the tragic life and death of alice ormsby gore: a thread

part 2

alice, also used to being addressed as ‘lady alice’ by her servants imposed this on eric’s friend’s arthur and iris eggyby who had been eric’s ‘live- in couple.’ before they had become junkies they regarded her manner as snobbish

alice was also rather naive. one time eric had also asked that if alice was only seeing him because he was famous, she replied she had thought eric had gotten with her because she was famous

bobby whitlock (keyboardist for derek and the domino’s) recalled in his autobiography that eric and alice’s relationship wasn’t all smooth sailing either. he wrote ‘they would have really bad arguments, especially when they became desperate for heorin.’

alice had also tried to commit suicided after an argument with eric by crashing a car george harrison had given eric. arthur eggyby, said that ‘she got as far as london, then crashed the car. it was a total write-off, though she wasn’t hurt.’

in 1973, alice’s father intertwined with the couples activities. he wrote a letter to eric saying that if the pair did not stop their activities, he’d hand them over to the police. in 1974, eric and alice broke up and went to two different rehab clinics to try and get help

things had seemed to have gotten worse for alice has years went by. in november 1974, alice found her elder brother julian dead from a gunshot wound, supposedly a suicide. julian had been suffering from depression, anxiety and was a heorin user

in 1983, alice moved to paris, but not much is known about her time there. in 1985, her father, lord harlech died in a car crash. alice’s younger brother francis (known to the family as frank) inherited the title of 6th lord harlech

in 1994, alice returned home to england and spent some time on frank’s farm in oswestry. alice’s family contacted eric letting her know that she was quite ill. clapton then got some of his friends to get help for alice.

alice then started to attend group therapy, in which she finally came face to face with clapton. according to clapton, alice “ranted at me for an hour without stopping, regurgitating all the scenarios from our fractured past with absolute clarity."

alice was then taken to the priory hospital, a private mental health institution in south west london. it appears that she was recovering and that she had been ‘clear of heroin’ 18 months before her death.

unfortunately, alice booked herself out of the institution and a fortnight before her death, she moved into a bedsit in bournemouth which was notorious for it’s drug use. she became known to her neighbours as deirdre stevenson.

on 8th april, 1995, alice died alone in her bedsit. she was found slumped on her bed from taking more than six times the minimum of a lethal heorin overdoes. alcohol has also played a big role in her death. her death was ultimately recorded as a ‘misadventure’.

this was one of the last photos of alice taken before her death

clapton and francis ormsby gore both expressed that they thought alice was going to recover, but unfortunately it did not happen. francis later said that he had taken a firmer attitude with alice in the years before she died, saying that her addictions had gone on for too long.

“there is an element of angered frustration when they are not helping themselves. but, of course, in your heart you love them and if the telephone rings at two in the morning you pick it up.” - francis ormsby gore when he was interviewed on alice’s death

brian robertson, a ‘recovering alcoholic’ who befriended alice towards the end of her life said that alice was:

“a lovely, beautiful person. i was fortunate our paths crossed and i will remember her as she was, very intelligent, very kind and with a lovely soul.”

in a tint of irony, when alice was 17 she worked for ‘release’ a welfare organisation to help addicts. she said at the time: “i’m not qualified to do anything really, so i thought I’d be a do-gooder..”

rest well sweet alice. wherever you are, i hope you know you’re remembered for who you were and not just for being claptons girlfriend or anything like that. truly a beautiful soul who deserved better.

you’ve reached the end of this thread! if you have any questions or want to know my sources just dm me or reply to the thread. always happy to help!

note: the reason i made this thread was for more people to become aware of alice, as i feel her presence has practically been ignored in clapton related media or just as a person in general. i strongly feel that alice’s story is one to be told, despite its grim ending. (+)