FRENCH MYSTERY MAN

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 20

FRENCH MYSTERY MAN

> CHEVALIER D'EOF A REMARKABLE CASE /

rlii a recent number of the British Chess Magazine, the veteian journalist, Mr. J. Kecble, gives an account of the Chevalier D'Eon, who, he rightly says, was "ono of the most remarkable mea .tho world: has ever known." But the world has a habit of forgetting remarkable men, and all lovers of mystery will thank Mr. Keeble for resurrecting the Chevalier. •Charles* Genevieve Louise Aguste Andre Timothe D'Eon was born in 1728 and in the .82 years of his life he was —among other things—equerry to Louis XV., Chevalier, Doctor of Laws, Parliamentary Advocate, Military Officer, an .Ambassador to the British Court, Royal Censor, distinguished (his ;jrbrks numbered at least thirteen yolI^nes), .expert fencer and espert/fchess player. -He was, indeed, the Admirable Crichton of France. But, despite his attainments, his whole life was involved in a mystery of sex, uuparalr leled even by the famouss case of Dr. Barry, one-time Surgeon-General at the Castle. :■; >. „. - :*D'Eon was, .we have seen, baptised as ai'boy. Before the age of three his sex ■was questioned and he was dressed as & girl. A few months later his string oi names was altered to a feminine equivalent, and he^ was dedicated to t{ie Virgin Mary. Four years later another change occurred, and young j^'Eon-started upon his education.as .a Tjfoy. 5.-He was a brilliant scholar, and eventually graduated as a Doctor of lsawß. .;j;After. a special mission to St. Petersburg, as a secret agent, for the King, he was appointed Captain of Dragoons and sent^tb England as secretary to the Duke of Nivernais. In 1763 D'Eon returned-to Paris with a ratification of the peace treaty between France and England. As a reward for service he was decorated with the cross of St. Louis, and was sent back to London as charge d'affaires. ? Some : years after he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary in London. TJiis post he retained, despite the fact tlat the; Count d«'Guerchy was 'sent. to displace him, until 1777. In that year he was paid £5000 in settlement of his claim against the French Government, and ordered to return to France. ■-^Ne.ws of this order spread dismay in London. It seems that there were suspicions about D!Eon's sex, and that bets had been freely laid. As much as £ 120,000 was involved in these bets. A certain Dr. Hayes even went to law to recover his "policy" (as such bets were called). The case was tried before Lord Mansfield, and the jury; hearing the evidence of Louis Legoux and M. de Morande, found for Hayes. A higher court held that the policy was invalid; but this did not affect the jury's decisio.n. that D'Eon i-was a woman..,; Certainly the French Government was"satisfied -that he was, for it grakted him a pension of £500 on condition that he wore women's clothes. ■;-' This condition D'Eon did not always bbserve, and, when he appeared at Versailles in -August, 1777, dressed as a Captain of Dragoons, a Government " order was issued forbidding him to' appear in:;oth'er garments than those ' proper, for a." woman. . i The Queen "interested herself, and ordered Mile. Bertin to procure a complete outfit for D'Eon. The change ■was effected, ana the French account of it makes quaint reading: "She—D'Eon—was anointed with fragrant perfumes, her hair was curled and a magnificent headdress put on ierj her gown* petticoats, and stoekingß were of the richest materials, and she was adorned with bracelets, a necklace, earrings, and rings. ... In this quality she was presented at Court r and compelled to remain two years in -order that she might become, moulded into her, new conditions." So Madame" \D'Eon became lady-in-•waiting to Marie Antoinette. After two years at Court she appears to have spent eight years in Paris, where she is'\repj?rted to have entered at least three ; convents. In 1787 she reappeared in London. Here she created, a sensation by' appearing in various public femcing bouts—a woman fencer wall a novelty in those.days. She also: played" chess in publicy and beat the;great Philidoriin one.of his simultaneous, blindfold performances against thrfee players. Her pension had," of course,' come to an end during the French Revolution. So she supported Jierself by teaching'fencing.until, at the'rige of sixty-eight, she -was wounded in the right arm, and incapacitated for the/Test of her life. ; Her friends now came to her aid, and1 George lit. is said to gave granted her a. small pension. She lived for another fourteen years. On her death, -After she had dressed as, a woman for thirty-three years, she was-found to be a fully-developed male. And as a male D'Eon was buried in St. Pan•ras Churchyard on 26th May, 1810.