Chiddingstone Castle - Denys Bower

Denys Bower

Between 1955 and 1977, the castle was occupied by a collector of various types of art and artifacts, Denys Bower.

Born in 1905, in Crich in Derbyshire, Denys Bower was a passionate if eccentric collector. For the first 34 years he lived with his parents working as a bank clerk. Disabled in a motorcycle accident when he was a youth and needing glasses for reading (although he preferred a monocle) Denys did not have to serve in the Second World War.

In 1955 he bought Chiddingstone Castle for £6,000 with a loan for the whole amount from the Bank, and opened it to the public to display his collections.

During this period of his life, Bower married twice, both times ending in divorce. In September 1957, he fell in love with Anna, a woman 30 years his junior who claimed to be the Comptesse de Estainville, though she was really the daughter of a Peckham Bus Driver. After more than a year she broke off the engagement, and Denys, who was distraught, took a revolver from his collections and visited her in an attempt to change her mind. Initially she managed to keep him out of the house by claiming she was preparing breakfast, but he returned later and, relenting, she let him in. It was as she turned to adjust a budgie cage he drew the revolver, accidentally pulling the trigger, and shot Anna. Thinking he had killed her, he turned the gun on himself and fired.

Coming to in the Miller Hospital in Greenwich with a policeman standing over him, Denys muttered that Anna’s father, the Count Grimaldi must be told. Naturally the police, knowing who Anna really was, assumed that Bower was not quite right in the head. Luckily the "Countess" had only minor injuries and was released after a few days. Bower was not so fortunate and on his release from hospital after a fortnight, was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder and attempted suicide.

The tabloid press featured this story. Many people believed it was this sensationalist press coverage that led to his conviction, but thanks to the efforts of Ruth Eldridge and her sister Mary, a miscarriage of justice was eventually proven and Denys was released from Wormwood Scrubs in 1961. Whilst in prison Denys had made legal history by bringing a successful libel case against the Sunday Pictorial. The Eldridge sisters took pity on the ex-convict and helped him restore Chiddingstone Castle.

The castle contains a reconstruction of Denys’s study, which aims not only to give a taste of his passion for objects of high quality and beauty but also to reveal more about his life and persona. The study displays items from his time in prison, his homemade magazine shedding more light upon his life, a portrait of Denys by Dame Laura Knight, a number of photographs of him, his furniture, and many of his personal items.