Gloria, the Prohibition Bootlegger from Neasden

While researching our next book, Marianne discovered an interesting and mysterious woman who lived in Neasden for a short time.

Gloria de Casares was described as, 'strikingly beautiful, with deep blue eyes, auburn hair and an exceptional figure'. 

She was a woman who enjoyed the good things in life. Her husband Emilio Roberto Casares was the wealthy son of Emilio Narciso Casares, an even wealthier Argentinian businessman. Narciso was the first Argentinian merchant to set up a London office to trade livestock and frozen meat between the Argentine and England. 

On 18 June 1917 Gloria and Emilio were married at the Marylebone Registrar’s Office, and the couple shared an expensive home at 16 York Terrace, overlooking Regent’s Park.

This was their London address, as they also leased Bucknalls, a large, 14-bedroom mansion in Watford.

 

Built in 1855 and later extended, the house stood in extensive grounds. There were a series of dinners and dances at home and in town, and weekend parties at Bucknalls. Gloria became a prominent figure in the Watford district. She owned a conspicuous white limousine motor-car in which she would drive to her parties in London, wearing beautiful clothes and expensive jewels.

A 1927 newspaper photo of Gloria

 

Emilio Casares onboard a ship 1922

 Separation and divorce

The couple had lived together as man and wife for some years before marrying but their marriage didn’t last long. It appears that Narciso didn’t approve of Emilio’s choice of bride and in 1918 dissolved the business he had set up with his sons.

There are signs the couple were in trouble as early as February 1918, when the furniture and farm equipment of Bucknalls were put up for auction at short notice. Subsequently, Emilio sold the lease and in a final five-day sale in June 1919, disposed of the remaining house contents. (Today the Watford mansion forms part of the Building Research Establishment Science Park).

Bucknalls (Building Research Establishment)

They finally separated, and Emilio was staying in the Piccadilly Hotel when he sued for divorce in May 1920. His petition said Gloria had frequently committed adultery with Arthur Palmer Boote beginning in August 1919 and she was probably living with him at 15 Park Square East, Regent’s Park. Arthur was a journalist, with Argentinian political links. For some reason the petition was dismissed, and Emilio had to wait two years before he got his divorce.

The 1921 census has Gloria on familiar territory, living at 5 Chester Gate Regent’s Park. Her married sister Rosina and her husband Walter Newstead, a fish porter, were visiting. Other nearby addresses for Gloria in the 1920s were Bickenhall Mansions and Sussex Place. 

After her experience at Bucknalls, Gloria developed a taste for country life and rented a large house on Neasden Lane whose size belies its name, ‘The Cottage’. It stood opposite the entry to the Neasden Golf Course, which was very popular from 1893 to 1929 for wealthy people from Hampstead and other parts of London.

 1955 OS map of Neasden Cottage (marked with Red X)

We do not know about Gloria’s financial settlement from Emilio, but for some years after the divorce she certainly had access to considerable funds. There was continued foreign travel, sometimes involving trans-Atlantic trips, and comfortable homes in London.

Bootlegging

In January 1925 Gloria embarked on a business venture when she founded the Gloria Steamship Company. While the necessary capital may have been provided by her co-director, Mr H. Hill of Streatham, Gloria made money by smuggling liquor to America on the five-masted 'General Serrett'.

Unfortunately, nonpayment of crew wages and engine trouble forced it to put into London, where it was found to be carrying a cargo of 10,000 cases of whisky, en route for ‘Halifax and Western waters generally, or any rendezvous as ordered’.

This happened in the middle of the Prohibition Era in America which lasted from 1920 until 1933, during which time importing alcohol into the States was illegal. Gloria maintained the ‘General Serret’ had been chartered, and she knew nothing about the cargo. But the press seized its opportunity and articles appeared in England and America, describing Gloria as the beautiful ‘Queen of the Bootleggers’.

The captain of the ship didn’t help matters when he told a reporter, ‘It is true, we are smugglers bold and free! There is nothing illegal about our calling. We ship whisky across the Atlantic where we trans-ship to other vessels’. This implied the trip was not the first Prohibition-busting voyage the ship had made.

Here is a short (silent) Pathe film showing the cargo being unloaded in the Port of London, at Hay’s Wharf in September 1925, ensuring widespread publicity for Gloria.

The 'General Serrett'

Subsequently, the ‘General Serret’ was sold and the crew was paid off. The Gloria Steamship Company was dissolved in 1928.

Suddenly, affairs escalated, probably because Gloria’s name had featured so prominently in the papers, and attracted the attention of Selfridges, seeking payment of an outstanding account. On 16 September 1925, Gloria was discussing the ‘General Serret’ at her solicitors in Piccadilly, when the police arrived and arrested her. She was taken directly in a cab to the Magistrate’s Court. 

