It might be interesting to look at a few key bits of information about the principal residents of the first three houses on Charles Street, just for the halibut as they say down at the docks.
No. 1: Thomas Charles March, civil servant, age 52
Born: July 4, 1819, Marylebone
Married: March 23, 1867.
Spouse: Sarah Cooper, later called Arabella, b. 1839, Basingstoke
Children: Arabella (Daughter of Arabella, apparently adopted by Thomas), b. 1857, Chelsea; Thomas, b. 1868, St. George's [Hanover Square?], died at age 8; Reginald George March, b. 1874.
Died: 1898, age 79 approx.
Occupation: In the Royal Household his whole life, mainly in the Lord Chamberlain's officer; Paymaster; finally Secretary of Board of the Green Cloth. A high-ranking civil servant handling the finances of the Royal Household.
Highest honour: CB, Companion of the Order of the Bath
Value of estate: 1898, £15,387/0/8. The website Measuring Worth.com says this is worth £1.280 million in 2008 using the retail price index, or £7.04 million in 2008 using average earnings.
Parents: Thomas March, Esq. and Mary Ann Gonne, both British subjects born in Portugal to wine merchants. Gonne is an Irish surname. Mary Ann was distantly related to Maud Gonne of a later generation. There was intra-family litigation between Thomas and Mary Ann's brothers after Mary Ann's father died and Thomas went bankrupt, involving Mary Ann's marriage settlement. The case was reported in the bankruptcy law books.
Siblings: At least three sisters and two brothers. The family appears to have been wealthy and to have retained or improved their social standing.
Other notes: In 1852, Thomas represented the Royal Household in escorting the body of the Duke of Wellington to Westminster for his state funeral.
Queen Victoria Number: 1
Dracula Number: 2
Left Charles Street around 1872.
No. 2: Henry Fleming, civil servant, age about 69
Born: about 1812, apparently in Birmingham. His exact age was something of a mystery to his social circle.
Married: Never.
Died: 1876, age about 74
Occupation: Lifelong civil servant, mainly as Permanent Secretary to the Poor Law Board where it appears he was not particularly effective. He was more successful socially. Known as "The Flea", his role from at least the 1840s was literally to spread gossip strategically in political and intellectual circles. He knew Prime Ministers Palmerston, Gladstone and Disraeli, and was described a few times in the letters of Thomas Carlyle. He introduced the painter George Frederic Watts to the much younger beauty, Virginia Pattle, at a party given by Lady Holland. It goes on and on.
Highest honour: Nothing official I'm afraid.
Value of estate: Less than £3,000. In 2008 terms, either £210,000, or £1.560 million, depending on the computation method used.
Parents: Irish army officer Captain Valentine Fleming of Tuam, County Galway, and Catherine Emma Gowan, whose father was a notorious anti-Catholic, Hunter Gowan. One of Catherine's half-brothers, Ogle Gowan, started the Orange Lodge in Canada.
Siblings: Sir Valentine Fleming, a lawyer (as was Henry, though he didn't practice), Chief Justice of Tasmania; James Fleming, also a lawyer, and Chancellor of the Palatinate of Durham. James's eldest son, Frances Fleming, was Governor of Antigua, and of Hong Kong, among other postings, including service in Africa. Henry also had a sister, Emma, of whom I have seen very little.
Other notes: The brothers Fleming attempted unsuccessfully to prove themselves the lawful descendants of the Barons of Slane. No castle for you!
Henry's nickname was "The Flea". Someone should write a thesis about his role in mid-nineteenth century communication.
He died at home in 1876, at No. 2 Charles Street.
Queen Victoria Number: 2
Dracula Number: 3
No. 3: George Thomas Lambert, later, Sir George Lambert, civil servant, age 34
Born: 1837, Ireland
Married: Never
Died: 1918, age 81
Occupation: Private secretary to the Admiralty
Highest honour: Companion of the Order of the Bath (1897), Knight Bachelor (1903)
Value of estate: £22,946/9/8. Value in 2008: £833,000 or £4.1 million, again, depending on the computation method used.
