Edward Mylius
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Edward Frederick Mylius (4 July 1878 – 24 January 1947) was a Belgian-born journalist jailed in England in 1911 for
criminal libel Criminal libel is a legal term, of English origin, which may be used with one of two distinct meanings, in those common law jurisdictions where it is still used. It is an alternative name for the common law offence which is also known (in order ...
after publishing a report that King
George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...
of the United Kingdom was a bigamist.


Early life

Mylius was born in Belgium in 1878. His father was born in England, his mother in Italy. By 1891, Mylius was living with a sister in
Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...
,
West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...
, at the home of an uncle. Between 1895 and 1901, he worked as a
clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...
. By 1909, he was known to police for attending
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
and
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
meetings. That year, he visited France, where he met Edward Holton James, an American-born socialist living in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.


Libel case


Background

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...
became British sovereign on 6 May 1910, upon the death of his father,
Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...
. The king, while still a prince and heir to the throne, had married
Mary of Teck Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 186724 March 1953) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 Janua ...
in London on 6 July 1893. In January 1910, Edward Holton James wrote to Mylius to suggest an article based on an existing rumour that George V had previously married and had children via that marriage. Shortly thereafter, James began publishing a journal called ''The Liberator''. James told Mylius that they had "an opportunity to make a formidable attack on the Monarchy".


Libel publication

In the 19 November 1910 issue of ''The Liberator'', Mylius alleged in an article entitled "Sanctified Bigamy" that in
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
in 1890, George V had married "the daughter" of Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, and the marriage had produced three children. That would have been not only scandalous but also illegal by contravening the
Royal Marriages Act 1772 The Royal Marriages Act 1772 (12 Geo. 3. c. 11) was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which prescribed the conditions under which members of the British royal family could contract a valid marriage, in order to guard ...
. While ''The Liberator'' was published in Paris, police seized about 1,000 copies sent to England for distribution. Normally, royalty avoid suing over lies told about them, but in a break with precedent, the King decided that in this case, he had no choice. The rumours accused him of the crime of
bigamy In a culture where only monogamous relationships are legally recognized, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their mar ...
and questioned the legal status of the
queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...
and the legitimacy of their children. The King, with the advice of
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, issued proceedings against Mylius for criminal libel and said he was prepared to go into the
witness box A courtroom is the enclosed space in which courts of law are held in front of a judge. A number of courtrooms, which may also be known as "courts", may be housed in a courthouse. In recent years, courtrooms have been equipped with audiovisual ...
to disprove the allegations. Attorney-General Sir Rufus Isaacs, advised the king that it would be unconstitutional for him to give evidence in his own court.


Arrest and trial

Mylius was arrested in London in late December 1910. Charged with
criminal libel Criminal libel is a legal term, of English origin, which may be used with one of two distinct meanings, in those common law jurisdictions where it is still used. It is an alternative name for the common law offence which is also known (in order ...
, not the more serious
seditious libel Seditious libel is a criminal offence under common law of printing written material with seditious purposethat is, the purpose of bringing contempt upon a political authority. It remains an offence in Canada but has been abolished in England and ...
, he was tried before the Lord Chief Justice of England, Lord Alverstone, and a jury. The prosecution, led by
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
Rufus Isaacs and assisted by Richard David Muir, asserted that the claims about the king were fiction: * that the king had not been in Malta between 1888 and 1901; * that the admiral, whose daughter the king had supposedly married, had ''two'' daughters, of whom: ** one (Laura) had never met the king, and; ** the other (Mary) had not met the king between 1879, when she was eight, and 1898, when he was already married. Mylius, representing himself, essentially did not mount a defence and asserted that he had been denied the right to face his accuser. He was convicted in a one-day trial on 1 February 1911 and sentenced to a year in prison. George V recorded his feelings on the affair in his diary: :The whole story is a damnable lie and has been in existence now for over twenty years. I trust that this will settle it once and for all. His mother,
Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, queen-consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 Januar ...
, wrote to him: :Thank God that vile trial is over and those infamous lies and foul accusations at an end for ever and cleared up before the whole world. To us it was a ridiculous story your having been married before ...! Too silly for words ... My poor Georgie - really it was too bad and must have worried you all the same. Serving his sentence at Wormwood Scrubs Prison, Mylius was released after 10 months for good conduct.


