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Alice de Janzé
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Alice de Janzé, née Silverthorne (28 September 1899 – 30 September 1941), also known as Alice de Trafford, was an American heiress who spent years in Kenya, as a member of the Happy Valley set of colonials. She was connected with numerous scandals, including her attempted murder of her lover in 1927, as well as the 1941 murder of Josslyn Hay, the Earl of Erroll in Kenya. Her tempestuous life was marked by promiscuity, drug abuse and several suicide attempts.
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Alice de Janzé, née Silverthorne (28 September 1899 – 30 September 1941), also known as Alice de Trafford, was an American heiress who spent years in Kenya, as a member of the Happy Valley set of colonials. She was connected with numerous scandals, including her attempted murder of her lover in 1927, as well as the 1941 murder of Josslyn Hay, the Earl of Erroll in Kenya. Her tempestuous life was marked by promiscuity, drug abuse and several suicide attempts. She died of a self-inflicted gunshot in 1941.
Biography
Early life
Alice was born in Buffalo, Erie County, New York, the only child of wealthy felt manufacturer William Edward Silverthorne (of Scottish descent) (3 February 1867 – ?) and his equally wealthy wife, Julia Belle Chapin (14 August 1871 – 8 June 1907), an heiress to the Armours, the family that owned one of the most well-known meatpacking companies of the time, Armour and Company (in fact, Alice was niece to magnate J. Ogden Armour). The couple were married in Chicago on 8 June 1892, the city where Alice spent most of childhood and adolescence. Her mother died of tuberculosis when Alice was only eight, leaving her a large estate. Alice herself was consumptive from birth.
Alice was introduced to wild social life starting in her early adolescence. She was one of the most prominent socialites of Chicago during the late 1910s and early 1920s, frequenting the most fashionable nightclubs of the time, with the encouragement of her father. Her father also took her on several journeys around Europe and encouraged his daughter's image as a notable debutante.
After her mother's death, she was raised by a German governess in large houses in New York, due to the fact her father was frequently absent by reason of his professional obligations. While she was still a teenager, William Silverthorne was involved in an inexplicable and mysterious accident, which was possibly owing to his chronic alcoholism. After that, her father lost custody, and an uncle assumed the role of legal guardian.
Alice herself grew eccentric and unconventional. Her two great passions, by her own account, were cocktails and animals. Her temperament had also become highly unpredictable, ranging from deep melancholy to sudden fits of rage.
1920-1927: Paris and marriage with de Janzé
When she was 21 years old, she travelled to Paris. There, she briefly worked as director of the model department of Jean Patou's dressmaking establishment until she met Comte Frédéric Jacques de Janzé (ca 1896 – 24 December 1933), a well-known French racing driver of the time (a participant in 24 Hours of Le Mans races) and heir to an old aristocratic family of Brittany. Frédéric also used to frequent literary circles, having formed a close friendship with such luminaries as Marcel Proust, Maurice Barrès and Anna de Noailles. After enjoying a romance of only three weeks, the couple married on 21 September 1921 in Chicago. Following the ceremony, her aunt, Mrs. J. Odgen Armour, turned over the Armour estate on Long Island to the couple, where they spent two weeks before permanently settling to Paris. It was also reported the couple would spend their winter honeymoon at Morocco. Their marriage produced two daughters, Nolwén Louise Alice de Janzé (20 June 1922 – 7 March 1989) and Paola Marie Jeanne de Janzé (1 June 1924 – 24 December 2006). Nolwén would later marry art historian Kenneth Clark. Alice was a neglectful mother; the children were primarily brought up by governesses and by Frédéric's sister, in their family chateau in Normandy.
In 1925, Frédéric, noticing that Alice had become restless, decided to distract her by arranging for them to spend some time in the so-called Happy Valley in Kenya, a community of British colonials living in Wanjohi Valley, near the Aberdare Mountains. This enclave had become notorious among socialites in England for being a paradise for all those seeking a hedonistic lifestyle, including drugs, alcohol and sexual promiscuity. Frédéric de Janzé documented his time in Happy Valley and all the eccentric personalities he met there in his book, Vertical Land, which was published in 1928. In the book, Frédéric provides several non-eponymous references to members of the Happy Valley set, including a psychological portrait of his wife that alludes to her suicidal tendencies:
The de Janzés lived for some months next door to the home of two core members of the Happy Valley set; Josslyn Victor Hay, Earl of Erroll aka Lord Erroll, and his wife, Idina. According to author Errol Trzebinski, Frédéric and Alice had already met Erroll and Idina while in Montparnasse, some time earlier, though this meeting was generally unknown to the public.
