.
The oddities didn't end with the Duke's death. Seventeen years later, in 1897, an application was made by the widow of one Walter Thomas Druce, son of the late Thomas Charles Druce, Thomas's body to be exhumed from the Druce family vault at Highgate Cemetery. She claimed that her father-in-law, T. C. Druce, was in fact the 5th Duke of Portland, who had lived a double life and worked as an upholsterer for some years, before staging a sham burial as Druce in 1864. She and her family claimed the the Portland inheritance.
After her incapacitation, Mrs. Druce was admitted to a mental home in 1903, the case was continued by members of the Druce family. A company was set up to support the case, with shareholders subscribing a capital of more than thirty thousand pounds, in expectation of huge profits from the dissolution of the Portland estate. In court evidence was given by several people of a fake funeral and burial. Eventually it was agreed to exhume Druce's supposed body. This was done on 30DEC1907 in the presence of Druce family members, legal representatives and Inspector Walter Dew (of Crippen fame). The body of T. C. Druce (rather than a mass of lead) was found and the case collapsed. Several witnesses were charged with perjury.
The Duke, and Welbeck Abbey, appear in the mystery Death at the Abbey by Christine Trent and the Abbey and it's tunnels are referenced in Upton Sinclair's Presidential Agent .
Game use.
The Mad Duke could be a mere piece of background detail for a game, someone the PCs encounter or have mentioned. His personal eccentricities were well known in Victorian society so he might crop up in conversation, possibly as an example of the weirdness of the nobility. This is especially true during the Druce case which even eclipsed the earlier Tichborne claimant case in public interest.
However this seems to me to be rather a waste of an opportunity. Far more interesting is having the PCs interact, or attempt to interact, with the Duke. Perhaps they need his help with something, an introduction to someone, a piece of information or artefact he found during his Army career or travels. He's not an easy man to talk to, with layers of servants to deal with.
Then there is the more outré possibility that the Duke is not, in fact, the Duke.
Was the Druce case inspired by actual facts? Did a member of the nobility lead a double life? Or had a commoner managed to replace him, perhaps assisted by the valet and a few close servants and a chance resemblance? What happened to the Duke? Accident, amnesia or foul play?
Then there are other things that might want to gain access to the Portland estate, wealth and influence. Are a faction of the Slitheen trying to infiltrate Victorian society as part of a Sinister Plot? Do they have a base of operations at Welbeck? Or is the Duke really a shape-changing android like Kamelion? And if so, who's behind the infiltration plan?
Was that sudden personality change, and descent into reclusiveness, down to his rejection by Adelaide Kemble, or did something inhabiting her body jump into his, seeing a host that would better opportunities for itself?
Did all that excavation at Welbeck disturb something buried there? Silurians are an obvious possibility, as is a alien space-ship. Is this behind the Duke's interest in astronomy and his construction of the observatory?
What were all the tunnels really for? Did something need to avoid the outside world and get about in secrecy? Something that really liked roast chicken...
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas?
The Fifth Duke.Born on 17SEP1800 in London, Portland served for five years in the army and and two years as an MP (Tory, for King's Lynn, not quite a 'pocket borough' but basically a family sinecure). He travelled in Europe for a period and in 1854 succeeded his father to become the 5th Duke of Portland. He eventually took his seat in the House of Lords as a Whig.
- Before this he was Marquess of Titchfield (after 1824) and before that merely Lord William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck.
Portland is best known for the extensive building works he ordered at his estate of Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, and his personal oddities.
The construction works included a number of underground chambers; a great hall (50m high and used as a ballroom), a riding school sufficient to accommodate more than a hundred horses (120m long, 33m wide and 15m high, lit by four thousand gas jets), three libraries (the largest 80m in length), a huge billiards room, a glass domed observatory, and more than 25km of tunnels connecting the underground and above-ground parts of the estate.
All painted pink.
- One tunnel, almost a kilometre long and several metres wide, connects the main house and the riding house, while another (1,700m long and wide enough for the Duke to travel by carriage) exits the estate near Worksop. A third, the longest at slightly more than 2km, connected the coach-house to the South Lodge of the estate and was wide enough for two carriages to travel abreast. Many of the tunnels included ground level skylights for illumination. Many of the Duke's tunnels had parallel passages for the workers.
- The ballroom had a ground level entrance, featuring a hydraulic lift that could carry twenty guests down from the surface, and a ceiling that was painted as a giant sunset.
This programme employed an estimated 15,000 workers over 25 years. The Duke was well liked by his employees, despite his personal quirks. The total cost is unknown but enormous.
He encouraged his staff, especially young women, to skate on the lake in winter and later had one of the earliest roller-skate rinks in Britain constructed for their use.
The Duke's main quirk was his intense shyness and introversion, which he took to extremes. The only person who saw him on any regular basis was his valet; his staff and workers were forbidden to communicate with him, or even acknowledge him if they met him, on pain of instant dismissal. He communicated his orders and instructions by written notes, with rooms all having two letterboxes, for incoming and outgoing mail. Despite this he was an extensive communicant, corresponding with a network of family, friends and acquaintances, including luminaries like Disraeli and Palmerston. He never married, and was never known to have any intimate associations with either sex other than a youthful dalliance with the opera singer Adelaide Kemble, who refused his proposal of marriage. He appears to have been deeply agoraphobic.
- Some biographers have suggested that Kemble's rejection triggered his decent into his reclusive lifestyle.
