A Conspiracy of Crowns

A Conspiracy of Crowns
Author: Alfred de Marigny
Publisher: Garrett County Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2016-03-14
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1939430186

In July 1943 the scorched and bloody body of multi-millionaire businessman, Sir Harry Oakes, was found in a partly burned bed in his home in the Bahamas. He had died of wounds to the head caused by a weapon never found or clearly identified. Four small, identical holes in a pattern almost square had penetrated the mastoid bone above his left ear. Within forty-eight hours, after the most cursory of investigations, Oakes' son-in-law, Alfred de Marigny, was arrested and charged with the murder. The trial lasted thirty-two days. Once it was over, even though de Marigny was acquitted, his life lay in ruins. The authorities in Nassau had advised all British and friendly territories that de Marigny was to be regarded as a murderer at large, and it was four years before he could get a visa to enter the United States, where he finally made his home. Now, for the first time, de Marigny tells his own story, revealing what really happened in the Bahamas in July 1943 and in the months that followed. Even as war engulfed the globe, Nassau was a magnet for society's rich and spoiled, presided over by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. It is against this extraordinary background of wealth and privilege that the story unfolds, a complex tale of business intrigue, broken promises and acts of betrayal; of currency smuggling and conduct close to treason, and of one man's untiring efforts to clear his name.

Engines & Enterprise

Engines & Enterprise
Author: John Reynolds
Publisher: Haynes Publications
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2008
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9781844255160

Beginning with an account of Sir Harry's family background and education at Rugby and Cambridge, this book traces his life's work through six decades. This period witnessed profound changes in the social and industrial fabric of Great Britain, brought about by the arrival of the very motor cars and airplanes that he championed so enthusiastically. During that time, as a consultant engineer, he played a vital role in bringing about British victory in two world wars. Yet because he always preferred the role of an independent consultant, his name was never directly connected with any specific make of car or airplane. Nonetheless, his efforts behind the scenes for such companies as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Citroen and Fiat led to innumerable advances in the performance of civilian and military engines during the inter-war years. He died in 1974, having seen Ricardo Consulting Engineers grow to become the world's foremost engine research establishment. The company continues to go from strength to strength as one of the last successful vestiges of the British motor industry that remains in British ownership.

Blood and Fire

Blood and Fire
Author: John Marquis
Publisher: LMH Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9789768184955

When news of Sir Harry Oakes' murder broke to the world on the morning of July, 8, 1943, one man was more concerned than most. He was the Duke of Windsor, then Governor of the British colony, whose job it was to ensure that the killer was caught and brought to justice. Although many believe the duke was a bungler, "Blood and Fire" points to evidence that he was a plotter with something to hide.

Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?

Who Killed Sir Harry Oakes?
Author: James Leasor
Publisher: House of Stratus
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2001-02-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0755100468

James Leasor cleverly reconstructs events surrounding a brutal and unusual murder. It is 1943 and Sir Harry Oakes lies horrifically murdered at his Bahamian mansion. Although a self-made multi-millionaire, Sir Harry is an unlikely victim there are no suggestions of jealousy or passion. Why did the Duke of Windsor, then Governor of the Bahamas call in the Miami police rather than Scotland Yard? Leasor makes the daring suggestion that Sir Harry Oakes murder, the burning of the liner Normandie in New York Harbour in 1942 and the Allied landings in Sicily are all somehow connected. 'The story has all the right ingredients - rich occupants of a West Indian tax haven, corruption, drugs, the Mafia, and a weak character as governor.' Daily Mail

The Critical Review

The Critical Review
Author: Tobias George Smollett
Publisher:
Total Pages: 700
Release: 1763
Genre:
ISBN:

Each number includes a classified "Monthly catalogue."

A Life of Sir Harry Parkes

A Life of Sir Harry Parkes
Author: Robert Morton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-10-29
Genre: China
ISBN: 9781912961160

Harry Parkes was at the heart of Britain's relations with the Far East from the start of his working life at fourteen, to his death at fifty-seven. Orphaned at the age of five, he went to China on his own as a child and worked his way to the top. God-fearing and fearless, he believed his mission was to bring trade and 'civilisation' to East Asia. In his day, he was seen as both a hero and a monster and is still bitterly resented in China for his part in the country's humiliations at Western hands, but largely esteemed in Japan for helping it to industrialise. Morton's new biography, the first in over thirty years, and benefiting in part from access to the Parkes' family and archives, offers a more intimate and informed profile of the personal and professional life of a Victorian titan and one of Britain's most undiplomatic diplomats in the history of the British Civil Service.