A CHRONOLOGY OF MAJOR EVENTS PERTINENT TO
THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE
(WITH SELECTED ENTRIES FROM ADDENDUM 5 OF
TARZAN ALIVE: A DEFINITIVE
BIOGRAPHY OF LORD GREYSTOKE
AND ADDENDUM 2 OF
DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE
)
Spring 1570
Birth of Jane d’Arcy. Murder of Jane’s mother Bess d’Arcy, aka Bess of Pemberley, at the hands of her husband William d’Arcy, first Baron of Lambton.
Spring 1592
William d’Arcy kills his daughter, Jane, and the Pemberley Curse is enacted by the sorcerer Baron de Musard; as a result, throughout the ages Bess of Pemberley periodically haunts descendants of the d’Arcys at Pemberley House on the anniversary of her murder.
Late 1592
Sir John Gribardsun kills Baron de Musard.
1667
Ursula d’Arcy marries Ralph Arthur Caldwell-Grebson. Among their descendants are both the Darcys and the Claytons.
September 1792–Late Autumn 1793
The events documented in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice , the first draft of which was entitled First Impressions and was recorded by the Darcys’ biographer, Jane Austen, during the years 1796–97. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are married in early December 1793. Thereafter, Mr. and Mrs. Darcy are present at the Wold Newton meteor strike, on December 13, 1795.
December 13, 1795
Wold Newton meteor strike: Seven couples and their coachmen “were riding in two coaches past Wold Newton, Yorkshire... A meteorite struck only twenty yards from the two coaches... The bright light and heat and thunderous roar of the meteorite blinded and terrorized the passengers, coachmen, and horses... They never guessed, being ignorant of ionization, that the fallen star had affected them and their unborn.” Tarzan Alive , Addendum 2, pp. 247–248. The meteor strike was “the single cause of this nova of genetic splendor, this outburst of great detectives, scientists, and explorers of exotic worlds, this last efflorescence of true heroes in an otherwise degenerate age.” Ibid., pp. 230–231. See also “The Wild Huntsman” by Win Scott Eckert ( The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 3: Portraits of a Trickster , Meteor House, 2012; Tales of the Wold Newton Universe , Titan Books, 2013) for additional background information regarding the events at Wold Newton.
1869
Birth of Edith Jansenius (aka “Edith Appledore”), the future Dowager Duchess of Greystoke. She is the youngest daughter of Sir John Jansenius.
1880
Birth of James Clarke Wildman, Sr. (aka “James Wilder”), illegitimate son of William Cecil Clayton (brother of the fifth Duke of Greystoke) and Patricia Clarke Wildman, a granddaughter of Sir Percy Blakeney, otherwise known as The Scarlet Pimpernel.
1885
William Cecil Clayton purchases Pemberley House in Derbyshire from his cousin, Sir Gawain Darcy, Bt., who had purchased it from Fitzwilliam Bennet Darcy.
The Marquess Blackwater marries Edith Jansenius. He commits suicide later in the year.
February 21, 1888
William Cecil Clayton marries Edith Jansenius.
May 11 or 23, 1888
John Clayton II (son of the fifth Duke of Greystoke) and his wife Alice sail from Dover for Freetown.
June 1888
The Claytons sail on the Fuwalda for an Oil Rivers port.
Late June 1888
The Claytons are stranded in the jungle of French Equatorial Africa (Gabon) by mutineers.
November 22, 1888
John Clayton III, the future “Lord Greystoke,” is born.
November 21, 1889
Upon the death of the fifth Duke of Greystoke, his brother, William Cecil Clayton, becomes the sixth Duke.
November 22, 1889
Alice Clayton dies. A “great ape” kills John Clayton II. A female great ape adopts the human infant, John Clayton III.
May 18, 1891
William Cecil Arthur Clayton, son of the sixth Duke, is born at Pemberley House.
January 1899
Sherlock Holmes is engaged in “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.”
