Lord Bonkers' Diary: Bottomley went to gaol and Stead went down with the Titanic

I find the implications of this entry terrifying. The question of why there are so many orphans in Rutland has been raised before, notably by one of the orphans himself, and I do receive letters (a fair number of them in green ink, it has to be said) alleging all sorts of things against Lord Bonkers. 

Never, however, have I heard it suggested that he engineered the sinking of the Titanic to cover up a scandal here in Rutland. Come to think of it, he has in the past written about that sinking in rather offhand terms.

I suppose the lesson is that all heroes have feet of clay. There is even a comment on this blog from someone who believes the great J.W. Logan MP shot his great grandfather.

Anyway, join the dots and judge for yourself.

Friday

To my own Home for Well-Behaved Orphans for a chinwag with Matron, only to find a desultory picket of Conservative MPs at the gates. “NO FOOD FOR KIDS!” say their placards, and “LET THEM STARVE!” To distract this rabble I lob a subsidised pork pie from the House of Commons canteen into the rhododendrons and they are soon diving on top of one another in their attempts to retrieve it. 

It happens that I pride myself on the excellent diet provided to my young charges, though I am always mindful that it is no kindness if they get stuck in a chimney after breakfast while out on what I like to call their “work experience”. 

Besides, it is only when journalists take to hanging around the gates here that I get concerned; as in the Edwardian era when both Horatio Bottomley and C.T. Stead got a bee in their bonnets about why there were so many orphans in Rutland in the first place. As it turned out, Bottomley went to gaol and Stead went down with the Titanic – I flatter myself I am not without influence.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10.

Previously in Lord Bonkers Diary...

• Thursday: Tinkering with a cafetiere