When travelling to London the Duke proceeded by closed carriage to Worksop where it was loaded onto a special railway wagon. On arrival in London the carriage was offloaded and went to his London residence, Harcourt House in Cavendish Square. There all the household staff were under strict orders to keep out of sight as he hurried into his study through the front hall.
- Both there at at Welbeck Abbey, Portland insisted that chicken be roasting at all times.
- Likewise both homes had networks of miniature railways, powered by compressed air or steam, that conveyed food and other deliveries to the Duke's rooms and (in the Abbey) through the main tunnels. Food was transported on trucks that included spirit heaters to avoid cooling due to the distances involved.
In London the Duke frequently took in the opera, travelling by closed carriage to a private box. He was noted as being extremely fond of the opera. This, and politics, were the only things that took him to London.
Politically Portland was fairly apathetic, rarely appearing or speaking in either chamber, though he was a noted supporter of the Established Church, including donating two thousand pounds in 1868 to National Protestant Union and speaking against the 1870 Education Act which he viewed as excessively beneficial to nonconformists. He disliked both Gladstone and Disraeli but communicated with both. He twice refused a knighthood, the Order of the Garter.
The Duke took frequent nocturnal walks around his estate where he'd follow (at a distance of about thirty metres) a female servant carrying a lantern. On those rare occasion when he ventured out by day, he'd wear two overcoats, one with a huge collar, and a tall hat, and would carry an umbrella which he'd use to conceal himself if anyone addressed him. He was a keen, if generally solitary, hunter.
Despite the extensive equine accommodations, the Duke never rode but was a widely acknowledged expert on horses and a keen follower of horse-racing. He stationed a number of grooms at the telegraph office at Worksop for important races so the news could be brought to him rapidly.
Post-mortem.
The oddities didn't end with the Duke's death. Seventeen years later, in 1897, an application was made by the widow of one Walter Thomas Druce, son of the late Thomas Charles Druce, Thomas's body to be exhumed from the Druce family vault at Highgate Cemetery. She claimed that her father-in-law, T. C. Druce, was in fact the 5th Duke of Portland, who had lived a double life and worked as an upholsterer for some years, before staging a sham burial as Druce in 1864. She and her family claimed the the Portland inheritance.
After her incapacitation, Mrs. Druce was admitted to a mental home in 1903, the case was continued by members of the Druce family. A company was set up to support the case, with shareholders subscribing a capital of more than thirty thousand pounds, in expectation of huge profits from the dissolution of the Portland estate. In court evidence was given by several people of a fake funeral and burial. Eventually it was agreed to exhume Druce's supposed body. This was done on 30DEC1907 in the presence of Druce family members, legal representatives and Inspector Walter Dew (of Crippen fame). The body of T. C. Druce (rather than a mass of lead) was found and the case collapsed. Several witnesses were charged with perjury.
- The incident inspired the Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes by R. Austin Freeman.
The Duke, and Welbeck Abbey, appear in the mystery Death at the Abbey by Christine Trent and the Abbey and it's tunnels are referenced in Upton Sinclair's Presidential Agent .
Game use.
The Mad Duke could be a mere piece of background detail for a game, someone the PCs encounter or have mentioned. His personal eccentricities were well known in Victorian society so he might crop up in conversation, possibly as an example of the weirdness of the nobility. This is especially true during the Druce case which even eclipsed the earlier Tichborne claimant case in public interest.
- Or maybe the party are lurking around Highgate Cemetery on a cold and wet December day (2°C) and have the misfortune to encounter the exhumation party? Given that the police surrounded all entrances and refused entry to those lacking Home Office passes what do they do? Impersonate the eminent surgeon August Pepper and his assistants perhaps.
However this seems to me to be rather a waste of an opportunity. Far more interesting is having the PCs interact, or attempt to interact, with the Duke. Perhaps they need his help with something, an introduction to someone, a piece of information or artefact he found during his Army career or travels. He's not an easy man to talk to, with layers of servants to deal with.
- It's not known if the Duke collected anything in particular but it wouldn't be a stretch for someone of his station and wealth to do so. Perhaps he's acquired the MacGuffin the party desperately need?
Then there is the more outré possibility that the Duke is not, in fact, the Duke.
Was the Druce case inspired by actual facts? Did a member of the nobility lead a double life? Or had a commoner managed to replace him, perhaps assisted by the valet and a few close servants and a chance resemblance? What happened to the Duke? Accident, amnesia or foul play?
- Shades of Blowfeld's replacement of reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte in Diamonds Are Forever (or claims about real-life recluse Howard Hughes).
Then there are other things that might want to gain access to the Portland estate, wealth and influence. Are a faction of the Slitheen trying to infiltrate Victorian society as part of a Sinister Plot? Do they have a base of operations at Welbeck? Or is the Duke really a shape-changing android like Kamelion? And if so, who's behind the infiltration plan?
- For a Lovecraftian feel the imposter could be something stranger, a alien (Mi-Go?) surgically modified and wearing a 'people suit' or a Reptilian (Serpent Person?) with a technological disguise or polymorphic magic.
Was that sudden personality change, and descent into reclusiveness, down to his rejection by Adelaide Kemble, or did something inhabiting her body jump into his, seeing a host that would better opportunities for itself?
Did all that excavation at Welbeck disturb something buried there? Silurians are an obvious possibility, as is a alien space-ship. Is this behind the Duke's interest in astronomy and his construction of the observatory?
What were all the tunnels really for? Did something need to avoid the outside world and get about in secrecy? Something that really liked roast chicken...
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas?