Frances Mary-Jane Ingram was christened in St. Mary’s, Cardiff on 24 December 1856. Her parents were James Oliver Ingram, a watchmaker and jeweller, and Mary Anne Robotham1 who married in Cardiff in 1848.2 Frances had an older brother and sister; John was born in 1850 and Laura in 1854 and a younger brother Frederick was born in 1859.3 Both their parents died within two years of each other, James in 1867 and Mary Ann in 1869.4 By 1871, John, aged 21, was now head of the family.5 On 1 February 1876, in Cardiff, Frances married the Rev. William Fergus.6,7 William Fergus was born in Glasgow on 19 June 1839.8 He attended the Free Church Training College and the University of Glasgow and was licensed by the Free Presbyterian Church of Glasgow on 1 July 1868. He applied to become the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cardiff on 25 May 18719 and officiated at the wedding of his sister Mary there in 1873.10 In January 1876 he resigned his charge at a meeting of the Birmingham Presbytery with a view to seeking admission to the ministry of the Established Church of Scotland.11 He moved to Glasgow with his new bride and on 4 February he was inducted into the Church of Scotland at a meeting of the Presbytery of Glasgow in Blythswood Parish Church.12 In the census of 1881, William and Frances were living at 227 Bath Street in Glasgow. He was listed as the Minister of Blythswood Church. The couple employed a cook and table maid.13
The painting of Mrs. William Fergus was completed in 1889 when she was thirty-three.
In the second quarter of 1889, Thomas Robert Strange married Laura Ann Ingram at St. Saviour Church, Southwark. London.14 Laura was the sister of Frances Fergus. On the third of August 1889, Laura gave birth to twins, Gladys and Hugh. They were baptized on 11 October 1889 in St. Giles, Camberwell, Southwark. Gladys was named Laura Clarissa Gladys Strange.15 In the census of 1891 the family was at Camberwell with the twins aged 1, Laura 37 and Thomas who was a greengrocer, aged 35. At the age of six, Gladys was enrolled at Comber Grove School.16
In the 1891 Scottish census, William and Frances were now at 67 Ann Street in the Hillhead area of Glasgow. They remained there until 1895 17 and then moved to 17 Kensington Gate, Hyndland, Glasgow.18 However, they do not appear in the 1901 census.
Fig.2, 17 Kensington Gate, Hillhead (Google Maps)
By 1901, Gladys, her brother Hugh and her parents had moved to 173 Camberwell New Road in Brixton, London.19 Ten years later, Gladys was living with her aunt and uncle at 17 Kensington Gate. She was now twenty-one with ‘no occupation’.20 On 23 August 1912, William Fergus died aged seventy-two. Frances reported his death.21 He was buried in Sighthill Cemetery in Glasgow.22
Gladys and her aunt continued to live at 17 Kensington Gate with Frances now the proprietor.23 In the census of 1921, Gladys was occupied in ‘home duties’. Her name also appears on the electoral register.24 Gladys’ father Thomas Stange died in London in 1927. Her mother died four years later.
Frances Mary-Jane Fergus died aged seventy-eight on 30 May 1935 at 17 Kensington Gate. Gladys reported her death.25 Gladys lived on at Kensington Gate as the proprietor until 1940 when she moved to 26 Colchester Drive, Glasgow.26
Fig. 3, 26 Colchester Drive (Google Maps)
During WW2, Gladys was a billeting officer in Glasgow for the WVS. The main problem she seemed to have was finding accommodation for couples with babies.
‘There are landladies who seem to think that children are bundles of rags, to be dumped anywhere’ said Miss Strange-Fergus, ‘It is terrible the things that are happening.’ 27
However, she was apparently very successful in her role so-much-so that she was mentioned in the Birthday Honours of 1948 where she was awarded the British Empire Medal.
‘B.E.M. Miss Gladys Laura Clarissa Strange-Fergus, Billeting Officer, Glasgow’. 28
Laura Clarissa Gladys Strange-Fergus died on 1 April 1970 at 26 Colchester Drive. She was eighty years old. Her death was reported by Ian walker, a friend. Her funeral took place at Glasgow Crematorium. 29,30
The Painting
The painting was first exhibited at the Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts in 1889. Then in Paris and Munich in 1890 and in Edinburgh the following year. It was exhibited in London in 1893 and at the 110th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Art in Edinburgh in 1936. It returned to Kelvingrove Art Galleries where it was on show in the Glasgow Room in 1956. 31
References
England and Wales Births and Baptisms, 1541-1907, familysearch
England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005, familysearch
ancestry.co.uk Wales Census, 1861
England and Wales Death Reg Index 1837-2007, familysearch
ancestry.co.uk Wales Census, 1871
ancestry.co.uk England and Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, Vol 3, p. 402
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950, familysearch
Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, Vol 3, p. 402
South Wales Daily News, 13 June 1873
Staffordshire Advertiser 8 January 1876
North British Agriculturalist 9 February 1876
Scotland’s People, Census 1881
England and Wales, Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005, familysearch
ancestry.com, London, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1924
ancestry.com London, Schools Admissions and Discharges, 1840-1911
In 1955 a bequest was received by Glasgow Museums on behalf of Mrs. A. Carvick Webster of a print On the Clyde by Walter Severn.
