Country Images Magazine May 2015 - North Edition | Page 12

The Dead Duke,
and the
Steve Orme interviews qualified lawyer,
former BBC television producer, and
author of The Dead Duke, His Secret
Wife, and the Missing Corpse,
Piu Marie Eatwell
Visitors to the 15,000-acre Welbeck
Estate near Worksop in Nottinghamshire
are generally captivated by how it has
continually been regenerated without
losing its historic, individual character.
Yet most people who take advantage
of the state room tours, run daily during
August, or who indulge in homemade
treats in the Harley Cafe will probably
be unaware of some of the estate’s secrets
hidden beneath the great house.
10 | CountryImagesMagazine.co.uk

In the winter of 1851-52 the reclusive, eccentric 5th Duke of Portland,
also known as Lord John, was involved in a serious accident, with a horsedrawn cab causing him a severe head injury.
This is said to have been one of the reasons for his becoming more and
more withdrawn. He began an extraordinary programme of building
works at Welbeck, including a maze of underground passages. One of them
featured a set of tracks along which his dinner would be delivered from the
abbey kitchens to the dining room.
This underground world and the fact that the Duke communicated with
his staff by writing notes for them meant he could disappear for months
at a time. It fuelled speculation that the Duke was leading a double life,
resurfacing as Thomas Charles Druce who eventually became a partner
in the Baker Street Bazaar in London – a forerunner of the modern
department store.
The 5th Duke, William John Cavendish-Bentinck, to give him his full
name, died in December 1879. Twent y-four years later George Hollamby