The Strange Death Of Montague John Druitt

[Abby Normal]

I’ve often wondered about Monty’s arrangement with the school in regard to his legal work which would have come his way at irregular intervals? I think that I’ve heard this suggested before but might his main role at the school have been as night time master. To be on-site through the night combined with a few day time duties perhaps sports? I honestly don’t know how these things worked though.

***

Wouldn’t the fact that the school didn’t do anything about Monty being missing have been because they knew that he’d been sacked?

****

I wish that we knew for certain where they meant by ‘Witness had deceased things searched where he resided.’ We know that he’d lived at the school but obviously by the time that William got there he’d been sacked around 2 weeks previously so why would his things have still been there? If he’d moved to Kings Bench Walk this raises a question. Surely his friends/colleagues at KBW would have known that Monty lived and worked at the school and they would have noticed him moving into KBW and wondered why? So if someone contacted William on the 11th why didn’t they contact the school for info first? It would have been the obvious thing to have done and might have made it unnecessary to contact William.

perhaps they gave him a couple of weeks to move out?

[Herlock Sholmes]

I’ve often wondered about Monty’s arrangement with the school in regard to his legal work which would have come his way at irregular intervals? I think that I’ve heard this suggested before but might his main role at the school have been as night time master. To be on-site through the night combined with a few day time duties perhaps sports? I honestly don’t know how these things worked though.

***

Wouldn’t the fact that the school didn’t do anything about Monty being missing have been because they knew that he’d been sacked?

****

I wish that we knew for certain where they meant by ‘Witness had deceased things searched where he resided.’ We know that he’d lived at the school but obviously by the time that William got there he’d been sacked around 2 weeks previously so why would his things have still been there? If he’d moved to Kings Bench Walk this raises a question. Surely his friends/colleagues at KBW would have known that Monty lived and worked at the school and they would have noticed him moving into KBW and wondered why? So if someone contacted William on the 11th why didn’t they contact the school for info first? It would have been the obvious thing to have done and might have made it unnecessary to contact William.

[GUT]

Also note the friend said Montie hadn’t been seen at chambers for more than a week, but we have no idea how often he normally attended chambers. Be nothing unusual at all for a Barrister not to be seen in our chambers for a few weeks, either on circuit, or doing advice work from some other location, and none of us hold down full time teaching jobs as well. It us another thing that puzzles me, and may well explain William’s delay. Especially if it was William who briefed him in the appeal late November.

he must also have had some arrangement with the school to have time off for his legal work.

if he was missing in action from Early Dec to the 11th, why didn’t the school, where it is presumed he lived, do anything. So much just doesn’t add up to me.

[GUT]

Of course it is ambiguous was he sacked on the 30th, or was that when William found out.

[GUT]

Turnham Green Gazette of January 5, 1889:

"William H. Druitt said he lived at Bournemouth, and that he was a solicitor. The deceased was his brother, who was 31 last birthday. He was a barrister-at-law, and an assistant master in a school at Blackheath. He had stayed with witness at Bournemouth for a night towards the end of October. Witness heard from a friend on the 11th of December that deceased had not been heard of at his chambers for more than a week. Witness then went to London to make inquiries, and at Blackheath he found that deceased had got into serious trouble at the school, and had been dismissed. That was on the 30th of December. Witness had deceased's things searched where he resided, and found a paper addressed to him (produced). The Coroner read the letter, which was to this effect: - "Since Friday I felt I was going to be like mother, and the best thing for me was to die." Witness, continuing, said deceased had never made any attempt on his life before. His mother became insane in July last. He had no other relative.

[GUT]

Hi GUT,

The 3rd December is possibly the day that Monty was last seen. The unnamed friend said that Monty hadn’t been seen for over a week (from 11th Dec) I’m working from memory but I don’t think we have definitive evidence that Monty was sacked on the 30th? But when it was said that William arrived in London on 30th December it’s unlikely that he’d have taken 19 days when his brother was missing. This is more likely to have meant the date that Monty was sacked 30th November instead of December. Also 30 November was a Friday which accords with his note “since Friday...”

I can’t think of a reason why your suggestion couldn’t be a possibility though GUT?

The December 30 was the evidence at the inquest.

[GUT]

Sorry crap typing I meant what if he was sacked 30 Dec as per the evidence, possibly for being awol

[Herlock Sholmes]

What if he was sacked on 3 Dec as the evidence says, sacked fr being AWOL.

