December 5, 2025 • 38 mins
At the start of the 20th century, Britain was slowly becoming a freer place for women. Young Grace Oakeshott seized every opportunity to learn and improve the world around her - though she found those opportunities frustratingly narrow. One day, she vanished suddenly, leaving behind only a pile of clothes on a beach. A hundred years later, the truth about Grace’s disappearance has finally come to light.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin August twenty seventh, nineteen o seven. On the beach
at Arzon in France, a woman goes for a swim.
She leaves her clothes and a neat pile petticoats and
(00:35):
skirts pressed into careful folds. It's a common sight. This
part of France is popular with tourists. They come to
explore Celtic ruins and whitewashed fishing villages, to breathe sea
air and watch blood red sunsets from the Hotel de
la Plage. The swimming at Arzon is excellent. Fathers float
(01:00):
on warm currents towards pine fringed islands, but there's danger
here too. Cold currants and treacherous riptides have been known
to swallow unfortunate swimmers. Dusk falls the Atlantic Ocean a
shifting palette of greens and blues. The beach empties out.
(01:26):
The woman never returns for her clothes. Coolsden, just south
of London. One week later, Harold Oakshot opens his newspaper
and sees a death notice. It tells of how his
(01:50):
wife Grace died while swimming at Arson in France. She
was thirty five years old. The newspaper ads and had
devoted her short life to improving working conditions for women.
She had started a trade school for girls and was
a celebrated activist. What would you have seen if you'd
(02:13):
been there? As he opened the newspaper, no sign of shock.
He reads the notice of his own wife's death calmly.
His face is inscrutable. He neatly refolds the newspaper and
gazes out of the window for a while, as if
(02:34):
contemplating new horizons. The following year, he remarries, I'm Tim Harford,
and you're listening to cautionary tales at the moment that
(03:11):
Grace Oakshot's petticoats were being neatly stacked on the ars
on beach. Grace Oakshot herself had been married to Harold
for over a decade, but unlike some other women of
her station, marriage had never been an inevitability for Grace.
She had been prepared for another path altogether. When Grace
(03:36):
was born in London in eighteen seventy two, a ground
swell of change was reshaping Britain. Railways were stitching the
country together and the telegraph was relaying information at lightning speed.
Schools for girls began to multiply, and the women's suffrage
movement was growing. It was an age that buzzed and
(03:58):
crackled with possibility, electric in its promise, Grace had two
strokes of good luck. Not only was the tide of
progress rising around her, but her parents, James and Elizabeth Cash,
were ambitious strivers. They were determined to give their children
(04:22):
the best possible tools for self advancement, and that meant
rigorous schooling, not just for their son, Henry, but also
for their three daughters, Kate, Jessie, and of course Grace.
Victorian women were typically raised to rely on a male breadwinner.
Middle class girls were supposed to marry and not compete
(04:45):
with men for wages. Providing one's daughters with a robust
education and preparing them for a career, as Grace's family did,
went against the grain, but by the late nineteenth century,
it had also revealed itself to be the practical choice.
(05:06):
When Grace was born, a recent sen has had shown
that Britain was home to roughly half a million more
women than men. Fathers such as James Cash realized that
their girls might not be able to marry, they needed
to be able to support themselves. With this in mind,
James Cash invested in his daughter's future, he bought a
(05:30):
share in a new company which set up schools for girls.
Grace drank deep of the knowledge on offer, a curriculum
designed to match what was available to boys. Confident and determined,
she was an all rounder and honored at prize giving ceremonies.
She had serious eyes and distinctive auburn hair. Her peers
(05:53):
affectionately nicknamed her copper Top. James and Elizabeth's commitment to
their daughter's education wasn't just a safeguard against hardship. It
also reflected their profound belief in the equal potenti and
worth of every human mind. They were social reformers, but
(06:15):
that faith in progress had to be balanced with another priority,
maintaining their respectability. This wasn't just about moral virtue, but
a form of social currency, and so they strove to
be paragons of decency, self discipline, and diligence. Their goal
(06:36):
wasn't to overthrow society, but to carefully improve it from within.
While her sisters went on to become teachers, Grace set
her sights on college. In eighteen ninety two, she enrolled
at the University of Cambridge. Despite improvements in education for girls.
(07:00):
The idea of university for women was still controversial abstract study,
it was feared would turn women into unmarriageable aberrations and
trigger the downfall of the traditional family unit. Women at
Cambridge were subject to various strictures. They could take classes
(07:22):
and sit examinations, but they could never earn an actual degree,
merely a certificate. Academically, Grace thrived at Cambridge studying political
economy and history. She also formed lifelong connections. Her closest
friend was a young woman called Renee Courtold. Unlike Grace,
(07:45):
Rene's family was immensely wealthy, but at university their differences
in background dissolved. The two women bonded over their passions
for activism and improving opportunities for poorer women. Grace left
Cambridge after one year, perhaps because her family could no
longer afford it, but the experience had already been transformative.
(08:11):
Back at home, she worked as an assistant teacher at
her old school, and then, aged twenty four, she did
something surprising. She decided to get married on a mild
day in December eighteen ninety six. Grace cash Weed family
(08:32):
friend Harold oakshot. Why did Grace raised to be an
independent woman choose marriage. She was ambitious and hungry for
her own career as an activist. Wives, on the other hand,
had limited freedom. Coveredure laws denied them independent legal status,
(08:56):
so everything a wife owned or earned was controlled by
her husband. What's more, a new icon was sweeping the nation,
often depicted on her bicycle smoking a cigarette. The new
woman appeared in both newspapers and fiction, was a kind
of shorthand for growing female independence. Why when you had
(09:21):
a bicycle would you need a husband. Britain was poised
on the brink of modernity, reconsidering the role of women
in public life. Unfortunately, Britain wasn't reconsidering that role fast enough.
