Henry Richard Farquharson, MO

[aspallek]

Just doing a bit of research on our friend Albert Bachert. There does seem to be a political connection with conservatives in Parliament as this article suggests. It is no stretch to consider that he may have known Farquharson well and, indeed, may have played a part in recruiting him for an East End seat at Bethnal Green in 1894.

The Pall Mall Gazette (London, England), Tuesday, February 21, 1888:

[Johnr]

Doggedly Linked?

My desultory searching has turned up two sites which seem to suggest a possible link between G.R.Sims and H.R. Farquharson through fellow membership of the Kennel Club.

(We know that the Kennel Club put on a dog show at Toynbee Hall in the East End at one stage.And that G.R.Sims was renowned for his knowledge of the East End, and that Farquharson at the time of his unfortunate death, was a candidate for the East End seat of Bethnel Green).

Now, I'll try to post two threads here:

http://www.archive.org/index.php

and
http://www.chestofbooks/index.html.

Hopefully, if these take, on the second link just look down the index for G.R.Sims' name and click on it.


A warning: whilst these two sites establish both men were associated with the Kennel Club the book mentioned ("Doggy People") was published by Hutchinson & Co., in 1902. The other is the 1883 record of the Kennel Club Calendar,etc, for 1883.

But I hope some people think it relevant. JOHN RUFFELS.

[Jonathan H]

I'm relatively new to this, but I will never forget, in 2007, when I first saw 'The West of England MP' story -- really just a fragment -- on the Message Boards.

I was just amazed that there was an early, secondary source which suggested that -- if this was Druitt -- then when he first came to police attention, say in 1891, it was from a source who had to know he was not a doctor [eg. 'son of a surgeon'] -- had to know his biog details quite well.

That is if you could identify the MP as being connected to Druitt, or the family?

In early 2008 the dogged Andy Spalleck did just that!

For me, it torpedoed the conventional wisdom that Druitt was a minor suspect about whom Macnaghten knew almost nothing -- nothing accurate anyhow.

Paul Begg had argued in 'The Facts' that Mac's words in his memoirs were being under-appreciated.

In that the retired police chief writes that ''certain facts' did not come to light about the [un-named] Druitt until 'some years after' he joined the police.

This fit perfectly with the Farquharson revelation of 1891.

Neither Anderson nor Swanson ever conceded that the police investigation was less than terrific [they were just let down by a Judas].

Whereas, Macnaghten in his memoirs goes against the expected bias of an ex-Police Commissioner by ADMITTING that the Ripper's identity was unknown to the cops until he was long dead.

That the Ripper was omnipotent, like Nero, a chameleon, a 'Simon Pure' Gentile, who far from ever being in an asylum, or the subject of an efficient, fast-closing dragnet stopped only because his sick but cunning mind imploded -- having already swept aside worthies of state no less.

For me Andy Spalleck had provided a crucial missing piece in the Ripper jigsaw, which of course still has a thousand pieces missing.

That piece was Tory MP, and from the little we have on him classic upper class twit, Henry Richard Farquharson.

This Nob lived a matter of miles from the upper middle class Druitts.

And what an idiot?

'Foot-in-Mouth Farqy' had picked up some kind of ghastly gossip in Dorset and he proceeds to excitedly tell his ten best friends, taking unearned credit for having identified England's real Moriarty criminal-genius.

For what's it worth, apparently his friends were convinced too.

Yet, did it not occur to to this over-privileged half-wit what a potential mega-scandal for his own party he was recklessly broadcasting?

'Jack the Ripper' turns out to be not some working-class drone, or some hideous, foreign swine [eg. a Jew] but rather a young, handsome barrister from Blackheath?! The son of a revered doctor, who had killed himself the day after winning a major civil case ... for the Conservatives?!

Jack the Tory!

The Gladstone-led, Liberal government, in 1891, was salivating over any scandals or cockups by the previous Tory, born-to-rule aristos, who were now the disgruntled Opposition.

