Evan Frederic Morgan : Viscount Tredegar : Closet Queen
Brief Time Line
Born London, 13 July 1893; Died Dorking, Surrey, 27 April 1949
1893 : 13 July- Evan Frederic Morgan born Chelsea, London. Father - Courtenay Charles Evan Morgan; Mother - Lady Katharine Agnes Blanche Carnegie. A first child. Courtenay and Katharinee married at Kinnard Castle, Brechin, Scotland in 1890. Evan’s sister Gwyneth Ericka Morgan born two years later in 1895.
1890s : Evan and Gwyneth grow up in London and visit Ruperra Castle, South Wales.
1901 : Evan is a Royal Page at the Coronation of King Edward VII. Meets Peter Churchill ( later 2nd Viscount Churchill).
1905 : Evan attends a preparatory school in Brighton. Failed attempt to kidnap Evan.
1907-10 : At Eton with James Lonsdale Bryans and ( Lord) George Rodney. Leaves Eton “ under a cloud”
1913 : Evan exhibits paintings at the Paris Salon. Evan’s father becomes 3rd Lord Tredegar.
1914 : Evan is 21. Goes to Christ Church College, Oxford. Gwyneth is presented at Court.
1914 - Onwards : Evan is part of the wave of new poets, artists etc at Café Royal and later the Eiffel Tower Restaurant , London. He is also a regular at Randolph Hotel, Oxford. Meets Cyril Hughes Hartmann, an editor of ‘Oxford Poetry’ . Evan is sent down from Oxford.
1915 : Evan joins the Welsh Guards. Photographs ( in uniform ) taken with his father. All a sham!
1916 : Publishes ‘ Fragments’ - first book of poems. 1916 : Visits Garsington Manor, Oxford and signs the Visitors book on 16 July 1916. Befriends "the shy and clumsy" intellectual Aldous Huxley.
1917 : Goes to work as an unpaid Hon. Secretary in Whitehall. Regularly ill with lung problems.
1917 : Publishes ‘ Gold and Ochre’ second book of poems.
1918 : Evan spends time in Algiers, North Africa – because of his health.
1918-9 : Evan resigns his commission but is seconded by Sir George Riddell to work with the British Press Corps at Versailles during the Paris Peace Conference. Evan becomes a Roman Catholic. Evan revels in the seedier fringes of Parisian night life.
1920-1 : Publishes ‘ Psyche’ - an unfinished fragment, and a novel called ‘Trial by Ordeal’.
1920 : Evan goes to USA. Rumours that he is to become a monk & renounce birthright.
1920-1 : Evan appears in fiction as ‘Ivor Lombard’ in Aldous Huxley’s ‘Crome Yellow’. A dedication to Evan in Ronald Firbank’s novel The Princess Zoubaroff causes trouble.
1920s : Evan spends time in Paris and Rome with Nina Hamnett and is introduced by her to Aleister Crowley. Travels extensively through France, Italy , the Mediterranean and North Africa. In Spain with Cyril Hughes Hartmann.
1923 : Evan is lampooned by Ronald Firbank as ‘Hon. Eddy Monteith’ of Intriger Hall in ‘The Flower Beneath the Foot.’
1923-4 : Evan a regular at Cavendish Hotel. Publishes ‘ At Dawn, Poems Profane and Religious.’ Evan is presented to King George V and Queen Mary as a Chamberlain to Pope Pius XI , during visit to the Vatican. Evan enrols at Beda College, Rome.
1924 -5 : Gwyneth disappears- after 5 months a body is fished out of the River Thames. Evan fails to attend the funeral, as in Rome. Gwythe buried in Putney Vale Cemetery. Evan ejected from Beda leaves Rome June 1925 goes to Oxford. Writes ‘ In Pace’ to exorcise the ghost of Gwyneth.
1925-6 : Evan becomes the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Limehouse. Courtenay made a Viscount and late becomes one of the ADCs to King George V.
1927 -8 : Publishes ‘ The Eel and other poems’. December 1927 : Engagement to Hon. Lois Sturt who becomes a Roman Catholic marries Evan at Brompton Oratory on 21 April, 1928.
1929 : ‘ City of Canals’ published. Evan elected to Royal Society of Literature. Travels to Canada., attracts criticism for comments on the state of Canadian culture and infrastructure.
1929-30 : Evan loses to Clements Attlee at Limehouse. Later Evan becomes prospective Parliamentary candidate for Cardiff Central. Withdraws for National Labour Candidate.
1934 : Death of Courtenay Morgan, Evan becomes 4th Lord Tredegar, 2nd Viscount and takes his seat in the House of Lords. Evan has Gwyneth exhumed and buried at Bassaleg.
1937 : Lois Sturt dies in Budapest, aged 37. Hey day of Tredegar House raucous parties & foreign travel.
1939: Evan marries Princess Olga Dolgorouky in Singapore. Marriage annulled 1943.
1942-3 : Evan is attached to Royal Corps Signals ( MI 14). Court martialed 1943.
1943 : Crowley visits Tredegar House. Bust of Evan completed by Prince Bira of Siam.
1945: Evan shuts Tredegar House, finances decline. Looks to marriage to rescue things.
1947-9 : Rejects handing over some of the Tredegar Estates to John Morgan. Falls ill in Rome, returns to UK and goes into the Middlesex Hospital, London. Sent home to die.
1949 : 27 April. Evan dies at Honeywood House, Rowhook, Dorking, aged 55. Buried Buckfast Abbey. Representative of Executors meets Solicitor of Inland Revenue.
This time line has been prepared by William Cross, FSA Scot: Evan Tredegar's biographer.
William Cross has now published six books featuring Evan Frederic Morgan ( 1893-1949) - 2nd Viscount Tredegar of Tredegar House, Newport, South Wales. He is available to give talks about Evan and generally about the Morgan family.
Evan Frederic Morgan : Viscount Tredegar : The Final Affairs : Financial and Carnal.
Not Behind Lace Curtains: The Hidden World of Evan, Viscount Tredegar.
Aspects of Evan : The Last Viscount Tredegar: With a transcript of his Court Martial for offences against the Official Secrets Act.
A Beautiful Nuisance : The Life and Death of Hon. Gwyneth Ericka Morgan.
The Abergavenny Witch Hunt : An account of the prosecution of over twenty homosexuals in a small Welsh town in 1942.
Lois Sturt: Wild Child: A Glance at Hon. Lois Ina Sturt, Viscountess Tredegar. [ NB Lois Sturt ( 1900-1937) was Evan Morgan's first wife.]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT WILLIAM CROSS BY E-MAIL
williecross@virginmedia.com
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