The Diaries of Lord Ronald Gower

LORD RONALD GOWER (1845–1916) was the youngest son of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland. A sculptor and writer born at the top of the social tree, he knew everyone and went everywhere.

'Ronnie', as he was known even to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII, was described as: "a striking personality…Eccentric and thoroughly original in all his actions as well as his likes and dislikes...One day you will find him at a royal garden party, while the next...wallowing in Bohemia." This included lavender bohemia, of which he was a pinwheel. In 1898 he adopted the young journalist Francis 'Frank' Hird, and the couple lived together for the rest of the Ronnie's life.

At the age of 38, Ronnie published My Reminiscences, and later, Old Diaries: 1881-1901. Both were extremely well-received, but his original diaries on which these were based, which now reside at Staffordshire Archives, and amount to 48 volumes, have remained, apart from a few extracts, unpublished and neglected.

More about Ronnie and his diary entries for this period can be read here, and in this article which features photos of his first home.

Lord Ronald Gower also features in the first and second volumes of the A Secret Between Gentlemen trilogy. The first volume details how he was unwittingly caught up the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels scandal, while the second volume features a 40 page biography of him.

Thank you to Dr Martin Spychal and the History of Parliament Trust for sharing their images and partial transcriptions of Lord Ronald's diaries for 1867 and 1868.

Thank you also to the William A. Percy Foundation for funding three months of this project.

Not least: thank you to all our transcribers for their wonderful work. We're hugely grateful.

PROJECT NEWS

Given the success of the project so far, funding is being sought to photograph further diaries.

In the meantime, if anyone wishes to visit the Staffordshire Record Office at Stafford to take phone photographs of further years of the Diaries to assist the project, do leave us a note in the transcription area, as we would be delighted to upload them.

Please note: your host, Ronnie's Ghost, will be AWOL in July for research, and unable to reply or answer queries.

 

GETTING STARTED WITH TRANSCRIBING

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