For Grace, marriage was still a cornerstone of respectability, and
(09:43):
for a morally upright reformer like her, that made it
the rational choice. Harold was twenty five years old and
he came from Grace's world. He was a committed socialist
prominent in his community. She likely and quite reasonably thought
they would achieve more for their causes as a pair
(10:04):
than alone. Harold was also witty and ideally and he
held a good position with a London tea specialist. Crucially,
he supported Grace's professional ambitions, believing wholeheartedly that a meaningful
life was one guided by self discovery, integrity and freedom.
(10:27):
It must have seemed an excellent match that Harold Oakshot
had a secret. After their wedding, Grace and Harold moved
to the village of Coolsden, near London, where they lived
in a comfortable cottage with a leafy garden. Grace returned
(10:51):
to work almost immediately. She joined the Women's Industrial Council,
which aimed to improve women's working conditions through a campaign
based on social investigation. Grace set about conducting interviews, surveys
and close sobs of in factress and collating figures on
(11:12):
women's wages. How could you propose change without a thorough
understanding of the status quo. Her reports were published in
newspapers and journals. Grace spent long days away from the
cottage she shared with Harold, and it might have been
a little while before she learned his secret. Perhaps the
(11:35):
truth came by slow degrees, a faint odor on his breath,
unsteady hands practiced excuses at some point, though the knowledge dawned.
Her brilliant husband, so admired, so upstanding in public, was
(11:56):
privately undone by drink. Had Harold's alcoholism been known to
his wider community, it would have been an immense source
of shame. His job would have been threatened and his
reputation destroyed. Habitual drunkenness belied the self control so central
(12:17):
to Victorian morality. But there was no scandal. Harold's disgrace
was quietly contained. No one beyond the Oakshot's close family
and friends knew the truth. For a time, at least,
the couple found their way forward. Grace and Harold never
(12:39):
had any children, likely by choice, and Grace continued to
throw herself into her work, leaving the house early to
board the train for London. They might have continued in
this way, forever, focused on their jobs and their causes,
lives running on parallel tracks. But something happened to turn
(13:03):
their world upside down, something quite Unford scene. Grace fell
in love. Cautionary tales will return. Grace and Harold would
(13:27):
accompany her brother, Henry Cash on summer cruises around Britain's
south coast. Henry was an accomplished yachtsman. In eighteen ninety nine,
they were joined by Henry's friend, a warm, friendly young
man called Walter Reeve. Walter had spent the first part
of his life in Canada's Northwest territories before his missionary
(13:51):
parents had sent him back to London. He planned to
become a doctor, and he thought about returning to the
colonies one day. The atmosphere on the trip was lively
and jocular. The group swam in clear water, lunched at
local Linn's, and chat excitedly. The following summer, Henry, Walter, Grace,
(14:15):
and Harold set out on another cruise together. Walter had
just completed his first year at Guy's Medical School in London,
and he was relaxed and cheerful. Harold's drinking was obvious.
He would disappear at times to knock back liquor, and
Grace and Walter, who were both teetotalers, sometimes found themselves alone.
(14:38):
She was by now twenty eight and he was twenty four.
Walter was scrupulously honest, curious about nature, and keen to
help others. They bonded, although he kept a respectful distance
at first, could even be tongue tied in Grace's presence.
(14:58):
She was a married woman. Intimacy between them should have
been unthinkable, and yet one evening they stole a moment
together growing on the harbor by the light of the moon.
It might have been venice grow Walter. The craft lay gently,
rocking dark specks on a vast expanse of slowly moving
(15:23):
silver water, and the slightest of mists heard where the
harbor mouth became sea and sky. Back at home, Walter
and Grace continued to see each other walking together on
(15:45):
ranmore common in the rolling hills near London. Before long
they were in love. Divorce wasn't an option for Grace.
Not only was it ruinously expensive, but it was also
difficult to obtain. In the nineteen hundreds, the deck was
stacked against women. For a husband to obtain a divorce
(16:09):
es he need only prove that his wife had committed adultery.
But for Grace to divorce Harold, she would have had
to prove adultery plus a second cause such as cruelty, desertion, incest, sodomy,
or bestiality. Above all, divorce signified moral failure. If Walter's
(16:33):
relationship with a married woman had become common knowledge while
he was at medical school, it would have harmed his
prospects as a doctor. For Grace, it would have meant
a total public shaming. Grace and Harold's family, friends and
colleagues would also have been tainted by the scandal. The
causes they'd been fighting for overshadowed by disgrace, and so
(16:59):
Walter and Grace's relationship remained shrouded in secrecy. He pursued
his studies. She continued her work for the Women's in
Dustry Field Council, leading an inquiry into ways of improving
education for women workers. It was painstaking research, and she
concluded that free technical training had to be made as
(17:21):
accessible as possible. Grace plowed her energy into establishing a
trade school in London for girls, the first of its kind.
The school opened its doors to eleven students in October
nineteen oh four. In January, another eleven joined. They learned
how to make waistcoats, and they also took physical exercise
(17:45):
at a nearby gymnasium to counteract the effects of long
hours spent stooping over their work. The trade school was
Grace's crowning achievement and it flourished, but at some point
Harold discovered his wife's infidelity. There's no record of how
(18:08):
he responded to the news that Grace was in love
with another man, but we do know that a dark
plan began to take shape. In August nineteen oh seven,
Grace left the comfortable coolsd and cottage and headed off
(18:30):
on a vacation to the resort town of Arson in France,
famous for its beautiful beach and fresh sea air. One day,
she carefully folded her skirts and petticoats into a small
pile on the beach and walked towards the water. She
(18:51):
never returned. When news of Grace's drowning reached Britain, her
colleagues at the Women's Industrial Council were heartbroken and wrote
of their deep sense of irreparable loss. Grace had a
mass many friends and colleagues over her short life, people
(19:13):
like Rene Courtold, with whom she had formed a close
sisterhood at Cambridge University. They too were grief stricken, one
of them lamenting that Grace had been cut off at
the very height of her usefulness. Meanwhile, Harold Oakshot went
(19:33):
into formal mourning in the local paper. His political party
offered its sympathies for the cruel blow he had sustained.
The horror of his loss is not lessened by the
fact that there seems small chance of the body being recovered.
(19:56):
New Zealand. One year later, nighttime, Walter Reed, now a
qualified doctor, was racing to the Parachi Hotel, auth of
the frontier town of Gisborne. He had been summoned to
help a colleague operate on a grievously injured young woman.
(20:17):
Twenty five year old Minnie Peterson had been attacked at
her workplace, shot twice by the man who promised to
marry her. Dr. Even his wife hadn't been living in
Gisborne long, there was still acclimatizing to this rugged, isolated
place with its upside down seasons. He'd set out for
the hotel the previous afternoon, but rising tides had cut
(20:41):
off his progress. All the while Minnie Peterson was bleeding out.
He urged his horse on hoofs, thundering on the dark road,
cart lurching beneath him. Finally, at three a m. He
saw it, the Parachai Hotel looming up ahead. Through the night.
(21:02):
One bullet had broken Minnie's collar bone and a rib
and embedded itself in her back. Even his colleague managed
to remove that shot, but a second round had torn
through the young woman's jaw and lodged in her skull
just out of reach. Minnie wasn't expected to survive. A
(21:25):
reverend was called at eleven a m. The exhausted doctor
returned home. Minnie Peterson's life still hung in the balance,
but there was nothing more he could do. When the
papers went to press on the incident, they described how
(21:47):
her jilted ex fiancee had previously been a man of
good character. They theorized that this violent change in behavior
was the result of chagram at the broken engagement, as
though Minnie Peterson was somehow responsible for her own attack.
(22:07):
Eight days later, Dr Walter Reeve and his colleague operated
on Minnie Peterson again. This time they managed to remove
the second bullet from her skull, and slowly, amazingly, Minnie
began to improve. Her attacker was arrested thanks to Dr Reeve,
(22:31):
he was charged only with attempted murder. It was a
disturbing introduction to Gisborne, but Walter and his wife, Joan,
who was pregnant with twins, managed to settle in. They
were known as a benevolent and civic minded couple, and
they must have been easily recognizable in the little frontier town.
(22:52):
He the local doctor, she with her serious eyes and
her distinctive auburn hair. In August, Joan and Walter's twins
were born, Anthony and Colin. A few years later they
had a daughter. I chose a name that reminded them
of an old friend, Renee Cautionary tales will be back
(23:17):
shortly a century past. In two thousand and eight, a
researcher called Joscelyn Robson was looking through some old photographs
from the nineteen hundreds, girls in loose dresses hanging from
(23:42):
ropes in a gymnasium. There were students at the London
Trade Schools, which Jocelyn learned had been the inspiration of
the Women's Industrial Council, and in particular an activist called
Grace Oakshot. Joscelyn was moved to learn that Grace had
died shortly after the Trade Schools opened their doors, aged
(24:04):
just thirty five. She couldn't get the sad story out
of her lin that summer she began googling and regoogling
the name Grace Oakshot, and then one day there was
a new result, A review of a play called Grace,
(24:24):
written by a young woman living in New Zealand. The
playwright Sophie Dingeman's was the great granddaughter of a woman
called Grace Oakshot. Her story had captivated Sophie since she
was small. According to family law, great grandmother Grace had
(24:47):
faked her own death in Europe and run away to
New Zealand with the love of her life. Jocelyn was stunned.
Could this be the same Grace Oakshot she got in
touch with the playwright Sophie's Grace hadn't just disappeared in Europe,
(25:08):
but on a b each in nineteen oh seven, a
beach at Arson in France. Researcher Jocelyn trawled the archives
and began to build a picture of what had happened
on that summer's day all those years ago. After leaving
her clothes on the beach, Grace is believed to have
(25:31):
swum out into the bay and around the headland. Perhaps
her sailor brother Henry picked her up, perhaps unknown friends
helped her. Either way, she was reunited with Walter and
they made their way to Marseilles, where they boarded a
boat bound for Australia. Walter's medical license was in his name,
(25:54):
but Grace could become someone new Joan Leslie Reeve, doctor
and Missus Reeve gave their ages as thirty one and
thirty four respectively. Sydney, they bordered a second vote to
cross the Tasman Sea, and now they reversed their age difference.
(26:16):
Dr Reeve was twenty eight while Missus Reeve was twenty five.
Was this a private joke or were they trying to
confound anyone who might try to follow them and expose
their secret. In October the couple landed in Wellington. It
was not hard to see why New Zealand appealed to them.
(26:36):
It was a British dominion known for its striking landscapes,
healthy climate and progressive outlook. Old age pensions had been
rolled out in eighteen ninety eight, and the country was
miles ahead of Britain when it came to gender equality.
Women aged twenty one and over had gained the right
to vote in eighteen ninety three. It was the first
(26:59):
place in the world where they'd won the franchise. Above all,
New Zealand was thousands and thousands of miles away from
Europe and anyone who might be able to recognize the couple.
Walter soon accepted a post and Grace was welcomed into
(27:20):
the Wellington community as Joan, the wife of the new
doctor from England. In December nineteen o seven, a tea
party was held in her honor as she admired the
exquisite floral arrangements, savored strawberries and cream, and made small
talk in the summer sunshine. No one could possibly have
(27:43):
guessed her secret. Soon, Grace, now Joan, was pregnant with
the twins. Five months later, she and Walter relocated to
an even more secluded and anonymous outpost, the Port of Gisborne,
where they remained for many years. Joan had changed her
(28:07):
name and become a mother, but she still held all
the same interests and values The oldest Reeve child, Anthony
grew to loathe the words meeting and committee because they
were so great a feature of family life. Joan joined
the local women's Guild and the Library Committee, and became
secretary of New Zealand's Plunket Society, which was widely credited
(28:30):
with a reduction in infant deaths in the first part
of the twentieth century. When war came in nineteen fourteen,
Joan turned her attention to the continent She had left behind.
