"A hundred years ago, if you wanted a knighthood, say, a baronetcy or even a peerage and, worthy or not, were prepared to pay for it, you called on a man named Arthur Maundy Gregory, who had set up in a large office almost directly opposite Downing Street. Liveried servants, their uniforms so closely modelled on those of House of Commons messengers that you could not tell the difference, would usher you into Gregory's office, where the man himself, immaculately dressed,"
"Despite his respectable appearance and ingratiating manner, Gregory was a scoundrel and a chancer. He had had various careers, as an actor, impresario, editor of vanity publishing magazines, club owner, self-proclaimed spy master and police informant and would maybe eventually even become a murderer. As he chatted, the telephone on his desk would ring and he would explain that No 10 was calling, without mentioning that he himself lived in an apartment at number 10, though Hyde Park Terrace, not Downing Street."
The New Year honours list has been published and prompts scrutiny of how honours are awarded. Contemporary concerns include PPE procurement scandals and a former MEP bribed by Russians, yet past practices could be worse. Around a century ago Arthur Maundy Gregory operated from an office opposite Downing Street, using liveried servants resembling House of Commons messengers to usher clients. Gregory, immaculately dressed and often wearing a monocle, displayed framed photographs of crowned European heads and set fees for honours: £10,000 for a knighthood, £40,000 for a baronetcy and £50,000 for a peerage, equivalent to much larger modern sums. He maintained a varied career and a rogue reputation.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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