Mayor and Llewelyn Davies connections: a tangled web

This article consists of material left over from my recent post about convenient deaths associated with the Austen, Mayor and Disraeli families. While doing the research for that post, I came across some information, leads and connections that I wanted to follow up. I decided to stick to the main subjects and leave the extra material and further research for another time.

Mary Sheepshanks and her connections

Flora M. Mayor was a lifelong friend of the social reformer Mary Sheepshanks. Mary Sheepshanks knew Flora’s fiancé Ernest Shepherd; Flora at one time believed that Ernest preferred Mary. Mary actually had feelings for someone else:

“In 1905 Mary Sheepshanks fell in love with Theodore Llewelyn Davies. However, he was in love with Meg Booth, the daughter of social investigator, Charles Booth. After she refused him, Davies committed suicide. “

Suicide is only suspected: he drowned while bathing alone in a pool in the River Lune. It is thought that he hit his head on a rock. He was 34 years old at the time.

Theodore Llewelyn Davies was uncle to the five Llewelyn Davies brothers, one of whom also drowned in a suspected suicide pact.

Something for people interested in astrology

Both Cassandra Austen and Sarah Disraeli were born under the sign of Capricorn. Both Jane Austen and Benjamin Disraeli were Sagittarians, six days and less than one day away respectively from being born under the sign of Capricorn.

Theodore Llewelyn Davies, like Cassandra Austen, was born on December 16th.

Something for people who are joining some dots

When I was working on the previous article, I encountered some familiar references, topics, names and connections. I had seen them mentioned online by people investigating the Jimmy Savile affair and other corruption at the highest levels.

Benjamin Disraeli’s father Isaac was a founder member of the Athenaeum Club. J. M. Barrie was a member of this club.

Ernest Shepherd was born in 1871. His mother died soon after he was born and then his father committed suicide. Ernest and his siblings were brought up by his mother's unmarried sister, Zoë Sinclair.

Theodore Llewelyn Davies attended Trinity College, Cambridge and was a member of the Cambridge Apostles, an intellectual secret society:

“…Undergraduates being considered for membership are called "embryos" and are invited to "embryo parties", where members judge whether the student should be invited to join. The "embryos" attend these parties without knowing they are being considered for membership. Becoming an Apostle involves taking an oath of secrecy and listening to the reading of a curse…”

F. M. Mayor’s niece Theresa was a wartime intelligence officer; she worked for and became the second wife of (Nathaniel Mayer) Victor Rothschild, alleged Soviet agent not to mention Satanist and Illuminati member, who had attended Trinity College, Cambridge and was a member of the Cambridge Apostles. She was the mother of Amschel Mayor James Rothschild, who committed suicide at the age of 41.  Some people believe that he was murdered.

Noted architect Richard Llewelyn Davies was a friend of Victor Rothschild’s. He was the son of Crompton Llewelyn Davies, who was brother to Theodore and Arthur, the latter being the father of the doomed boys.

Margaret Paulina Booth, whose rejection is said to be responsible for the death of Theodore, is said to have preferred his brother Crompton, but they both married elsewhere.

Margaret’s brother George Macaulay Booth married someone called Margaret Meinertzhagen. Theresa Mayor’s father was F. M. Mayor’s brother Robert, who married a Katherine Meinertzhagen – sister to Margaret. Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, brother to both of them, was an intelligence officer who worked for his niece and thus also Victor Rothschild.

At this point, I decided to call it a day. There was far too much tail-chasing to cope with. Maybe none of this is significant and there is nothing sinister at work: they just all moved in the same circles and knew each other.

Five boys and five Margarets

There were five Llewelyn Davies boys.

In the early 19th century, the five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild set out from the family home in Frankfurt to the principal financial centres of Europe – London, Paris, Frankfurt, Naples and Vienna, to establish their great banking houses.

Victor Rothschild was suspected of being the ‘Fifth Man’ in the Burgess and Maclean spying affair.

The Fry family were chocolate manufacturers; people are still nostalgic about their Fry’s Five Boys chocolate bars. It is an interesting coincidence that a member of the dynasty, Lewis Fry, who was MP for Bristol, corresponded with Disraeli’s former private secretary as he wanted to see a document written by Isaac D’Israeli and hoped it was in Benjamin Disraeli’s archives.

J. M. Barrie’s mother and sister were both called Margaret. He would have known Margaret Llewelyn Davies, sister to Crompton, Theodore and Arthur thus aunt to the five boys. A little girl called Margaret Henley provided him with the name ‘Wendy’.  He had another little girl called Margaret in his life:

“The extraordinary friendship between Princess Margaret and Peter Pan creator JM Barrie has been revealed for the first time in a fascinating new book.

The Scottish author and dramatist best known for his Neverland tales grew so close to the Royal Family that he even attended Margaret’s third birthday party in 1933, when a then seven-year-old Princess Elizabeth was also present…Chosen to sit next to the birthday girl at tea, Barrie was surprised to discover the royal celebration at Glamis Castle was a very low-key affair and that the Princess’s gifts appeared to have come from Woolworth’s…Whatever secrets passed between them afterwards, Margaret fell under Barrie’s spell. The author was later told that when his name had been mentioned, Margaret had responded immediately: ‘I know that man. He is my greatest friend, and I am his greatest friend.’”

By coincidence, I had just found this information and was thinking about a three-year-old Princess Margaret, when I saw on the news headlines that a film of Princess Margaret and her mother and sister being encouraged by her uncle, the future Edward VIII, to give Nazi salutes had been found and published. It is thought to date from 1933.  Margaret’s birthday was August 21st; this film looks as though it was made in warm weather, so the two events may have been close together.

The final word goes to William Shakespeare

All the webs, networks and connections and similar names such Mayor and Meyer not to mention Jane Austen’s Blacknall and Bicknell are very confusing.  The people who are interested in someone who is interested in someone else who is interested in someone else brings to mind the plot of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which contains a quotation that is very relevant:

“O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me t'untie.” 

Theodore Llewelyn Davies and his sister Margaret are featured in this book about the Llewelyn Davies family: