1901 - The Horniman Connection

Whatever befell the young Reggie in the 10 years after life in his grandmother's home in Jersey in 1891. It is fair to say that by March of 1901 his circumstances were very different. Reggie attended the Kensington school of art circa 1899 but his sights were set on a theatrical career.

Reggie spent night of the 1901 census at an address in St. Stephens mansions which was near Smith Square in the City of Westminster. He was recorded as a visitor and was presumably the guest of one of the other 2 occupants of number 33. Roy Horniman and his brother Benjamin.

Roy and Benjamin Horniman were the sons of the Paymaster in Chief of the royal Navy and distinguished sailor William Horniman. Their mother was from an aristocratic Greek family. Their father had died 6 years earlier. Roy and Benjamin, aged 31 and 27 respectively lived well. Neither were then married. Indeed a contemporary described Roy as "a well-to-do batchelor who knew what did and did not suit him, marriage being in the latter category and the social round in the former"

Roy had already achieved some success in the arts. He had gone on the stage at 19 and described himself as a Actor, vocalist and author on his census return.  He would shortly go on to lease and manage the Criterion theatre in London. In 1901 he was a rising star in the literary world. In the previous year one of his early novels 'The Sin of Atlantis' had been published by Chatto and Windnes and had sold well. By 1904 he would have added 'The living Buddha', 'That fast Miss Blount' and 'The Magnificent Bellamy - An Extravaganza' to his canon. The last of those novels was filmed three times , firstly as 'A gentleman of Paris in 1927 in which featured 'The Marquis of Marignan as a seducer who flirts with every girl he meets...' 'The Magnificent Bellamy' and it's excoriating portrait of one 'Reggie Van Deleur' is a suitable subject for a post all of it's own.

Kind Hearts & Coronets 1949

Roy Horniman went on to write 'Israel Rank' in 1907. Long out of print it has recently been made available by Faber. It is of course better known as the fabulous film 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' featuring Alec Guinness.  You can buy it here as a paperback or here at a bargain price on Kindle.

Roy Horniman embraced the cause of India. He was a member of the British committee of the Indian National Congress and was an eloquent speaker for the anti-vivisection movement.

He died in London, in the Autumn of 1930 aged 62.

Glimpses of the past

Reggie DeVaulle had a life on the fringes of London and New York High society. I imagine that his relatively well to do background and education would have allowed him a degree of access which perhaps he craved. However when his fall from grace came he appears to have fallen out of the public record all together.

There are however some intriguing glimpses of his life through the census records for 1891 as a child in Guernsey Then in the 1901 and 1911 censuses as a young man in London.

The 1891 census of the Channel Islands sees Reggie 'aged 10' living in the wonderfully named 'Sans Ennui',St. Aubin, Jersey with his Maternal Grandmother Betsey Devaulle aged 83 and Aunt Elise Manual aged 43. Both women were widowed and 'living on her own means'.

It appears the house still existed in 1912 when it was rented to Arthur Hellyer, a well known Jersey Horticulturalist until the outbreak of the war.

St. Aubin Early 20th Century

I don't yet know why Reggie was separated from his family at this time. Perhaps his father had returned to foreign service and Reggie was to be schooled at home in Jersey.

Starting the search

I first encountered the story of Reggie DeVaulle via this story on the BBC Website from January 2012.

"100 years of the war on drugs". The article featured the Billie Carleton case in which Reggie DeVaulle was charged with manslaughter. At first my attention was grabbed by the 'Scottish woman Ada' and her Chinese husband Lau Ping You, the Limehouse dealers frequented by Reggie. 

I have discovered a lot more about Ada and her life. She is a tragic figure at the periphery of this tale. I'll return to her story at a later date.

Billie Carleton c. 1918

A book that I can't recommend highly enough is 'Dope Girls' by Marek Kohn. It's an excellent analysis of the birth of the British drug underground from the liberal late Victorian era to the moral outrage that arose during and after the First World War leading to the prohibition of previous legal drugs. You can get it here.

Reggie DeVaulle - a brief biography

Reginald Raoul De Veulle was born into a well to do De Veulle family who trace their roots in Jersey back to the 1500's. He was born in 1881 in LeMans, France where his father was posted as British consul.

Reggie does not appear to have been particularly academic young man and the first decade of the 20th Century found him treading the boards as an actor and dancer in review both in London and New York.

His background and connections allowed him to move in elevated circles living as the guest of a number  wealthy people in London. After his stage career ended he became a costumier designing stage costumes for a number of West End and touring shows.

His private life was marked by scandals. He was implicated in the blackmail of the son of an industrialist over his relationship with another man. It is generally assumed that Reggie was himself gay but in 1915 he married Pauline Gay, a Frenchwoman 5 years his senior who lived just a few doors away from him in Half Moon Street.

The most lasting scandal in which Reggie was involved as the 1919 death of the aspiring actress 'Billie' Carleton shortly after an armistice ball. Public opinion was highly charged over the subject of illegal drugs immediately after the First World War and Reggie was charged with manslaughter for allegedly supplying Miss Carleton with the drugs believed to have killed her.

After the trial Reggie faded form the public consciousness. His society connections broken he continued to live in London working as a costumier until the late 1920's. After then he disappears from the public record until the mid 1950's. Reggie had been living in Paris until 1955 when he was admitted to a private hospital in London where he died aged 75 in 1956.