After the invasion of Belgium, she addressed a meeting of
the Gisborne Women's Patriotic Committee with a rallying call. Their
(28:53):
country has been overrun by the enemy, their towns shattered,
and thousands of their brave soldiers have been killed, she proclaimed.
Intense suffering will follow, and it is the duty of
all to do what they can to alleviate that suffering.
(29:13):
The family home became a makeshift war depot, filled to
the brim with donations of clothing, bed linen, and bandages.
The war years also held some jeopardy for the Reeves.
Walter went to work at a military camp and then
to cover for a doctor who'd succumbed to the influenza
now ravaging New Zealand. He fell ill for two distressing weeks.
(29:40):
He feverishly tossed and turned his eyes glassy, his skin
slick with sweat, but eventually he pulled through. Walter made
it home two days before Christmas nineteen eighteen. That same year,
(30:04):
Joan was recognized for her unflagging contributions to the war effort.
She was awarded an MBE, a prestigious British honor. Her
community was fiercely proud of her. It was an immense distinction,
but one that came with risks too. When newspaper reporters
(30:25):
came to call, Joan took great care not to be photographed.
Britain had forfeited Grace Oakshop solely on the basis of
her unhappy marriage. But Britain's loss was New Zealand's gain.
Joan Reeve was a war hero, and she labored tirelessly
(30:48):
to make the world around her a better, kinder place.
Into the bargain, New Zealand also gained Walter Reeve, a
man defined by his compassion and courage, who'd once galloped
through the night to save the life of a gravely
wounded woman, even when the odds were stacked hopelessly against them.
(31:12):
The Reeves were by now living in the rural village
of Havelock North. After the war, it was time for
a change of scenery. They moved to a graceful wooden
bungalow with a broad verandah, a shady, peaceful perch to
watch the golden hush of evening settle over the garden.
(31:35):
Joan and Walter called the house Ranmore in memory of
the hills just outside London, where they had first fallen
in love. In the nineteen twenties, Joan started to suffer
numbness and blurred vision. She grew tired and lost her
(31:57):
balance too. Eventually, she received a heartbreaking diagnosis multiple sleurosis.
Joan Reeve Grace Oakshaw died in December nineteen twenty nine,
with her husband at her side. She was fifty seven
(32:19):
and had suffered three painful years of illness. None of
us could wish her back, however much we miss her,
said Walter, that'd had twenty two years together. Marriage is
(32:40):
an uncertain step. Couples can make the wrong choice and
circumstances change. But in Grace Oakshot's Britain, there was no
room for a change of plan. Rigid divorce laws and
the weight of respectability trapped women in loveless unions, sometimes
binding them to alcoholics and murderously violent men. Grace was
(33:06):
faced with a choice remain married to Harold or live
out her days as a social pariah. It was no
choice at all. In the end, her only route of
escape was to erase her identity, to vanish and reinvent herself.
(33:27):
She found happiness in New Zealand, but she never saw
her family and friends in Britain. Again, others, women without
Grace's advantages or her daring, endured miserable and abusive marriages
in silence. Back in England, the Cash family never advertised
(33:54):
their lost daughter and sister as a missing person. They
drew a careful mantle of silence over Grace's memory and
never discussed her. They were in on the secret all along.
On the other hand, there's no evidence to suggest that
Grace's close friend, Renee Courtold, knew the truth. All the
(34:20):
more poignant then, was Grace's act of naming her daughter
after her, an invisible thread of connection to a friend
who mourned her and a past she could never reclaim.
Harold Oakshot remarried, and he and his new wife, Dorothy,
(34:40):
had four children. His incessant drinking was a source of
pain for the family. His daughter recalled that her father
could be two totally different people at times. Eventually, Harold
lost his job and the children were sent to live
with friends and relatives. Later, though, he managed to keep
(35:04):
his drinking in check, and he became a playful and
affectionate grandfather. Harold remained a committed socialist. He never spoke
of his feelings for Grace that he had known all
along what had happened to his wife all his days.
(35:25):
He treasured a letter from her. She had sent it
just after the twins were born. In it, she told
him that she was very happy, and when she thought
of him, she felt a profound respect. For Harold Oakshot,
(35:46):
despite his drinking, had believed wholeheartedly that a meaningful life
was one guided by self discovery, integrity, and freedom. And
when he knew what Grace wanted, he let her go.
How should we remember Grace Shot? A careful rebel, a
(36:12):
courageous pioneer, a woman torn between the desire to follow
her heart and the tug of her responsibilities to others.
She was all of these things. But I'd like to
remember her on that day in Arzon in nineteen oh seven,
when she stepped into the water and bravely swam towards
(36:38):
the horizon. This episode was based on Joscelyn Robson's research
in her book Radical Reformers and Respectable Rebels. How the
two lives of Grace Oakshot defined an era. For a
(37:00):
full list of our sources, see the show notes at
Timharford dot com. Cau Mary Tails is written by me
Tim Harford, with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines and Ryan Dilly.
It's produced by Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound
design and original music are the work of Pascal Wise
(37:24):
bend A DAPFH. Haffrey edited the scripts. It features the
voice talents of Melanie Guttridge, Genevieve Gaunt, Stella Harford, Messea Monroe,
Jamal Westman, and Rufus Wright. The show also wouldn't have
been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Greta Cohne,
Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller.
(37:50):
Cautionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you
like the show, please remember to share, rate and review
really does make a difference to us. And if you
want to hear it, add free and receive a bonus
audio episode, video episode, and members only news letter every month.