Imagine what the Libs could do with even the hint that senior police administrators in 1888 -- mostly reactionaries like Anderson -- perhaps had worked out that the Fiend was this fellow Tory, this M J Druitt of Winchester and Oxford, and had done .. what exactly?

Certainly not arrested him. Not brought him to justice.

Did they ... tip off one of their own that the net was closing?

Facing either the asylum option, or the Paris option, this spineless Conservative apparatchik chose the coward's way out via a Thames suicide.

My favored theory is that an alarmed Anderson sent the charming, progressive, Melville Macnaghten, and fellow eternal Etonian, to shut up his politically tone-deaf school chum.

To also tell the MP that there was such poisonous, ludicrous gossip swirling around about lots, and lots of people -- yes, even Gentile Gentlemen -- and it always came to nothing.

Macnaghten would not only have harbored a bias that this story of a respectable and tragic member of the 'better classes' really be nothing, but also the natural reluctance of a senior policeman to credit a lead which the police could do zip about. You can't arrest the dead.

But from this meeting [and others perhaps with the Druitts?], rightly or wrongly, Macnaghten the Uber 'Ripper tragic', returned convinced. Whatever he heard, or saw, or held, or read, left him with almost no serious doubt that this suicided barrister, unlikely as it seemed initially, was indeed the Ripper.

Hence the title of his proud, jaunty memoir chapter on the case:

'Laying the Ghost of Jack the Ripper'

Meaning, Scotland Yard -- before I arrived let me hasten to stress -- was pathetically chasing a phantom for two years but I put it to rest; I caught the Fiend, albeit posthumously.

Two last things, and then I will leave the Boards for a while as I am in danger of my own 'awful glut' over this subject.

Firstly, does anybody know who found the MP story, and exactly when?

Secondly, is it just me or does anybody else agree that the current Conservative Leader, David Cameron -- another Etonian and Oxonian toff -- looks strikingly like Montie Druitt?

At least, as one imagines Druitt might have looked had he made it to his 40's [as Mac 'wrongly' describes his age in the 'Aberconway Version'.]

[Chris]

Now, I'll try to post two threads here:

http://www.archive.org/index.php

and
http://www.chestofbooks/index.html.

Hopefully, if these take, on the second link just look down the index for G.R.Sims' name and click on it.

Just to illustrate Sims's dogginess further, here is a picture of his pony trap and dalmatians from the article on the "Chest of Books" website:



Also, in case it helps anyone, here are direct links to the relevant pages of those two sites:

http://chestofbooks.com/animals/dogs/Dog-Shows/Mr-G-R-Sims.html

http://www.archive.org/details/kennelclubcalen00unkngoog

[Robert]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ9ReoWazII

[Johnr]

Thanks Chris,

For posting those more direct links and the photo of G.R.Sims' very flash carriage and his three favourite dalmations.

Whilst he seems to have been a dalmation fancier, his earlier breeding preference was for bulldogs.

Reading the posts on this thread will familiarise readers with Farquharson's deep involvement in judging, importing and breeding Newfoundland dogs.

In the linked Kennel Club Report, he (F.) had first and second prizes for his dogs at one 1883 show.

So, given their mutual interest in dogs and breeding and common links with the Kennel Club ( later Calendar/Reports of the Club need perusing)it is possible Sims and Farquharson could have been acquainted.

Though further work needs to done to discover how early Sims developed his doggy interest. JOHN RUFFELS.

[Chris]

And here is the picture of Sims that accompanied the article in "Dog Shows and Doggy People" by Charles Henry Lane (1902), omitted from the web page at "Chest of Books", but included in the online version of the whole volume at the Internet Archive:

http://www.archive.org/details/dogshowsanddogg00lanegoog

[Jonathan H]

According to Sims he as the Ripper's double.

This is what the 'Drowned Doctor' looked like.