May 1901
James Clarke Wildman, Sr., (“James Wilder”), the illegitimate son of William Cecil Clayton, the sixth Duke of Greystoke, is implicated in the kidnapping of his younger half-brother (William Cecil Arthur Clayton), the legitimate son of the sixth Duke, as described by Watson and Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Priory School.” After these events, Wildman and his wife Arronaxe Larsen flee England; a guilt-ridden Wildman vows to dedicate his life and that of his unborn child to fighting evil.
November 12, 1901
James Clarke “Doc” Wildman, Jr., is born on the schooner Orion in a cove off the northern tip of Andros Island, Bahamas. Doc’s parents are James Clarke Wildman, Sr., and Arronaxe Larsen. Doc’s maternal grandparents are the notorious Wolf Larsen (Jack London’s The Sea Wolf ) and Arronaxe Land, who is the daughter of Ned Land (Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea ).
1904
The sixth Duke calls in Sexton Blake (aka “J. Saxon Blake”) to check up on his illegitimate son, James Wildman, Sr.
1907
Augustus Moran, grandson of Colonel Sebastian Moran, is born.
February 3, 1909
Death of the sixth Duke, William Cecil Clayton.
1909
Birth of Carlo Deguy and subsequent adoption by Edith, Duchess of Greystoke. Deguy is the son of Bulldog Drummond’s archenemy, Carl Peterson; Peterson is the grandson of Professor James Moriarty
.
Mid-September, 1910
The seventh Duke (William Cecil Arthur Clayton) dies. John Clayton III assumes his identity, although he would be entitled to inherit and become the eighth Duke.
September 22, 1910
John Clayton III and Jane are married.
February–June 1916
Sherlock Holmes discovers John Clayton III’s deception, but agrees to preserve his secret ( The Adventure of the Peerless Peer ).
March 31–July 1918
Sixteen-year-old James Clarke Wildman is captured during the Great War and sent to a prison camp where he meets future colleagues in his forthcoming battle against evil ( Escape from Loki ).
1926
Wildman, Jr., takes his M.D. at Johns Hopkins.
Spring 1927
Detective Saxon Blake is called by Edith, the Dowager Duchess of Greystoke, to investigate “The Shades of Pemberley.” The results of Blake’s investigation appear in the January 1928 issue of The Saxon Blake Library ; most existing copies of the issue are immediately pulped by the publisher, due to the salacious nature of the tale, and a new, more palatable January ’28 issue is published.
1927
Birth of Adélaïde Lupin, daughter of master thief Arsène Lupin and American reporter Patricia Johnston.
1928
With his father’s money, Doc Wildman establishes the secret upstate New York “college” for the curing and vocational education of criminals.
1930
Birth of Charles Peter Parker, son of Inspector Charles Parker and Lady Mary Wimsey.
March–April 1931
After his father’s murder, James Clarke “Doc” Wildman and his five associates begin their fight against the forces of evil.
1946
Birth of twins Richard and Carla Deguy.
June–July 1946
Doc Wildman meets his future wife, Adélaïde Lupin.
November 1948
Final recorded exploit of Doc Wildman in the pulp magazines, although he continues to have some adventures.
February 1950
Marriage of Doctor James Clarke Wildman, Jr., and Adélaïde Johnston Lupin.
November 12, 1950
Birth of Patricia Clarke Lupin Wildman.
1972
Deaths of Doctor James Clarke Wildman and his wife Adélaïde in a plane crash, somewhere in the Arctic. Shortly thereafter, their daughter, Patricia, becomes heir to a great legacy upon the deaths of John Clayton III (who is the holder-in-absentia of Pemberley House and has been posing as the seventh Duke of Greystoke, although he is the legitimate eighth Duke) and his wife Jane. The near-simultaneous demises of these accomplished men, Wildman and Clayton, are not noted as generally remarkable... although perhaps they should be.
Spring 1973
Events of The Evil in Pemberley House . Shortly after-ward, Philip José Farmer interviews Lady Patricia Wildman, Baroness of Lambton, in preparation for his authorized biography of her father, which is published later that year.
Autumn 1973
Events of “The Midget Airplane Heist,” in which Pat Wildman works with her distant cousin, Kent Lane, on a case.
Summer 1974
Events of The Scarlet Jaguar by Win Scott Eckert; Pat is now the Duchess of Greystoke.