(38:11):
Why not join the Cautionary Club. To sign up, head
to patreon dot com slash Cautionary Club. That's Patreon, p
A t R e o N dot com slash Cautionary Club.
Pushkin August twenty seventh, nineteen o seven. On the beach
at Arzon in France, a woman goes for a swim.
She leaves her clothes and a neat pile petticoats and
(00:35):
skirts pressed into careful folds. It's a common sight. This
part of France is popular with tourists. They come to
explore Celtic ruins and whitewashed fishing villages, to breathe sea
air and watch blood red sunsets from the Hotel de
la Plage. The swimming at Arzon is excellent. Fathers float
(01:00):
on warm currents towards pine fringed islands, but there's danger
here too. Cold currants and treacherous riptides have been known
to swallow unfortunate swimmers. Dusk falls the Atlantic Ocean a
shifting palette of greens and blues. The beach empties out.
(01:26):
The woman never returns for her clothes. Coolsden, just south
of London. One week later, Harold Oakshot opens his newspaper
and sees a death notice. It tells of how his
(01:50):
wife Grace died while swimming at Arson in France. She
was thirty five years old. The newspaper ads and had
devoted her short life to improving working conditions for women.
She had started a trade school for girls and was
a celebrated activist. What would you have seen if you'd
(02:13):
been there? As he opened the newspaper, no sign of shock.
He reads the notice of his own wife's death calmly.
His face is inscrutable. He neatly refolds the newspaper and
gazes out of the window for a while, as if
(02:34):
contemplating new horizons. The following year, he remarries, I'm Tim Harford,
and you're listening to cautionary tales at the moment that
(03:11):
Grace Oakshot's petticoats were being neatly stacked on the ars
on beach. Grace Oakshot herself had been married to Harold
for over a decade, but unlike some other women of
her station, marriage had never been an inevitability for Grace.
She had been prepared for another path altogether. When Grace
(03:36):
was born in London in eighteen seventy two, a ground
swell of change was reshaping Britain. Railways were stitching the
country together and the telegraph was relaying information at lightning speed.
Schools for girls began to multiply, and the women's suffrage
movement was growing. It was an age that buzzed and
(03:58):
crackled with possibility, electric in its promise, Grace had two
strokes of good luck. Not only was the tide of
progress rising around her, but her parents, James and Elizabeth Cash,
were ambitious strivers. They were determined to give their children
(04:22):
the best possible tools for self advancement, and that meant
rigorous schooling, not just for their son, Henry, but also
for their three daughters, Kate, Jessie, and of course Grace.
Victorian women were typically raised to rely on a male breadwinner.
Middle class girls were supposed to marry and not compete
(04:45):
with men for wages. Providing one's daughters with a robust
education and preparing them for a career, as Grace's family did,
went against the grain, but by the late nineteenth century,
it had also revealed itself to be the practical choice.
(05:06):
When Grace was born, a recent sen has had shown
that Britain was home to roughly half a million more
women than men. Fathers such as James Cash realized that
their girls might not be able to marry, they needed
to be able to support themselves. With this in mind,
James Cash invested in his daughter's future, he bought a
(05:30):
share in a new company which set up schools for girls.
Grace drank deep of the knowledge on offer, a curriculum
designed to match what was available to boys. Confident and determined,
she was an all rounder and honored at prize giving ceremonies.
She had serious eyes and distinctive auburn hair. Her peers
(05:53):
affectionately nicknamed her copper Top. James and Elizabeth's commitment to
their daughter's education wasn't just a safeguard against hardship. It
also reflected their profound belief in the equal potenti and
worth of every human mind. They were social reformers, but
(06:15):
that faith in progress had to be balanced with another priority,
maintaining their respectability. This wasn't just about moral virtue, but
a form of social currency, and so they strove to
be paragons of decency, self discipline, and diligence. Their goal
(06:36):
wasn't to overthrow society, but to carefully improve it from within.
While her sisters went on to become teachers, Grace set
her sights on college. In eighteen ninety two, she enrolled
at the University of Cambridge. Despite improvements in education for girls.
(07:00):
The idea of university for women was still controversial abstract study,
it was feared would turn women into unmarriageable aberrations and
trigger the downfall of the traditional family unit. Women at
Cambridge were subject to various strictures. They could take classes
(07:22):
and sit examinations, but they could never earn an actual degree,
merely a certificate. Academically, Grace thrived at Cambridge studying political
economy and history. She also formed lifelong connections. Her closest
friend was a young woman called Renee Courtold. Unlike Grace,
(07:45):
Rene's family was immensely wealthy, but at university their differences
in background dissolved. The two women bonded over their passions
for activism and improving opportunities for poorer women. Grace left
Cambridge after one year, perhaps because her family could no
longer afford it, but the experience had already been transformative.
(08:11):
Back at home, she worked as an assistant teacher at
her old school, and then, aged twenty four, she did
something surprising. She decided to get married on a mild
day in December eighteen ninety six. Grace cash Weed family
(08:32):
friend Harold oakshot. Why did Grace raised to be an
independent woman choose marriage. She was ambitious and hungry for
her own career as an activist. Wives, on the other hand,
had limited freedom. Coveredure laws denied them independent legal status,
(08:56):
so everything a wife owned or earned was controlled by
her husband. What's more, a new icon was sweeping the nation,
often depicted on her bicycle smoking a cigarette. The new
woman appeared in both newspapers and fiction, was a kind
of shorthand for growing female independence. Why when you had
(09:21):
a bicycle would you need a husband. Britain was poised
on the brink of modernity, reconsidering the role of women
in public life. Unfortunately, Britain wasn't reconsidering that role fast enough.
For Grace, marriage was still a cornerstone of respectability, and
(09:43):
for a morally upright reformer like her, that made it
the rational choice. Harold was twenty five years old and
he came from Grace's world. He was a committed socialist
prominent in his community. She likely and quite reasonably thought
they would achieve more for their causes as a pair
(10:04):
than alone. Harold was also witty and ideally and he
held a good position with a London tea specialist. Crucially,
he supported Grace's professional ambitions, believing wholeheartedly that a meaningful
life was one guided by self discovery, integrity and freedom.
