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New suspect in century-old theft of Irish gems
By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:05am GMT 27/12/2007
An unsolved jewel heist that scandalised Edwardian high society is being re-examined exactly 100 years after it was carried out against a bizarre backdrop of sex scandal and tragedy.
Historians have decided to mark the centenary of the theft of Ireland's Crown Jewels by producing a new report which reopens the mysterious disappearance of the Star and Badge of the Order of St Patrick from Dublin Castle in 1907.
Mystery: Francis Goldney
Few people today are aware that Ireland possessed its own crown jewels. The star and badge, made in the royal insignia and decorated with Brazilian rubies, emeralds and diamonds, were a gift to the Order of St Patrick from King William IV in 1831.
The Order of St Patrick was founded in 1783. As the Irish equivalent of the Knights of the Garter, membership was an honour bestowed on those in the highest social strata.
The cast of characters associated with the crime reads like Who's Who.
They include Frank Shackleton, the brother of the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, Sir Arthur Vicars, an eminent genealogist, and a disreputable friend of Shackleton's, Capt Richard Gorges of the Royal Irish Regiment.
The safety of the jewels was Vicars's responsibility, in his role as Ulster King of Arms, or chief herald. They were kept in a safe but it was too large to be moved into Dublin Castle's strongroom. Instead it was left in the library, which could be accessed by members of the public.
The jewels went missing just four days before a state visit to Dublin by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
advertisementThe King had intended to invest a new Knight of the Order of St Patrick - one Lord Castletown - but was furious on account of the theft and cancelled the ceremony.
Although under great pressure, Vicars refused to resign. But he was already rumoured to have a cavalier attitude to the jewels: it was said he once got so drunk he let his friends take the key to the safe. Vicars woke up the next day wearing the jewels.
After the theft, Vicars accused Shackleton of the crime. But Vicars was blamed and Shackleton exonerated.
Now new research, to be released next month, has put another name in the frame: Francis Bennett Goldney, the Mayor of Canterbury.
Although English, Goldney held the unpaid honorary position of Athlone Pursuivant, associated with Ireland's Office of Arms.
At the time of the theft, Goldney was beyond suspicion as he was regarded as an upstanding character.But after his premature death in 1918, it emerged that he was an accomplished thief.
Almost all of the characters involved came to a sticky end. Vicars spent his remaining years as a recluse in a Protestant ascendancy house in Co Kerry. In 1921 the IRA brought him out of Kilmorna Castle and shot him dead before burning the building.
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By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:05am GMT 27/12/2007
An unsolved jewel heist that scandalised Edwardian high society is being re-examined exactly 100 years after it was carried out against a bizarre backdrop of sex scandal and tragedy.
Historians have decided to mark the centenary of the theft of Ireland's Crown Jewels by producing a new report which reopens the mysterious disappearance of the Star and Badge of the Order of St Patrick from Dublin Castle in 1907.
Mystery: Francis Goldney
Few people today are aware that Ireland possessed its own crown jewels. The star and badge, made in the royal insignia and decorated with Brazilian rubies, emeralds and diamonds, were a gift to the Order of St Patrick from King William IV in 1831.
The Order of St Patrick was founded in 1783. As the Irish equivalent of the Knights of the Garter, membership was an honour bestowed on those in the highest social strata.
The cast of characters associated with the crime reads like Who's Who.
They include Frank Shackleton, the brother of the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, Sir Arthur Vicars, an eminent genealogist, and a disreputable friend of Shackleton's, Capt Richard Gorges of the Royal Irish Regiment.
The safety of the jewels was Vicars's responsibility, in his role as Ulster King of Arms, or chief herald. They were kept in a safe but it was too large to be moved into Dublin Castle's strongroom. Instead it was left in the library, which could be accessed by members of the public.
The jewels went missing just four days before a state visit to Dublin by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
advertisementThe King had intended to invest a new Knight of the Order of St Patrick - one Lord Castletown - but was furious on account of the theft and cancelled the ceremony.
Although under great pressure, Vicars refused to resign. But he was already rumoured to have a cavalier attitude to the jewels: it was said he once got so drunk he let his friends take the key to the safe. Vicars woke up the next day wearing the jewels.
After the theft, Vicars accused Shackleton of the crime. But Vicars was blamed and Shackleton exonerated.
Now new research, to be released next month, has put another name in the frame: Francis Bennett Goldney, the Mayor of Canterbury.
Although English, Goldney held the unpaid honorary position of Athlone Pursuivant, associated with Ireland's Office of Arms.
At the time of the theft, Goldney was beyond suspicion as he was regarded as an upstanding character.But after his premature death in 1918, it emerged that he was an accomplished thief.
Almost all of the characters involved came to a sticky end. Vicars spent his remaining years as a recluse in a Protestant ascendancy house in Co Kerry. In 1921 the IRA brought him out of Kilmorna Castle and shot him dead before burning the building.
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