In August of 1926, the public was shocked over a story which was splashed all over the newspapers of the day. The Orkney Herald carried the headline ‘Kitchener Hoax Exposed: Mystery Coffin Opened and Found Empty.’ This is an extraordinary story of a scam perpetrated on a public grieving after the traumatic losses of their loved ones in a world war.
On 5th June 1916 HMS Hampshire struck a mine off Marwick Head, Orkney. On board was Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, and his retinue, on route to Russia to attend negotiations with Tsar Nicholas II.
737 men lost their lives when the Devonshire-class Armoured Cruiser exploded after hitting the mine laid by German U-75. There were only 12 survivors.
Ten years later on 2 July 1926, the memorial to those who lost their lives with the sinking of HMS Hampshire on 5 June 1916, was officially unveiled at Marwick Head. The tower was raised through subscriptions from the people of Orkney.
Now to this story –
Arthur Vectis Freeman, aka Frank Power, had several articles published in a newspaper called ‘The Referee’ where he detailed the results of his investigations in Norway.
The Orkney Herald report continues that on 8 August 1926:
He claimed to have discovered a grave “little more than a mound of earth” , which when removed disclosed remains with portions of uniform, and he declared, after cautiously protecting himself with a “pending scientific analysis” , his conviction that the remains were those of Lord Kitchener.”
Frank Power placed the remains in a sealed casket, covered with a Union Jack, and transported them to an undertaker’s in Waterloo Road, London. The casket was subsequently taken by the Police on 14 August.
In his weekly Sunday column the next day Frank Power described in florid detail how he had cared for the remains of ‘Lord Kitchener’ before taking them to the undertaker’s in London.
At Lambeth Mortuary the coffin was opened by officials from the Home Office. They included Sir Bernard Spilsbury Home Office pathologist, and Mr Ingleby Oddie the Coroner for Westminster. They then issued the following statement:
The packing case was found to contain an empty coffin, which was apparently new and obviously had not contained human remains.
Inside the coffin was found ‘nothing by a quantity of tar’ – the approximate weight of Lord Kitchener’s body.
The nephew of Lord Kitchener said:
“I expected something of the sort. What a shame it has all been. I have not considered the question of taking legal advice on the matter, but I shall write to my father (the present Lord Kitchener) who is staying in Bedfordshire, on the matter at once.”
Chief Constable Wensley of Scottish Yard’s Criminal Investigation Branch and Detective Superintendent Brown were present when the coffin was opened. After a quickly arranged Coroner’s unofficial inquiry where the Undertaker Mr Thomas Hurry was subjected to questioning, the coffin was then taken to Scotland Yard Headquarters.
Despite all this, Frank Power continued to maintain his claim that the coffin had contained the body of Lord Kitchener. He was vexed that the Home Office had seized his ‘Property’ and opened it up. He also thrust into the mix of intrigue that at some point Lord Kitchener’s remains had been removed by person’s unknown.
He went on to say ” I have received information that at the time I was expecting the coffin in London a coffin answering to the description of mine large and heavy was taken into the Admiralty”.
“I intend to go on with my investigations to find the body.”
The report in The Orkney Herald continues:
An official of the North of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Company stated in Edinburgh on Wednesday that a package described as “one coffin in case” , and addressed to Frank Power, Newcastle on Tyne, was put on board the vessel St Magnus at Kirkwall before the vessel left that port on the morning of July 27.
On the following morning the steamer arrived at Leith and the case, with the coffin was at once sent on by rail to Newcastle.
According to Frank Power there was filmed evidence to back up his story. The manager of Crystal Productions Ltd, Mr W. Foster, had made a film, at the request of Power, some of which showed the arrival of the coffin in London.
Foster told the Press that the film was still in his possession and ” I have been requested by the authorities not to exhibit the film at present. ” Apparently most of the film was of scenes of the Norwegian landscape.
Detectives visited the lodgings of Power at Sinclair Gardens, West Kensington, but after repeated ringing and receiving no answer it was discovered that Power had left in the early hours of that morning.
That was not, however, the end of Frank Power. In Bexhill on Sea a few weeks later multiple showings were advertised of a ‘remarkable’ film by Frank Power of the events and scenes leading up to the sinking of the Hampshire.
Frank Power had quite a lot of previous history with his ‘revelations’ concerning the death of Lord Kitchener.
And the coffin ?
Extensive enquires by Scotland Yard found that the coffin had been purchased in Kirkwall by Frank Power early in 1926 where it had remained until he telegraphed instructions that it was to be transported to Newcastle on 27 July. Meanwhile Power himself had travelled to Norway where he remained until August 4 1926.
In Newcastle the coffin was kept in a warehouse till it was despatched to London. At no time was it interfered with. The Detectives also established that any grave opened up in Norway required permission and the authorities in Egersund had no such request. However, it was also discovered that Power had held a mock funeral at Stavanger where a coffin draped in the Union Jack was filmed being transported to a steamer.
“As a result of the inquiries which have been made, the public may therefore be satisfied that the statements that the remains of the late Lord Kitchener were discovered in Norway, disinterred, and sent to this country, are entirely without foundation. “
This scam by Frank Power was not the last of his endeavours as he continued leeching off the conspiracy theories and misinformation rampant after the war encouraged by the thirst of a public which had experienced traumatic loss of the hundreds of thousands of men and boys whose bodies would never be returned home.
The Daily News London, Monday, 30 November 1925.
Fiona Grahame