Here is a curious item from the Daily Record and Mail for Tues., July 19, 1932, page 9:
Of course, Machen still had about fifteen years in the tank, finally passing away in December 1947 at the age of 84. The item gives no details into his supposed death. It is not currently known if Machen was aware of this false report, but perhaps, he would have shrugged his shoulders indifferently as simply being remembered for the Angle of Mons controversy. A decade earlier, Machen, as a reporter for the Evening News, had been involved in the premature obituary of another literary luminary, Lord Alfred Douglas.
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What a funny little bit of Macheniana — perhaps unknown to Machen fans until now.
I suppose by 1932 Machen was posting fewer bylined items — if that is so, that might suggest an “atmosphere” in which the notion of his death could take hold. Still — !!
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Thanks for this! It is curious. I wonder if would have quoted Mark Twain? Now, I want to know about the Douglas ‘analogue’! – as there is nothing in the current version of his English Wikipedia article, and I have not tried any of the other 24 languages listed, or gone looking for and in biographies.
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In early 1921, Machen was tasked with writing an obituary for a very un-dead Lord Douglas. He objected and sued the Evening News. While this did not lead directly to Machen’s departure, it was a major break in his relationship with the paper. Finally, he left in October of that year. Later, he cited unsympathetic editors and cuts in pay as contributing factors. Interestingly, Douglas was AM’s employer at The Academy in 1907-1910. I hope to do research on this and write more on the incident in the future.
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Thanks for this! Wow – wilder and wilder (no ‘Oscar’ pun intended)! I had thought of the Academy connexion (though I still have not yet caught up with all his contributions to it), and supposed he would be likely to know if Douglas was dead or not. I look forward to the results of your research!
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