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Andrew Cumming Gordon Russell Biography & Facts

The Royal baccarat scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft affair, was a British gambling scandal of the late 19th century involving the Prince of Wales—the future King Edward VII. The scandal started during a house party in September 1890, when Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a lieutenant colonel in the Scots Guards, was accused of cheating at baccarat. Edward had been invited to stay at Tranby Croft in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the home of Arthur Wilson and his family. Among Edward's party were his advisers, Lord Coventry and Lieutenant-General Owen Williams; Gordon-Cumming, a friend of the prince, was also invited. On the first night the guests played baccarat, and Stanley Wilson thought he saw Gordon-Cumming illegally adding to his stake. Stanley informed other members of the Wilson family, and they agreed to watch him on the following evening. Gordon-Cumming was again seen to be acting in a suspicious manner. The family members asked the advice of the royal courtiers who, with the agreement of the prince, confronted Gordon-Cumming and pressured him into signing a document that declared he would never play cards again in exchange for the silence of the guests. The secret was not kept for long, and Gordon-Cumming demanded a retraction from the Wilson family, whom he considered to blame for divulging the news. They refused, and he filed a writ for slander in February 1891. Despite the efforts of the prince's courtiers to have the matter dealt with by a military court, the case was heard in June 1891. The atmosphere at trial was described as being like a theatre, and Edward was called as a witness, the first time the heir to the throne had been compelled to appear in court since 1411. Gordon-Cumming's senior counsel, the Solicitor General Sir Edward Clarke, did not persuade any of the defendants to change their stories, but he highlighted several inaccuracies and serious discrepancies in their evidence. Despite a strong and well-regarded closing speech by Clarke on Gordon-Cumming's behalf, the judge's summing up was described as biased by some and the jury found against the lieutenant colonel. Gordon-Cumming was dismissed from the British Army the following day, and was ostracised from society for the rest of his life. A leader in The Times stated that "He has committed a mortal offence. Society can know him no more." Public opinion was on his side and the prince was at his most unpopular for several years afterwards. The affair has been of subsequent interest to writers; two books have examined the matter, and there have been two fictionalised accounts of the events. Background Sir William Gordon-Cumming At the time of the events at the country home Tranby Croft, Yorkshire, Sir William Gordon-Cumming was a 42-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Scots Guards, having seen service in South Africa (1879), Egypt (1882) and Sudan (1884–85). Gordon-Cumming's biographer, Jason Tomes, thought that his subject possessed "audacity and wit [and] gloried in the sobriquet of the most arrogant man in London", while Sporting Life described him as "possibly the most handsome man in London, and certainly the rudest". In addition to considerable land holdings in Scotland, Gordon-Cumming owned a house in Belgravia, London; he was a friend of Edward, Prince of Wales and would lend it to the prince for assignations with royal mistresses. Gordon-Cumming was a womaniser, and stated that his aim was to "perforate" members of "the sex"; his liaisons included Lillie Langtry, Sarah Bernhardt and Lady Randolph Churchill. He was unmarried at the time of the events and subsequent court case. Edward, Prince of Wales; the Marlborough House set Edward, Prince of Wales, was a 49-year-old married father of five at the time he visited Tranby Croft, and had a history of association with scandals. In 1866 he had incurred the censure of his mother, Queen Victoria, when he became involved with "the fast racing set", and his betting had "harm[ed] his reputation and contribute[d] to the widespread unpopularity of the monarchy in this period", according to his biographer, Sidney Lee. In April 1869 Sir Charles Mordaunt (1836–1897) learnt that his wife Harriet had had three separate affairs, and that her lovers included the heir to the throne. Although Mordaunt did not carry out his threat of citing the prince as co-respondent in the subsequent divorce case, Edward was subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness. Although Edward did not want to appear—and the queen wrote to the Lord Chancellor to see if this could be avoided—the law was such that the prince could be forced to appear if necessary. He appeared voluntarily and was in the witness box for seven minutes, during which time he denied having had a sexual relationship with Mordaunt's wife; he was not cross-examined. Edward's biographer, Colin Matthew, wrote that "the hearing coincided with general criticism of the very different deportments of both the queen and the prince. The latter was several times booed in public". Despite the "taboo on open criticism on [Edward's] actions, an undercurrent of dissatisfaction existed" with him and his actions. For Edward, although such affairs could be discussed between friends, scandal was to be avoided wherever possible. In 1890 Edward gave up dancing, telling his son George that "I am getting too old and fat for these amusements"; he replaced dancing with other pursuits, like attending the opera and playing baccarat. He enjoyed baccarat so much that when he travelled he brought a set of leather counters, valued on one side from five shillings to £10 and engraved with his feathers on the other; the counters had been a present from his friend Reuben Sassoon, a member of the well-known banking family. Surrounding Edward was a fashionable clique known as the "Marlborough House set", named after the prince's home overlooking The Mall, London. The set was a mixture of old titled families and "plutocratic and parvenu" families with fortunes from new industry, and the prince carried out an active policy to spread the social circle of the royal family to include new industrialists such as the shipping magnate Arthur Wilson. Arthur Wilson and family Arthur Wilson was the 52-year-old Hull-based owner of a shipping business. He built his home at Tranby Croft, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, as a Victorian country house, and he and his family moved in during the summer of 1876. As well as a wife, Mary, he also had a son, (Arthur) Stanley Wilson, and a daughter, Ethel; her husband, Edward Lycett Green, was the son of the local manufacturer and MP, Sir Edward Green. Tomes reports that Gordon-Cumming may have previously propositioned Ethel Lycett Green. Gambling and baccarat in 1890 Baccarat is a game for up to twenty players, together with a banker and croupier; several packs of cards are used, depending on the number of players. The value of the ace to nine cards are as their pip value, while tens and court cards c.... Discover the Andrew Cumming Gordon Russell popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Andrew Cumming Gordon Russell books.