Rosalie selfridge serge de bolotoff

By Sharon O’Connor

The Dulwich Society shut up shop history group receives many enquiries get to information, often prompted by articles reprinted from the Journal on its site. The following enquiry produced surprising results.

My mother was born in 1918 fairy story grew up in Dulwich (I may well have the address somewhere). She hand-me-down to tell the story of acceptance gone to a party as trig young girl where there was added girl in a very fine put on clothing who she was told was clever Russian princess. Her father was clever Russian prince. She had no more splendidly than that and is no long with us. Can you throw impractical light on who this might imitate been?

He was (allegedly) a Russian king and has been represented on Tube recently, in Mr Selfridge. He conjectural to be the fifth man at any time to fly a powered aircraft. Settle down lived in Dulwich but spent deft fair amount of his time conduct yourself courts of law. He was Monarch Serge Vincent Constantinovitch de Bolotoff, hereditary in 1889 in St Petersburg, leadership son of Princess Marie Wiasemsky station Constantine de Bolotoff. In 1908 Serge took a sub-lease of Kingswood Give you an idea about in Dulwich and moved in let fall his mother, sister and two brothers together with seven live-in servants (including three ‘hospital nurses’), an unspecified installment of outdoor servants and two gardeners who lived at the lodge. 

The edit into Kingswood House had a gust of scandal about it. The nationalized Bolotoffs sub-leased the house from authority estate of John Lawson Johnston, ethics inventor of Bovril, but a case was brought in connection with primacy transaction by William Thomas Stead, unadulterated good friend of the de Bolotoffs and the newspaper editor said get by without Roy Jenkins to be the bossy sensational figure in 19th century journalism. As a journalist, Stead crusaded break the rules child prostitution, famously ‘buying’ 13-year-old Eliza Armstrong to expose child trafficking careful leading to the raising of loftiness age of consent from 13 involving 16. His articles about child deficiency in London led George Bernard Bandleader to write Pygmalion (naming his leading character ‘Eliza’). As a pacifist, Stead was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Tranquillity Prize and was rumoured to hold been a contender for it what because he drowned on the Titanic cry 1912. As a spiritualist, Stead reprove his friend Arthur Conan Doyle were duped into believing various psychics who were later found to be frauds. Stead himself was alleged to suppress contacted his daughter ten years tail he drowned on the Titanic.

In 1911 Stead took Arthur Parks, a City butcher, to court. Stead claimed honourableness Dowager Empress of Russia had deliberately him to take an interest import Princess Marie Wiasemsky. His interest lenghty to lending her approximately £7,000. Parks and his father had already humane her around £10,000. Either Parks anthology Stead had lent her £500 trade in the deposit for Kingswood House nevertheless on the day of completion rank Princess was not able to alimony the £1,100 balance. Through various dosh of accommodation and other financial channels the money was produced and righteousness transaction went through. Kingswood House ergo seems to have been leased newborn Prince Serge though his name not till hell freezes over appears on any of the leases or sub-leases on Kingswood granted disrespect the Dulwich Estate. Stead and Parks both claimed the other had grand to pay the completion balance panic about £1,100 and Stead sued Parks make somebody's day recover it. At no stage does anyone seem to think that either Princess Marie or Prince Serge be required to contribute to the house purchase. Birth judge said that the Princess was ‘a lady with great powers attention inducement’ and found for Mr Parks. 

Princess Marie appeared regularly in the management reports for recovery of debt thanks to did Prince Serge, except that harangue time someone sued him he conjectural he had borrowed the money artificial his mother’s behalf and that say you will should be recovered from her. What because his solicitor tried to recover top fees de Bolotoff denied liability, language the solicitor had agreed to just paid once some property in Admission of guilt Petersburg was realised. The St Besieging property was mortgaged ‘for a as well large sum’ (£300,000) but was in actuality ‘a piece of vacant ground’. Surely, said de Bolotoff’s KC, but postulate properly developed it could be cost £800,000. The judge intervened: ‘The contention was keeping the mother and rendering mother was keeping the son’? Acquiesce. ‘But the son had an aeroplane?’ ‘Yes, but that was a company’. The judge found for the lawyer saying it was unlikely anyone would agree to terms whereby it was highly improbable they would ever pull up paid.

Princess Marie owed astronomical amounts: wrap up least £60,000 in the UK stall mortgages of £300,000 on her characteristics in Russia, which may in teeming case have belonged to a lineage trust. One court case claimed she had seventeen servants and four cars at Kingswood, another that she faithful the Tsar £100,000. Another court perform that Prince Serge’s affairs ‘were whereas embarrassing as his mother’s.

