page_title: Royal baccarat scandal
section_title: Developments: the path to the High Court
hierarchical_section_title: Royal baccarat scandal / Developments: the path to the High Court
caption_attribution_description: Men of the Day No. 882: Caricature of Sir Edward George Clarke. Caption read "Sir Edward".
context_page_description: The royal baccarat scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft affair, was a British gambling scandal of the late 19th century involving the Prince of Wales—the future King Edward VII. The scandal started during a house party in September 1890, when Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a lieutenant colonel in the Scots Guards, was accused of cheating at baccarat.
  Edward had been invited to stay at Tranby Croft, Yorkshire, the home of Arthur Wilson and his family. Among Edward's party were his advisers, Lord Coventry and Lieutenant-General Owen Williams; Gordon-Cumming, a friend of the prince, was also invited. On the first night the guests played baccarat, and Stanley Wilson thought he saw Gordon-Cumming illegally adding to his stake. Stanley informed other members of the Wilson family, and they agreed to watch him on the following evening. Gordon-Cumming was again seen to be acting in a suspicious manner. The family members asked the advice of the royal courtiers who, with the agreement of the prince, confronted Gordon-Cumming and pressured him into signing a document that declared he would never play cards again, in exchange for the silence of the guests.
context_section_description: Once he was back in London Gordon-Cumming received a response to the letter he had written to Williams. Signed by the prince, Coventry and Williams, the note advised him that "you must clearly understand that in the face of the overwhelming evidence against you, it is useless to attempt to deny the accusations". Gordon-Cumming wrote to Edward with a "final appeal to show how utterly it remains in your power to utterly damn, morally and physically, one who has ever been a loyal and devoted subject": it went unanswered by prince and courtiers.
  Instead of hunting big game abroad as he usually did over the winter months, Gordon-Cumming remained in Britain, and spent time in London and at his Scottish estate. He was also seen in the presence of an American heiress, Florence Garner, and the two became engaged. On 27 December he received an anonymous message from Paris that read: "they are beginning to talk much here of ... your sad adventure ... They have talked too much in England". He sent the message to Williams and asked him to let the prince know the contents.
  A fortnight later Gordon-Cumming was informed by a lady acquaintance that the events at Tranby Croft were being discussed in London society; he again wrote to Williams to inform him of developments and received an unsatisfactory response. Gordon-Cumming then sent a telegram to the prince asking to meet and informing him that "information I have recently received to the effect that the whole story is the subject of comment at the Turf Club ... the promise of secrecy made has been broken by those concerned". Although Edward acknowledged receipt of the message, he declined to meet. After the negative response from the prince, Gordon-Cumming lost patience and decided to fight the situation. He released his fiancée from their engagement and then visited his solicitors, Wontner & Sons. Wontners had some knowledge of the law surrounding baccarat as they had previously been involved in the Jenks v. Turpin case.
  On the advice of his solicitors Gordon-Cumming obtained a written summary of events from Coventry and Williams, and informed his commanding officer, Colonel Stacey, of the situation. Stacey told Gordon-Cumming that, according to Article 41 of the Queen's Regulations, he should already have reported the matter. Gordon-Cumming replied that because the prince had been involved, and because all present had been sworn to secrecy, he had been unable to fulfil the requirement of the Regulations. He then "placed his commission in Stacey's hands pending the result of ... [the] action".
  As the matter involved the prince, Stacey consulted other officers in the regiment about what should be done, and found that opinion was divided between allowing Gordon-Cumming to remain in the regiment while he defended himself, or removing him straight away. The Colonel of the Scots Guards, the prince's younger brother, the Duke of Connaught, was also asked: according to Havers, Grayson and Shankland, the duke "insisted that Gordon-Cumming must be crushed". Stacey disagreed, and thought that the whole story needed to be brought out before such a decision was taken. He reported the situation to the Adjutant-General to the Forces, General Sir Redvers Buller, and requested permission to let Gordon-Cumming retire on half-pay. Buller agreed to the request, but stated that if Gordon-Cumming's legal action failed, the permission would be reviewed. Stacey relayed the message to Gordon-Cumming and told him that signing the note was an error: "Because you signed that document you will never put on a sword in the regiment. If you bring a successful action you will be allowed to retire: if you fail, you will be dismissed [from] the service". The Duke of Connaught strongly disapproved of Buller's decision, and he withdrew to Portsmouth, refusing to again be drawn on the affair, even after his brother requested further advice.
  On 27 January Gordon-Cumming made a final attempt to have the rumours scotched by instructing his solicitors to write to the two Lycett Greens, Stanley Wilson, Levett and Mary Wilson
caption: Gordon-Cumming's senior counsel, the Solicitor General, Sir Edward Clarke, c. 1911
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