Lord William Beauchamp Nevill (23 May 1860 – 12 May 1939) was an English aristocrat who was born into the wealthy family of William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny, grew up in Eridge Castle, and attended Eton College. His marriage to Mabel Murietta, daughter of an alleged mistress of Edward VII, Jesusa Murietta, was a glittering affair, attracting many royal and aristocratic guests and 600 wedding gifts. However Nevill lost much of his good fortune when his father wanted to reject him for converting to Catholicism and turning to trade, and the remainder of it when his wife's rich father's business failed soon after the wedding.
Nevill did not attract newspaper attention in his lifetime for any kind of high living, foreign tours (other than his honeymoon), business ventures or mistresses. He kept one house in London, and had no children to put through public school or provide dowries for. He nevertheless accrued huge debts within eight years of his marriage, and was arrested for a fraudulent attempt to acquire money to pay debts in 1898, putting shame on his family and causing a national scandal. For this he was sentenced to five years of penal servitude with hard labour in Wormwood Scrubs and Parkhurst.
Having earned an early release for good behaviour, Nevill wrote his only book, Penal Servitude, under the pen-name W.B.N., detailing his prison experiences. The book attracted much public attention, and some controversy, although his concern for prison reform, and his considered approach and fair treatment of prison staff, was noted by most reviewers. Nevertheless, by 1907 he was back in prison serving a one-year sentence for another fraud, again committed for the purpose of obtaining money to pay debts. Throughout his incarcerations, his wife continued to support him faithfully.
After leaving prison for a second time, Nevill lived a quiet life, suffering his last years in pain following a road accident.
Background William Beauchamp Nevill (1860–1939) was the fourth son of William Nevill, 1st Marquess of Abergavenny (16 September 1826 – 12 December 1915) of Eridge Castle and Caroline Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone (April 1826 – Eridge Castle 23 September 1892). His siblings included Reginald Nevill, 2nd Marquess of Abergavenny, Henry Nevill, 3rd Marquess of Abergavenny and Lord George Montacute Nevill. He was uncle to Guy Larnach-Nevill, 4th Marquess of Abergavenny, and brother-in-law to Thomas Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey, Kenelm Pepys, 4th Earl of Cottenham and Henry Wellesley, 3rd Earl Cowley.
Nevill was born at Bramham, West Riding of Yorkshire, most likely at Hope Hall (now derelict),1861 England Census, RG9/3539, p.1, schedule 20, 6 of the children are living there, including William at 10 months, plus 13 servants. and educated at Eton. In 1861, William aged 10 months was at home in Hope Hall, Bramham, with 5 of his siblings and 13 servants, the parents being away visiting at Westminster. The 1871 Census sees both parents and all of their ten children at Eridge Castle, with 5 visitors and 31 servants, indoors and in stables and garden.1871 England Census RG10/1049 p.6, Frant. In 1881 Nevill was living at 34 Dover Street, Mayfair, with his father and 4 servants.1881 England Census RG11/95 p.20, Hanover Square, Westminster. The 1891 Census finds him at 18 Hans Place, Chelsea, with his younger brother Richard (who was to be his best man at his wedding) and ten servants.1891 England Census RG12/61 p.11, schedule 109, 19 Hans Place.
Marriage
Nevill's wedding "had been the principal topic of conversation for some time past in all sections of society". At Brompton Oratory by special permission of Cardinal Manning, on 12 February 1889, Nevill married Luisa Maria Carmen del Campo Mello (Kensington c.1864 – Kensington 1951), known as Mabel Murietta, who as a child had been a "great favourite" of the Prince of Wales. Her father was Don José Murrieta del Campo Mello y Urrutio, Marqués de Santurce (1833–1915), of Wadhurst Park, Sussex, a reputed "possessor of great wealth". Mabel's mother was Jesusa Murrieta del Campo Mello y Urritio (née Bellido), Marquesa de Santurce (c.1834–1898), known as Jesusa Murietta, an alleged mistress of the Prince of Wales. The Prince of Wales said at the wedding breakfast that "he had been an old friend of the bride's father and mother, and had known [Mabel] from the days of her childhood".
The marriage was conducted by the Bishop of Salford, and attended by royalty, and numerous members of the aristocracy, "a very brilliant gathering", including the Prince and Princess of Wales (later Edward VII and Alexandra), the princesses Louise, Victoria and Maud, Prince George of Wales, the Duke of Teck and his son Prince Francis. Due to cold weather, the bride and female guests wore velvet and furs. Each of the six bridesmaids carried a "dark blue enamelled chatelaine watch, the gift of the bridegroom". "It was very interesting to watch the arrival of the guests, several vergers escorting some specially great lady, who would sail along with that wonderful air of being somebody which could never be successfully imitated". Charles Santley sang the passages in the offertory. "The Oratory was packed with sightseers, and the road outside, and other roads approaching the building, were thronged with people".
The wedding breakfast took place at the Carlton House Terrace (or possibly 18 Carlton House Gardens) mansion of the Muriettas. The couple received 600 wedding gifts including "a magnificent cat's eye and diamond horse-shoe brooch" from the Prince and Princess of Wales, "a fine antique George I punch bowl" from the ex-empress Eugenie, and "a blue stick parasol, the long stick of which is mounted with gold, and the handle studded with brilliants as large as peas" from the Duke and Duchess de Fernán Núñez. Quite a few of the other gifts were of diamonds. Nevill and his wife took their honeymoon in Paris and Rome, travelling initially to Dover with the Prince of Wales in a "special train". In Rome, the couple attended the consecration of Monsignor Stonor at St John Lateran "attended by most of the English residents and visitors in Rome". In May, following her return, Lady Nevill was presented to Queen Victoria.