Parents: Henry Lambert of Carnagh, Ireland, and Catherine Talbot, both of prominent Irish families.
Siblings: Many.
Other notes: Prominent Catholic.
Queen Victoria Number: 1
Dracula Number: 3
Frankenstein Number: 3
Winners and Losers?
Lifespan:
81 Lambert
79 March
74 Fleming
Money at the end:
£7.04 million March
£4.1 million Lambert
Less than £1.560 million Fleming
Descendants:
Of the three men, only Thomas March had children. His adopted daughter, Arabella, was unmarried. His second son, Reginald, died in 1918, leaving (at least) a daughter, Marjorie (b. 1911, the rest, unknown), and a son, Thomas (1915-1999). There may be March descendants living today.
March 1, the others zero.
Highest honours:
Lambert CB and Knighthood
March CB
Fleming Nada
Best remembered:
Fleming
March and Lambert tied, far behind
The Score:
11 March
9 Lambert
6 Fleming
Who had the most fun?
Showing posts with label six degrees of dracula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label six degrees of dracula. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
6 Degrees of Dracula: George Lambert and Frankenstein
When this exploration of Charles Street, Berkeley Square started, I was trying to figure out the degrees of separation from Queen Victoria and from Bram Stoker (proxy for Dracula) for each of the residents.
To continue, then, with George T. Lambert, later Sir George, of 3 Charles Street in 1871.
George Lambert and Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901.
George Lambert was knighted in 1903 (but I haven't checked this very carefully. I'm prepared to accept it was 1902 or 1903). Since the Queen was already gone, we can't say they met on this auspicious occasion.
However, that was not Lambert's first honour. In 1897 (another date I'm taking on faith), he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Bingo! Queen Victoria number of 1, though not while he was living on Charles Street.
Given his long service in the top offices of the Admiralty, it's possible but by no means guaranteed that Lambert met the Queen before 1897. She was notably reclusive for many years.
George Lambert, Dracula and Frankenstein
Now if you have been following along, you can close your eyes for a second, or perhaps you'd like to recite these by now somewhat shopworn facts with me.
George Lambert had six sisters. One was Julianna Margaret Lambert.
In about 1860, Julianna Margaret married Edward Gerald More O'Farrell. One of their children was John More O'Ferrall. In 1901, John married Cesira Polenghi, who had been born in Italy.
Cesira, it appears, lived for a long time (at least she was in the same place in the 1891 and 1901 censuses, so I am hypothesizing she was there in the intervening years as well) in Kensington, London, with her uncle, Major John Taaffe. Exactly how he was related to her, I don't know. I've guessed that the Major's sister married Cesira's father, but this is only a guess.
The Major was born in about 1820 (from the censuses of 1891 and 1901). By 1860 he was a Captain of Dragoons in Piedmont, Italy. By 1891, he had retired to London. The Major's father was also called John Taaffe.
This John Taaffe is the one who sent guinea pigs to Mary Shelley when he was hanging out with the Shelleys, Lord Byron, and a few other literary types in Pisa, Italy, in the 1820s. That he was a part of this social group seems well-documented, though perhaps opinions vary as to exactly who liked him and who found him a bit of a bore. He distinguished himself in other ways, but the guinea pigs are rather hard to forget.
Born in 1787, Taaffe senior died in Italy on September 28, 1852.
The leaps in the Dracula and Frankenstein directions (for they take a common path to begin with) are:
George Lambert
1. Major John Taaffe.
I am making a reasonable assumption that both George and the Major would have been guests at the wedding of the Major's niece Cesira and Lambert's nephew John, or at related social events.
2. John Taaffe senior (Major's father).
3. Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, associates of John Taaffe senior in Italy in the 1820s.
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Thus, George has a Frankenstein number of 3. But what about Dracula?
I must admit to a big gap in vampire knowledge here. I thought Bram Stoker's Dracula was a literary descendant of Le Fanu's Carmilla (1872). That luscious lady, however, is not the only vampire in English literature to predate the Count.
