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Entire Thesis (pdf)

Chapters:

  1. Summary of Known Information
  2. The Order of Aurelius
  3. An Alternate Theory of Vampirism
  4. Appearance and Habitat
  5. Feeding Habits
  6. Preferred Victims
  7. Sexual Idiosyncrasies
  8. Torture
  9. Other Known Idiosyncrasies
  10. Pre-Death Biography
  11. Summary of Strengths and Weaknesses
  12. Conclusions

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CHAPTER TEN: Biography Before Death (speculative)

Having established that William the Bloody was most likely sired in the late Victorian period, it is natural to wonder precisely what sort of man William was before he became a vampire. Theories on this subject abound, and range from the quite obviously far-fetched notion that he was the Prince Consort's secret illegitimate son (1) to the much more rational idea that he was one of the many middle-class men who simply disappeared, and were reported missing but never found. (2) Judging from what we know of William the Bloody's personality, however, it is possible to work backward and guess at what kind of man he was before being turned. (I am basing this retrojection of his character on the assumption that vampires retain some portion of their human personality after being turned. For argument in support of this assumption please see Chapter 3.)

It is likely that William the Bloody was one of those who vanished from view, but it is also possible that his death was recorded. The incidence of desecrated burial sites in and around London in the last quarter of the 19th century, as reported in the newspapers of the day, was not uncommon (3), and one supposes that some or most of those incidents are new vampires rising from their graves. (4) Available records indicate that several of the dead men whose graves were disturbed match the physical description of William the Bloody.

One likely candidate is William Carnarvon (d. 1877), a Franciscan monk on the verge of taking final priestly vows. (5) Carnarvon was "attacked by wild dogs" in a Spitalfields alley. His obituary reports that he had gone there to render aid to a parishioner.

The idea of a priest--or almost-priest--becoming a vampire seems quite ludicrous on first glance. One imagines that someone who has taken Holy Orders ought by rights to repel vampires in the same way the crucifix does. This, of course, is far from the truth; priests are, after all, human, and as vulnerable to vampire attack as anyone else. On second glance, however, William the Bloody being a priest before his death might go some distance to explain the vampire's unusual ability to care for Drusilla and his remarkable devotion to her, something so rarely seen in vampires that it is practically aberrant behavior. (6)

Another possibility is "Black" Bill Wilkes, a cracksman of no small repute, who died in January, 1880. (7) Wilkes was known for his volatile temper and willingness to settle disputes with his fists (8), which seems to fit in well with William the Bloody's reputation for violence. Richard Nokes, a Division H constable from 1872-1884, writes to his father Edward, a retired policeman living in Yorkshire:

"We had quite a day, Dad. Chased Black Bill Wilkes over half of Whitechapel, dodging in and out of alleys and brothels and what-all. The bleeding bugger started a donnybrook in the King's Hart, just at dinner. Left Charlie McGurk bleeding on the floor with his head stove in, and a black eye. And a split lip and a few loose teeth--and to hear Charlie tell it, half his ribs broke. And all over a half pickled egg that Bill said Charlie nicked off his plate! That Bill, he's a right bastard when he's crossed. Took us three hours to run him to ground, and even then we nearly lost him. Jack Dawkins finally cornered him in the blind alley behind Lady Mary's, and it took the both of us to bring him in, he was that determined. Gave Jack a bloody lip, he did. Me, I got off lucky with only a kick to the shin." (9)

Though either of the two men are equally likely candidates for William the Bloody's human self, I tend toward the theory that it was, if not Carnarvon himself, at least someone like him, someone who possessed a deep capacity for loving. Everyone, after all, has some darkness within them that, unleashed by the lack of remorse and conscience of the vampire, would manifest as some of William the Bloody's more vicious behavior. Only a person who loved deeply, however, might have a chance of having that quality remain in any degree after becoming a vampire.

NOTES

(1) M. Holmes., "A Monograph on the Secret Loves of HRH Prince Albert." Privately published, 1903.

(2) The newspapers of the period are curiously silent on many of the disappearances as news items, but the agony columns are filled with requests for information on vanished loved ones and pleas for them to return. It is undoubtedly true that some of the disappearances were due to vampiric activity, but the majority were probably deliberately engineered by the men themselves as flights to avoid prosecution or love affairs gone bad, leaving behind distraught and grieving families. A cousin of my great-great-grandmother, William Walthrop, vanished from London in 1880 after a disastrous affaire de coeur with a Miss Cecily Addams, though he at least was kind enough to write to his cousin some years later from Italy to tell her why he had left.

(3) The Times, Daily Telegraph, and Pall Mall Gazette, among others.

(4) Many of the reported incidents describe the typical state of a grave after a vampire has dug itself out--a roughly circular opening about a third of the way from the head of the casket, with earth pushed up in mounds around it.

(5) Obituary, Times, 17 August, 1877. Article on desecration of grave, ibid., 21 August, 1877.

(6) Though this aberrant behavior occurs in two vampires of the Aurelian line. Perhaps there is something about the Aurelians that differentiates them from other vampires. Certainly Angelus, Darla and the Master are quite different from vampires of other lines, though in a completely different way from William the Bloody and the James that Childe mentions in his letters.

(7) Though there is no obituary for him, the Times reports in the 10 January edition that his grave was desecrated on 8 January. The news article gives sketchy details of Wilkin's life.

(8) Arrest records of Division H (Whitechapel), Scotland Yard, 1876-79.

(9) Richard Nokes, Private correspondence, 18 June, 1877.