Nevill and his wife had no children. Shortly after the wedding, Nevill announced that he henceforth wished to be styled Beauchamp Nevill, not Lord William Beauchamp Nevill. However, by 1898, he was still "commonly called Lord William Nevill". In 1907 Nevill was living at 72 Eaton Place, Belgrave Square, London, and in 1911 and 1921 he and his wife were living with six (later four) servants at 37 Onslow Gardens, SW London.England Census 1911, Schedule 26, 87 Onslow Gardens SW London, with 15 rooms and 6 servants.1921 England Census, 2/2-1/36, 37 Onslow Gardens SW London, with 4 servants In 1931 Dame Nellie Melba left £1,000 () to Nevill and his wife.
Career Nevill was a 2nd lieutenant of the 3rd Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment from 14 March 1879, promoted to lieutenant on 4 May 1881, resigning his commission on 14 April 1882. He was aide-de-camp (ADC) to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at some point between 1876 and 1880. At the time of his marriage in 1889 he was a partner in "a wine merchant's business in the city". Another version of this story says that he "secured a position in the office of the firm of the Marquis de Santurce", the rich father of his future bride.
Personality
The Newcastle Courant commented in 1889 that Nevill was "of very distinguished appearance", and that he and his wife were "favourites of society". In 1907 he was still "a tall, handsome, well-groomed figure". However, three or four years before his marriage Nevill converted to Roman Catholicism and went into trade, which gave "great annoyance to his father ... who was at one time credited with an intention to cut him off with a shilling; but the Prince of Wales apparently had interceded on behalf of his young friend with success". However, his father "was stated to have stopped his allowance". The Evesham Journal reported in 1898 that "Lord William Nevill [was] of blue blood but belong[ed] to the splended paupers. His marriage to a daughter of the Murriettas did not repair his battered fortunes, for the great Spanish financiers went to pieces shortly afterwards. Lord William borrowed royally".
Downfall Having already borrowed "considerable sums" totalling up to "£80,000 () from various firms", in June 1896 Nevill visited moneylender Samuel "Sam" Lewis of Cork Street, London, carrying a promissory note for £8,000 () signed by Herbert Henry Spender-Clay (1875–1937) [of the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards], with the intention of raising money on the note. Spender-Clay was "a young man just of age, and heir to a large share of the Bass brewers at Burton", and a person whom Nevill had known as a youth and with whom he had lived on terms of intimacy. Following a telephone conversation, Nevill returned to Lewis's office with a second note for £2,000 () and letters of authority from Spender-Clay. However, Nevill did not permit the moneylender to contact Spender-Clay, but stated that only he, Nevill, should be contacted, at his address at 27 Charles Street, Mayfair. Nevill ultimately had Lewis agreeing to pay out "£17,000 or £18,000" () as a loan on the security of the bills offered, and when the bills fell due to be paid Lewis wrote to Spender-Clay at Knightsbridge Barracks for his money. Spender-Clay promptly sent Lewis' letters to his solicitor, Spender-Clay did not get paid for the bills, and Lewis was told that Nevill "could do without the money". In The Peoples 1939 obituary of Nevill, it was suggested that the crime was committed because Nevill was "unable to keep up with the riotous extravagance of his friends of the gay 'nineties". However, Nevill did not attract newspaper attention in his lifetime for any kind of high living, foreign tours (other than his honeymoon), business ventures or mistresses. He kept one house in London, and had no children to put through public school or provide dowries for.
Nevill discreetly removed himself to Paris, in March 1897. After Lewis failed to retrieve his money from Spender-Clay in the High Court, the Treasury took up the case, and Nevill's solicitor Sir George Lewis was informed in January 1898. He "at once advised his client to have the matter threshed out", and Nevill was "very prompt to surrender to the charge of fraud", returning forthwith to Sir George Lewis' offices in London – to be met there by a detective inspector who took him by cab straight to Bow Street Magistrates' Court.
Court cases These cases of 1897 and 1898 were known as the Hidden Signature Cases.
Lewis versus Spender-Clay, 1897 The first action pertaining to Nevill's eventual imprisonment was the High Court action of 1897, Lewis versus Spender-Clay. The moneylender Samuel Lewis sued Spender-Clay for "£11,000 () on promissory notes, alleged to have been signed by Mr. Clay and Lord William conjointly ... Mr Clay's defence was that his signature had been obtained on false representations – that he had signed documents covered with blotting paper, having no idea that they were promissory notes". Spender-Clay said that "Lord William told him they were documents in connection with the divorce proceedings which his sister was taking against her husband, Lord Cowley. and on that representation he signed the documents". Nevill had followed Spender-Clay into his bedroom in order to complete this transaction. The Evening Herald (Dublin) reported, moreover, that Spender-Clay was induced to sign "through holes in some blotting paper", and that Spender-Clay had known Nevill for "a long time" and believed him. This occurred at an Ascot house party. The jury decided in favour of Spender-Clay, and the Treasury "took up the affair".
HM Treasury versus Nevill, 1898 First appearance, Bow Street