Even among the scandalous residents of Happy Valley, Alice caused a sensation with her wild behavior, sarcastic sense of humour, and her beauty. She soon came to be known by the nickname "the wicked madonna". She would often speak passionately about animal rights, or play ukulele. Alice would also soon fall in love with Erroll himself; the two of them enjoyed a secret love affair for some time, and evidently remained friends after it ended.
Alice and Frédéric returned to Happy Valley in 1926. While Frédéric was distracted in lion hunting, Alice started another love affair, this time with British nobleman Raymond Vincent de Trafford (28 January 1900 – 14 May 1971), son of Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 3rd Baronet. Frédéric soon became aware of his wife's infidelity, though he did not become preoccupied by it, as the de Janzés had already acclimated to the libertarian atmosphere that prevailed in the community. However, Alice's infatuation with de Trafford was so great that the couple attempted to elope at some point, though they promptly returned. Frédéric then returned to Paris with Alice, in an attempt to save his marriage; he was unsuccessful. Alice soon returned to Kenya ad de Trafford; her marriage with Frédéric was effectively over.
1927: Murder/suicide attempt and trial
On March 25, 1927, while in Paris, de Trafford informed de Janzé that he was ending the relationship: his family (which held strict Catholic views) had threatened to disinherit him if he were to marry her. Later that afternoon, the couple visited a gunshop together, where de Janzé surreptitously bought a small pistol.
A few hours later, in the Gare du Nord, as de Trafford was bidding farewell to de Janzé in his train compartment before he left for London by an express boat train, she pulled the revolver from her purse and shot him in the chest, then shot herself in the stomach.
Both were gravely injured, and spent several days in a hospital in critical condition. Both de Trafford and de Janzé declined to offer any explanations to investigators. De Janzé was quoted as telling a police official who was permitted to see her for a few moments at the hospital: "I decline to give the reason for my act; it is my secret." She also claimed to feel regret about shooting de Trafford, who was said to be on the brink of death. De Janzé's condition quickly improved and she was first able to talk with relatives on March 30. She officially confessed to the shootings in a signed statement on April 2.
Some confusion was caused when five British newspapers, The Western Mail, The Manchester Guardian, The Liverpool Daily Courier, The Liverpool Evening Express and The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, illustrated their reports of the shooting incident with pictures not of Alice de Janzé but of Frederic's sister-in-law, Vicomtesse Phillis Meeta de Janzé. Phillis de Janzé promptly sued for libel and received a settlement.
The incident made headlines all over the world.The Fort Covington Sun reported the following on April 14, 1927:
Her Chicago relatives were evidently dumbfounded at the news. Mrs. George Silverthorne, de Janzé's aunt, told a reporter: "It cannot be Alice. She and her husband were so happy together, and such a thing would be impossible. There must be some mistake".
On April 5 Alice de Janzé was officially charged with attempted murder. On April 8, she made an official declaration in which she stated she originally only planned suicide when she bought the revolver but eventually also fired at de Trafford out of anguish at parting from him. De Trafford returned to London on April 9 by a special airplane. He also told French authorities he did not wish to take any action against Alice, although he would hold himself at their disposition to return to Paris if his testimony was needed. Meanwhile, de Janzé was imprisoned in Saint Lazare, a women-only prison in Paris. Her cell had hosted several notorious female criminals in the past, including Mata Hari, Marguerite Steinheil and Henriette Caillaux. On May, she was temporarily freed by the police pending her recovery. When she eventually described what happened in the train station, she wrote the following:
In the wake of the shooting scandal, Alice and Frédéric de Janzé were divorced by the Paris Tribunal on 15 June 1927. Frédéric received custody of their two children, although the judge made no mention of the Gare du Nord episode. (The divorce would be followed by an annulment by the Vatican on 6 August 1928. Frédéric died on 24 December 1933, in Baltimore, of septicaemia.)
