Sir Mortimer Bracegirdle

Arrested at Buckingham Palace, 11th June 1908, after correcting His Majesty King Edward VII to his face in the matter of a split infinitive uttered at a state dinner. Sir Mortimer is reported to have said: "With respect, Sir, you have neither the right nor the bearing to so address the English language. You do not, on this evidence, deserve to wear the crown." Detained at Bow Street and removed thereafter to Pentonville on a charge of seditious utterance. Died in his cell, 14th August 1908, of pneumonia. The Society remembers him as a hero of our time, and has not, in the years since, conceded the split infinitive in any of its publications. A small bronze plaque in the Society’s anteroom reads simply BRACEGIRDLE — 1908 — He spoke as he was bound to speak.