4 JANUARY 1997, Page 22

Counterblow

Sir: Roy Wright has shown himself to be yet another purveyor of malicious gossip (Let- ters, 14/21 December). He says that a Grosvenor Estate administrator told him that there was substance behind the story of my grandfather, Detmar Blow, defrauding Bendor, Duke of Westminster. But the Grosvenor Estate archives — which long ago I checked — contain no proven refer- ence to any wrongdoing by my grandfather. The case against Detmar was built on defamatory hearsay. In the Grosvenor Estate Office the hearsay was passed on to become legend, but legend is not truth. In 1985, Boodle Hatfield — the Westminster lawyers who were once out to demolish Detmar — published an account of their firm. Of the incident their historian could say no more than, 'There does not seem to have been any suggestion of outright fraud, but rather what the Duke came to look upon as an abuse of trust.' (This assump- tion of abuse was fuelled by Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, and the lawyers.) Putting Detmar's case, Boodle Hatfield's historian says, 'The undoubtedly large income he had received in the Duke's employ was only fair compensation for giv- ing up a brilliant architectural career, and he had done nothing without at least the Duke's tacit approval.'

Detmar did not fight the cruel accusa- tions in court because — as I wrote — with- in days of hearing them he cracked. A sick man is not allowed into a court. Had he been fit, he would certainly have fought. But, like the abrupt end of a love affair, unexplained abandonment by a close friend can have serious repercussions. The Grosvenor Estate official to whom Wright spoke could not know anything beyond backroom chit-chat. Wright reveals a gos- sip's flair for mischievous — and nasty misreading of the situation. But inaccuracy and insensitivity are, I suppose, the hall- marks of such gossip. These, and the busy- bodying ignorance of an outsider, Roy Wright possesses in abundance.

Simon Blow

35 Great Queen Street, London WC2