An edition of The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon
(2011)
The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon
A candid biography of the 5th Countess of Carnarvon of Tutankhamun fame
by William P. Cross
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Almina Countess of Carnarvon, 5th Countess of Carnarvon, William Cross FSA Scot, Bernard PearsonPlaces
Egypt, England, Nursing Homes, NewportTimes
Victorian era, Edwardian era, Great War, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s| Edition | Availability |
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The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon: A Candid Biography of the 5th Countess of Carnarvon of Tutankhamun Fame
2011, William P Cross
Paperback
1905914024 9781905914029
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The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon: A candid biography of the 5th Countess of Carnarvon of Tutankhamun fame
22 April 2011, William P Cross
Paperback
in English
1905914024 9781905914029
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Book Details
Table of Contents
Introduction.....
Chapter 1 : Daughter Almina : A mysterious beginning
The year 1876 is notable for many things. Queen Victoria was crowned Empress of India by her Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for an invention he called the telephone. Melvil Dewey invented his classification system. The United States celebrated its centenary. And Almina Victoria Marie Alexandra Wombwell, destined to be the 5th Countess of Carnarvon, was born.........
Chapter 2 : The Marriage of Convenience: A Mother’s wisdom
George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, the heir to the Earldom of Carnarvon, was born on 26 June 1866 in his parents' London townhouse at 66 Grosvenor Street. He was named after his maternal grandfather but was initially known – as are all Carnarvon heirs – by the Viscount's title of Lord Porchester (Porchey for short).....
Chapter 3 : The New Earl and Countess Step Out - 1895-1902.
For Lord Carnarvon, the jewel in the crown of the Carnarvon estates was undoubtedly Bretby Park. The name Bretby is of Danish origin, and means "farm of the Britons". This was an ideal sanctuary of an ancient hall nestled amongst mature trees, a deer park, a chain of ornamental lakes and a clutch of dairy farms. Bretby Hall had once been home to the Chesterfields, and was the scene of the famous murder of Lady Elizabeth Butler, the wife of the 2nd Earl of Chesterfield, who had his wife poisoned following (untrue) allegations of infidelity.......
Chapter 4: Years of Uselessness - 1903-1914.
In January 1903 the Carnarvons travelled to North America. The Earl had visited the country twice before; in his playboy days, as Lord Porchester, he had gained praise there for his ability as a yachtsman. This latest trip was intended to improve his failing health and provide rest, though it seemed to consist more of amusement, with planned activities including a motoring tour, fishing expeditions to mountain lakes, horse racing and observing buffalo hunting in the Rockies. It was Almina's first time in America, as it was for Marcus Johnson (Dr Johnnie), the Earl's tireless physician. Only George Fernside, Carnarvon's faithful 37-year-old valet, had accompanied his master on a surfeit of similar sojourning around the world, including the past trips to "Yankeedom".......
Chapter 5 : Years of Usefulness - 1914-1918
In 1914 Almina was aged 38. She had long tired of the year-on-year winters in Egypt. She cringed at the wretched balls of the Cairo residency and the enforced greetings to the less-than-weighty Society figures of the world who drifted through its portals, all seeking their own glimpse of the arid country‟s ancient monuments. Besides this, there was little of interest in Lord Carnarvon's desert campaign with Howard Carter apart from sitting under inadequate parasols in the aching sun and rubble. Almina was therefore happy to return from Egypt in April 1914; and when the season ended she was consoled that Carter and Carnarvon's archeological work would be halted if war broke out......
Chapter 6 : Paving the Way for Change - 1919-1922
With Alfred de Rothschild's legacy, the Earl was in a position to guarantee his colleague Howard Carter further seasons in Egypt, and he invested the money on implements and an army of native diggers. According to the late Thomas Hoving, in his book Tutankhamun: The Untold Story, Howard Carter had resumed his excavations in Egypt in the autumn of 1917, but it wasn't until March 1919 that the Carnarvons were in a position to travel to the Valley of the Kings......
Chapter 7 : Losing a husband, gaining a husband - 1923-1924
In the New Year Lord Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn Herbert returned to Egypt, arriving at Alexandra on the SS Adriatic on 25 January. For this trip to assess the Tutankhamun treasures, Carnarvon was happier to have his devoted daughter, rather than his estranged wife, at his side. Lady Evelyn was her father's constant companion, and to his joy she had inherited Carnarvon's fascination with Egyptology. Between the two existed a deep love and mutual admiration. One journalist, Valentine Williams, described a tender friendship between them, delightful to watch Evelyn wanted to be by her father's side at the moment of his triumph.
