Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

This unusual (ghost? doppelganger?) story comes from "Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper," July 2, 1899:

One of the most realistic ghost stories that has got abroad for some time is that of the spectre that haunts the Speaker's court at the Houses of Parliament. So great is the resemblance it bears to Mrs. Milman, wife of the assistant clerk of the House of Commons, who resides there, that the ghost is freely spoken of as her double. People had even addressed the ghost as Mrs. Milman, though, of course, the apparition made no reply as it passed on its way upstairs or downstairs, along the corridors, into one room and out of another. It was only by learning that Mrs. Milman was really in quite a different part of the house at the time that her friends discovered the mysterious visitant.

Mrs. Milman, upon whom a representative of Lloyd's called, spoke freely of the "funny affair," as she called it. It was years since the ghost first appeared "to everybody but myself," she added. Though she had tried in vain to see her double, Mrs. Milman had only succeeded in hearing it once, in very uncanny circumstances. When in her bedroom one night there was a noise outside the door, which she immediately opened, finding nobody there. She then fastened the door by means of a "night bolt," worked by a rope from the bed. While she looked the handle was turned and the door opened, but again there was nobody there. She called the butler, who said he had just passed her coming through the folding doors of the bottom corridor. She supposed he had seen her double. No later than yesterday a young lady told Mrs. Milman she had seen her where she had never been. The ghost of the Speaker's court is getting itself talked about anyhow. Every policeman smiled as Lloyd's representative passed into the yard, surmising his errand; and tho butler said " ghost " the moment he announced himself.

Mrs. Milman's husband, Sir Archibald Milman, died in 1902, only days after resigning his post. (Two years before, he had been promoted to head clerk of the House.) It would be interesting to know if the "ghost" made any more appearances after the Milmans departed.