Druitt and Monro

[rjpalmer]

I'm guessing that "Isabel Majendie Hill" (referred to above) is the same lady who married Charles Druitt, (son of Robert Druitt) on September 15th 1888 in Wiltshire? I pulled the certificate in March 1984 as part of my quest to trace down all branches of the Druitt family. I think what caught my eye here is the date of the marriage but I don't have a note of whether I did a search to see if the wedding was covered in the local newspapers. Sometimes the guests are listed and it would have been interesting to see if MJD's name was listed.

KS

It's not absolutely proven that M.J. Druitt was present that day, September 15th, but a list of wedding presents shows that the Druitt brothers--William, Montague, Edward, and Arthur--presented the bride and groom with a set of dessert knives and forks.



Meanwhile, I can't think of any reason why Isabel Majendie Hill would have taken any notice of Henry Gyllis Majendie if she had visited Winchester College.

It's a real stumper.

RP

[Fiver]

Meanwhile, I can't think of any reason why Isabel Majendie Hill would have taken any notice of Henry Gyllis Majendie if she had visited Winchester College.

It's a real stumper.

RP

If Isabel Majendie Hill visited Winchester College during the time Henry Gyllis Majendie was a student and his surname was mentioned, she probably would have met the boy. But the two were step third cousins. How many of your third cousins have you met? If your family was facing scandal, would seek out your step third cousin for help?

Or in the case of Montague Druitt's siblings, would you seek out your cousin's wife's step third cousin for help?

[Herlock Sholmes]

If Isabel Majendie Hill visited Winchester College during the time Henry Gyllis Majendie was a student and his surname was mentioned, she probably would have met the boy. But the two were step third cousins. How many of your third cousins have you met? If your family was facing scandal, would seek out your step third cousin for help?

Or in the case of Montague Druitt's siblings, would you seek out your cousin's wife's step third cousin for help?

But surely that’s something that we can’t quantify by likelihoods Fiver or by “what are the chances of.” We can’t prove that Majendie was Macnaghten source of private info but he might have been. If someone in the family was concerned about approaching the police and they wanted to be assured of discretion who better than someone like Majendie? If we are talking “what are the chances of” then “what are the chances of” a senior police officer naming a rather unlikely sounding suspect using information that he’d received via the family (whether directly or indirectly) and it turns out that one of that Officer’s best friends is related by marriage to the killers family?

[rjpalmer]

We can’t prove that Majendie was Macnaghten source of private info but he might have been.

Hi Herlock,

Personally, I doubt that Col. Majendie was the source of Macnaghten's "private information," and the Hainsworths never suggested that he was, but Fiver is simply 'trolling.' He doesn't know, either.

The well-known phrase "a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing," is also relevant here, and Fiver's belief that the link between the Du Boulay family and the Majendie family was a weak one is provably wrong.

Let's return to the Rev. Du Boulay of Winchester College who taught and boarded Colonel Majendie's son (and who also knew Druitt). Remember that he is Isabel Majendie Druitt's uncle.

In April 1888, his daughter (Isabel's cousin) married a bloke named A. H. Evans.

Among the esteemed guest was none other than Colonel Majendie. Also present was Majendie's cousin, the Rev. Henry William Majendie.

But how can that be? Aren't they just step-cousins of some sort? In some people's world, it is utterly untenable--impossible....

The reality is that what we might call the 'lower upper classes' in Victorian England were insular, were proud of their family ties--including extended families ties--and frequently socialized.




The idea that they couldn't or wouldn't discuss shared acquaintances one is a bizarre one.

[rjpalmer]

By the way, the groom that day, the Rev. Du Bolay's son-in-law, A. H. Evans, was an Oxford man and a keen cricket player. He was a bit younger than Druitt (he got his B.A. in 1883, as opposed to Druitt's in 1880) but their time at Oxford overlapped.

I know they played cricket against each other on at least one occasion.

Small world.

[Doctored Whatsit]

Hi DW,

Both my brothers went to a prep school in London back in the 1960s, and all the boys knew that sexual abuse by a master was something to be feared and/or endured, and too often it was suffered in silence by a victim who might only have spoken about the "shame" of it many years later, if ever. I'm afraid the reality was that very few cases would have been reported to an adult, such as the headmaster, school nurse or a parent, out of sheer embarrassment as much as the fear of not being believed. I suspect it would have been worse in Victorian times, when young children were supposed to be seen and not heard, and older ones were taught to speak only when spoken to. Talk of unwanted sexual advances would have been - er - unwanted.

It seems rather unlikely to me that Valentine would have involved the police if word had reached him about any such abuse happening under his roof, when he could have quietly sacked any member of staff for unspecified 'serious trouble' and saved himself and his school's reputation a whole lot of unwanted grief. Walls of silence have gone up over the years in schools, scout groups and church choirs, which by rights should have had young victims shouting instead from the rooftops.

Love,

Caz
X

Hi Caz,

You may well be right about the reasons Valentine acted the way he did. It is certainly true that sexual abuse was said to be common in public schools, and that a wall of silence tended to be the result. Maybe something caused the wall of silence to collapse momentarily, Valentine was informed, believed the allegations, and reacted quickly, and somehow the wall of silence was then rebuilt, and Valentine was able to hush the whole thing up.

Yes, if only Valentine knew, and there was no risk of anyone else finding out it's likely that he wouldn't inform the police. If others knew, and there was the possibility of parents learning about it, then I think he would have had to inform the police to demonstrate that he was looking after his pupils and not his errant staff.