Additional publication

After Mylius was released from prison, he went to live in the United States. There, beyond the reach of English libel law, he published another version of the claim, which appeared in a 1916 pamphlet, ''The
Morganatic Marriage Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spou ...
of George V'', printed in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
by Guido Bruno. The allegation was bolstered by finding a ''Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle'' report of Mary Culme-Seymour dancing with the prince at a ball at Portsmouth Town Hall on 21 August 1891. She had testified at the trial that she had not seen the prince between 1879 and 1898. The king's biographer, Kenneth Rose, acknowledged in his 1983 book that Mary had had "a slip of memory" but judged it "utterly irrelevant to the accusation of bigamy". That inconsistency has been taken up by more recent writers investigating the allegations.


Later years

Mylius's immigration to the United States was not without incident. Upon arrival in December 1912 at
Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...
, he was interviewed and ordered deported, due to his libel conviction in England. His appeal with the
US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
was denied, but he was successful in federal court, a judge ruling in February 1913 that libel was not a crime of
moral turpitude Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States, and until 1976 in Canada, that refers to "an act or behavior that gravely violates the sentiment or accepted standard of the community". This term appears in U.S. immigration law beginnin ...
. The government appealed that ruling, which was affirmed in Mylius's favor in January 1914. In New York City, Mylius associated with activists around Greenwich Village, including
Max Eastman Max Forrester Eastman (January 4, 1883 – March 25, 1969) was an American writer on literature, philosophy, and society, a poet, and a prominent political activist. Moving to New York City for graduate school, Eastman became involved with radica ...
, Hippolyte Havel, and
Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...
. On his draft registration card of 1918, Mylius listed Sanger as his nearest relative and gave his occupation as "manager and organiser" for ''The Liberator''. At some point, Mylius was the lover of anarchist Christine Ell, whom
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of Realism (theatre), realism, earlier associated with ...
modeled the title character of ''
Anna Christie ''Anna Christie'' is a Play (theatre), play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. It made its Broadway theatre, Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921. O'Neill received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this work. According ...
'' on. In December 1921, it came to light that Mylius had "borrowed" $4,000 from ''The Liberator'' (which he had left three months prior) and lost it on stock market
speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, good (economics), goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hope ...
. Eastman, the editor of the publication, received partial repayment, but after being authorized to collect an additional $1,000 from one of Mylius's accounts, found that Mylius had already withdrawn those funds from the bank. During the 1921 incident, Mylius was using the alias Edward J. Boskin and also used that name in the 1925 New York State Census. A secretary at a company Mylius worked for was named Lena Boskin. At the time of his April 1942 draft registration, Mylius was unemployed and living in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. Genealogical research by Anthony J. Camp finds that Mylius married Lena Boskin, 20 years his junior, in New York City on 3 July 1944. Mylius died in Kings County Hospital on 24 January 1947 of
prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
.Certificate of Death No 1993 in Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, Ward H-21, aged 54, informant Lena Mylius, wife, 11 Monroe Place, Brooklyn, and was cremated 25 January 1947.


See also

*
Guy Aldred Guy Alfred Aldred (often Guy A. Aldred; 5 November 1886 – 16 October 1963) was a British Anarcho-communism, anarcho-communist and a prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF). He founded the Mikhail Bakunin, Bak ...
, an associate of Mylius found guilty of libel in 1909 * Ella Rhoads Higginson, an American author who mentioned the George V rumour in a 1910 book


Notes


References


Further reading

* *
Excerpt
in the ''Evening Despatch'' (Birmingham) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mylius, Edward 1878 births 1947 deaths People from Ostend Belgian journalists Belgian male writers Foreign nationals imprisoned in the United Kingdom Monarchy of the United Kingdom Royal scandals in the United Kingdom Sex scandals in the United Kingdom English defamation case law Deaths from prostate cancer in New York (state) Belgian emigrants to the United Kingdom