Lady MacTaggart & the Curse of the Cravens...

[Michael Rhodes]

Lady MacTaggart, who died 13 March, 2002, was the first wife of the
late 6th Earl of Craven, and was widow of the industrialist Sir Andrew
McCormick MacTaggart.

She was born Irene Meyrick, 6th daughter of Ferdinand Richard Holmes
Meyrick, MD, of Kensington, and married firstly, as his first wife, 3
May, 1939, (divorced 1954), William Robert Bradley Craven, 6th Earl of
Craven, (1917-65).

A daughter, Lady Sarah Craven, was born in 1940, but no male heir. The
Craven family are reputedly victim to a gypsy curse, *the Curse of the
Cravens*, and the earls, by tradition, die before they are 57. The 1st
Earl was dead at 54; the 2nd Earl was 56; the 3rd Earl was 42; the 4th
Earl was accidentally drowned at a wild yacht party, aged 52; the 5th
Earl was 35; the 6th Earl died from leukaemia at 47; the 7th Earl shot
himself at 26, in a fit of depression; and the 8th Earl was fatally
injured when his car collided with two parked vehicles as he drove
along the Eastbourne seafront, aged 28.

Legend also has it that a curse hangs over the Craven ancestral home,
Morewood House, Hamstead Marshall, Berkshire, sold after the 7th
Earl's suicide.

A later owner of Morewood, Dr Robert Reid, a former BBC Science
editor, also committed suicide.

Irene, Countess of Craven, married secondly, as his second wife, 1961,
Sir Andrew MacTaggart, the civil engineer and company director
responsible for the design and construction of Grampian Comapny's
hydro-elecetric development in Scotland, and similar constructions in
India, Italy, and East Africa.

Lady MacTaggart's funeral has taken place in South Africa. She is
survived by her daughter.

...Michael Rhodes.

[REDHAND1]

>Lady MacTaggart, who died 13 March, 2002, was the first wife of the
>late 6th Earl of Craven, and was widow of the industrialist Sir Andrew
>McCormick MacTaggart.
>
>She was born Irene Meyrick, 6th daughter of Ferdinand Richard Holmes
>Meyrick, MD, of Kensington, and married firstly, as his first wife, 3
>May, 1939, (divorced 1954), William Robert Bradley Craven, 6th Earl of
>Craven, (1917-65).
>
>A daughter, Lady Sarah Craven, was born in 1940, but no male heir. The
>Craven family are reputedly victim to a gypsy curse, *the Curse of the
>Cravens*, and the earls, by tradition, die before they are 57. The 1st
>Earl was dead at 54; the 2nd Earl was 56; the 3rd Earl was 42; the 4th
>Earl was accidentally drowned at a wild yacht party, aged 52; the 5th
>Earl was 35; the 6th Earl died from leukaemia at 47; the 7th Earl shot
>himself at 26, in a fit of depression; and the 8th Earl was fatally
>injured when his car collided with two parked vehicles as he drove
>along the Eastbourne seafront, aged 28.
>
>Legend also has it that a curse hangs over the Craven ancestral home,
>Morewood House, Hamstead Marshall, Berkshire, sold after the 7th
>Earl's suicide.
>
>A later owner of Morewood, Dr Robert Reid, a former BBC Science
>editor, also committed suicide.
>

Do you know what the background is regarding the Gypsy curse? I'm curious.

[Louis Epstein]

Michael Rhodes <michaellawr...@btinternet.com> wrote:
: Lady MacTaggart, who died 13 March, 2002, was the first wife of the

: late 6th Earl of Craven, and was widow of the industrialist Sir Andrew
: McCormick MacTaggart.

: She was born Irene Meyrick, 6th daughter of Ferdinand Richard Holmes
: Meyrick, MD, of Kensington, and married firstly, as his first wife, 3
: May, 1939, (divorced 1954), William Robert Bradley Craven, 6th Earl of
: Craven, (1917-65).

: A daughter, Lady Sarah Craven, was born in 1940, but no male heir. The
: Craven family are reputedly victim to a gypsy curse, *the Curse of the
: Cravens*, and the earls, by tradition, die before they are 57. The 1st
: Earl was dead at 54; the 2nd Earl was 56; the 3rd Earl was 42; the 4th
: Earl was accidentally drowned at a wild yacht party, aged 52; the 5th
: Earl was 35; the 6th Earl died from leukaemia at 47; the 7th Earl shot
: himself at 26, in a fit of depression; and the 8th Earl was fatally
: injured when his car collided with two parked vehicles as he drove
: along the Eastbourne seafront, aged 28.