Chapter 8 : Dennistoun v Dennistoun : The Dustbin Case - 1925
By mid January of 1925 Howard Carter resumed work on the tomb of Tutankhamun ( which had been closed since February 1924 ) under a new Egyptian agreement granted to Almina with "a choice of duplicates of objects found there" . Whilst this removed one pressure from the Dowager Countess of Carnarvon‟s life, another hung over her, and her husband, the Colonel, like the great Sword of Damocles: that of the impending court case of Dorothy Dennistoun versus Ian Dennistoun.......
Chapter 9 : Getting Back to Status Quo Bellum - 1925-1929
After all the mud-raking and costly litigation, Almina and the Colonel decided to keep their distance from London and retreated to their estate at Alvie, Scotland in April 1925. They remained self-exiled here even when another grandchild, Lady Anne Penelope Marian Herbert (1925–1990), the only daughter of the 6th Earl and Catherine Wendell, was christened at Highclere Church on 12 April 1925.....
Chapter 10 : The Rise and Demise of Dreams - 1930-1939
The year 1930 was an uneventful one for Almina, consisting merely of ensuring Alfred House was ticking along nicely and attending social engagements. Sometimes maintaining her public image demanded attendance at sombre Society events, such as the funeral at Westminster Cathedral in April of Commander Ronald Egerton Balfour, who had died in a motor car accident and whose father, Brigadier-General Sir Alfred Balfour (1858-1936), was one of Almina's committed colleagues during the Great War as the Commandant of the military port of Southampton, administering war-wounded soldiers......
Chapter 11 : Retreat to the Hills - 1940-1949
In 1940 Almina poured her heart and her funds into her new nursing home, The Red House in Hove. She was glad to be out of London, and saddened by news of deaths among her acquaintances and intimates – such as Arthur and Mary Portman, close friends who were killed in the London Blitz when their house "fell like a pack of cards" during an air raid.......
Chapter 12 : A Penniless Countess - 1950-1959
For many years, Almina had used her charms, ingenuity and willingness to part with assets to keep afloat in the face of financial difficulties. But by 1950, the proud Countess faced total ruin. In the 40 years since the deaths of her wealth-providers, Marie Wombwell, Alfred de Rothschild and the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, Almina spent a king's ransom. She had used and abused every last vestige of her portfolio of investments, properties, land, antiques, life insurances and loans; every asset was gone......
Chapter 13 : Almina’s Final Years – 1960-1969 <?
The 1960s saw the publication of various materials that related to Almina's life, outlining some events that had shaped her story. Almina was particularly interested in mentions of her first husband. She prized a small enamel miniature portrait of the 5th Earl, which occupied its place with other family photographs on her desk in all her homes, and talked of Carnarvon on days like his birthday and whenever there was a radio programme, book or article published which featured the story of his historic exploits with Carter in the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb........
Epilogue: Almina Secrets.......
Appendix 1 : Later events of interest.....
Appendix 2 : Research, Acknowledgements and Thanks...
Index
End Notes
Edition Notes
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Work Description
Newport writer, Bernard Pearson, offers this review of The Life and Secrets of Almina Carnarvon
This scholarly and well-researched book could be as dry as an Egyptian tomb uncovered by one of its principals the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon had it not been for the author’s attention to detail and instinct for not backing away from controversy.
Here opening up before us the physical and emotional idiosyncrasies of our Victorian and Edwardian ‘betters’, the philanthropists, the litigants, the loveless unions, the skeletons half in and half out of the closet, the gamblers, the rakes and adulterers, all written with an authentic eye on the facts as far as they can be established glimpsed through the ever closing ranks of the British aristocracy
The author’s referencing to place and deft character portraiture have us journeying with the Countess of Carnarvon through her best of times (ironically the two world wars) and the bad times when she was ostracized by her peers on account of her near penury. Diminutive of stature but not on any account to be trifled with, the author brings Almina and her world to life as do the photographs included in the book many from private collection which chart her humanitarian work in nursing home development alongside her somewhat unorthodox amorous and fiscal arrangements from stately home grandeur to suburban anonymity.
I have no doubt The book will make uncomfortable reading for some within the highest echelons of the establishment, but it neither prurient or dull and for layman and social historian alike it makes a darn good read!
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| May 20, 2011 | Edited by 82.21.179.93 | Edited without comment. |
| May 19, 2011 | Edited by 195.93.21.69 | A Review of the Book |
| May 13, 2011 | Created by 82.6.50.21 | Added new book. |