The Paris Tribunal tried Alice de Janzé on December 23, 1927. When de Trafford testified, he sought to convince the court that his own wounding was an accident that he himself caused:
Public opinion was apparently sympathetic towards her; she was widely seen as the tragic victim of a true crime of passion and the judge may have been influenced by the public's view. During the trial, it was revealed she had attempted suicide a total of four times throughout her life. Eventually, de Janzé received a suspended sentence of six months in prison and a fine of 100 francs (approximately 4 dollars) by the Paris Correctional Court. Under the First Offenders Act, she was immediately released. Finally, in April 1929 she received a full presidential pardon from President of France Gaston Doumergue. Evidently, the request for the pardon was made in order to avoid any commercial implications the conviction might cause for dealing with property she owned.
1928-1941: Second marriage and return to Kenya
In early 1928, Alice de Janzé returned to Kenya, but was ordered by Government House to leave the country as an undesirable alien. Around this time, Alice caused a new sensation when it was revealed she had resumed her love affair with the man she had almost killed, Raymond de Trafford. A rumor that the couple would soon have a quiet wedding in Paris was first circulated in September of that year and later in January 1928; Alice's lawyer denied any such plans, and no wedding took place. The rumor surfaced again in April 1930. Ultimately, the couple did wed on February 22, 1932 in Neuilly-sur-Seine and spoke of buying a house in London. But they split up only three weeks after the wedding, after a public fight in a café; they never saw or spoke to each other again. Later that year, in November, Alice officially sought a divorce. The divorce was not finalized until 1937 in London. Alice won an uncontested suit, as the divorce was granted decree nisi on her on the grounds of adultery.. Alice commented about her second husband: "An idler, who associates with disreputable women".
After permanently splitting with Raymond, Alice was re-admitted to the world of Happy Valley, where she settled on a permanent basis to a farmhouse located on the banks of River Wanjohi. Alice spent the following years taking care of her animals (including lions, panthers and antelopes) and reading. She had also become heavily addicted to drugs by now, particularly morphine. She was almost feared by certain members of the community due to her rapid changes of mood and the aforementioned shooting incident.
After having permanently settled in Kenya, Alice only rarely visited her children in France. Years later, Nolwén would state that she did not feel bitterness or hostility for her mother during their brief meetings together but would actually be fascinated by this virtually unknown woman who brought with her an air of mystique, owing to her permanent stay in Africa.
1941: The Lord Erroll murder and suicide
On 24 January 1941, Lord Erroll was found shot to death in his car, at an intersection outside Nairobi. Police interrogated all of Erroll's closest acquaintances, including Alice de Janzé. Although she had an alibi - she had evidently spent an intimate night with Dickie Pembroke, another Happy Valley resident - she was immediately regarded as a suspect because of her drug habits, her romantic attachment to Errol, and her previous attempt to kill a paramour.
On the morning after Erroll's body was discovered, de Janzé went to the morgue with a friend to see his body. According to eyewitnesses, Alice stunned the others in attendance by leaving a tree branch on Erroll's body, wiping her fingers, wet with vaginal secretions, over Hay's lips and whispering the words: "Now you are mine forever." This behavior confirmed for many the suspicions that de Janzé was involved in Erroll's death. It was even rumored that Alice herself had admitted to the killing.
Eventually, police charged Sir Henry John "Jock" Delves Broughton with Erroll's murder; Erroll had been openly having an affair with Delves Broughton's young wife, Diana. De Janzé paid regular visits to Delves Broughton in prison. Eventually, Delves Broughton was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Years later, White Mischief author James Fox claimed that Jock Delves Broughton was provably the murderer: that he had confessed the murder to a 15-year old girl, Juanita Carberry, whose parents were friends with Erroll, though the girl did not admit the story until decades later.
In August 1941, after being diagnosed with uterine cancer, de Janzé underwent a hysterectomy. Shortly afterwards, she attempted suicide by taking an overdose of Pentobarbital but was rescued by a friend, who called on a doctor to perform gastric lavage. On 30 September 1941 she finally succeeded in ending her life; she was found dead, killed by a self-inflicted gunshot, in her farmhouse in Gilgil, Kenya, two days after turning 42. She left three suicide notes, one addressed to the police (whose contents were never disclosed), one to her daughters and one to Dickie Pembroke. She reportedly asked her friends to throw a cocktail party on her grave. In January 1942, her death was officially ruled a suicide following a Nairobi inquest. Coincidentally, Delves Broughton also committed suicide on 5 December 1942.
After her death, de Janzé's home ultimately became a local school, the so-called "Happy Valley School".