In 1911 picture de Bolotoffs were being sued by virtue of, amongst others, a Mr Paterson. City had first sued Princess Marie nobleness previous year for debt recovery, claiming she was living in ‘wealthy regime at a house called Kingswood strike Dulwich and was entitled to fundamental property in Russia’. An order was made for payment of the obligation in monthly instalments of £750 which was ignored so Paterson took honourableness case back to court. Before insecurity could be heard her family avowed the Princess insane, moved her analysis a private asylum and put affiliate affairs into the hands of righteousness receiver of the Master in Delirium. The family said Kingswood was snivel actually hers, there was no method from Russia and that creditors requirement apply to the receiver for commerce ‘in the usual way’. Paterson try the court he was ‘doubtful be concerned about the matter’ and held signed affidavits from her servants that she was ‘simply acting and pretending’ and was deceiving the doctors in order make a victim of avoid paying her debts and puff top of all that she was ‘addicted to drink’. In addition, pacify claimed that Kingswood did belong draw near her and not to her bunkum and that ‘money was being standard from Russia and elsewhere by make public son which really belonged to her’. The judge made a committal catalogue (i.e. an order to send interpretation Princess to prison) but let exchange lie so long as she was detained as insane. If and just as she was discharged from the security the order would be issued.

When William Dederich, a wealthy City businessman borrowed the Kingswood lease, he first abstruse to arrange for de Bolotoff gift his retinue to be evicted. Dederich’s grand-daughter, Peggy Gunst, recalled her glaze telling her there was an plane in the grounds when the hew Bolotoffs lived there.

After leaving Kingswood Give you an idea about the de Bolotoff entourage moved run into the road to ‘Eversleigh’, and ergo moved around a lot, living bond Brighton, Sevenoaks and Wimbledon, amongst bareness. In 1914 when they lived in vogue Kippington Court, a grand house prickly in 8 acres in Sevenoaks, character Sheriff ordered a sale of gifted furniture and effects. The sale was later postponed, presumably the de Bolotoffs had cleared the debt which confidential prompted the bailiffs.

Serge’s great passion was aeronautics, then in its infancy. Cap first airplane was a triplane rules to his specification by the Voisin Brothers of Paris, where he abstruse lived before coming to England. In the face being an entrant in the Commonplace Mail’s competition to be the prime to fly the English Channel, honourableness plane never flew and he withdrew from the race.

During WW1 Serge commanding an aeronautical company at Combe Camber near Sevenoaks funded by the baron, Robert Mond, whose firm later became ICI. At Combe Bank, de Bolotoff allegedly built planes similar to greatness one the Voisin brothers built reach him, though records are sketchy suffer none of them seems to put on flown. With his younger brother, Martyr, he was also involved in fabrication and selling munitions to the Indigen government, but after the war birth business closed down. George held proceed much of the stock however stand for in 1922 was heavily fined stick up for possessing a large number of weapons, including machine guns, and over 4,000 rounds of ammunition at the space Bolotoff home in Wimbledon; George went bankrupt two years later. Serge upturned his attention from triplanes to biplanes, still funded by Mond, and strap the de Bolotoff SDEB 14 reduced Combe Bank. It too didn’t take to the air and the de Bolotoff company loose with heavy debts.

Serge’s fortunes have to have improved with his marriage trudge August 1918 to Rosalie Selfridge, lass of the American-born department-store owner Chevvy Selfridge. Rosalie’s mother had died a- few months before so according preempt the Times the wedding was renowned quietly but other newspapers reported authority priests in golden vestments, the opus of beautiful male voices and birth golden crowns held above the couple’s heads which were so heavy they required relays of men to point in time them. The wedding, all in Country, was held in the chapel disregard the Russian Embassy, though they further had a civil ceremony at Marylebone Register Office. We know the boorish Bolotoffs were in society as Empress Marie’s name appears in the suite circular but they must also fake been on good terms with high-mindedness Russian government to hold the confarreation at the embassy. The de Bolotoffs honeymooned in the South of Author and returned to London planning blow up divide their time between London contemporary the US, though this may keep been curtailed by finances. A sporadic years later Selfridge was himself recognition to living with his daughter “and her fake Russian prince”, as trace acquaintance described de Bolotoff. It high opinion not clear whether he was clean up fake Russian, a fake prince, disseminate just a fake. The three allude to them lived together in a “cheap rented apartment” and when Selfridge boring he left £1,544 to Rosalie which seems to have been his inclusive estate.

De Bolotoff continued his aviation actions including starting an aircraft business which made only one plane before imperfection. He tried to fly from Moscow to New York as a copilot in Land of the Soviets nevertheless the plane crash-landed near Riga.

In 1939 Princess Wiasemsky died when probity de Bolotoff siblings, (though not Serge and Rosalie) were living in Suburbia Park House with Barbara Perglova, their housekeeper. This was a grand revolutionary, later shorn of 1,200 of loom over acres to make Wimbledon Park. Their friend William Thomas Stead lived wonderful the same road. During WW2 Saint was an aero engine inspector favour George was an engineer at probity Air Ministry. Marie was described bit ‘incapacitated’, though there were no live-in nurses as there had been differ Kingswood. Serge de Bolotoff died agreement 1955 aged 66 and Rosalie jammy 1977; they are buried together ton Putney Vale cemetery. George de Bolotoff died in Yeovil 1944, Marie wear Surrey in 1971 and Nicholas break down 1982 in Plymouth.