The man with the expanding name

There's a tendency for names to become abbreviated, which is why, although I was Stephen to my teachers and at home when I was naughty, I've always otherwise been known as Steve. If you had the name Edward you might expect it to be abbreviated to Ted, as happened to my old neighbour; or Richard to Rich or Dick.

But here's the case of Richard Jewell, a man with an inexplicably expanding name. As is so often the case, this little curiosity of research was begun by John Herrington; my interest simply grew as I learned more, so I thought I'd throw it out to the world.

To start us off, Richard Jewell was the author of Scarlet and Blue: A hunting novel, published by Eveleigh Nash in 1912. For this he used the pen-name Charles Hewson. I've not read the book and all  I know about it is from an advert in another contemporary titles which reveals:

A first-rate hunting novel by a sportsman who knows hunting through and through. Full of incident and abounding in clever character sketches of the many types to be found in a hunt. There are descriptions of Otter hunts, Fox hunts, Stag hunts, Cock fighting and Beagling, and these, together with the doings of the mixed company in the "Vale of Amber," make a novel that hunting men are sure to enjoy from beginning to end.

This was Jewell's only novel under that pen-name but was certainly not his only book. He has an entry in Who's Who (and subsequently in Who Was Who), which lists a range of titles and also offers a little background information, not all of which ties in with official records. Ditto Jewell's entry on Wikipedia, which says, for instance, that he was born Louis Charles Richard Jewell (which information I suspect comes from Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski, from which some of the following information also comes).

In fact he was born Richard D Jewell in Liskeard, Cornwall, on 6 September 1866, a somewhat curious way of listing a name at that time when most middle names (or at least first middle names) were listed in birth records. He was listed as Richard D Jewell in the 1871, 1881 and 1891 census records.

He was the eldest son of Richard Jewell, a 30-year-old bank manager living in Liskeard, Cornwall, with his wife Mary Cluett Jewell (nee Isaac), who had three children whilst living in Liskeard: Richard, Arthur Cluett (1868-1956) and Catherine Mary (c.1870-1961). By 1881, the family had moved to 25 Granville Road, Lewisham, London, where Richard (the father) worked as an accountant. The family had moved to Beech Villa, Barrow Road, Streatham, by 1891 (still there in 1901) and 18 Stanthorpe Road, Streatham by 1911. Richard Jewell died in 1919, aged 81 and Mary C. followed in 1924, aged 92.

The family were raised as Plymouth Brethren, an Evangelical Christian movement which began in Ireland and spread to the UK, the first meetings being held in Plymouth in 1831. This religious background would bring Richard into contact with another Plymouth Brethren family, the Crowleys. At the age of 14, Richard met Edward Alexander Crowley, who would later become notorious under the name Aleister Crowley.

By 1891, Richard had flown the nest and was a banker's clerk in Dawdon, Durham. However, it is shortly after this that things begin to get a bit weird. According to Kaczynski he assumed the surname Duncombe in November 1895 in accordance with his grandmother's will and thereafter he is listed on official records as both Louis Charles R. D. Jewell and Louis C. R. Duncombe-Jewell by the time of his marriage to Mary Amy Slaughter, the daughter of Lieut-Col Charles Slaughter, RMLI, in Devon in 1895.

Louis C. R. Duncombe-Jewell, as he was known, began writing and contributed to St James's Buget, The Sketch, The Globe, Black & White and the Pall Mall Gazette. He also wrote short stories and poetry and is said to have published "a jejune railway novel" in 1881 [although I suspect this is a typo for 1891]. Duncombe-Jewell became a second lieutenant in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), reputedly awarded with a medal and two clasps before resigning his commission on 16 January 1901. He was a Spanish correspondent with The Times in 1898-99 covering the Carlist uprising, and was in South Africa as war correspondent for the Morning Post (1899-1900).

