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

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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices