Product Description
Frances Elsie Kray (neé Shea) (September 23rd 1943 – June 7th 1967) was the first wife to Reggie Kray, and the pair married on the 19th April 1965 at St James Church, Bethnal Green. Her marriage to Reggie Kray lasted only eight months when she left, although the marriage was never formally dissolved. Frances had always struggled with her metal health and had made several attempts at suicide as she grew up. Sadly, on June 7th, 1967 she was successful at the third attenpt. She took her own life by way of ‘overdose’ at her brother’s flat in Wimbourne Court, Hackney..
Her funeral took place at St James The Great Church on Bethnal Green Road, the same church she married Reggie Kray in not two years earlier. Frances’s funeral was as ostentatious as Reggie wished. At the time, the story went round that the funeral cost ran to £2,000 – the equivalent of around £30,000 today. Reggie ordered huge floral wreaths, one in a heart shape with red roses and white carnations going through the middle, the biggest one being a six-foot-tall wreath spelling out her name. It has been argued that Frances’ death acted as the catalyst for Reggie’s deterioration and spiral into excessive drinking, thus leading to the murder of Jack McVitie four months after her death.
Formerly the property of Violet Kray, this a6 size booklet has 20 pages and was given out to guests at the funeral, It is almost certainly the very last one of these in existence. A uniquely personal item and a wonderful intimate piece of Kray gangland history.
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