Non-fiction
Letters from Africa: 1914-1939
Danish writer Karen Blixen had personally met and befriended Alice during the 1920s, when she resided in Kenya. The two women had met through their common friend, Lord Erroll. Blixen mentions Alice in her collection of letters Letters from Africa: 1914-1939 (1981).
White Mischief
The events surrounding the murder of Lord Erroll were the basis of James Fox's non-fiction book White Mischief (1983). The book investigates the murder of Lord Erroll and presents of a large gallery of characters, mainly members of the Happy Valley set, including de Janzé. The book was later made into a 1987 movie directed by Michael Radford, starring British actress Sarah Miles as de Janzé.
In 1988, while at the Cannes Film Festival, Miles said that de Janzé was a difficult character for her to "pin down" as an actress. Upon arrival in Kenya for the filming of White Mischief, Miles said she searched out people who knew Alice, but was unable to learn anything substantial, due to those acquaintances' confused perceptions of de Janzé; some were even uncertain of her true nationality. The film adaptation itself focuses on de Janzé's eccentric traits; her character has arguably the most famous line of the movie: "Oh God, not another fucking beautiful day").
Fiction
Tender Is the Night
The internationally notorious railway station shooting also inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel Tender Is the Night (1934). In Book 1, Chapter XIX, a character, Maria Wallis, who is an acquaintance of the Divers (the protagonists in the novel) is talking to a man who is about to depart from Paris by train. While on the platform, Maria takes a distance from the man, pulls a revolver from her purse and shoots him. The train stops and, minutes later, the man is carried away on a stretcher whereas the woman is taken away by gendarmes. Dick Diver, who rushes to the crime scene to help, announces to his company that Maria Wallis has shot an Englishman. The whole sequence (which doesn't play an important part in the novel) was inspired by the 1927 incident, with Maria modelled after Alice. The railway station where the event takes place is chosen to be Gare Saint Lazare.
Lost Pages
In his collection of short stories, Lost Pages (1998), Paul Di Filippo uses dozens of historical figures in fictitious plots that often involve elements of fantasy. One of these stories, "The Happy Valley at the End of the World", features several of the real-life colonials of Happy Valley, including John Carberry, Kiki Preston and Alice herself. This apocalyptic story concerns a plague that decimates humanity and also involves the figures of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and J. G. Ballard.
Sinful Safari
Alice is also one of the prominent characters in Michael Kilian's whodunit novel, Sinful Safari (2003). The novel is set in 1920s Kenya and encompasses a set of real-life historical figures, mainly members of the Happy Valley set and other colonials, including Lord Erroll, Idina Hay, Beryl Markham, Karen Blixen, Denys Finch Hatton, Lord Delamere and Alice herself. However, as with other Kilian novels that employ real people as heroes in fictitious situations, the plot here is also fictitious and revolves around the murder of the fictional Lord Ramms. Kilian's novel seems inspired by the White Mischief book and the real-life Lord Erroll murder mystery, as most of the characters, including Alice, are considered as suspects for the murder, like in the actual murder case in 1941.
Hero on Three Continents
The fictional hero of Stephen Maitland-Lewis's novel Hero on Three Continents (2004) mentions being acquainted with Alice while in Kenya. Alice is even presented humorously recounting how she once shot one of her former husbands but "sadly botched it up".
Alice's daughters
- Alice's oldest daughter, Nolwén, was born in Paris but also spent several years in London. She became a fashion designer and was president of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers in the 1950s. Nolwén was married three times and had two children, a daughter and son. Later she and well known art historian Kenneth Clark exchanged nuptials. He died in 1983. Nolwén herself died on 7 March 1989 in France, at the age of 67, after undergoing a heart surgery.
- Her second daughter, Paola, died in Normandy, near the family property, at Dieppe on 24 December 2006 at the age of 82.
See also
Bibliography
- Bruccoli, Joseph Matthew & Baughman, Judith S. (1997). Reader's Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
- de Janzé, Frédéric (1928). Vertical Land. London: Duckworth.
- Fox, James (1983). White Mischief. New York: Random House.
- Morrow, Anne (2003). Picnic in a Foreign Land: The Eccentric Lives of the Anglo-Irish. Grafton
- Trzebinski, Errol (2000). The Life and Death of Lord Erroll: The Truth Behind the Happy Valley Murder. London: Fourth Estate Ltd.
- Evans, Collins (2003). A Question of Evidence: The Casebook of Great Forensic Controversies, from Napoleon to O.J. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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