Doctor Bluitt

[Chris]

The following interesting passage occurs in a comic novel, "The worst man in the world", by Frank Richardson, published in 1908. Coincidence?

[Sam Flynn]

The following interesting passage occurs in a comic novel, "The worst man in the world", by Frank Richardson, published in 1908. Coincidence?

I'd hardly think so, Chris. Great find!

[Chris]

The author's death was noted by the New York Times of 2 August 1917. From other online sources, it appears that his real name was Collins.

[Sam Flynn]

Well, whaddya know?

I give you Frank Richardson - author of comic novels, mediocre barrister, freemason, and sometime judge at male beauty shows...

[Sam Flynn]

Not only but also...

From the Times, Aug 3rd 1917:



A wound in the throat.

[Chris]

Many thanks for those articles. Oxford, the Inner Temple ... It certainly looks less and less like a coincidence.

Here are a couple of genealogy web pages with some more information, including confirmation that the inquest verdict was suicide. Also two family photos of a very young Frank.

Evidently I misunderstood about "Collins", which was his middle name, and his mother's maiden name.

http://wardjc.com/people/p00001a9.htm#I78246

http://members.cox.net/ggthomp/georgerichardson1835.html

[m_w_r]

Hi,

Apparently, Richardson invented the term "face-fungus". A curious legacy, but there we are.

From the OED:

face fungus n. colloq. a man's facial hair, esp. a beard.
1904 F. RICHARDSON in Cornhill Mag. May 684 In spite of the fact that he had grossly over-capitalised his face-fungus, the security seems to have been accepted.

Regards,

Mark

[lynn cates]

Druitt's story

Hello. Given this and a story among those living close to the Thames about the "Ripper" being fished out, it makes one wonder how extensively the story of the Druitt candidacy was accepted by the common street people at the time.

LC

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Lynn,

I'm not so sure that the idea of Druitt's candidacy was prevalent amongst the common people at that time. Indeed, I wasn't aware that the contents of the Macnaghten Memorandum had become general knowledge by 1907, when Richardson wrote his book (although I'll gladly stand corrected on that).

To my eyes, the excerpt Chris posted from Frank Richardson's book has the knowingness of an "in-joke" about it. As an Old Oxonian barrister - and active freemason, already! - Richardson belonged to a circle where the allusion would perhaps have had more resonance than it would have had with the man in the street.

That said, what's particularly interesting is that Richardson's picture of Bluitt shares Macnaghten's error that Druitt was a doctor - an error unlikely to have been propagated amongst the London barrister circle to whom the real "Bluitt" would have been known. Then again, that error might have been part of the "in-joke" itself.

[The Grave Maurice]

Oh, Goodies! Uh, sorry, must have been the Oddie reference that made me say that. Please, just forget it. Carry on.

[Chris]

Here's a sad little anecdote about Frank Richardson's suicide, from Frank M. Boyd's "A Pelican's Tale" (1919):

[Robert]

This is a wonderful find, Chris. I think even the bit about founding a school may be an in joke - school for murder/ordinary school.

In 1881 he may have been at Wildwood School, Hampstead. Ancestry lists him as Frank G Richardson, but it could be "C."

[Robert]

I knew that a whisker-obsessive like this must have mentioned Sims and Tatcho at some point, and sure enough this happens in "Shavings" (a collection of FCR's poems) available at the internet archive. In the preface, FCR gives a list of his failures.

[Robert]

Just wondering - since FCR submitted material to "The Referee," maybe Sims mentioned something to him.

[Sam Flynn]

In the preface, FCR gives a list of his failures.

He's really hard on himself, too, Rob. It comes across as whimsy, but - given his suicide 6 years after its publication - one can't help feeling that he was genuinely depressed inside.

"Shavings" may be read here.