Does anybody really think that Montie Druitt looked like this by the time of his fateful plunge into the Thames?

I theorise that Macnaghten exploited Sims' peculiar vanity over the Ripper mystery and let him propagate this false claim, as it cleverly misdirected any survivors of Druitt's circle from pondering whether the 'Drowned Doctor' was really Montie.

[Johnr]

Thanks very much for the clear Sims' portrait Chris.

Only his divided hair mirrors MJD's image here I believe.

Now what remains is for someone to go through The Kennel Clubs Annual Calendars from 1883 to see if H R Farquharson and G.R.Sims are ever listed in the same year. Bearing in mind, Farquharson suddenly died at sea in 1895.

This would provide a link between the two suggestive that they might have known each other.

Did Sims write on parliament and politicians?

Did he comment on Farquharson's libel case? JOHN RUFFELS.

[Mayerling]

Part I on a thread I should have looked at before.

Hi all,

Do to Jonathan's very interesting theory on Druitt's guilt, I have begun reviewing certain points again. Due to the way this system on the site works I will be putting it down in piecemeal fashion.

1) The key to our investigation into the background of Farquarson's comments may be (possibly) linked to Edwin Percy Harvey's family, as his mother Marie Harvey, was the daughter of one Rev. Charles Cookson. Harvey is supposedly related to Montague Druitt through his own mother and Montague's mother.

This name "Cookson" tied in with a piece of information I have been sitting on without knowing how to handle it. I have tried to see if anyone can find a geneological link based on the name "Cookson" between Montague and a family that in 1896 had a similar tragedy in Paris.

This family was a prominent upper middle class family whose father figure was a reknowned legal scholar, sometimes sent on trips abroad (frequently to the U.S.) with the likes of Lord Chief Justice Charles Russell and Sir Frank Lockwood (Lockwood seems to have been the barrister for Mr. Gatty in that libel suit against Farqharson, whose barristers included Russell's frequent rival as a barrister Sir Edward Clarke). The name of this scholar was Montague Cookson.

In January 1888 Mr. Montague Cookson faced an interesting opportunity. A wealthy relative died, whose huge landed estate could only be passed to relatives with the last name of the deceased (it dated back centuries). Montague Cookson happened to decide it was worth tens of thousands of pounds to make the change with his whole family. Their family name legally became "Crackenthorpe".

Montague Crackenthorpe had two sons. The older, going into a career in the diplomatic service, was Darryl Crackenthorpe. The younger, going into a literary career as a short story writer (following the "naturalist" school of Emile Zola) was Hubert Montague Crackenthorpe. Hubert M. Crackenthorpe wrote frequently about slums and prostitutes.

Crackenthorpe was a growing figure in the age of the "Yellow Book". But his personal life came apart in 1896. He was having an affair, and his wife was too, and she left him. In 1896 Hubert Montague Crackenthorpe was living in Paris. He disappeared in November 1896 during a period of extensive rains in the Seine, and subsequently his body was recovered from that river. Whether it was an accident, murder, or suicide still is undecided, although most feel it was suicide.

His brother Darryl played down the story as much as possible - for the sake of his family and career. It would work in the long run (Darryl would be ambassador to the Central American republics in the 1920s). There is an odd further point which I find concerning Darryl's behavior in hiding Hubert's suicide as much as possible, but I will refrain from that for the moment.

But does not Hubert M. Crackenthorpe's demise sound and his brother's actions sound very much like those of Montague Druitt's and his brother's actions some seven years earlier.

But I need to find if that "Cookson" link is tighter than we think - and if Montague Crackenthorpe Sr. was closely linked to the Druitts or Harveys.

See my problem.

[Mayerling]

Part II: Further review of a thread I should have paid attention to before

Second part is simpler than the first.

Like all talkative gentlemen, Henry R. Farquharson did get into records for statements. In his case, he entered Hansard.

