Eye on Millig: Was woman who went missing from Rosneath a jewel thief?

Newspapers were fascinated by the unexplained fate of Margaret Maclaren, known as Bunty, wife of Wilfred F.E. de Bois Maclaren, whose family home was at Armadale, Clynder.

While no-one to this day knows what happened to her, much more information could be found in papers published abroad.

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The May 13, 1924 edition of the Western Argus in Western Australia headlined the story “A missing wife mystery’.

Here is their report:

“What is the mystery behind the disappearance during the night of the wealthy wife Mrs de Bois Maclaren, whose death notice was inserted by some person unknown a few days after she vanished from an hotel?

“The strange disappearance (says the Roseneath correspondent of the London ‘Sunday Express’) has all the elements of an Edgar Allan Poe story.

“Did Mrs Maclaren insert the death announcement herself? Is she still alive and in hiding for some inexplicable reason?

“Local residents are asking these questions while a hunt is being made for the missing woman. The husband, Mr Wilfred F.E. de Bois Maclaren, has hurried from London to join in the search.

“The loch near the hotel where she was last seen is being dragged, but so far without result.

“Mrs Maclaren arrived at Roseneath about noon by steamer from Craigendoran. A surprising fact, is that, although the house of her husband’s aunt is only about a mile from Roseneath pier, Mrs Maclaren did not visit her.

“After lunch Mrs Maclaren spent several hours in the sitting room she engaged at the hotel where she wrote several letters.

“She is understood to have gone out later in the afternoon to post these letters. If they were posted, they may throw some light upon the mystery.

“When, on the Tuesday morning, the maid failed to get a response to her knocking at the bedroom door, no anxiety was immediately felt, for it was believed that Mrs Maclaren had risen early and gone for a walk along the loch side.

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“At 10 o’clock, however, the proprietor asked the maid to enter the room, which was empty. The luggage which, with Mrs Maclaren’s purse remained in the room, was new and had upon it labels from a London hotel.

“Information was given to the police, and a telegram was sent to Mr Maclaren in London. Then appeared the mysterious death announcement in an Edinburgh weekly newspaper.

“It read: ‘Maclaren —At Roseneath, Dumbartonshire, on February 25, Bunty, wife of W.F.E. deB. Maclaren. No flowers, by special request.’

“The paper goes to press on Wednesday about 5 o’clock. The notice was posted on the previous Monday, the day Mrs Maclaren disappeared. It had a covering letter and a postal order in payment. The newspaper proprietors have preserved the letter and the signature.

“When the police are called in, if they should be called, the contents of the letter will be disclosed. The selection of an east of Scotland newspaper was unusual, since the relatives of the missing woman stay at Garelochside.

“When she arrived on the Monday Mrs Maclaren, the hotelkeeper says, appeared to be in good health and spirits.

“Her family have taken possession of the room the vanished lady occupied. Everything in it has been left undisturbed, and the key has been given to the police.

“Nobody in the district saw Mrs Maclaren on the Tuesday morning, which suggests that it was still dark when she left the hotel.

“It was thought that she might have walked from Roseneath to Gareloch Head and boarded a steamer there at 7.25am. The lady was known to the purser of the steamer, and he has reported that he did not see her.

“It is unlikely that Scotland Yard’s assistance will be invoked in the matter.”

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The Advertiser in Adelaide reported: “It is now almost definitely established that Mrs Maclaren sent her own death notice to the newspapers. Her friends believe she is indulging in another freak escapade.”

Typically, perhaps, the spiciest aspects of the story appeared in an American newspaper, the Springfield News-Leader, based in Missouri, on May 11.

It did not pussy-foot about. This intro on the story of Mrs Maclaren’s past called her a thief.

It read: “She was caught red-handed attempting to steal a pearl necklace from the handbag of a lady of the royal household, under the nose of Prince Henry, the third son of the King.

“The affair was covered up. There was no doubt of her guilt.”

