The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - The Early Years

The opening pages of the letter DW wrote
to Hilda Gosling on 6th March 1913*

... further pages from the letter

Click on the images to enlarge

For a transcript of the key parts of the letter, click here

DW told the story in his memoirs of how towards the end of his last term at HMS Worcester, he broke school rules, and - changing clothes to avoid detection - made his way up to London and back undetected to visit a friend who was in hospital.

This contemporary letter, preserved in Leeds University's archives, confirms that this seemingly far-fetched story is almost entirely accurate.

Given this, it is more than tempting to conclude that some of DW's other improbable stories (for example his 'Nightmare Journey' in World War One) may also have been largely accurate.

* DW appears to have got the date wrong in this youthful letter; he left H M S Worcester in 1913.

References: 'The Young Man Said' pp 185 - 187.
Phil Baker pp 66-68.