This story will be well-known to English Lit majors. Not being one, I had to learn it recently.
In 1816, a group of friends and not-so-close friends were together in a house in Switzerland, apparently cooped up by the rainy weather of that year.
In addition to the Shelleys (not yet married then) and Lord Byron, there was Byron's personal physician, named John William Polidori, and Mary's step-sister Claire Clairmont.
To dispel the ennui, they set themselves a competition to write a Gothic story similar to one they'd been reading aloud to each other.
The products of this stay were:
1. the beginning of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein;
2. a fragment of a story by Byron, discarded and picked up by Polidori as the germ of his own story;
3. The Vampyre, by Polidori, credited by some as the first modern vampire story in English literature;
4. Allegra, the illegitimate child of Claire and Lord Byron. (Byron didn't like Claire, even while he was assisting in the creation of Allegra. But it was a long, wet, summer without much else to do, and as Byron wrote to his half-sister, Claire threw herself at him and eventually he weakened.) At least one account I've read says that Claire was already pregnant by Byron, thanks to a short liaison in England, before she went to Switzerland, and her trip to Switzerland with Mary and Percy was with the design of tracking Byron down. He had that effect upon some women.
Tragedy ensues over the next few years. The Vampyre causes a rift between Polidori and Byron, perhaps contributing to the doctor's sad end in suicide in London, 1821. Allegra dies on April 20, 1822 at the age of five at convent school, placed there by Byron against Claire's wishes; Percy Shelley drowns, July 8, 1822.
Taaffe arrived in Pisa on November 1, 1821, the same day as Byron. Taaffe had been living in Italy since 1815.
As an aside, not everyone in Byron's circle was thrilled with Taaffe. Here's a link to p.361 of Lord Byron's Life in Italy by Byron's mistress at that time, Teresa Guiccioli.
It's tempting to say that Taaffe and Polidori knew each other, but I have no evidence of that. I can say that Taaffe knew Byron and Byron was the originator of Polidori's story, and also a model for its main character: Byron is the vampire.
George Lambert gets a Dracula number of 3: George -> Major Taaffe -> Taaffe senior -> Byron the vampire.
And who knows, it may later transpire that George and Bram were drinking buddies.
Any questions?
(You can find all three of these as public domain books if you look on the Web.)
To continue, then, with George T. Lambert, later Sir George, of 3 Charles Street in 1871.
George Lambert and Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901.
George Lambert was knighted in 1903 (but I haven't checked this very carefully. I'm prepared to accept it was 1902 or 1903). Since the Queen was already gone, we can't say they met on this auspicious occasion.
However, that was not Lambert's first honour. In 1897 (another date I'm taking on faith), he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Bingo! Queen Victoria number of 1, though not while he was living on Charles Street.
Given his long service in the top offices of the Admiralty, it's possible but by no means guaranteed that Lambert met the Queen before 1897. She was notably reclusive for many years.
George Lambert, Dracula and Frankenstein
Now if you have been following along, you can close your eyes for a second, or perhaps you'd like to recite these by now somewhat shopworn facts with me.
George Lambert had six sisters. One was Julianna Margaret Lambert.
In about 1860, Julianna Margaret married Edward Gerald More O'Farrell. One of their children was John More O'Ferrall. In 1901, John married Cesira Polenghi, who had been born in Italy.
Cesira, it appears, lived for a long time (at least she was in the same place in the 1891 and 1901 censuses, so I am hypothesizing she was there in the intervening years as well) in Kensington, London, with her uncle, Major John Taaffe. Exactly how he was related to her, I don't know. I've guessed that the Major's sister married Cesira's father, but this is only a guess.
The Major was born in about 1820 (from the censuses of 1891 and 1901). By 1860 he was a Captain of Dragoons in Piedmont, Italy. By 1891, he had retired to London. The Major's father was also called John Taaffe.
