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	The Great Moghul   Interview CD   INTERVIEW 1 (Tracks 1,2,3,4) A room in a nursing home, John Elgin at the bedside of his bed-ridden great aunt Dorothy Elgin John Right, well I think it’s recording now…yes, it is. So, where do you want to start? Dorothy Well, it’s so long ago now that I hardly know where to begin but perhaps I’d better start with telling you a bit about your Uncle Percy…. John My … great uncle? Dorothy Yes, that’s right, your great uncle, my husband Percy. We were married before the war, in 36. He was 26 and I was just 18. We met at a dance hall in Taunton where we both lived with our parents, although Percy was in fact born in London. We both loved dancing. John It seems pretty young to get married. Dorothy Not in those days, my dear. Nowadays everyone seems to be so busy with their jobs and what not, but then it was different ­ most of my friends were married too before they were 20. Percy was a lovely boy, so thoughtful and gentle though never very strong ­ he had had the TB pretty bad as a child and his lungs weren’t good. He was working as a clerk in a firm of solicitors when we married, and it was because of that he got involved with the Dyall family. John Oh, the Dyall family. It was their ruby wasn’t it? Dorothy Well, yes it was, at that time anyway, although the stone had originally belonged to a family called Roe I believe, way back. John Go on. Dorothy Yes, well, the Dyall family. Brake and Fox were the Dyall family solicitors ­ the family lived at Great Dyall, near Weston-super-Mare. Not far away. Percy used to work especially for old Mr Brake, taking letters, all that sort of thing, so he knew something about the family already before he went to work for Sir Roger. John So he actually worked for the Dyall’s? Dorothy Oh yes, we had a little cottage too at Great Dyall, though I had to leave it, of course, after he died. John Yes. So how did the original job come about? Dorothy Sir Roger had a private secretary, I forget his name, but he volunteered for the war so there was a vacancy. Old Mr Brake suggested Percy and so he was hired. After the other chap left, Sir Roger was keen to find someone who he could rely on and Percy wasn’t fit for active service though he did his bit of course wherever he could. Like he organised the defence volunteers at Great Dyall, you know. John And you moved to Great Dyall? Dorothy Oh yes, we had a lovely cottage in the grounds and Percy used to go up to the house most days and deal with all the estate stuff while I worked on the home farm ­ so many men were away at the war you see. We were very happy then, you know. John Do you want to say a bit more about the ruby now? Dorothy Oh the ruby, the ruby. It was called The Great Moghul, you know, because it was said the original owner had it from one of the Moghul Emperors in India. Roe, he was called, and the ruby ­ it was a special type called a balas ruby I think, I can’t remember the real name ­ anyway, it was a present from this emperor. I never saw it of course, but I heard it was enormous, round like a great fiery pebble, and as big as the biggest grape, blood red and very valuable. John Do you know how much it weighed? Dorothy No, I don’t know. I believe I heard mention 100 carats, does that sound about right? But I may be imagining it. John Big anyway. Dorothy Oh yes, very big and very valuable. And it wasn’t just the money. There was this story see, in the family, that it was unlucky to part with the ruby, or to lose it. The Emperor who gave it away died soon after, it was said, and this man Roe, who sold it to one of the Dyall ancestors ever so long ago, he also came to grief after parting with it. John Sir Roger must have looked after it pretty well. Dorothy Oh yes, it was kept in London, in the house in Manchester Square, in a special display case ­ perhaps it would have been better in the bank but Sir Roger liked to show it off sometimes you know. But really not a lot of people knew about it, which is why I wonder if it wasn’t someone who knew him who had a hand in its disappearance. John So what happened? Dorothy Well, it was 1944, June, and there were all these flying bombs starting in London then, you know. We were all right down in Somerset, of course, but one of these things landed in Manchester Square and destroyed several houses I believe. Sir Roger got in a state that one might hit the Dyall’s house, and he was especially worried about the Great Moghul, of course. John I can imagine. Dorothy Well, he would have it that nowhere in London was safe ­ banks, whatever, with all the big bombs. After talking it over, in the end it was decided the stone should be brought to Great Dyall until the war was over, and my Percy was sent to get it. John So Sir Roger trusted him, obviously. Dorothy Of course he did, Percy was as honest as they come, straight as a die and he’d been working for Sir Roger for five years by then, and had proved himself, you might say. John So what happened? Dorothy Percy didn’t tell me anything, it was that secret you see, else maybe I could have warned him to take more care. He just said he had to go to London on business for Sir Roger. Of course I was worried about the bombs and all that, but he said he would be back before night if he could. John Did he often go to London? Dorothy Not above once or twice a year, and always for Sir Roger. John So, when was this exactly…? Dorothy It was the 21st June, a Wednesday. Sir Roger sent the car from the house early to give him a lift to the station ­ Puxton and Worle, that was the stop for Great Dyall - and he caught the first train to London. (Pause) John And . . . Dorothy And that was the last time I saw him. John What happened? Dorothy Well, nobody knows, you see. He got to London all right, because he telephoned Sir Roger from the house - that’s what Sir Roger told the police ­ that would have been about midday I think. John I see. Dorothy Well, he didn’t come home that night, and I waited and waited. I was worried, of course, but it wasn’t that unusual for the trains to have been all upset by the bombs, but I would have expected him to telephone or something. Then about half past ten in the evening Sir Roger called from the big house for news but I had to tell him I had not seen or heard from Percy at all. John How far was the station from the house? Dorothy Oh, a good few miles. Sir Roger had arranged for the car to meet the early evening train but at that point nobody realised that this driver chap had gone and scarpered as well. John You mean Sir Roger’s driver? Dorothy Yes, of course no one knew then that he was on the run from the Military Police. I’ve forgotten his name for the moment ­ umm - anyway he had just turned up and been taken on casual like by Sir Roger. Drivers were that hard to find then. John Hold on a minute. Are you saying the driver was an army deserter? Dorothy Army, or something, yes. A couple of days later the police came to the house looking for him. He’d been AWOL from his unit for weeks. Maybe he knew they were after him because it seems after dropping Percy off he just left the car at Puxton and skeddaddled. Cleared out all his stuff, and some clothes and other things of Sir Roger’s. So it seems like he’d planned it. John Didn’t you wonder if this might have been somehow linked to the mystery about Percy? Dorothy Oh no. I think it was just coincidence. He’d probably known they’d be on to him sooner or later and when Sir Roger told him to drive Percy to the station it was a good opportunity to clear off himself. Anyway, we never heard no more of him. John Well I don’t know. . Dorothy But at the time it made no sense to us at all. Sir Roger told me he had telephoned the station and they said the car was there, so we thought maybe the car had a breakdown and Percy and this young driver fellow had decided to walk ­ it was light until late, see. Looking back we perhaps could have done something more but I don’t know what. We didn’t know what was going to happen . . . . . . and I still think of my Percy, like that, all alone, it’s awful. John Would you like stop for a while Aunt Dorothy? May be I could get us some tea. Dorothy Yes, that would be nice, dear. They’ll do us some tea if you ask. I’m really not sure I can go on just now. John OK. End of Interview
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