How Virginia Woolf and her band of 'jolly savages' conned their way aboard the pride of the British navy



It was the practical joke that left pre-war Britain in stitches.

The day a bearded Virginia Woolf and her band of 'jolly savages' duped an admiral into giving them the full red-carpet treatment on board the pride of the British naval fleet has gone down in maritime history.

Now, almost 102 years later, a previously unknown letter has surfaced detailing the escapades of the six Bloomsbury writers who gained top-level access to battleship HMS Dreadnought on February 7, 1910.

Edwardian pranksters: A 102-year-old letter has surfaced revealing how Virginia Woolf, seated left, and friends dressed up to hoax their way aboard the British Navy's flagship

The missive, written by Horace de Vere Cole to a friend a day later, details how four donned beards and costumes pretending to be Abyssinian princes, while the other two claimed to be their Foreign Office guides.

A band played for them, the crew saluted and African flags were hoisted. But they had to decline the offer of food, saying the food and drink had not been prepared properly.

Novelist Woolf was one of six Bloomsbury writers to gain access to the battleship

In reality, the group was worried their fake beards would fall off. The letter also says how even Woolf's cousin, who was an officer on board the ship, did not recognise her in her fake attire.

The hoax made newspaper headlines and led to questions being raised in parliament about the security of parties visiting military facilities.

The Observer writes how Cole said: 'The idea was mine, but the carrying out was the work of six. The interpreter, the four princes and an officer went over the ship talking gibberish fluently.

'We departed to the band strains and the company of marines drawn up and the staff at the salute once more.

'It was glorious! Shriekingly funny - I nearly howled when introducing the four princes to the admiral and then to the captain, for I made their names up in the train.

'But I forgot which was which, and introduced them under various names, but it did not matter!

'They were tremendously polite and nice - couldn't have been nicer: one almost regretted the outrage on their hospitality.'

He added: 'I was so amused at being just myself in a tall hat - I had no disguise whatever and talked in an ordinary friendly way to everyone - the others talked nonsense.



'We had all learned some Swahili: I said they were 'jolly savages' but that I didn't understand much of what they said …

Target: Launched in 1906, HMS Dreadnought was the first of the big gun battleships and the pride of the British navy

'It began to rain slightly on the ship and we only just got the princes under cover in time, another moment and their complexions would have been running - Are you amused? I am … Yesterday was a day worth the living.'

The letter was found by a descendant of Cole's friend and London rare book dealer Rick Gekoski is now brokering its sale.

It comes with an original photograph of the friends in costume, with their fake names written alongside.