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TheDreadnought hoax was apractical joke pulled byHorace de Vere Cole in 1910. Cole tricked theRoyal Navy into showing theirflagship, thebattleshipHMSDreadnought, to a fake delegation ofAbyssinian royals. The hoax drew attention in Britain to the emergence of theBloomsbury Group, among whom some of Cole's collaborators numbered. The hoax was a repeat of a similar impersonation that Cole andAdrian Stephen had organised while they were students atCambridge University in 1905.
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Horace de Vere Cole was born in Ireland in 1881 to a well-to-do family.[a] He wascommissioned into theYorkshire Hussars and served in theSecond Boer War, where he was seriously wounded and invalided out of service.[2][3] On his return to Britain, he became an undergraduate atTrinity College, Cambridge; he studied little and spent his time entertaining and undertaking hoaxes and pranks.[4]
One of Cole's closest friends at Trinity wasAdrian Stephen, a keen sportsman and actor. Cole's biographer, Martyn Downer, considers that Stephen was a "perfect foil for ... [Cole]: someone sympathetic and encouraging yet unafraid to take him on".[5] Stephen was the son ofLeslie, the writer and critic, andJulia, the philanthropist andPre-Raphaelite model. Adrian Stephen's elder brother,Thoby, was also at Trinity, and their sisters, Vanessa (laterVanessa Bell) and Virginia (laterVirginia Woolf), would visit.[6] After university, the four Stephen siblings became members of theBloomsbury Group, the set of associated writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists, many of whose members had also been at Trinity College. Cole was on the fringes of the group but never a member.[7]
In early 1905, while in their second year atTrinity College,Cambridge, Cole and Adrian Stephen decided to use a visit to England ofSayyid Ali bin Hamud Al-Busaid, the eighthSultan of Zanzibar, as the basis for a hoax.[8][9] A plan was put together to fake astate visit of the sultan to Cambridge, although they realised that as the sultan's picture had recently appeared in the press, there was a risk the visiting sultan would be shown as a fraud. They decided that Cole would impersonate the sultan's uncle rather than the sultan.[10] On 2 March, they sent atelegram to theMayor of Cambridge to ask if he could arrange a suitable reception for the sultan:
The Sultan of Zanzibar will arrive today at Cambridge at 4.27 for a short visit. Could you arrange to show him buildings of interest and send carriage?
Henry Lucas, Hotel Cecil, London[11][12]
The students obtained robes and turbans from the theatrical costumierWilly Clarkson, appliedblackface make-up and took the train from London. A carriage met the group atCambridge railway station and took them tothe guildhall, where they were met by the mayor and town clerk. After a brief reception they were taken on a tour of the town, including some of theuniversity's colleges; the hoaxers were seen by some of their friends and acquaintances who did not recognise them.[13][14] After less than an hour they demanded to be returned to the station. As they did not want to return to London—returning from which would have meant them breaking the 10:00 pm collegecurfew—on arrival at the station, they ran out of a side exit and took twohansom cabs to a friend's house, where they changed back into their normal attire.[15][16]
The following day Cole gave an interview to theDaily Mail about the hoax; the story appeared in the paper on 4 March 1905 and was repeated in local newspapers. TheSt James's Gazette considered the events "a most audacious practical joke".[12][b] The Mayor wanted the students involved to besent down, but was persuaded by theVice-Chancellor that this would damage his reputation further.[21]
In the early 20th century, Britain's naval fleet was seen as one of the foundations of its empire, and a reflection of the country's power and wealth.[22] As Britain was portrayed in books, plays and popular culture as an island nation, theRoyal Navy was seen as the defender of the island and its first line of defence.[23] Aleading article inThe Observer in 1909 described the supremacy of the Royal Navy as "the best security for the world's peace and advancement".[24]