In 1901 he founded the Celtic-Cornish Society — or Cowethas Kelto-Kernuak — and involved himself heavily in promoting Cornwall as a Celtic nation, the Cornish language and its translation, and Cornish kilts. He also began working as a journalist for the Daily Mail but made a major error in 1902 when he returned to the office with an account of the launch of HMS Albion at the Thames Ironworks which failed to mention that 30 people had drowned at the event. Duncombe-Jewell tried to dismiss the mistake by saying "Well, I did see soem people bobbing about in the water as I came away, but..."

Soon after, Duncombe-Jewell headed to Scotland, almost certainly to escape creditors, where he remained for some time, although a son, Anthony Michael Duncombe-Jewell, was born in Plymouth on 28 April 1903 (he died in 1941, aged 41, whilst serving on S.S. Yatshing during World War II; Anthony's wife, Gertrude Louise (nee Craik) subsequently married Montague D. Rich in Kensington in 1950).

A year later Duncombe-Jewell's wife — Mary Amy Jewell, of 11 St James Terrace, Plymouth — died on 29 April 1904. It seems that around this time Jewell adopted the name Cameron by deed-poll and became known as Louis Charles Richard Duncombe-Jewell Cameron. But just to confuse matters further he dropped Louis as a first name and became Ludovick. As Ludovick Cameron he claimed to be the chieftain of Erracht, where the local clan Cameron raised the 79th or Cameron Highlanders.

During the first world war he served as a Lieutenant in the Cameron Highlanders and as an instructor with the Northern Command School of Scouting. He served with the British Expeditionary Forces in France (1915-16). I know little of Cameron's activities beyond that date, save that he was declared bankrupt in 1918, from which condition he emerged only in 1929.

Cameron was twice further married, first to Janet Sarah Bruce, daughter of General Robert Bruce of Glendouglie, who died in 1928; his third marriage, two years later, was to Katherine Gertrude Findlay, daughter of Sir George Findlay.

During the second world war, he served as an ARP Warden in his then home town of Folkestone, Kent. He died shortly after the end of the war in February 1947.

Quite why he felt the need to change his name quite so often, but his entry in Who Was Who doesn't record him as Richard D Jewell, but as the rather more exotic Captain Ludovick Charles Richard Duncombe-Jewell Cameron.

PUBLICATIONS


Novels as Charles Hewson
Scarlet and Blue: A hunting novel. London, Eveleigh Nash, 1912.


Novels as L. C. R. Cameron

The Lady of the Leash. A sporting novel. London, Lincoln Williams, 1935.
Through Fair and Through Foul. A novel of sport and war. (1940 - listed in Who Was Who but otherwise untraced)

Non-fiction (as L. C. R. Cameron unless otherwise noted)
The Handbook of British Military Stations Abroad. by L. C. R. Duncombe-Jewell. London, 1898.
A Guide to Fowey and its Neighbourhood by L. Duncombe-Jewell. Fowey, J W Denison, 1901.
The Book of the Caravan. A complete handbook to the pastime of caravaning illustrated from photographs, and by line-plans and drawings to scale. London, L. Upcott Gill, 1907.
Otters and Otter-Hunting. London, L. Upcott Gill, 1908; New York, C. Scribner's Sons, 1908.
The Otter-Hunters' Diary and Companion for 1910. London, A. Treherne & Co., 1910 [etc.]
The Hunting Horn: What to Blow and How to Blow It. London, Köhler & Sons, 1910.
Infantry Scouting. A practical manual. London, John Murray, 1916.
The Wild Foods of Great Britain. Where to find them and how to cook them. London, G. Routledge & Sons, 1917.
Minor Field Sports. London, G. Routledge & Sons, 1920.
Rhymes of Sport in Old French verse forms. London, Ernest Benn, 1926.
Rod, Pole and Perch. Angling and otter-hunting sketches. London, M. Hopkinson & Co., 1928.
Love-lies-bleeding. Lyrics in Old French verse-forms. London, J. Bale, Sons & Danielsson., 1929.
Otter Hunting, with the Earl of Coventry. [reprinted from Deer, Hare & Otter Hunting by various authors]. London, Seeley, Service & Co. [Modern Sports ser. Vol. 9], 1938.

(* Photographs: 1) from Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley by Richard Kaczynski; 2) from the Imperial War Museum collection.)