Above photo, date unknown.

Above Google image April 2019, showing the same location.

From an email received 14 August 2022.

I was carrying out some research for my book on The Man who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, and came across a reference to a Lionel William Bartram, who was the licensee of the pub around the early 1890s. He was apparently the son of William Bartram who owned a brewery in Tonbridge.

Lionel would have come into his inheritance on reaching the age of 21 in about 1886. It would appear that he squandered all his money and was in serious financial difficulties by 1890. He replied to an advertisement placed by the fraudster Charles Wells (better known as ‘Monte Carlo Wells’) who promised to turn the sum of £750 into a fortune. Lionel somehow got hold of the £750 (which would be the equivalent of about £75,000 today). But – along with many other victims of Wells – he lost every penny.

When I wrote the biography of Charles Wells, which came out in 2016, I did not have all of the above info because Bartram’s name was quoted in the press as ‘Barton’ and therefore I could not trace him. I’m now writing a second, updated edition and there will certainly be some mention of Lionel Bartram this time.

If you’d like me to send over any further info on this topic that I may find, I’ll be pleased to send it over to you.

Kind regards,

Robin Quinn.