HMS Dreadnought, the first of Britain's "dreadnought" class ofbattleship, entered into Royal Navy service in 1906.[25]Dreadnought was the most technologically advanced ship built; it was better armed, faster and stronger than any other vessel afloat.[26] According to the historian Jan Rüger, from the time the ship was launched, it took on cultural significance as a symbol and it entered into public consciousness through songs and advertising. When the ship visited London in 1909—part of threefleet reviews held—a million people were estimated to have watched its arrival, and by 1910 it "had become a cultural icon with undeniable symbolic status".[27] Rüger gives examples of advertising forOxostock cubes: "Drink OXO and dread nought"; a tailoring business that used the slogan "Dreadnought and wear British clothing"; and "Dreadnoughttrams" ran, styled as battleships, and complete with imitation guns.[28] The cultural historian Elisa deCourcy describes theDreadnought as having "a near sacrosanct nature" for theEdwardians.[22]
In February 1910 the captain ofDreadnought wasHerbert Richmond;Admiral SirWilliam May was the Commander-in-Chief,Home Fleet; as such,Dreadnought was hisflagship.[29][30] Also present onDreadnought was CommanderWillie Fisher—the Stephens' cousin—who was on the staff of the Admiral.[31][c]
In a talk given in 1940 Woolf described how, in 1910, young naval officers enjoyed playingpractical jokes on one another:
the officers of theHawke and the Dreadnought had a feud. ... And Cole's friend who was on the Hawke had come to Cole, and said to him, "You're a great hand at hoaxing people; couldn't you do something to pull the leg of the Dreadnought? They want taking down a bit. Couldn't you manage to play off one of your jokes against them?"[33]
This involved Cole and five friends—writer Virginia Stephen (laterVirginia Woolf), her brotherAdrian Stephen,Guy Ridley,Anthony Buxton and the artistDuncan Grant—whohad themselves disguised by the theatrical costumierWilly Clarkson[34] with skin darkeners and turbans to resemble members ofthe Abyssinian royal family. The main limitation of the disguises was that the "royals" could not eat anything or their make-up would be ruined. Adrian Stephen took the role of "interpreter".
On 7 February 1910 Clarkson's employees visited Woolf's home and applied the stage make-up to Woolf, Grant, Buxton and Ridley, then provided eastern robes. According to theDaily Mirror, they were also wearing £500 of jewellery;[35][36] Martin Downer, in his biography of Cole, doubts the amount, which is not repeated by any of the participants.[37]
A friend of Stephen's sent a telegram to the "C-in-C, Home Fleet" (Commander-in-chief ofthe vessels defending Britain) stating that "Prince Makalen of Abbysinia [sic] and suite arrive 4.20 today Weymouth. He wishes to see Dreadnought. Kindly arrange meet them on arrival";[38] the message was signed "Harding Foreign Office". Cole had found a post office staffed only by women, as he thought they were less likely to ask questions about the message.[39] Cole, with his entourage, went to London'sPaddington station where Cole claimed that he was "Herbert Cholmondeley" of theForeign Office and demanded a special train toWeymouth; the stationmaster arrangeda VIP coach.
In Weymouth, the navy welcomed the princes with anhonour guard. AnAbyssinian flag was not found, so the navy proceeded to usethat of Zanzibar and to play Zanzibar's national anthem.[40]
The group inspected the fleet. To show their appreciation, they communicated in a gibberish of words drawn from Latin and Greek; they asked forprayer mats and attempted to bestow fakemilitary honours on some of the officers. Commander Fisher failed to recognise either of his cousins.[41]
When the prank was uncovered in London, the ringleaderHorace de Vere Cole contacted the press and sent a photo of the "princes" to theDaily Mirror. The group's pacifist views were considered a source of embarrassment, and the Royal Navy briefly became an object of ridicule. The navy later demanded that Cole be arrested. However, Cole and his compatriots had not broken any law. Instead, except for Virginia Woolf, they were subjected toa symbolic thrashing on the buttocks by junior Royal Navy officers.[42]
According to press reports, during the visit toDreadnought, the visitors repeatedly showed amazement or appreciation by exclaiming, "Bunga Bunga!"[43] In 1915 during theFirst World War, HMSDreadnought rammed and sanka German submarine—the only battleship ever to do so. Among the telegrams of congratulation was one that read "BUNGA BUNGA".[44]
A song was heard inmusic halls that year, sung to the tune of "The Girl I Left Behind":
When I went on board a Dreadnought ship
I looked like a costermonger;
They said I was an Abyssinian prince
'Cos I shouted 'Bunga Bunga!'[45]
Thirty years later, in 1940, Virginia Woolf gave talks about theDreadnought hoax to theRodmellWomen's Institute and also to theMemoir Club, the latter attended byE. M. Forster.[46]