This is the first time I heard that the Curse of the Cravens had
anything to do with the age at which the Earls died...I had heard
that it ordained that every Lord Craven would die before his mother.
(Learned of it on a radio feature story at the 7th Earl's death).

The last two Earls to die--in 1983 and 1990--were sons of the
6th Earl's second wife,not of the lady now deceased,the present
peer is the son of the 8th Earl and was born in 1989,plenty of time
for him to predecease his mother!

The 6th Earl died in 1965 and his mother in 1974.
The 5th Earl died in 1932 and his mother in 1961.
The 4th Earl died in 1921 and his mother in 1924.
The 3rd Earl died in 1883 and his mother in 1901.
The 2nd Earl--the only exception--died in 1866 and his mother in 1860.
(But Burke's said she was a celebrated actress...perhaps she only
pretended to predecease him.:))
The 1st Earl died in 1825 and his mother--who married a
German margrave within weeks of the death of his father--in 1828.

: Legend also has it that a curse hangs over the Craven ancestral home,

: Morewood House, Hamstead Marshall, Berkshire, sold after the 7th
: Earl's suicide.

: A later owner of Morewood, Dr Robert Reid, a former BBC Science
: editor, also committed suicide.

: Irene, Countess of Craven, married secondly, as his second wife, 1961,
: Sir Andrew MacTaggart, the civil engineer and company director
: responsible for the design and construction of Grampian Comapny's
: hydro-elecetric development in Scotland, and similar constructions in
: India, Italy, and East Africa.

: Lady MacTaggart's funeral has taken place in South Africa. She is
: survived by her daughter.

And by grandchildren.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[Michael Rhodes]

redh...@aol.com (REDHAND1) wrote in message news:<20020319122043...@mb-fk.aol.com>...

> Do you know what the background is regarding the Gypsy curse? I'm curious.

At the time of the death of the 8th Earl, in 1990, press reports
referred to a 350 year-old curse, supposedly the work of a pregnant
servant of the Cravens, or gypsy. By the curse, all holders of the
earldom are doomed to die young.

The 8th Earl's mother scoffed at the curse, and is quoted as saying:
"I think it is just a coincidence that some of the earls have died
fairly young.
Simon (the 8th earl) didn't give it any credence and used to laugh at
the idea. It is very distressing that people continue to talk about
it."

The current Earl, the 9th, Benjamin Robert Joseph Craven, was born 13
June, 1989.

[Michael Rhodes]

Louis Epstein <lep...@PUF.FCC.NET> wrote in message news:<G3Ol8.39963$%j5.28...@bin2.nnrp.aus1.giganews.com>...

> This is the first time I heard that the Curse of the Cravens had
> anything to do with the age at which the Earls died...I had heard
> that it ordained that every Lord Craven would die before his mother.
> (Learned of it on a radio feature story at the 7th Earl's death).
>
> The last two Earls to die--in 1983 and 1990--were sons of the
> 6th Earl's second wife,not of the lady now deceased,the present
> peer is the son of the 8th Earl and was born in 1989,plenty of time
> for him to predecease his mother!

On the death of the 8th Earl, 30 August, 1990, both Debretts and Who's
Who listed the heir as a distant cousin, Lt-Cdr Rupert Craven, a
64-year-old grandson of the 3rd peer. Rupert was very relieved to
discover that his kinsman had in fact married and produced a male
heir. He told reporters: "I don't know that branch of the family, but
I recently received a letter telling me that the young earl had
married a girl who has recently presented him with a son and heir."

Rupert Craven, 76 this week, remains heir pres, but need not worry
about the prospects of succeeding to a cursed peerage. His mother died
in 1971.

[Michael Rhodes]

> Michael Rhodes <michaellawr...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> : Lady MacTaggart, who died 13 March, 2002, was the first wife of the
> : late 6th Earl of Craven, and was widow of the industrialist Sir Andrew
> : McCormick MacTaggart.
>
> : She was born Irene Meyrick, 6th daughter of Ferdinand Richard Holmes
> : Meyrick, MD, of Kensington, and married firstly, as his first wife, 3
> : May, 1939, (divorced 1954), William Robert Bradley Craven, 6th Earl of
> : Craven, (1917-65).

Further research reveals that Lady MacTaggart's mother was the
famous/infamous Mrs Meyrick, *Queen of the Clubs* who ran somewhat
disreputable nightclubs in London, and was jailed in the 1920s/30s for
offences relating to the running of these establishments.

Another of Mrs Meyrick's six daughters, Mary Ethel Isobel, married in
1928, as his second wife, the 14th Earl of Kinnoull. I believe that
other daughters also married into the aristocracy.