Elegantly dressed, in a ‘superb-looking coat fringed with fur’, Gloria listened calmly as the charges were read out. It was alleged that in May 1925, she had taken away two gowns costing 14 ½ and 18 ½ guineas (today worth about £1,500) from the Oxford Street store. But she had paid using a closed account and could not be found at her Neasden address. The account address was that of her father-in-law Narciso, and had been closed in 1922, presumably because of the divorce. After several court appearances, Selfridges dropped the case, saying she may have thought the account was still active, and Gloria was cleared of fraud.

Who was Gloria?

Articles covering the bootlegging episode included biographical information, which said she was born Gloria de Vere in England, with a Russian mother and a wealthy French father, a sea captain, who had lost most of his fortune in the Russian Revolution, and was accidentally killed in Japan.

 

In fact, ‘Gloria’ was born on 7 December 1889, and baptized Eliza Mabel Davey on New Year’s Day 1890 at St James, Walthamstow. Her father was Henry Stephen Davey, but far from being wealthy or a sea captain, he was a plasterer, and the family lived in East London.

Eliza was very ambitious, and keen to get away from her humble roots re-invented herself as Gloria de Vere and used her beauty to find a rich man. The press had stories that she was a model and actress who met Emilio in Paris, which may or may not be true. By 1911 they were living together in 11 Museum Mansions Great Russell Street as Emile de Vere (24) and his wife Gloria de Vere (20), who falsely said they had been married for two years.

Leaving England

After her acquittal in 1925 Gloria told the press she was leaving England for South America, but it seems likely she chose to live in the US rather than Argentina.

There were two Atlantic crossings in 1926, to England and back to the US without any problem. But when Gloria disembarked from the ‘Alaunia’ at Liverpool docks on 4 April 1927, the Home Office refused her entry into England. No explanation was given. 

Allowed to stay for a few days at the North Western Hotel before being forcibly returned to the US, she was again served with a High Court writ for nonpayment of money, this time owed to an estate agent. Presumably she had failed to pay rent at one of her many addresses. Her luggage was seized and a Sheriff’s officer stood guard; he was permitted to take all her belongings, other than goods to the value of £5.

Gloria believed the authorities were prejudiced because of the bootlegging affair and gave an interview to the Sun newspaper. She said, ‘I think I have been treated in an exceedingly brutal manner’.

‘She gave a slightly hysterical little laugh, and added contemptuously enough, “How can a woman go about the world from one part to another on £5 worth of clothes? The whole thing is ridiculous.”

“What does Madame propose to do?” our representative asked.

“I shall not go.’ She said, “unless I can have my luggage as well.”

Then on reflection she added with resignation, “They might compel me.”

“I am British born, but Britain will not admit me. I am Argentinian by marriage, but the Argentine does not attract me since my husband and I are separated. Apparently, I have no nationality now, and my future is a blank, a maze. I do not know whatever will happen to me. Why do they not tell me why I am forbidden to return to England, my native country?”

While Gloria still presented a glamorous and generally feisty image to the world, there were signs that something was wrong. She was at times emotional, clearly concerned about returning to the US and what might happen. Argentina was not just unattractive: if Emilio refused to support her financially, Gloria declared ‘I should be worse off in the Argentine than anywhere else’. The money she owed and refused to pay was reported as being between £100 and £200, not a huge sum for a woman who regarded £5 as the price of a hat.

When asked how she intended to live in the future and what money she had, Gloria replied evasively, “That is rather a private matter isn’t it?” 

Detectives arrived to accompany her to the boat, and following advice from a lawyer Gloria was persuaded to leave the hotel. The alternative was to go to the police station under arrest. Shortly before the boat departed, the debt was paid by a Liverpool man, likely a fellow passenger and her luggage was released. The reporter left Gloria in tears in her cabin, as the ‘Caronia’ set sail for New York on 9 April.

Gloria’s fears were realized when on arrival in New York on 17 April, she was detained by Immigration Officers and denied entry. Perhaps she hoped the authorities might change their minds, after “she expressed great appreciation of the courtesy extended to her by the Ellis Island officials, which she contrasted with what she described as her unfortunate experiences in England.”   

But for now, and while prohibition agents undertook further investigations, Gloria was only permitted to stay for 15 days, as an ‘alien in transit,’ having posted a $500 bond for good behaviour. She was kept under surveillance and a request to extend her stay until 1 June was refused.

Mention was made of her visiting friends in Washington; of seeking a new life in Canada; and finally, her intention to sail to France under a French visa where she would marry an American and return legally to the US as his wife.

Gloria made the headlines once again. She overstayed her permit time and forfeited the bond money – or more accurately one Patrick Lupo did, as it was reported he had provided the guarantee. The result was a warrant for her arrest and subsequent deportation.

Gloria sailed into anonymity from New York on board the liner ‘La Savoie’ on 1 June 1927 bound for Le Havre. We were unable to find her after this, and the clever woman probably re-invented herself under a new name.