This John Taaffe is the one who sent guinea pigs to Mary Shelley when he was hanging out with the Shelleys, Lord Byron, and a few other literary types in Pisa, Italy, in the 1820s. That he was a part of this social group seems well-documented, though perhaps opinions vary as to exactly who liked him and who found him a bit of a bore. He distinguished himself in other ways, but the guinea pigs are rather hard to forget.
Born in 1787, Taaffe senior died in Italy on September 28, 1852.
The leaps in the Dracula and Frankenstein directions (for they take a common path to begin with) are:
George Lambert
1. Major John Taaffe.
I am making a reasonable assumption that both George and the Major would have been guests at the wedding of the Major's niece Cesira and Lambert's nephew John, or at related social events.
2. John Taaffe senior (Major's father).
3. Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, associates of John Taaffe senior in Italy in the 1820s.
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Thus, George has a Frankenstein number of 3. But what about Dracula?
I must admit to a big gap in vampire knowledge here. I thought Bram Stoker's Dracula was a literary descendant of Le Fanu's Carmilla (1872). That luscious lady, however, is not the only vampire in English literature to predate the Count.
This story will be well-known to English Lit majors. Not being one, I had to learn it recently.
In 1816, a group of friends and not-so-close friends were together in a house in Switzerland, apparently cooped up by the rainy weather of that year.
In addition to the Shelleys (not yet married then) and Lord Byron, there was Byron's personal physician, named John William Polidori, and Mary's step-sister Claire Clairmont.
To dispel the ennui, they set themselves a competition to write a Gothic story similar to one they'd been reading aloud to each other.
The products of this stay were:
1. the beginning of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein;
2. a fragment of a story by Byron, discarded and picked up by Polidori as the germ of his own story;
3. The Vampyre, by Polidori, credited by some as the first modern vampire story in English literature;
4. Allegra, the illegitimate child of Claire and Lord Byron. (Byron didn't like Claire, even while he was assisting in the creation of Allegra. But it was a long, wet, summer without much else to do, and as Byron wrote to his half-sister, Claire threw herself at him and eventually he weakened.) At least one account I've read says that Claire was already pregnant by Byron, thanks to a short liaison in England, before she went to Switzerland, and her trip to Switzerland with Mary and Percy was with the design of tracking Byron down. He had that effect upon some women.
Tragedy ensues over the next few years. The Vampyre causes a rift between Polidori and Byron, perhaps contributing to the doctor's sad end in suicide in London, 1821. Allegra dies on April 20, 1822 at the age of five at convent school, placed there by Byron against Claire's wishes; Percy Shelley drowns, July 8, 1822.
Taaffe arrived in Pisa on November 1, 1821, the same day as Byron. Taaffe had been living in Italy since 1815.
As an aside, not everyone in Byron's circle was thrilled with Taaffe. Here's a link to p.361 of Lord Byron's Life in Italy by Byron's mistress at that time, Teresa Guiccioli.
It's tempting to say that Taaffe and Polidori knew each other, but I have no evidence of that. I can say that Taaffe knew Byron and Byron was the originator of Polidori's story, and also a model for its main character: Byron is the vampire.
George Lambert gets a Dracula number of 3: George -> Major Taaffe -> Taaffe senior -> Byron the vampire.
And who knows, it may later transpire that George and Bram were drinking buddies.
Any questions?
(You can find all three of these as public domain books if you look on the Web.)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Whoops! Forgot to give the Flea his Queen Victoria and Dracula numbers!
Back to our game of Six Degrees.
Henry Fleming -> Disraeli, Palmerston, Gladstone, others -> HM Queen Victoria
A Queen Victoria number of 2.
I suspect that is as high as he got.
Henry Fleming -> introduced the beauty, Virginia Pattle to the painter, George Frederic Watts at a party at Holland House -> Watts later married Ellen Terry, the actress -> Ellen Terry was Henry Irving's partner and leading lady, and of course would have known Bram Stoker, Irving's business manager and friend.
So far, a Dracula number of 3.
Henry Fleming -> spent many Sunday afternoons gossiping at the home of Thomas Carlyle, the writer -> Carlyle lived on Cheyne Walk, as did the Stokers, (though that doesn't prove they knew each other)
Possible Dracula number of 2.