(10:27):
It must have seemed an excellent match that Harold Oakshot
had a secret. After their wedding, Grace and Harold moved
to the village of Coolsden, near London, where they lived
in a comfortable cottage with a leafy garden. Grace returned
(10:51):
to work almost immediately. She joined the Women's Industrial Council,
which aimed to improve women's working conditions through a campaign
based on social investigation. Grace set about conducting interviews, surveys
and close sobs of in factress and collating figures on
(11:12):
women's wages. How could you propose change without a thorough
understanding of the status quo. Her reports were published in
newspapers and journals. Grace spent long days away from the
cottage she shared with Harold, and it might have been
a little while before she learned his secret. Perhaps the
(11:35):
truth came by slow degrees, a faint odor on his breath,
unsteady hands practiced excuses at some point, though the knowledge dawned.
Her brilliant husband, so admired, so upstanding in public, was
(11:56):
privately undone by drink. Had Harold's alcoholism been known to
his wider community, it would have been an immense source
of shame. His job would have been threatened and his
reputation destroyed. Habitual drunkenness belied the self control so central
(12:17):
to Victorian morality. But there was no scandal. Harold's disgrace
was quietly contained. No one beyond the Oakshot's close family
and friends knew the truth. For a time, at least,
the couple found their way forward. Grace and Harold never
(12:39):
had any children, likely by choice, and Grace continued to
throw herself into her work, leaving the house early to
board the train for London. They might have continued in
this way, forever, focused on their jobs and their causes,
lives running on parallel tracks. But something happened to turn
(13:03):
their world upside down, something quite Unford scene. Grace fell
in love. Cautionary tales will return. Grace and Harold would
(13:27):
accompany her brother, Henry Cash on summer cruises around Britain's
south coast. Henry was an accomplished yachtsman. In eighteen ninety nine,
they were joined by Henry's friend, a warm, friendly young
man called Walter Reeve. Walter had spent the first part
of his life in Canada's Northwest territories before his missionary
(13:51):
parents had sent him back to London. He planned to
become a doctor, and he thought about returning to the
colonies one day. The atmosphere on the trip was lively
and jocular. The group swam in clear water, lunched at
local Linn's, and chat excitedly. The following summer, Henry, Walter, Grace,
(14:15):
and Harold set out on another cruise together. Walter had
just completed his first year at Guy's Medical School in London,
and he was relaxed and cheerful. Harold's drinking was obvious.
He would disappear at times to knock back liquor, and
Grace and Walter, who were both teetotalers, sometimes found themselves alone.
(14:38):
She was by now twenty eight and he was twenty four.
Walter was scrupulously honest, curious about nature, and keen to
help others. They bonded, although he kept a respectful distance
at first, could even be tongue tied in Grace's presence.
(14:58):
She was a married woman. Intimacy between them should have
been unthinkable, and yet one evening they stole a moment
together growing on the harbor by the light of the moon.
It might have been venice grow Walter. The craft lay gently,
rocking dark specks on a vast expanse of slowly moving
(15:23):
silver water, and the slightest of mists heard where the
harbor mouth became sea and sky. Back at home, Walter
and Grace continued to see each other walking together on
(15:45):
ranmore common in the rolling hills near London. Before long
they were in love. Divorce wasn't an option for Grace.
Not only was it ruinously expensive, but it was also
difficult to obtain. In the nineteen hundreds, the deck was
stacked against women. For a husband to obtain a divorce
(16:09):
es he need only prove that his wife had committed adultery.
But for Grace to divorce Harold, she would have had
to prove adultery plus a second cause such as cruelty, desertion, incest, sodomy,
or bestiality. Above all, divorce signified moral failure. If Walter's
(16:33):
relationship with a married woman had become common knowledge while
he was at medical school, it would have harmed his
prospects as a doctor. For Grace, it would have meant
a total public shaming. Grace and Harold's family, friends and
colleagues would also have been tainted by the scandal. The
causes they'd been fighting for overshadowed by disgrace, and so
(16:59):
Walter and Grace's relationship remained shrouded in secrecy. He pursued
his studies. She continued her work for the Women's in
Dustry Field Council, leading an inquiry into ways of improving
education for women workers. It was painstaking research, and she
concluded that free technical training had to be made as
(17:21):
accessible as possible. Grace plowed her energy into establishing a
trade school in London for girls, the first of its kind.
The school opened its doors to eleven students in October
nineteen oh four. In January, another eleven joined. They learned
how to make waistcoats, and they also took physical exercise
(17:45):
at a nearby gymnasium to counteract the effects of long
hours spent stooping over their work. The trade school was
Grace's crowning achievement and it flourished, but at some point
Harold discovered his wife's infidelity. There's no record of how
(18:08):
he responded to the news that Grace was in love
with another man, but we do know that a dark
plan began to take shape. In August nineteen oh seven,
Grace left the comfortable coolsd and cottage and headed off
(18:30):
on a vacation to the resort town of Arson in France,
famous for its beautiful beach and fresh sea air. One day,
she carefully folded her skirts and petticoats into a small
pile on the beach and walked towards the water. She
(18:51):
never returned. When news of Grace's drowning reached Britain, her
colleagues at the Women's Industrial Council were heartbroken and wrote
of their deep sense of irreparable loss. Grace had a
mass many friends and colleagues over her short life, people
(19:13):
like Rene Courtold, with whom she had formed a close
sisterhood at Cambridge University. They too were grief stricken, one
of them lamenting that Grace had been cut off at
the very height of her usefulness. Meanwhile, Harold Oakshot went
(19:33):
into formal mourning in the local paper. His political party
offered its sympathies for the cruel blow he had sustained.
