Friday 4 May 2012

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.


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