I'd love to speculate about Henry Fleming and Oscar Wilde knowing each other, as they did have a few things in common, and Wilde was a friend of Stoker, but it would only be speculation.
The Stokers moved to London in the late 1870s, and Henry died in 1876, so it's not likely they crossed paths.
Henry Fleming -> Disraeli, Palmerston, Gladstone, others -> HM Queen Victoria
A Queen Victoria number of 2.
I suspect that is as high as he got.
Henry Fleming -> introduced the beauty, Virginia Pattle to the painter, George Frederic Watts at a party at Holland House -> Watts later married Ellen Terry, the actress -> Ellen Terry was Henry Irving's partner and leading lady, and of course would have known Bram Stoker, Irving's business manager and friend.
So far, a Dracula number of 3.
Henry Fleming -> spent many Sunday afternoons gossiping at the home of Thomas Carlyle, the writer -> Carlyle lived on Cheyne Walk, as did the Stokers, (though that doesn't prove they knew each other)
Possible Dracula number of 2.
I'd love to speculate about Henry Fleming and Oscar Wilde knowing each other, as they did have a few things in common, and Wilde was a friend of Stoker, but it would only be speculation.
The Stokers moved to London in the late 1870s, and Henry died in 1876, so it's not likely they crossed paths.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
What was Thomas Charles MARCH's Dracula number? Six degrees.
If you stayed with me through the exploration of the Thomas Charles MARCH family, not only do you deserve a medal, but you will already know what I mean by a Dracula number.
I'm playing Six Degrees of Separation with some of the residents of Charles Street, off Berkeley Square in London, in 1871, and determining how many degrees they are away from Queen Victoria (the Queen Victoria number) and from Bram STOKER the author of Dracula (the Dracula number).
By the way, I am using ALL CAPS for surnames here, a convention the police use a lot and family history writers sometimes, because the surname MARCH is too easily confused with the month.
Thomas Charles MARCH, of No. 1 Charles Street, Berkeley Square in 1871, has a Queen Victoria number of 1, having worked in the Royal Household for about 50 years in some high-ranking positions.
There are two connections I can point to between Thomas and Dracula, or at least, Bram.
Bram STOKER was an author of course, bu he was also a theatrical manager, and often described as the friend and manager of Sir Henry IRVING.
Sir Henry was the first actor to be knighted. The ceremony was on July 18, 1895 by Queen Victoria at Windsor. In an online archive of Sir Henry's correspondence, on the website henryirving.co.uk, there are two entries for correspondence between Sir Henry and Thomas Charles MARCH. In each, MARCH is described as Buckingham Palace paymaster, and his address is Board of Green Cloth, Buckingham Palace.
The first letter is from MARCH to IRVING, July 19, 1895. The catalogue description is: "Fees due to the Earl Marshall and British heralds upon knighthood are £26 and he asks for a cheque with the corrected or approved notice for the London Gazette."
The second letter, also from MARCH to IRVING, is dated July 26, 1895. "Receipt for £26 for knighthood fees to Sir Henry B. Irving."
So, from MARCH to IRVING to STOKER would give MARCH a Dracula number of 2, but I think we can do better.
The Lord Chamberlain's Office and the Theatre World of Victoria London
Let me not appear to have any kind of expertise in this subject whatsoever.
What I have inferred from cursory research is that the Lord Chamberlain's Office was in charge of making sure the theatre world ran properly. This included being the censor, and licensing plays as fit for public consumption.
Because of his long, active, and prominent involvement, and his leadership role in the theatre, Henry IRVING was frequently dealing with the Lord Chamberlain's Office, but not specifically with Thomas Charles MARCH. The job of censor appears to have belonged to the Comptroller within the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
From 1857 to 1901, Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon PONSONBY-FANE was the Comptroller. It's not a long stretch of the imagination to suggest that, given this lengthy tenure, he and Thomas MARCH must have been well acquainted. Apparently both IRVING and STOKER were also well enough acquainted with the Comptroller that IRVING could instruct STOKER, on September 22, 1887 to seek advice from him ("have a chat") as an old friend, regarding some aggravation IRVING was experiencing from a third party, EARLTON(?). This is what the catalogue entry for a letter from IRVING to STOKER says:
"'We will proceed no further in this business' at least for the present. Come to [?] as soon as he [STOKER] can as Irving wants to hear the sound reasons of their wise old friend. Stoker should call at the Lord Chamberlain's Office, deliver the enclosed, and have a chat with Ponsonby Fane. The man Earlton(?) is playing a spiteful game and Irving wants to hear Sir Spencer's opinion of his tactics. Business great and all going well."
STOKER knew PONSONBY-FANE, again, giving MARCH a Dracula number of 2.
Is it too speculative to imagine that over the approximately 40 years in which they worked together, that PONSONBY-FANE and MARCH might have chatted with STOKER together? I am edging toward a #1, though not conclusively there yet.
Another nail in the coffin
One final tidbit has cropped up.
Bram STOKER's Dracula was published in 1897, and although it's his most famous book, it's not the only one he wrote. In 1911, a year before he died, his last book, The Lair of the White Worm, came out. (later made into a movie starting Amanda Donohoe and Hugh Grant. Who knew?) This is not exactly a vampire tale, but it has similar themes and strange supernatural elements. I have not read it. All I needed to see was this: the evil female supernatural creature is a woman (or so it seems) named Arabella MARCH.
Why? I don't know. Inconveniently, no one appears to have published a thesis on the topic, at least, not a thesis prominent enough for Google's attention. I offer these alternative reasons:
1. STOKER knew Sarah COOPER, who became Arabella MARCH, before marriage and thought she was enough of a schemer to be outed as such (years after her death and that of her husband);
2. STOKER knew Arabella MARCH, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah / Arabella, and thought she was a schemer who deserved to be outed as such;
3. STOKER knew either or both of the Arabella MARCHes and liked them, and used the name as a kind of ironic tribute, perhaps with permission;
4. STOKER didn't like Thomas Charles MARCH and took this low shot at him post-humously;
5. STOKER unconsciously chose the name of not just one, but two real persons he had either met or heard of; or
6. STOKER liked the name.
Provisionally, the real Arabellas (mother and daughter) get a Dracula score of 1 and so does Thomas. My game, my rules.
Thomas March is the first of many interesting people we will meet on Charles Street in 1871. His story starts with Thomas March of 1 Charles Street: One degree from Queen Victoria.
This article is one in an ongoing series, starting with Bram Stoker, author of Dracula in public records: BMD (Birth, Marriage, Death).
Next: Maud Gonne and Thomas Charles March and the English wine merchants who brought us port.
I'm playing Six Degrees of Separation with some of the residents of Charles Street, off Berkeley Square in London, in 1871, and determining how many degrees they are away from Queen Victoria (the Queen Victoria number) and from Bram STOKER the author of Dracula (the Dracula number).
By the way, I am using ALL CAPS for surnames here, a convention the police use a lot and family history writers sometimes, because the surname MARCH is too easily confused with the month.
Thomas Charles MARCH, of No. 1 Charles Street, Berkeley Square in 1871, has a Queen Victoria number of 1, having worked in the Royal Household for about 50 years in some high-ranking positions.
There are two connections I can point to between Thomas and Dracula, or at least, Bram.
Bram STOKER was an author of course, bu he was also a theatrical manager, and often described as the friend and manager of Sir Henry IRVING.
Sir Henry was the first actor to be knighted. The ceremony was on July 18, 1895 by Queen Victoria at Windsor. In an online archive of Sir Henry's correspondence, on the website henryirving.co.uk, there are two entries for correspondence between Sir Henry and Thomas Charles MARCH. In each, MARCH is described as Buckingham Palace paymaster, and his address is Board of Green Cloth, Buckingham Palace.