The horror of his loss is not lessened by the
fact that there seems small chance of the body being recovered.
(19:56):
New Zealand. One year later, nighttime, Walter Reed, now a
qualified doctor, was racing to the Parachi Hotel, auth of
the frontier town of Gisborne. He had been summoned to
help a colleague operate on a grievously injured young woman.
(20:17):
Twenty five year old Minnie Peterson had been attacked at
her workplace, shot twice by the man who promised to
marry her. Dr. Even his wife hadn't been living in
Gisborne long, there was still acclimatizing to this rugged, isolated
place with its upside down seasons. He'd set out for
the hotel the previous afternoon, but rising tides had cut
(20:41):
off his progress. All the while Minnie Peterson was bleeding out.
He urged his horse on hoofs, thundering on the dark road,
cart lurching beneath him. Finally, at three a m. He
saw it, the Parachai Hotel looming up ahead. Through the night.
(21:02):
One bullet had broken Minnie's collar bone and a rib
and embedded itself in her back. Even his colleague managed
to remove that shot, but a second round had torn
through the young woman's jaw and lodged in her skull
just out of reach. Minnie wasn't expected to survive. A
(21:25):
reverend was called at eleven a m. The exhausted doctor
returned home. Minnie Peterson's life still hung in the balance,
but there was nothing more he could do. When the
papers went to press on the incident, they described how
(21:47):
her jilted ex fiancee had previously been a man of
good character. They theorized that this violent change in behavior
was the result of chagram at the broken engagement, as
though Minnie Peterson was somehow responsible for her own attack.
(22:07):
Eight days later, Dr Walter Reeve and his colleague operated
on Minnie Peterson again. This time they managed to remove
the second bullet from her skull, and slowly, amazingly, Minnie
began to improve. Her attacker was arrested thanks to Dr Reeve,
(22:31):
he was charged only with attempted murder. It was a
disturbing introduction to Gisborne, but Walter and his wife, Joan,
who was pregnant with twins, managed to settle in. They
were known as a benevolent and civic minded couple, and
they must have been easily recognizable in the little frontier town.
(22:52):
He the local doctor, she with her serious eyes and
her distinctive auburn hair. In August, Joan and Walter's twins
were born, Anthony and Colin. A few years later they
had a daughter. I chose a name that reminded them
of an old friend, Renee Cautionary tales will be back
(23:17):
shortly a century past. In two thousand and eight, a
researcher called Joscelyn Robson was looking through some old photographs
from the nineteen hundreds, girls in loose dresses hanging from
(23:42):
ropes in a gymnasium. There were students at the London
Trade Schools, which Jocelyn learned had been the inspiration of
the Women's Industrial Council, and in particular an activist called
Grace Oakshot. Joscelyn was moved to learn that Grace had
died shortly after the Trade Schools opened their doors, aged
(24:04):
just thirty five. She couldn't get the sad story out
of her lin that summer she began googling and regoogling
the name Grace Oakshot, and then one day there was
a new result, A review of a play called Grace,
(24:24):
written by a young woman living in New Zealand. The
playwright Sophie Dingeman's was the great granddaughter of a woman
called Grace Oakshot. Her story had captivated Sophie since she
was small. According to family law, great grandmother Grace had
(24:47):
faked her own death in Europe and run away to
New Zealand with the love of her life. Jocelyn was stunned.
Could this be the same Grace Oakshot she got in
touch with the playwright Sophie's Grace hadn't just disappeared in Europe,
(25:08):
but on a b each in nineteen oh seven, a
beach at Arson in France. Researcher Jocelyn trawled the archives
and began to build a picture of what had happened
on that summer's day all those years ago. After leaving
her clothes on the beach, Grace is believed to have
(25:31):
swum out into the bay and around the headland. Perhaps
her sailor brother Henry picked her up, perhaps unknown friends
helped her. Either way, she was reunited with Walter and
they made their way to Marseilles, where they boarded a
boat bound for Australia. Walter's medical license was in his name,
(25:54):
but Grace could become someone new Joan Leslie Reeve, doctor
and Missus Reeve gave their ages as thirty one and
thirty four respectively. Sydney, they bordered a second vote to
cross the Tasman Sea, and now they reversed their age difference.
(26:16):
Dr Reeve was twenty eight while Missus Reeve was twenty five.
Was this a private joke or were they trying to
confound anyone who might try to follow them and expose
their secret. In October the couple landed in Wellington. It
was not hard to see why New Zealand appealed to them.
(26:36):
It was a British dominion known for its striking landscapes,
healthy climate and progressive outlook. Old age pensions had been
rolled out in eighteen ninety eight, and the country was
miles ahead of Britain when it came to gender equality.
Women aged twenty one and over had gained the right
to vote in eighteen ninety three. It was the first
(26:59):
place in the world where they'd won the franchise. Above all,
New Zealand was thousands and thousands of miles away from
Europe and anyone who might be able to recognize the couple.
Walter soon accepted a post and Grace was welcomed into
(27:20):
the Wellington community as Joan, the wife of the new
doctor from England. In December nineteen o seven, a tea
party was held in her honor as she admired the
exquisite floral arrangements, savored strawberries and cream, and made small
talk in the summer sunshine. No one could possibly have
(27:43):
guessed her secret. Soon, Grace, now Joan, was pregnant with
the twins. Five months later, she and Walter relocated to
an even more secluded and anonymous outpost, the Port of Gisborne,
where they remained for many years. Joan had changed her
(28:07):
name and become a mother, but she still held all
the same interests and values The oldest Reeve child, Anthony
grew to loathe the words meeting and committee because they
were so great a feature of family life. Joan joined
the local women's Guild and the Library Committee, and became
secretary of New Zealand's Plunket Society, which was widely credited
(28:30):
with a reduction in infant deaths in the first part
of the twentieth century. When war came in nineteen fourteen,
Joan turned her attention to the continent She had left behind.
