Reggie DeVeulle 1919 - 1956

After his release from prison Reggie disappears from the public record almost entirely. He was in his late 30’s and his acting days were behind him. 

Reggie and Pauline, certainly appeared to be able to hold on to some aspects of their former lifestyle. They retained a Mayfair telephone number staying at number 13 Lancashire Court near Hyde Park from 1919 until 1923. After this date Pauline disappears entirely from the record and Reggie can only be glimpsed.

Reggie was still in London in 1926 when he designed some dresses for a production of Yvonne at Daly’s theatre. These can been seen on the V&A site. Judging by these few drawings Reggie did have some skill in dressing woman.

Reggies brother Frederick H De Vaulle was an pioneer of the motor car. He died on the 24th January 1924 in Birmingham aged 49. Frederick left 3500 pounds to his widow. Could he also have supported Reggie or made him a beneficiary of the will? 

It appears likely that Reggie then moved to Paris. As noted by Marek Kohn in Dope Girls the Obelisk press in Paris announced in 1933 that they would shortly be publishing his scandalous memoirs. No further record on these has been found to date. Unfortunately the papers of the Obelisk publisher Jack Kahane, who went on to publish Tropic of Cancer in 1934, have been lost.

14 Rue De La Chaise

Then Reggie disappears into the tumult of the 1930’s and 40’s. Whether he risked life in Paris under the occupation or returned to the anonymity of London I cannot say but when he can next be placed it is, 14 Rue de la Chaise, Paris circa 1953. 

This 200 metre long street in the 7th Arridisement was to be Reggie’s final home. It is from this address that Reggie returned to London and was admitted to the Mildmay Memorial Hospital, Newington Green, Islington. The Mildmay closed in 1958 and was demolished shortly afterwards. However after the formation of the NHS in 1948 this former general hospital became an NHS acute care hospital. It was a small facility with only some 50 beds. 

Reggie appears in the 1954 electoral register as a patient at the Mildmay. Given the closing date for the registers it is likely that he had been admitted there by October 1953. Reggie never left the hospital. On 15th June 1956 he died, aged 75. His niece, M. Lee was the informant. The cause of death was Haematemesis, gastric ulcer and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Mildmay Memorial Hospital

Right to the end Reggie demonstrated a taste for the theatrical. On his final electoral registration in October 1955 he gave himself a final round of applause: He recorded his name as ‘The Marquis R. DeVeulle’.