Lovers, Mistresses and Scarlet Letters
The following item was found by Ian Shapiro from whom I gratefully purchased it at the SACS Letchworth SACS meeting last Saturday. It will go into my Simonstown collection. The cover 'doesn't look like much' but as ever........
The cover was posted from SIMONSTOWN marked 'On Active Service' and stamped NAVAL CENSOR SIMONSTOWN '10. DEC. 1918'. It appears to have been initialled by the Censoring Officer. What is most curious about the purple oval Naval Censor datestamp is that while the double outer and inner oval lines are typically divided on the right with a Maltese Cross, the left-hand side bears what appears to be either an '8' or a four leaf clover. These embellishments are invariably similar but in this case they appear distinctly different. On closer inspection, however, this is an optical illusion caused by a faint strike. It is indeed a thin Maltese Cross. I have made a quick copy of the NAVAL CENSOR SIMONSTOWN postmark so you can get some idea of what it looks like in the absence of a better strike.
On arrival in Britain the cover was marked 'RECEIVED FROM H.M.SHIP - NO CHARGE TO BE RAISED' and LONDON 'JAN 19 19D'
The addressee is Mrs Dudley Ward, Kilbees Farm, Winkfield, Windsor Forest, England. It was received at WINKFIELD, WINDSOR on '19 JA 19'. Not being at Kilbees Farm, the letter was forwarded to Mrs Ward at Lamcote, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottingham. It was received at RADCLIFFE-ON-TRENT on '20 JA 19'. However. Mrs Ward was not there either and the letter was forwarded to her at 65 Duke Street, Grosvenor Square, London W. To quote Bridget Jones, this is a 'top, top' London address. Presumably the letter found her there. At present I have no idea who the sender was. The revese of the letter is embossed 'CAPE TIMES LTD, CAPE TOWN' beneath the flap.
Freda Dudley Ward, was an English socialite best known in polite aristocratic circles for being the married mistress of the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII. William Dudley Ward wed Freda Dudley Ward (nee Birkin) in 1913 when he was 35 and she was 18. Dudley Ward became the Liberal MP for Southampton in 1906 and held the seat until 1922. Freda began her relationship with the Prince of Wales in late 1918 which lasted until 1929. One of the places they would frequently meet was Lamcote, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottingham. Other meeting places were around Windsor, like 'Fern Hill Cottage', Winkfield, Windsor. Apparently the Prince of Wales was so smitten, Winston Chirchill observed that "It is quite pathetic to see the Prince and Freda. His love is so obvious and undisguisable." Only after the end of her relationship with the Prince of Wales did her husband divorce her on the ground of adultery in 1931, presumably with someone else. One of Mrs Ward’s relatives was the actress and singer Jane Birkin, who in 1969 had a number one hit record, 'Je T’aime – Moi Non Plus', which was considered so raunchy it was banned in Britain.
The photo below shows Mrs Ward in 1919 just after she started her affair with the Prince of Wales.
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