After the invasion of Belgium, she addressed a meeting of
the Gisborne Women's Patriotic Committee with a rallying call. Their
(28:53):
country has been overrun by the enemy, their towns shattered,
and thousands of their brave soldiers have been killed, she proclaimed.
Intense suffering will follow, and it is the duty of
all to do what they can to alleviate that suffering.
(29:13):
The family home became a makeshift war depot, filled to
the brim with donations of clothing, bed linen, and bandages.
The war years also held some jeopardy for the Reeves.
Walter went to work at a military camp and then
to cover for a doctor who'd succumbed to the influenza
now ravaging New Zealand. He fell ill for two distressing weeks.
(29:40):
He feverishly tossed and turned his eyes glassy, his skin
slick with sweat, but eventually he pulled through. Walter made
it home two days before Christmas nineteen eighteen. That same year,
(30:04):
Joan was recognized for her unflagging contributions to the war effort.
She was awarded an MBE, a prestigious British honor. Her
community was fiercely proud of her. It was an immense distinction,
but one that came with risks too. When newspaper reporters
(30:25):
came to call, Joan took great care not to be photographed.
Britain had forfeited Grace Oakshop solely on the basis of
her unhappy marriage. But Britain's loss was New Zealand's gain.
Joan Reeve was a war hero, and she labored tirelessly
(30:48):
to make the world around her a better, kinder place.
Into the bargain, New Zealand also gained Walter Reeve, a
man defined by his compassion and courage, who'd once galloped
through the night to save the life of a gravely
wounded woman, even when the odds were stacked hopelessly against them.
(31:12):
The Reeves were by now living in the rural village
of Havelock North. After the war, it was time for
a change of scenery. They moved to a graceful wooden
bungalow with a broad verandah, a shady, peaceful perch to
watch the golden hush of evening settle over the garden.
(31:35):
Joan and Walter called the house Ranmore in memory of
the hills just outside London, where they had first fallen
in love. In the nineteen twenties, Joan started to suffer
numbness and blurred vision. She grew tired and lost her
(31:57):
balance too. Eventually, she received a heartbreaking diagnosis multiple sleurosis.
Joan Reeve Grace Oakshaw died in December nineteen twenty nine,
with her husband at her side. She was fifty seven
(32:19):
and had suffered three painful years of illness. None of
us could wish her back, however much we miss her,
said Walter, that'd had twenty two years together. Marriage is
(32:40):
an uncertain step. Couples can make the wrong choice and
circumstances change. But in Grace Oakshot's Britain, there was no
room for a change of plan. Rigid divorce laws and
the weight of respectability trapped women in loveless unions, sometimes
binding them to alcoholics and murderously violent men. Grace was
(33:06):
faced with a choice remain married to Harold or live
out her days as a social pariah. It was no
choice at all. In the end, her only route of
escape was to erase her identity, to vanish and reinvent herself.
(33:27):
She found happiness in New Zealand, but she never saw
her family and friends in Britain. Again, others, women without
Grace's advantages or her daring, endured miserable and abusive marriages
in silence. Back in England, the Cash family never advertised
(33:54):
their lost daughter and sister as a missing person. They
drew a careful mantle of silence over Grace's memory and
never discussed her. They were in on the secret all along.
On the other hand, there's no evidence to suggest that
Grace's close friend, Renee Courtold, knew the truth. All the
(34:20):
more poignant then, was Grace's act of naming her daughter
after her, an invisible thread of connection to a friend
who mourned her and a past she could never reclaim.
Harold Oakshot remarried, and he and his new wife, Dorothy,
(34:40):
had four children. His incessant drinking was a source of
pain for the family. His daughter recalled that her father
could be two totally different people at times. Eventually, Harold
lost his job and the children were sent to live
with friends and relatives. Later, though, he managed to keep
(35:04):
his drinking in check, and he became a playful and
affectionate grandfather. Harold remained a committed socialist. He never spoke
of his feelings for Grace that he had known all
along what had happened to his wife all his days.
(35:25):
He treasured a letter from her. She had sent it
just after the twins were born. In it, she told
him that she was very happy, and when she thought
of him, she felt a profound respect. For Harold Oakshot,
(35:46):
despite his drinking, had believed wholeheartedly that a meaningful life
was one guided by self discovery, integrity, and freedom. And
when he knew what Grace wanted, he let her go.
How should we remember Grace Shot? A careful rebel, a
(36:12):
courageous pioneer, a woman torn between the desire to follow
her heart and the tug of her responsibilities to others.
She was all of these things. But I'd like to
remember her on that day in Arzon in nineteen oh seven,
when she stepped into the water and bravely swam towards
(36:38):
the horizon. This episode was based on Joscelyn Robson's research
in her book Radical Reformers and Respectable Rebels. How the
two lives of Grace Oakshot defined an era. For a
(37:00):
full list of our sources, see the show notes at
Timharford dot com. Cau Mary Tails is written by me
Tim Harford, with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines and Ryan Dilly.
It's produced by Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound
design and original music are the work of Pascal Wise
(37:24):
bend A DAPFH. Haffrey edited the scripts. It features the
voice talents of Melanie Guttridge, Genevieve Gaunt, Stella Harford, Messea Monroe,
Jamal Westman, and Rufus Wright. The show also wouldn't have
been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, Greta Cohne,
Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody, Christina Sullivan, Kira Posey, and Owen Miller.
(37:50):
Cautionary Tales is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you
like the show, please remember to share, rate and review
really does make a difference to us. And if you
want to hear it, add free and receive a bonus
audio episode, video episode, and members only news letter every month.
(38:11):
Why not join the Cautionary Club. To sign up, head
to patreon dot com slash Cautionary Club. That's Patreon, p
A t R e o N dot com slash Cautionary Club.
Host
Tim Harford
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com