Biography of Georgina Moncrieffe Countess Dudley 1846-1929

On 12th December 1874 the jewels of Georgina Moncrieffe Countess Dudley (age 28) were stolen at Paddington Station. The earl offered a £1,000 reward and anonymity to the thief if the jewels should be returned but they were never seen again. The Times reported:

The robbery of Lady Dudley's jewel-case outside the Great Western Railway Station, at Paddington, on Saturday evening, just previous to the starting of the Worcester express leaving London at 6.30pm, was effected under circumstances which leave little doubt that the thief was a practised hand, and had laid his plans with an ingenuity worthy of a better purpose. [her husband] Lord (age 57) and Lady Dudley arrived at the railway station in his lordship's brougham at 6.20pm, and were immediately followed by a four-wheeled cab conveying two of the Countess' waiting women, each in charge of a ponderous jewel box and other articles of a lady's toilette. Scott, one of the women, was the first who alighted, and having deposited upon the pavement the box under her care, while turning round to assist her companion, for better security and with commendable caution placed one foot upon the jewel-case. In an unlucky instant her attention was diverted by the other maid, and she removed her foot from the box. Her companion having alighted, Scott stooped to recover the box, when, to her great consternation, she found it had been removed. An instant search was made by the Earl's servants and by the railway officials in attendance, but no tidings could be gained of it. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (age 33) arrived at this moment to travel by the same train in a 'slip carriage' as far as Slough on his way to Windsor, and a desire on the part of the railway authorities to despatch the train punctually led to some little confusion, amid which the express left the station without any intelligence of the missing box having been obtained. The Worcester express made its first stoppage at Reading. On arriving there Lord Dudley alighted, and explaining to the station agent the circumstances, requited that every compartment in the train should be searched, in the hope that the missing box might have been separated from his other luggage. The search proving fruitless, his Lordship decided upon returning to London at once, which he did, accompanied by the lady's maid, in a special train as soon as the express had left Reading. On reaching Paddington, he drove direct to his jewellers, Messrs Hunt and Roskell, of New Bond Street, whither the police from Scotland Yard were immediately summoned. Under their advice a detailed list of the lost jewels was prepared and circulated among the leading metropolitan and local pawnbrokers. Among the principal articles lost may be mentioned a pearl and diamond bracelet, presented by the inhabitants of Dudley on the occasion of the marriage of the Earl and Countess; a diamond collette necklace, a diamond cross, a sapphire and diamond bracelet, a diamond necklace with pearl and diamond drops, a pair of very fine pearl earrings, two pairs of diamond earrings, five diamond stars, three diamond butterflies, a cat's-eye pendant and earrings, a diamond padlock, a ruby and diamond pendant, an emerald and diamond watch with enamelled chain, a turquoise and ruby watch, an enamelled and diamond watch, and a crystal watch. We are informed on undoubted authority that the amount of loss of Lady Dudley's jewellery is not half what it was first stated to be.

On 30th October 1914 at Zandvoorde during the he First Battle of Ypres.

Charles Pelham (age 27) [Lord Worsley] was killed in action. His wife, Alexandra Vivian (age 24), who did not remarry, subsequently purchased the land in the town of Zandvoorde in which he was buried. Following his re-interrment at the Town Cemetery Military Extension at Ypre in 1921, the land became the site of the Household Cavalry Memorial.

Hugh William Grosvenor (age 30) was killed in action.

[her son] Gerald Ernest Francis Ward (age 36) was killed in action His body was never recovered and he is commemorated at the Menin Gate.

Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice (age 40) was killed in action.

The 1st Life Guard's war diary noted the action at Zandvoorde -[7]

Zandvoorde-Oct 30 6am Heavy bombardment of position opened. At 7.30am position was attacked by large force of infantry. This attack proved successful owing to greatly superior numbers. Regiment retired in good order about 10.00am except C Squadron on the left flank from which only about ten men got back. Remainder of Squadron missing. Also one machine gun put out of action.

Worsley was in command of the Machine Gun section of the Royal Horse Guards defending the area around Zandvoorde to the East of Ypres. They had come under overwhelming pressure and most of the unit had been withdrawn and replaced by 1st Life Guards in which Hugh Grosvenor served. However the MG section, being essential to the defence of the line was retained in the front line along with its crew, led by Lord Worsley. The events concerning the death of both men are discussed in "1914 - The Days of Hope" by Lyn McDonald. Worsley was not the image of the spit and polish of the Household Brigade. He was covered in mud and had not shaved for a week having been subject to continual attacks by the German elite troops ranged against them. He wrote home that his last shave "was all the washing I've had time for in the last ten days". The incoming Life Guards had one Machine Gun inoperative so Worsley's gun was retained as it covered a vital section of the line. His team were tired and hungry having missed out on a meal during the relief by the 1st Life Guards, who had already consumed their own rations whilst moving up to the line and could not help their brothers in arms. However a timely parcel arrived from Worsley's mother containing chocolate which was shared equally amongst the MG team. They remained in position for six days and nights in appalling weather and under attack by overwhelming numbers. Their trench was shallow, and dug on the forward slope before Zandvoorde in full view of the Germans. It was clear to Hugh Grosvenor that the position was exposed and that the Germans were massing for another attack. Grosvenor sent the following message to his HQ "There appears to be a considerable force of the enemy to my front and to my right front. They approach to within about seven hundred yards at night. Our shells have not been near them on this flank". What remained unsaid was that the German artillery certainly had the range of the British trenches and had delivered significant quantities of shellfire, clearly with little reply.

The morning of 30th November dawned as the eighth consecutive day that Worsley's MG team had spent in the line. At 06.00hrs the German barrage started and it was intense. For 90 minutes there was little that the British could do but deal with their battered trenches and their wounded. Worsley's team had to cover their vital Machine Gun with their bodies to protect it from mud and dirt - they well knew that when the shelling stopped they would need it in full working order. When the shelling stopped and the Germans advanced it was over in minutes. An official report confirmed that "the (German) attack proved successful owing to greatly superior numbers" and that the Regiment had "retired in good order". Not all had retired in good order. Hugh Grosvenor and Charles Worsley were occupied in dealing with Germans swarming over their trenches and firing on them at close range and soon it came down to hand to hand fighting. The inevitable conclusion soon came. One man retiring looked back and saw Worsley still standing, firing at the enemy about to overwhelm the trench. There was nobody left alive to tell the tale of the final moments. There were no British wounded. There were no prisoners taken. A cavalry squadron, fighting as dismounted infantry, had simply ceased to exist. By 08.30 news that the 7th Cavalry Brigade had been pushed off the Zandvoorde ridge reached 1st Corps HQ. Perhaps the Commander, General Sir Douglas Haig, took a moment to spare a thought for Worsley who was married to Haig's wife's younger sister.

There was a postscript. The German unit that captured Worsley's trench was the 1st Bavarian Jaeger Regiment and one of its officers found the bodies and on searching them for papers found that Worsley was a Lord. He ordered that any personal effects, including a gold ring should be taken from the body and returned to Worsley's family. Unfortunately the German officer was himself killed a few days later and the effects never found their way back to England. All of the British bodies were buried in a mass grave which remains unfound to this day and all are commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. All but one; Worsley's body was given a separate burial and via neutral Holland the German authorities passed information of its location. After the war it was located and is now buried in Ypres Town Cemetery Extension, just yards from that of another aristocratic Freemason HRH Prince Maurice of Battenberg. The land where Worsley's body was found was purchased by his wife and now is the site of the Household Division Memorial. Lyn McDonalds book includes photos of Worsley and his wife at the quayside before his embarkation to France and also his temporary grave marker.