The paper claimed that she was one of the royal party who had run down to Cowes for the yacht races. It was Prince Henry himself who saw her long, slender fingers dip into the handbag containing the pearl necklace.

The report continued: “While her beautiful hand was in the bag, the jewels tangled in her tapering fingers, the strong hand of the Prince encircled her wrist. She did not even utter a cry.

“But her frightened eyes caught the amazed glance of the Prince. He signalled to a plain-clothes man who accompanied him. As he approached, Bunty Maclaren understood. She excused herself and accompanied him — from the royal yacht to a prison in Bournemouth.

“They summoned her husband, Wilfred F.E. de Bois Maclaren, a wealthy Scottish businessman with offices in London and a beautiful home in Mayfair.

“Trusting implicitly in his wife, he refused to believe the accusation against her until confronted with the evidence of the Prince and her own silence. There was no exposure, no publicity.

“They sent here away to Winchester Gaol, and even her intimates did not know what had become of the beautiful, vivacious young woman who had been so active in London society. It was generally believed that she was travelling abroad.”

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The News-Leader discovered that one of her letters went to her husband, but he never made its content public. In all of the letters, Mrs Maclaren declared she was in deep trouble and intended to take her life.

The report went on: “The theory has been advanced that the woman took poison, then threw herself into the loch.

“In that case the body would almost certainly have been carried out to sea by the strong current.

“Despite all the circumstantial evidence, the authorities believe Mrs Maclaren is still alive — that she has gone away to start life anew.

“For several weeks after her disappearance the loch was dragged and the hillsides combed without success.

“Then, suddenly, the search was abandoned by all but Mr Maclaren.

“Gaunt, red-eyed and nervous, he continued to look for his beautiful wife, or her body, until he finally collapsed and was removed to hospital in Glasgow, where he has since been confined with nervous prostration.

“It was the mysterious disappearance of Mrs Maclaren rather than her prison sentence that brought to light the amazing story of her life.

“Even Scotland Yard is without positive information as to her maiden name, but they believe it to have been Helen Vera Lloyd; that she was the daughter of a poor London dock worker, to whom she later referred as a naval officer; and that she began her career as a servant girl.

“She first attracted attention in 1913 when, young and beautiful, she sent photographs to all the London newspapers, captioned ‘the hon Miss Lloyd Mostyn, society debutante’. She was presented at Court and because of her great beauty and charm attracted wide attention.

“Then the wealthy and influential Mostyn family repudiated her, and there might have been quite a scandal. But the war came along and the matter was forgotten.

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“At Devonshire House she was often in the company of the royal family and frequently visited Buckingham Palace. She married Maclaren in 1917.

“They seemed very happy, although she occasionally disappeared for long periods without explaining her whereabouts. Now Scotland Yard alleges that during these absences she was in prison.

“They declare she is a woman with a ‘moral kink’, a dual personality, a Jekyll and Hyde — part of the time a Mayfair society leader, the remainder a common thief.

“They think she was responsible for a long list of society thefts which had always remained unsolved.

“From the time she was presented in court in 1913 she was a prominent figure in society.

“Tall, slender and stately, she was particularly attractive in appearance, with a wealth of black hair, dark brown eyes and a good complexion. She was apparently about 30 years old when she disappeared, and 19 at the time of her presentation.

“Despite the fact that it has been proven that she was a former servant girl, the daughter of a dock worker and born in Limehouse, London, she was well educated, superficially at least.

“She was also possessed of a splendid soprano voice and was an accomplished pianist.”

The paper said that police thought she would turn up again some day in new fields.

They summed her up as: “A sneak thief, pickpocket and shop-lifter in the daytime; at night an intimate of royalty, a welcomed visitor at Buckingham Palace, a leader of society, the respected wife of a wealthy and influential man.”

I have looked hard for any subsequent mentions of this extraordinary mystery at home and abroad, but with no success so far.

email: milligeye@btinternet.com