Oddly I saw nothing here about this. I hope that my comments here have not appeared in Andy's article on the garrolous M.P. from Dorset.

Most of his comments tend to be about issues like free trade or tithes affecting farmers. These must be issues he would consider "bread and butter" issues as a politician satisfying his voting blocks.

But he also was into something I find interesting. In one of his 1893 comments, he talks about a murderer he took an interest in. It's Fred Deeming.

It seems that Deeming had the habit of wearing military uniforms to impress people (when he was at Rainhill Villa in 1891 he wore one claiming he was sent by some senior officer to ready the Villa for the officer's family - it was really Deeming's wife Maria and their children, all of whom he later slaughtered and buried in the floor of the Villa). Our M. P. was angry because the wax effigy of Deeming at the Tussaud's Chambre of Horrors was wearing a military tunic and pants that were a real army suit connected with troops who were in India. Farquharson felt it was an insult to those soldiers risking their skins for the nation that a contemptible villain like Deeming was seen in their uniform.

The comment also shows that Farquharson was aware of a recent adultery case (unnamed) that he felt was on this point as well.

I bring this up as it shows that our M.P. (like the readers on this blog) had a healthy curiousity about crime, criminals, and legal activities. It really should not surprise us. But I wonder if Farquharson also had taken an interest in Deeming because of that killer's link in the newspapers of 1892 to being a possible Ripper suspect. If so does this suggest that Farquharson was looking at more than Montague Druitt as a suspect? Or was it just a general prurient interest in murderers?

Jeff

[Jonathan H]

Very, very interesting, Jeff!

I would just add that if you look at the MP sources compred to otehrs of the era you see a apttern.

The Druitt family believed Montague was the Ripper, Farquharson did -- and remarkable was not shakes in his theory one iota by another Jack murder on Feb 13th 1891 nor the arrest of a prime suspect -- and later still Chief Constable Macnaghtne was convinced.

In 1891 the surgeon's son tale is written off as having leibleous im0lications. Only a fraction of the story can thus bye published.

In 1898 and 1899 the story nis relaunched and this time there are more details -- the fiend is now a surgoen himself and, apparently, the threat of libel has lifted.

[Mayerling]

Hi Jonathan,

I follow what you are saying about Farquaharson's timed comments and the time table you set up. What I'm really interested (despite the comment about the M.P.'s apparent interest in crime) is the matter of that Cookson connection if it exists or not. That was what I wrote to you about about two weeks ago.

If it is a real connection, it strengthens the image of Druitt's real guilt, as another bunch of people would have been aware of it. If it does not exist it would be a really odd type of coincidence.

Jeff

[mklhawley]

It seems that Deeming had the habit of wearing military uniforms to impress people (when he was at Rainhill Villa in 1891 he wore one claiming he was sent by some senior officer to ready the Villa for the officer's family - it was really Deeming's wife Maria and their children, all of whom he later slaughtered and buried in the floor of the Villa). Our M. P. was angry because the wax effigy of Deeming at the Tussaud's Chambre of Horrors was wearing a military tunic and pants that were a real army suit connected with troops who were in India. Farquharson felt it was an insult to those soldiers risking their skins for the nation that a contemptible villain like Deeming was seen in their uniform.

So, in my Whitechapel Chamber of Horrors article, I noted that the Whitechapel wax museum purposely immitated Tussaud's. Hmmm...

Mike

[Mayerling]

So, in my Whitechapel Chamber of Horrors article, I noted that the Whitechapel wax museum purposely immitated Tussaud's. Hmmm...

Mike

Hi Mike,

It would not surprise me if Farqharson went to more than one wax museum's "Chamber of Horrors". The point is that the one mentioned in Hansard in 1893 is Tussaud's, but he probably liked to see them all.

Wax Museums existed all over, and Dickens (I believe in "The Old Curiosity Shop") makes a joke about such a room of horrors, describing a killer who tortured virtuous maids to death by tickling them!

Jeff