Highclere Archives : David Sox - Secrets or Lies?

 

David Sox - Highclere Insider

 

In the mid 1990s Highclere Castle guide David Sox  said  he made a sensational discovery in Highclere Archives 

 

BUT !!

 

Can We Believe What He Found?  

 

All Will Be Revealed In A Book in 2022

 

"Highclere Insider - David Sox : The Man Who Knew Too Much"

 

By William Cross, FSA Scot

 

ISBN 9781905914746

 

https://highclere-truths.yolasite.com/

 

 

MORE INFORMATION WANTED

Enquiries about this article contact williecross@aol.com

 

Highclere’s Insider : David Sox “The Man Who Knew Too Much”

 

Highclere’s  Insider : Rev. H. David Sox

 “The Man Who Knew Too Much”

The Carnarvons of Highclere (Downton Abbey) know a thing or two about  raising revenue to  pay for dry rot, damp patches and fixing the proverbial leak in the roof.

 

The exposure of the Herbert family’s Highclere Castle as the back drop  to the well known TV/ film epics  has increased  its coffers on to a grand scale.

 

In the late 1980s   Highclere  first opened  its doors to the public with a flurry of excitement and neat timing about previously unknown Tutankhamun artefacts.  The 5th Earl was of course co-discoverer with Howard Carter of the tomb of the boy King.

 

Later in the 1990s Highclere’s then incumbent, the 7th  Earl of Carnarvon,  better known as Lord Porchester,  the Queen’s Racing Manager,  together with  his American Countess wife, Jeanie Wallop, were  keen to attract American visitors, with American dollars to their Berkshire Estate. 

 

With a reputation for forking out mega bucks to hear all about the  English gentry’s life style, past and present, it was a sure money spinner to seek and aim at Americans  craving  history and offer them  lavish  pampering,  supreme hospitality  and old style hunting, shooting and fishing. So grabbing the huge American  tourist market became part of Highclere’s business plan.

 

What better sweetener for the would be  visitors from New York, Los Angeles and Wyoming than for a fellow American to act as the house guide to receive them.. The guide had to be someone who stood out as suave,  articulate, personable, witty, equally attractive to  the eye and ear. It all made  perfect business sense.

 

Enter Rev. H. David Sox as Highclere’s resident history expert in the 1990s.

 

The idea worked, the  Americans came and for several years this man  Sox  continued as one of Highclere’s most popular insider figures  above and below the Castle’s  hierarchy, respected by the 7th Earl and Countess,  adored by visitors and  liked if not more often  revered by other Highclere staff.

 

Sox was a part-time clergyman,  author of books on the Shroud of Turin, and an art aficionado. He oozed self- importance and had an inherent ruthlessness that made  him reach out for any opportunity to raise his own reputation and notoriety.    

   

That opportunity came  when Sox approached the 7th Earl about writing a biography of  Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, the Earl’s beloved ‘granny’ – the widow of the 5th Earl of Old King Tut fame.

 

The idea of Sox’s biography received the green light. He was given unfettered access to Highclere Archives, and although Almina had died aged 93, in 1969, there were many people still alive who knew her  and numerous sources to tap into about her extraordinary life and times.

 

Sox’s work although flawed in places was fairly exhaustive and thorough. Then a huge bomb dropped on him when he made a startling  discovery in the Archives, about a  family scandal that, if true, could have monumental consequences to undermine the Herbert family’s succession.

Besides what Sox says he found in Highclere Archives, several of the people  Sox interviewed revealed stories about Almina that were none too pleasant. 

Sox realised he was the man who knew too much. What was he to do with his secrets? 

 The nature of  David Sox secrets, especially what he says he found in Highclere Archives  and what  he did with the information  has lain festering in the long grass for 25 years.  Now  in  the run up  to  the Tutankhamun centenary it is time to reopen this other tomb with  an examination of  Rev. H. David Sox,   his life’s work, research and  legacy  and  revisit and update the facts with reflections on  the circumstances  that  forced him to abandon the Almina  project – that led to Highclere burying the proposed biography.

In the  long aftermath of  David Sox’s study of Almina  and discovery in Highclere Archives, the unpublished biography of the 5th Countess  of Carnarvon  has tantalised various   researchers,  journalists  and even TV companies, and Sox was  frequently pursued for enquiry, comment and truth.

 

In 2011, as a further money spinner, Highclere produced its own biography of Almina, a watered down  accompaniment for Downton Abbey fans. 

Only the Society author William Cross, FSA Scot  has revealed some of  Almina's misdeeds in his  past publications, including reference to Sox’s researches  and  Highclere’s quandary.  Sox  died in 2016, leaving behind  fears of a wider disclosure of further scandals about Almina.

The real "scandal" revolves around the integrity of David Sox.

Sox has left behind much confusion but still unanswered questions about his original discoveries.

Did Sox - an expert on forgery and fakers- really find anything incriminating in Highclere Archives?

Who knows the truth? Who is willing to tell what they know? Who is too scared ?

It is time to settle this part of Highclere’s history once and for all.

NB : A new book in 2022 will provide the answers. 

"Highclere Insider - David Sox : The Man Who Knew Too Much"

ISBN 9781905914746

https://highclere-truths.yolasite.com/

MORE INFORMATION WANTED

Enquiries about this article contact williecross@aol.com