...Michael Rhodes.

[luthi...@yahoo.com]

Hello , I found the story in an old episode of a show "One Step Beyond" the story there has it as it was the fathers curse . Included I hope will be a link so you may check it out . ty Rev. E.A.R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eyB49Fs_UU&list=PLeagipoZmyfkzpV_h8IHGUQx6WvelM54j&index=35

[jeanne...@gmail.com]

My father was an acquaintance of Bobby Craven. The story I'm familiar with (my father's retelling) is that he resided in their family hotel/boarding house in Harcourt Street in Dublin for a period of time following an entrapment style marriage. When he stayed with them he went by the name of Bobby Craven and although they were curious as to how he managed to fund his expensive (by Dublin standards of the time) tastes, they found him kind, gentlemanly and good company. He was convinced and spoke of knowing "he'd die young". Then one day people showed up at the door (I thought it was press but I can find no account of same). There was a bit of consternation at the idea Bobby might have been a criminal fugitive. Instead, he sat down with the family and said "I am Bobby Craven but I am also William Robert Craven the 6th Earl of Craven. My father's telling of his version of events is that he was on a night out drinking with his buddies (possibly womanising was on the cards too - my Dad unlikely to relay same to his daughter) and when he awoke he was in bed with a woman. He apparently asked "who the hell are you?" And she said "that's no way to speak to your wife!". My Dad's account was that he had been married to meyrick's daughter (Meyrick was the Heidi Fleiss of her time - a prominent madam) while under the influence of various substances. He then fled and hid out in Dublin where he met my family. My Dad's retelling was that Bobby believed his family cursed, that the heirs died young but also included something about foxes gathering around/circling the home place on the night the Earl had died. Just thought this might be an interesting addition to this thread.

[Anglo Saxon]

jeanne...@gmail.com wrote:
> My father's telling of his version of events is that he was on a night out
drinking with his buddies (possibly womanising was on the cards too - my Dad
unlikely to relay same to his daughter) and when he awoke he was in bed with a
woman. He apparently asked "who the hell are you?" And she said "that's no way
to speak to your wife!". My Dad's account was that he had been married to
meyrick's daughter (Meyrick was the Heidi Fleiss of her time - a prominent
madam) while under the influence of various substances.
>
>

I'd like to meet an Irish priest who could or would marry two drunken people
in the middle of the night in Dublin, strangers to one another and one of them
a whore, to boot. That's not even an Irish story.

[RH Draney]

I'd like to meet a Google Groups user who quotes at least a little of
the message being responded to when over thirteen years have passed....r

[jeanne...@gmail.com]

Apologies RH Draney. I've no idea how to quote earlier text nor was I aware that this thread started in 2002! Your comments while fair were not kind.
Dear Anglo Saxon, I did not claim that he had been married in Ireland or by an Irish priest. I did say that following what my father believed to be an entrapment style marriage in England, he 'hid' in Dublin for a period of time. My Dad said this man believed himself cursed. It was a random Google search to find out further information on the plausibility of this story that I encountered this thread titled Lady McTaggart & the curse of the Cravens (again unaware it was from 2002). I don't mean to offend anyone. I was just searching for further potential information. I was careful to couch my entry in terms of 'how it was relayed to me'.

[RH Draney]

On 11/22/2015 3:04 AM, jeanne...@gmail.com wrote:
> Apologies RH Draney. I've no idea how to quote earlier text nor was I aware that this thread started in 2002! Your comments while fair were not kind.

Be assured that it was not my intention to offend you, but to get in yet
another deserving dig at the people who designed Google Groups to
encourage the posting of reply messages that seem to appear from
nowhere....r

[radioacti...@gmail.com]

The redoubtable R.H. Draney opined to one and all:

...another deserving dig at the people who designed Google Groups to encourage the posting of reply messages that seem to appear from nowhere...
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Smokey would say, I'll second that emotion.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[Louis Epstein]

Nonetheless,some of us are glad there are some places old threads can be
revived!

[little...@gmail.com]

i`m a craven and my grandma is 70 years old so that is a lie.

[Louis Epstein]

little...@gmail.com wrote:
> i`m a craven and my grandma is 70 years old so that is a lie.

The curse applies supposedly to the holders of the Craven peerage,
not every Craven in the world.

[upperm...@gmail.com]

Re: YouTube video

The video now seems to have been deleted. Please can the person who posted it summarize what it said?
Thanks.

[Lucie Wesson]

You believe in all of this stuptious mumbo-jumbo.

[Louis Epstein]

Regardless of any supernatural elements,the history remains
of no Lord Craven surviving his mother.