Wilton, Robert

Robert's father, as a mining engineer, worked in mines in Russia. From childhood, Robert lived in Russia and spoke good Russian ^[1] . From 1889, for 14 years, he worked as a European correspondent for the New York Herald , covering events in Russia and Germany for her. Then he began working as a Petersburg correspondent for The Times , earning a reputation as one of the most influential observers of events in Russia of those years. After the outbreak of World War I, he voluntarily went to the front , becoming a war correspondent . During the battles for Baranavichy, Wilton showed such courage that he was awarded the soldier George Cross . ^[2]

In the days of the Kornilovsky speech, Wilton supported him. After the uprising of the Czechoslovak corps, Wilton followed to Siberia to join the anti-Bolshevik and anti-German forces. After the defeat of the anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia, Wilton managed to get to Vladivostok, left Russia and in 1920 arrived in Paris, where he resumed his work at the New York Herald . In 1924, he became part of the newly formed English-language newspaper The Paris Times , published in Paris.

He died of cancer in Paris in 1925 .

Participation in the investigation of the circumstances of the murder of the royal family

Wilton arrived in Yekaterinburg in April 1919 and, having closely converged with investigator N. A. Sokolov , became one of the most active participants in the investigation of the circumstances of the murder committed in Ipatiev’s house . Sokolov allowed Wilton to such details of the investigation, which were accessible only to specially authorized persons: Wilton examined the room where the murder took place, was present during the inspection and investigation of places in the forest where, as it was supposed, the bodies of the dead were destroyed - Wilton's signature is on the act this inspection; Wilton personally repeated the path of the truck carrying the bodies of the dead; he took many photographs of places and things related to the crime, including the famous photograph of the "bridge of sleepers", under which the bodies of nine killed were subsequently discovered ^[3] .

Due to the onset of the Bolsheviks, Sokolov’s investigation was never completed. Sokolov instructed Wilton to keep one of the instances of the investigation, which Wilton managed to do, often with a danger to his own life. All investigation materials were evacuated from Yekaterinburg to Siberia in a railway carriage. In February 1920, they arrived in Harbin . There was a possibility of losing all the materials of the criminal case. The materials were saved by Wilton, who, as a British citizen, took the materials under his protection by hanging the British flag on the carriage. Case materials, as well as relics left from the royal family, were delivered to Vladivostok and loaded onto a merchant ship bound for Europe ^[3] .

In 1920, Wilton was the first among those who had access to investigative materials to publish in English the book The Last Days of the Romanovs , based on these materials (two other books written by individuals who also had access to the materials of Sokolov’s investigation - “ The assassination of the tsar’s family ” by investigator Sokolov himself and “ The assassination of the tsar’s family and members of the Romanov’s house in the Urals ” by General Diterichs — were published later) ^[3] .

All three of the books mentioned, written by persons who participated in Sokolov’s investigation and had access to the materials of this investigation, equally described the causes and circumstances of the killing of the imperial family. According to them, the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty and the murder of the family of the last Russian emperor long before the revolution in Russia was conceived by Jews who were connected with the enemies of Russia in Germany. The decision to kill the family was made personally by the leaders of the Bolshevik party and the Soviet state. The murder was committed using ancient Jewish ritual traditions ^{[ specify ]} . After the execution, the bodies were taken out of town, cut into pieces and burned, thus destroying the remains irrevocably. The killer’s remains were not buried ^[3] .

Shortly after the very first edition of The Last Days of the Romanovs appeared, Wilton was fired from the Times, as Wilton himself believed, because his book was vividly anti-Semitic ^[4] .

• Russian Agony . - 1st. - London: Edward Arnold, 1918.
• The Last Days of the Romanovs . - 1st. - London: Thornton Butterwith, 1920.

Translations and books in Russian:

• French language : in 1921 in Paris.
• Russian language : Wilton R. The Last Days of the Romanovs / translated by Prince A. Volkonsky. - 1st. - Berlin: City of Kitezh, 1923. - The Russian edition had large bills in comparison with the original English-language book

• The crime over the imperial family, committed by the Bolsheviks and Germans. - 1st. - Paris, 2005 .-- 244 p. - The book was published by the Russian emigrant Shota Chikovani. After his death, the manuscript of the book, written by R. Wilton, was kept by Wilton’s acquaintance Tatyana Crown , who ¾ century after Wilton’s death passed the manuscript to Chikovani ^[5] . The authenticity of the manuscript is confirmed by the forensic graphologist, an expert at the Paris court. In addition to Wilton’s text, the book contains numerous, previously inaccessible to the Russian readers, appeals, manifestos, appeals and other rare documents of representatives of the Russian emigration ^[6] .

• Chikovani Sh. Concerning the "stained cards" and "unscrupulous historians" // Motherland: journal. - 2006. - No. 5 . - S. 81 .
• Chikovani S. "I have made the right book." Unpublished interview with the best-selling publisher // Homeland : Journal. - 2006. - No. 3 . - S. 43–46 . Archived January 15, 2014.
• Solovyov V.N. Cracked maps // Motherland: journal. - 2006. - No. 3 . - S. 47-50 . Archived January 16, 2014.

• bookz.ru/authors/vil_ton-r/viltonr01/1-viltonr01.html The Last Days of the Romanovs. From translator