Lieutenant Colonel the Prince de Mahé

[QUEX]

3 minutes ago, ianjonesncl said:

 

 

The article in the South Wales Daily Post outlines that Charlie was a manager of a works in Algiers (The Cambrian details he works in the iron industry). 

The newly wedded couple left by the 1.30 train to spend the honeymoon in London, en route for Paris and Algiers, where they will reside, the bridegroom holding an important position there as manager of a works.

 

Well, at least that serves to explain why he became one of Dunsterville's Train Conducting Officers in 1914 - managing a industrial concernin Algiers presumably called for decent French (perhaps even a decent technical vocabulary?) which was exactly what was required in TCOs.  

 

Doesn't explain his (self?) ennoblement but at least explains his military utility.   

[Wexflyer]

3 hours ago, QUEX said:

Doesn't explain his (self?) ennoblement but at least explains his military utility.   

 

The ranks of the "undocumented nobility" are large.

The explanation seems clear, at least to me. Just look at all the attention he got! Would we be discussing him a 100 years later absent his promotion to "prince"?

Edited 21 February , 2021 by Wexflyer

[BullerTurner]

Whether he was a French titled gentleman, he was undoubtedly an OBE and a MID recipient, a Lt Col of the RFA.  He also seemed to have a piggy bank full of bawbees.  His motivation to pose as a minor Prince are therefore very interesting?

 

Probably we can exclude a wealth based scam.  So what was it he felt was missing in his status despite wealth, medals and a pretty reasonable military rank??  Maybe he was a HUGE Dumas fan?

[ianjonesncl]

14 minutes ago, BullerTurner said:

 So what was it he felt was missing in his status despite wealth, medals and a pretty reasonable military rank??  

 

At the point in 1914 when he was he was 'gazetted' from Charlie to Prince de Mahe etc etc etc his substantive rank was Captain, no medals and wealth looks to be his wife's. The reference to a Prince de Mahe pre war may indicate he has been 'walting' for a while.

 

22 minutes ago, BullerTurner said:

 His motivation to pose as a minor Prince are therefore very interesting??

 

I think what is more interesting is what prompted the London Gazette to accept him being a minor Prince, then revoke it post war.

 

 

[BullerTurner]

23 hours ago, ianjonesncl said:

I think what is more interesting is what prompted the London Gazette to accept him being a minor Prince, then revoke it post war.

 

The Gazette didn’t chose to accept that style!  They merely reported it.  The Adjutant General’s or Military Secretary’s branches are the ones who might have done a bit more homework?  In our days as young officers, you and I could have had a punt at being Duke of Ponteland and Viscount Cramlington...but I suspectMS6 would have inquired more closely?

[ianjonesncl]

12 hours ago, BullerTurner said:

I could have had a punt at being Duke of Ponteland and Viscount Cramlington...

 

I am favouring HH Prince de Blyth de la CowpenetCrofton.

 

I believe I am still on a reserve list, as was Charlie prior to his elevation, so wondering if I can find the right form ........ 

 

[BullerTurner]

On 02/03/2021 at 11:18, ianjonesncl said:

I believe I am still on a reserve list, as was Charlie prior to his elevation, so wondering if I can find the right form ...

Somewhere in a filing cabinet, in the bowels of Kentigern House, is AB1234 Alterations of Appellation (Titles, French Nobility, Officers).  If you’re getting one, twos up please, marrer?

[QUEX]

There is nothing in his TNA file to explain his entry to, or departure from, the ranks of European nobility.

[ianjonesncl]

1 hour ago, QUEX said:

There is nothing in his TNA file to explain his entry to, or departure from, the ranks of European nobility.

Quex

Many thanks for looking. I think we were all hoping that the answer would lie in his file.

The mystery continues.

Ian

 

 

[JWK]

Reminds me of a Dutch millionaire (Bram van Leeuwen) who "suddenly" was "Prince de Lignac, Duke of Soveria Simeri". He claimed "a good friend" gifted those titles to him.

Anyway, Charles' grave (from Wikitree ). Doesn't say where it is located though.

“Charles Digby Mahe de Chenal de la Bourdonnais Prince de Mahe

He died 7 April 1934 in his fifty-ninth year.

A merry heart doeth good.”

 

[knittinganddeath]

The excerpt below is from "Mysteries of London" by George R. Sims, published in 1906, and might explain how dear ol' Charlie could reinvent himself as the Prince de Mahé and be accepted in London society.

Quote

You have only to talk "big" enough to find plenty of people prepared to take you at your own valuation. The adventurer who wants to live luxuriously on his wits does not proceed on quite the same lines as the adventuress. In some respects his is a harder task, in others it is an easier one.

London swarms with men and women of all grades, whose sole means of livelihood is the credulity of the people with whom they come in contact.

The footman who persuades the lady of rank that he is a prince, and the loafer who engages himself to half a dozen servant girls a month in order to get money and their bits of jewellery, pursue practically the same methods. They go through a process which in the sporting circles is known as "telling the tale." Given a certain amount of tact and a veneer of culture, and men or women who set out deliberately to do so can assume any rank or position they consider best for the particular fraud they have in hand.

...The source of the incomes of so many who live luxuriously today is a mystery, that suspicion has been lulled, and anyone with a few pounds and a portmanteau or a Saratoga trunk has only to put up a well-frequented London hotel to start making a useful circle of acquaintances at once.

...Some of the most dangerous female swindlers in the world are to be found in fashionable hotels. They frequently have foreign titles. Princesses, marchionesses, countesses, and baronesses there are...

Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49701/49701-h/49701-h.htm

I'm not saying that Charlie was a fraudster or conman, just that the adoption of a fake title does not seem to have been an uncommon strategy to advance oneself.

[ianjonesncl]

On 15/12/2021 at 19:13, JWK said:

Anyway, Charles' grave (from Wikitree ). Doesn't say where it is located though.

“Charles Digby Mahe de Chenal de la Bourdonnais Prince de Mahe

He died 7 April 1934 in his fifty-ninth year.

A merry heart doeth good.”

 

Many thanks for the photograph.

I believe the grave is located in Southfield Cemetery, Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England

Edited 18 March , 2022 by ianjonesncl

[ianjonesncl]

11 hours ago, knittinganddeath said:

I'm not saying that Charlie was a fraudster or conman, just that the adoption of a fake title does not seem to have been an uncommon strategy to advance oneself.

I think the mystery here is the mechanism by which a possibly dubious title was 'legitimised' by the London Gazette.