- Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet
Sir William Alexander Gordon Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet (
20 July ,1848 –20 May ,1930 ) was a Scottishlandowner ,soldier and adventurer. A notorious womaniser, he is best known for being the central figure in theRoyal Baccarat Scandal .Early life
Born at Sanquhar House, near
Forres ,Morayshire , he was to become chief of theClan Cumming and traced his descent from the fourth century, throughCharlemagne . His parents were Alexander Penrose Gordon-Cumming and his wife Anne Pitcairn "née" Campbell (died 1888). Big-game hunterRoualeyn George Gordon-Cumming was his uncle andtravel writer Constance Gordon-Cumming , his aunt. He was educated atEton College andWellington College .At age eighteen, he inherited the baronetcy and three Morayshire estates: Altyre near Forres,
Gordonstoun nearElgin and Dallas. Though the estates totalled convert|38500|acre|km2, they yielded poor revenues.oldier and socialite
Though William suffered from
asthma and was blind in one eye, he craved a life of adventure and in 1868 purchased a commission in theScots Guards . He fought as a volunteer in theThird Carlist War , with distinction with his regiment at theBattle of Ulundi in theAnglo-Zulu War , atBattle of Tel el-Kebir inEgypt and theBattle of Abu Klea in theSudan , rising to Lieutenant-Colonel.He also found time for independent adventure,
hunting in theRocky Mountains and inIndia , and beingshipwreck ed offCape Town . He cut something of a dash, having abandoned his Scots accent and displaying his proficiency at profanity in English andHindustani .Gordon-Cumming was insolent, brazen and arrogant, passing his time in
gambling and womanising, including affairs withLillie Langtry ,Sarah Bernhardt ,Lady Randolph Churchill , andDaisy Brooke . "All the married women try me" he once observed, but he did become engaged toFlorence Garner , an American heiress with an annual income of $80,000. His lifestyle led him to the acquaintance of the Prince of Wales.Tomes (2005)]The Royal Baccarat Scandal
In September 1890, Gordon-Cumming was invited, along with the Prince of Wales, to a house party at
Tranby Croft inYorkshire . There he was accused of cheating atbaccarat and compelled to sign a confession and undertaking never to play cards again. However, rumours of the incident circulated and he found himself shunned by smart society. In an attempt to restore his honour, he sued some of those present at Tranby Croft fordefamation , calling Prince Edward as a witness. Gordon-Cumming lost and Edward's wrath ensured his total social ostracism.Aftermath
As a result of the scandal, Sir William was dismissed from the army the day after the trial and retired to his Scottish estate. He never re-entered high society and remained bitter about the incident until his death years later. However, Florence supported him throughout the scandal. The couple wed the day after the trial ended and went on to have four children. However, in 1905, Florence's fortune slumped and the couple were compelled to surrender the Scottish estates and to move to Bridge House,
Dawlish ,Devon with a reduced household of seven servants.Gordon-Cumming managed to disguise his contempt for the
middle class society to which he was now limited so that hs could continue to indulge himself ingolf ,croquet ,billiards ,cricket ,contract bridge andcurling . He also enjoyed his own company, and that of hisdog s and petmonkey , inriding ,shooting andfishing . He hated Dawlish and felt his wife a "fat little frump", unapologetically engaging in chronic infidelity. Florence lost no opportunity to remind him who funded their life but eventually herself resorted toalcohol abuse .References
Bibliography
*Obituaries:
**"The Times ", 21 May 1930;
**"Daily Telegraph ", 21 May 1930.----
* [Anon.] (1891) "Cumming takes a bride", "New York Times ", 11 June
* cite book | author=Havers, M. | title=The Royal Baccarat Scandal | year=1988 | edition=new ed. | id=ISBN 0285628372 | publisher=Souvenir Press | location=London
* cite book | author=Teignmouth Shore, W. (ed.) | title=The Baccarat Case | origyear=1932 | year=2006 | id=ISBN 1846647878 | location=London | publisher=Read Books
*Tomes, J. (2005) " [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39392 Cumming, Sir William Gordon Gordon-, fourth baronet (1848–1930)] ", "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ", online edn, Oxford University Press, accessed 9 September 2007 ODNBsub----
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