hair and bristling moustache, in the 1920s, Cole was sometimes mistaken for the Labour prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, causing dismay when Cole launched into a fierce public attack on Labour. His sister Annie married the future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who was asked by Annie what he thought of Cole and later commented, "I was obliged to say what I did think, but fortunately it appeared that was her opinion too and she was not at all inclined to be proud of her brother's exploit... I think he must be a little mad." Cole has also been suspected of the Piltdown Man hoax. Personal life In 1918, Cole fell in love with the eighteen-year-old Irish heiress Denise Lynch. Owing to the fortune she stood to inherit, she was a ward of the Irish Chancery and prevented from marrying until the age of 21. Lynch was eventually released from the wardship and married Cole on 30September 1918 in Dublin. She subsequently gave birth to a daughter, Valerie,. Still, the marriage failed in 1928, and he went into voluntary exile in France after losing all his money in Canadian land speculation. In 1931, he married a former scullery maid and waitress at the Veeraswamy Indian restaurant, Mabel Winifred Mary Wright (later Mavis Wheeler, 1908–1970), who in 1935 gave birth to a son, Tristan de Vere Cole, who was the natural son of the artist Augustus John. Cole died of a heart attack in Honfleur, France, the following year and was buried at West Woodhay. Mabel later married the archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler, who afterwards divorced her on the grounds of her adultery with Lord Vivian. See also Hoax List of hoaxes References Notes Sources 1881 births 1936 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Hoaxers Hoaxes in the United Kingdom Dreadnought hoax People from County Cork Yorkshire Hussars officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Military personnel from County Cork Lists of practical jokes