The Drowning of Hubert Crackanthorpe and the Persecution of Leila Macdonald

On 27 December 1896 diplomat Dayrell Crackanthorpe sat down in the Hotel Metropolitain, Rue Caraban, Paris, to explain to publisher John Lane exactly how the death of his brother should be interpreted: "I was so closely linked to him in point of years as well as by natural sympathies that I feel it my duty to get rid of any wrong impression that may have been produced as to the cause of his death."¹ Dayrell and his mother, the writer and society hostess Blanche Crackanthorpe, and her youngest son, Oliver, had rushed to Paris three days previously on being informed by the French police that a body, almost certainly that of Hubert Crackanthorpe, had been recovered from the Seine on 23 December.

The story of Crackanthorpe's death is a familiar tale of the fin de siècle, recognised at the time as a defining incident and frequently recounted thereafter. Previously unpublished letters, however, show how the story was manipulated by the Crackanthorpe family and how his wife Leila was blamed for Crackanthorpe's death by his friends and relatives. They show how Leila used John Lane as a go-between to communicate with James Welch, the husband of Crackanthorpe's mistress, and how Leila was supported by Henry and Aline Harland.

The period after his death saw the elevation of Crackanthorpe as the great lost leader of the Decadent/Realist school with a commemorative volume including an "appreciation" by Henry James. Leila Macdonald's work was disregarded as if she had nothing to offer, despite her later works showing a developing talent. Worse were the lies and persecution; in a previously unpublished letter the author Haldane Macfall described how he plotted to cheat Leila of her inheritance; new research in probate records shows how this was achieved. A previously unpublished letter to Aline Harland shows how ten years after the death

The "Missing" Notice

The Graphic  14 December 1896

Leila still lived in fear of the wrath of the Crackanthorpes. She was banished to such obscurity that important biographical details, including such essentials as her date and place of death, are reported here for the first time. Not even a photograph of Leila can be located.

Before the Crackanthorpe family arrived that December day in 1896 the body, decomposed beyond recognition, had been identified at the morgue from the clothes, linen marks, and articles upon it such as a single cuff link, a silver cigarette case and match box, and a ring bearing the family crest. The police found no evidence of robbery or foul play; they judged that from the appearance of the corpse it must have been in the water for fully six weeks. That being the case, the death on 5 November 1896 was either suicide or accident. Dayrell, an official at the Foreign Office, was at pains to ensure his brother's death was not subject to an inquest. The police concurred, one presumes with a shrug; there was nothing in it for them to hold an inquest on a foreign national where there were no suspicious circumstances. The body was released to the family to be shipped back to England.

That secured, Dayrell set to ensure the family's view of events was the public one. His letter to Lane explained:

My brother's death was self-inflicted: on his body was found a letter written to him by his wife, to whom he was devotedly attached, on the 4th of November last. They had been living in the Avenue Kléber during the two previous months, and in this letter she announced to him her intention of leaving him. This she did the same evening. Having traced her to a Paris hotel, my brother went to her early on the 5th of November and implored her to give him an explanation. She refused to see him and that same night my brother disappeared.

"I beg you will make all possible use of this letter," he wrote, in this previously unpublished communication which is a small gem...