The first letter is from MARCH to IRVING, July 19, 1895. The catalogue description is: "Fees due to the Earl Marshall and British heralds upon knighthood are £26 and he asks for a cheque with the corrected or approved notice for the London Gazette."
The second letter, also from MARCH to IRVING, is dated July 26, 1895. "Receipt for £26 for knighthood fees to Sir Henry B. Irving."
So, from MARCH to IRVING to STOKER would give MARCH a Dracula number of 2, but I think we can do better.
The Lord Chamberlain's Office and the Theatre World of Victoria London
Let me not appear to have any kind of expertise in this subject whatsoever.
What I have inferred from cursory research is that the Lord Chamberlain's Office was in charge of making sure the theatre world ran properly. This included being the censor, and licensing plays as fit for public consumption.
Because of his long, active, and prominent involvement, and his leadership role in the theatre, Henry IRVING was frequently dealing with the Lord Chamberlain's Office, but not specifically with Thomas Charles MARCH. The job of censor appears to have belonged to the Comptroller within the Lord Chamberlain's Office.
From 1857 to 1901, Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon PONSONBY-FANE was the Comptroller. It's not a long stretch of the imagination to suggest that, given this lengthy tenure, he and Thomas MARCH must have been well acquainted. Apparently both IRVING and STOKER were also well enough acquainted with the Comptroller that IRVING could instruct STOKER, on September 22, 1887 to seek advice from him ("have a chat") as an old friend, regarding some aggravation IRVING was experiencing from a third party, EARLTON(?). This is what the catalogue entry for a letter from IRVING to STOKER says:
"'We will proceed no further in this business' at least for the present. Come to [?] as soon as he [STOKER] can as Irving wants to hear the sound reasons of their wise old friend. Stoker should call at the Lord Chamberlain's Office, deliver the enclosed, and have a chat with Ponsonby Fane. The man Earlton(?) is playing a spiteful game and Irving wants to hear Sir Spencer's opinion of his tactics. Business great and all going well."
STOKER knew PONSONBY-FANE, again, giving MARCH a Dracula number of 2.
Is it too speculative to imagine that over the approximately 40 years in which they worked together, that PONSONBY-FANE and MARCH might have chatted with STOKER together? I am edging toward a #1, though not conclusively there yet.
Another nail in the coffin
One final tidbit has cropped up.
Bram STOKER's Dracula was published in 1897, and although it's his most famous book, it's not the only one he wrote. In 1911, a year before he died, his last book, The Lair of the White Worm, came out. (later made into a movie starting Amanda Donohoe and Hugh Grant. Who knew?) This is not exactly a vampire tale, but it has similar themes and strange supernatural elements. I have not read it. All I needed to see was this: the evil female supernatural creature is a woman (or so it seems) named Arabella MARCH.
Why? I don't know. Inconveniently, no one appears to have published a thesis on the topic, at least, not a thesis prominent enough for Google's attention. I offer these alternative reasons:
1. STOKER knew Sarah COOPER, who became Arabella MARCH, before marriage and thought she was enough of a schemer to be outed as such (years after her death and that of her husband);
2. STOKER knew Arabella MARCH, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah / Arabella, and thought she was a schemer who deserved to be outed as such;
3. STOKER knew either or both of the Arabella MARCHes and liked them, and used the name as a kind of ironic tribute, perhaps with permission;
4. STOKER didn't like Thomas Charles MARCH and took this low shot at him post-humously;
5. STOKER unconsciously chose the name of not just one, but two real persons he had either met or heard of; or
6. STOKER liked the name.
Provisionally, the real Arabellas (mother and daughter) get a Dracula score of 1 and so does Thomas. My game, my rules.
Thomas March is the first of many interesting people we will meet on Charles Street in 1871. His story starts with Thomas March of 1 Charles Street: One degree from Queen Victoria.
This article is one in an ongoing series, starting with Bram Stoker, author of Dracula in public records: BMD (Birth, Marriage, Death).
Next: Maud Gonne and Thomas Charles March and the English wine merchants who brought us port.
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