The Druce-Portland Affair: The Duke That Never Was

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2024

⏱️ 68 minutes

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Summary

Cases of stolen, mistaken and fraudulent identity were not an entirely uncommon thing in Victorian Britain. Somewhat more unusual was the bizarre allegation that an English aristocrat, the 5th Duke of Portland, had lived a double life and eventually faked his own death in order to escape the web of lies he had concocted over the years. It all sounded very far-fetched, but when interested parties attempted to bring the case to court, they found themselves cut off by shadowy powers that led to some deciding that the whole affair was akin to a mysterious conspiracy. In truth, it very well may have been, but perhaps not for the reasons the prosecutors originally claimed. SOURCES Eatwell, Piu Marie (2014) The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife & The Missing Corpse. Head of Zeus Ltd. London, UK. Westminster Gazette (1898) An Alleged Bogus Burial. Westminster Gazette, Thur 10 March 1898, p5. Westminster, UK. Weekly Dispatch (1898) Mrs Druce & Her Bonds. Weekly Dispatch, Sun 25 Dec 1898, p4. London, UK. The Advertiser (1908) The Druce Grave. The Advertiser, Tues 4 Feb 1908, p4. Adelaide, Australia. The Advertiser (1908) The Druce Drama. The Advertiser, Wed 1 Jan 1908, p7. Adelaide, Australia. Thomason’s Weekly News (1908) Secret Of The Druce Vault Revealed. Thomason’s Weekly News, Sat 4 Jan 1908, p8. London, UK. Morning Post (1908) Druce Shareholders To Meet. Morning Post, Tues 7 Jan 1908. London, UK. Daily Mirror (1908) End OF Druce Perjury Case. Daily Mirror Tues 7 Jan 1908, London, UK ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Cases of stolen, mistaken and fraudulent identity were not an entirely uncommon thing in Victoria, Britain.
0:08.0	Somewhat more unusual was the bizarre allegation that an English aristocrat, the fifth Duke of Portland, had lived a double life and eventually faked his own death in order to escape the web of lies that he had concocted over the years.
0:22.0	This all sounded very far-fetched, but when interested
0:25.6	parties attempted to bring the case to court, they found themselves cut off by shadowy powers that
0:30.8	led to some, deciding that the whole affair was akin to a mysterious conspiracy.
0:36.4	In truth, it very well may have been, but perhaps not for the reasons that the prosecutors
0:41.7	originally claimed.
0:44.0	This is Dark Histories, where the facts are worse than fiction.
0:52.0	Hello and
0:55.0	today and welcome to Dark History season 8 episode 4 I'm Ben your host and today we have got a
0:59.3	belter of a story I think the podcast we kick this season off. It's been quite dark so far so I thought we'd kind of, I wouldn't say
1:07.3	lighten it up, but I thought we'd go with the story that was a little bit more mystery, a little bit more kind of Victorian conspiracy, probably a little bit less sort of baby murdering and a little bit more kind of for the mystery folks.
1:22.0	But yeah, it's an absolutely fascinating story so let's
1:24.4	crack on this episode is called the Drew's Portland affair the Duke that never was.
1:32.2	Notable for its famous occupants, Highgate Cemetery in the Camden Borough of North
1:36.7	London opened in 1839 after the parish churchyards throughout Central London grew so overcrowded that they were deemed to be a hazard to the health of the city's ever-expanding population.
1:47.0	Built was one of seven cemeteries that popped up around the edges of Central London between 1833 and 1841, Highgate quickly became
1:56.5	a fashionable place for a Victorian burial, and thanks to the era's trend towards the Gothic,
2:02.1	it's 37 acres of sprawling woodland, soon became filled
2:05.9	with elaborate tombs, vaults and statues to honour the dead occupants.
2:10.9	An extension was opened in 1855, and by the end of the century the two areas were
2:16.4	acting as the final resting place for over 100,000 of the city's souls with notable
	...

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