Summary of Catherine Bailey's Black Diamonds

By IRB Media

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#1 The heir to one of the richest aristocrats of the twentieth century, Billy de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, was classically good-looking. He had a brilliant hunting and polo playing skills, and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a MP for Wakefield from 1895 to 1912.

#2 The true identity of Billy Fitzwilliam is the first of the Wentworth mysteries. If his spiteful, meddlesome aunts are to be believed, we cannot be absolutely sure who he really was.

#3 The body of the dead Earl lay in a four-poster bed that was crowned by a cornice of gold. A pistachio-colored silk valance ran beneath it, trailing luxurious hangings and thick braided tassels. Gold and green were the primary colours of the state bedroom.

#4 The 6th Earl had made few concessions to the modern world. The servants of the great feudal overlords would have slotted easily into its daily routine. There was no hot or cold water in the house, and no electric light.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jul 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822536227

IRB Media

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Insights on Catherine Bailey's Black Diamonds

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The heir to one of the richest aristocrats of the twentieth century, Billy de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, was classically good-looking. He had a brilliant hunting and polo playing skills, and was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was a MP for Wakefield from 1895 to 1912.

#2

The true identity of Billy Fitzwilliam is the first of the Wentworth mysteries. If his spiteful, meddlesome aunts are to be believed, we cannot be absolutely sure who he really was.

#3

The body of the dead Earl lay in a four-poster bed that was crowned by a cornice of gold. A pistachio-colored silk valance ran beneath it, trailing luxurious hangings and thick braided tassels. Gold and green were the primary colours of the state bedroom.

#4

The 6th Earl had made few concessions to the modern world. The servants of the great feudal overlords would have slotted easily into its daily routine. There was no hot or cold water in the house, and no electric light.

#5

The lighting at Wentworth in 1902 was also arcane. Two men, Moses and his assistant Aaron, were employed seven days a week to light the house. They began their round shortly after lunch.

#6

The tensions at Wentworth were between Billy Fitzwilliam and his uncles and aunts. The aunts and uncles had been estranged from Billy for many years, and they were the ones who dictated the running of the house and the Estate.

#7

The trail behind the impostor allegation is unclear. The private papers of all but two of the conspirators have been destroyed, and only two of the protagonists’ papers have been preserved: those of William Henry Wentworth-Fitzwilliam and Lady Frances Doyne.

#8

The letters that Frances Doyne wrote to her family during the impostor affair were removed from the collection. Only one letter from the period survived, and it was delivered by a servant at Wentworth on the eve of the late Earl’s funeral.

#9

Billy’s parents had been dead for many years. His birth certificate, a key piece of evidence in his defense, had disappeared. If he was to prove that he was not the changeling his aunts and uncles believed him to be, witnesses to his birth and his birth certificate had to be found.

#10

In 1896, Billy, the Viscount Milton, was born. He tried to find the proof he needed behind his family’s back. In 1900, two of the people who were present at his birth, the doctor and the midwife, made a statement about the circumstances surrounding his birth.

#11

The testimonies of Dr. Millar and Hannah Boyce, Billy’s nurse, prove that Billy was the legitimate heir to the 6th Earl’s title and fortune. But there are some strange anomalies in Billy’s documents. In 1901, after Hannah Boyce made her statement in London, she sent Mr. Barker, Billy’s solicitor, a small cutting from an old diary written on the day of Lord Milton’s birth.

#12

The letter stated that Hannah had been sent to see the Countess Fitzwilliam in London, and that she had given her an advertisement she had cut from a Canadian paper about the birth of the present Lord Fitzwilliam. Billy thought it was safe to leave the transaction with Mr Barker.

#13

Billy’s documents show that he had investigated Billy’s legitimacy, and that he had played an important part in procuring the evidence necessary