Hi GUT,

The 3rd December is possibly the day that Monty was last seen. The unnamed friend said that Monty hadn’t been seen for over a week (from 11th Dec) I’m working from memory but I don’t think we have definitive evidence that Monty was sacked on the 30th? But when it was said that William arrived in London on 30th December it’s unlikely that he’d have taken 19 days when his brother was missing. This is more likely to have meant the date that Monty was sacked 30th November instead of December. Also 30 November was a Friday which accords with his note “since Friday...”

I can’t think of a reason why your suggestion couldn’t be a possibility though GUT?

[Wickerman]

Sadly we will never know the answer to any of this. It can only remain pure speculation. Monty "got into trouble" at George Valentine's school and was sacked. I don't believe there was anything sinister about this poor, depressed man's death. As he wrote himself: "Since Friday I felt like I was going to be like mother, and the best thing for me was to die." Why was he dismissed from Valentine's school? We will never know. Some have speculated that it was for a homosexual offense, and judging from McNaghten's notes, it seems that "sexual insanity" may bave been a Victorian euphemisn for homosexuality.....

Two things here....
- After reading the "Since Friday...." note, we automatically assume Monty was concerned about being diagnosed with the same condition as his mother, a mixture of; melancholia, delusions, depression & apathy.
However, Ann (his mother) had been taken ill since the death of her husband in 1885, and so for three years had been either treated &/or incarcerated, first in Brooke House Asylum in July 1888, where she was certified insane, then to St. George's Retreat, Brighton.
Maybe Monty was not so much concerned about the same diagnosis, but the fact his mother was certified insane and incarcerated in an Asylum. He didn't want to end up like mother - incarcerated in an asylum?

- One previous poster spent quite some time going through 19th century literature and posted his results on Casebook. He found that the term "sexual insanity" was used for people who committed rape or other heterosexual offenses, on occasion homosexual acts, but mostly heterosexual.
The school was certainly a boys school, but we found a posting of employees from that period and it appears there were several maids & female kitchen staff employed at the school. So, it is by no means obvious that Macnaghten was referring to homosexuality.

[GUT]

What if he was sacked on 3 Dec as the evidence says, sacked fr being AWOL.

[caz]

It's been over two decades since I rode a train in London, but it doesn't look like one can travel directly from Charing Cross Underground to Hammersmith nowadays. There's not a line that has both stops. So that ticket doesn't make sense.

I think what is being called 'Charing Cross' at the inquest is was what is now called Embankment. The best stop on the South Eastern line for Druitt to reach KBW would have been Cannon Street. So, assuming Druitt started his last trip from Blackheath, he must have blown past his usual stop, and stepped off the train at Charing Cross (Embankment) and then transferred to a train that went to Hammersmith. Which would suggest that he had no desire to make one final curtain call at chambers.

On the other hand, he could have simply walked to the Embankment from KBW and bought the ticket to Hammersmith.

So it doesn't really tell us a damned thing. But the suicide note was supposedly left at Blackheath, so it seems strange that he would go to KBW and tidy up his desk before plunging in the Thames in the middle of the winter.

Hi RJ,

Charing Cross Underground Station has a confusing history, but thinking 'green' makes it easier. By October 1884, Metropolitan District Line trains [the green line on a tube map] ran from Whitechapel in the east, via Earl's Court to Hammersmith and beyond in the west, or south to Wimbledon. Westbound District Line trains stopped at Cannon Street and Charing Cross on the way to Hammersmith with no changes necessary, unless you caught a Wimbledon train and had to change at Earl's Court. All still on the green line.

That was still the case when I was at grammar school, between 1965 and 1971, when I travelled from Southfields to Hammersmith each day, which meant I had to change at Earl's Court both ways, because Wimbledon trains can only go north or east from Earl's Court, not west towards Hammersmith. Still green all the way.

The District Line route to Hammersmith from Cannon Street remains the same today as it was for Monty in 1888, except that by 1979 Charing Cross Underground had its name changed to the more geographically correct Embankment, when Trafalgar Square and Strand stations [neither on the District Line] combined to form today's Charing Cross Station, which is on the Bakerloo [brown], Jubilee [grey] and Northern [black] Lines.

So yes, you are quite correct that you have to change lines if you want to go from today's Charing Cross [brown/grey/black] to Hammersmith [green]. The Charing Cross mentioned at Monty's inquest is now called Embankment [same station, still green].

But no, Monty didn't need to step off at Charing Cross in 1888 in order to get a train to Hammersmith. Complications only arise if he got on a Wimbledon train by mistake, in which case he'd have needed to change at Earl's Court [or one of the stops along the way] and wait on the same platform for the right train.

Sorry if I didn't explain that very clearly!

Love,

Caz
X

[Herlock Sholmes]

The Dorset Chronicle 10 Jan seems to indicate that two letters were found;

"The deceased had left a letter, addressed to Mr. Valentine, of the school, in which he alluded to suicide. A paper had also been found upon which the deceased had written, "Since Friday, I have felt as if I was going to be like mother," who had for some months been mentally afflicted."

So it doesn't seem that the Valentine connection was covered up.

Thanks for that Joshua.

It was mentioned at the Inquest that Monty had made no previous suicide attempts implying of course that his actual suicide was unexpected. If there was a note left with Valentine, and it was known about, I wonder why it wasn’t bought up at The Inquest as proof that suicide had been on Monty’s mind?

If there were two notes I wonder why the impression given was that there was only one?

[Herlock Sholmes]

. We shall never know. It will remain one of life's mysteries. But it is interesting if his brother William claimed at his inquest that he "had no other relatives." Perhaps he was protecting other family members from what was perceived back then as the shame and disgrace of insanity in a family member

Hello Gordon,

The issue that we have with that explanation is that, in the same statement, William tells that his mother has been committed to an asylum. Also, in a Hampshire newspaper the report mentions 5 Druitt’s at the funeral. As Monty lived and worked in London wouldn’t William have accepted the possibility of this report reaching the London papers too?

[Joshua Rogan]

I don’t have any books with me to check at the moment Wick but yes I’m pretty sure that there was mention of letters addressed to William and George Valentine which doesn’t help clarity....

Also I’ve always thought it a bit strange that it was said that Monty’s “...things had been searched where he resided.” I might be overthinking this bit but it sounds as if they didn’t want the place where he had been living mentioning. There was also no mention of George Valentine at the Inquest.

The Dorset Chronicle 10 Jan seems to indicate that two letters were found;

"The deceased had left a letter, addressed to Mr. Valentine, of the school, in which he alluded to suicide. A paper had also been found upon which the deceased had written, "Since Friday, I have felt as if I was going to be like mother," who had for some months been mentally afflicted."

So it doesn't seem that the Valentine connection was covered up.

[Gordon]

Sadly we will never know the answer to any of this. It can only remain pure speculation. Monty "got into trouble" at George Valentine's school and was sacked. I don't believe there was anything sinister about this poor, depressed man's death. As he wrote himself: "Since Friday I felt like I was going to be like mother, and the best thing for me was to die." Why was he dismissed from Valentine's school? We will never know. Some have speculated that it was for a homosexual offense, and judging from McNaghten's notes, it seems that "sexual insanity" may bave been a Victorian euphemisn for homosexuality. But I don't know if that's true, and anyway it doesn't seem to fit with Druitt's remarks about his mother. I'm more inclined to guess that he had some explosion of rage at that school which he vented on somebody, for which he was dismissed as a result. Perhaps it wasn't the first time. Perhaps, despite his talents, he'd been unstable all along.

We shall never know. It will remain one of life's mysteries. But it is interesting if his brother William claimed at his inquest that he "had no other relatives." Perhaps he was protecting other family members from what was perceived back then as the shame and disgrace of insanity in a family member.

Apart from William, Montague had a notable brother Edward, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Engineers, who conducted the inquiry into the Quintinshill rail disaster of 1915. It was the worst ever tragedy in the history of British rail, in which 227 people were killed. Anyone who's interested can read it here in the words of Edward Druitt himself:

Sir,

I have the honour to report for the information of the Board of Trade, in compliance with your Order of the 22nd May, the result of my Inquiry into the causes of the double collision which occurred on the 22nd May, between passenger trains at Quintinshill on the Caledonian Railway.

[Rest of the comprehensive report omitted]

I have the honour, etc.,
E Druitt,
Lieut.-Col.

In those days I guess it was sad that people felt they had to cover up any hint of insanity within an otherwise illustrious family. I don't believe there was anything mysterious about Montague's death, just the curse of clinical depression, a waste of a good man who, with modern medications, might have been a good barrister. May he rest in peace!