Catherine Agnes Balfour Fairfax was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on 19 July 1867. She was the only daughter of Edward Ross Fairfax and Catherine Mackenzie.1
Edward Ross Fairfax was a partner in the media empire of John Fairfax and Sons, which was founded by his father in 1841. They were publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sydney Mail and had extensive interests in Australia and New Zealand. Edward married Catherine Mackenzie about 1866. After retirement, they moved to England probably taking their daughter with them.2,3 Harry Carvick Webster was born in Sydney about 1862 4 the only son of Alex. Speed Webster. He moved to England to take up a position in his cousin’s firm, Alexander, Fergusson and Co., lead and paint manufacturers.5 Harry and Catherine may have known each other in Sydney or perhaps they met upin England. In any event, they were married on 31 July 1888 at St. Stephen’s Church, South Kensington, London.6 Harry was twenty-six and Catherine twenty-one. Afterwards, the couple moved to Glasgow where Harry was to be the manager of the Glasgow branch of the firm. They took up residence at 10 Huntly Gardens, Hillhead, Glasgow where, on 18 April 1890, their first child, Una Zara Marie, was born.7 At the census of the following year, Catherine (Agnes B. Webster) was visiting her parents Kate R. Fairfax, 41, and Edward R. Fairfax, 48, and her brother John Fairfax, 20, at Hanover Square in London. Her parents were ‘living on means’8 Meanwhile, Harry Webster was at home in Huntly Gardens with eleven-month-old Una Zara. He employed a cook, nurse and two maids and was described as a ‘manufacturer of lead paints’. 9 Between 1893 and 1900, Catherine and Harry had four more children, all born at 10 Huntly Gardens. They were Catherine Agnes Rua born 23 May 1893, Joan Marguerite (Ferguson?) 1896, John Alexander Croom 3 June 1897, Harry Ross Fairfax 1900.10 By 1901, the family had moved to 48 Montgomerie Drive, (later named Cleveden Drive) Kelvinside, Glasgow. 11 A sixth child, Iris Speid Elasaid Balfour was born there on 11 December 1901.12 A notice in the Glasgow Herald of 3 August 1903, recorded that, ‘A fancy dress ball, which was largely and fashionably attended, was held in the Royal Hotel, Largs on Friday night, in aid of the funds of the Samaritan Hospital Bazaar. The ball was organized by Mrs. Carvick Webster, of Glasgow and of Crescent Lodge, Largs’. (The Samaritan Hospital for Women was located in Govanhill, Glasgow).
The stay in Largs may only have been temporary as they were not in occupation before 1895 or after 1905.13 The Glasgow Post Office Directory for 1903-4 has the entry,
H. Carvick Webster of Alexander, Fergusson & Co., Ltd., House 48 Montgomerie Drive.
During 1905/06 Catherine and Harry took their two oldest daughters, Zara and Rua, out to Australia and then on to New Zealand, on a part business, part family reunion trip. The 13-year-old Rua kept an account of part of the trip in her diary.14 By 1911, Harry and Agnes (Catherine) had moved to 58 Montgomerie Drive. At the time of the census, Zara, 20, Iris, 9 and five servants were in the house. 15
On 20 March 1912, ‘Mrs. and Miss Carvick Webster’ attended a society Mi-careme (mid-lent) Festival in the ballroom of St. Andrew’s Halls, Glasgow. This had been preceded by a dinner in the Central Hotel hosted by Major and Mrs. MacRae Gilstrap to which ‘parties came from most of the country houses in the district’.16
On 18 September 1912 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow, Zara Webster married Robert Scott Cree, younger son of Thomas Scott Cree, LLD. A reception was held at 58 Montgomerie Drive hosted by Mrs. Carvick Webster.17
The years 1915 to 1917 were tragic for Catherine. Her father, Edward Ross Fairfax died on 31 July 1915 aged seventy-two, at 6 Harcourt House, London. He also had addresses at 145 Macquarie Street, Sydney and at 5 Harcourt House, London. His effects amounted to £29,122. 11s 1d. 18,19 The following year on 15 October, Catherine’s mother Catherine Mackenzie (Kate Ross Fairfax), died in London. 20
Catherine’s elder son, John Alexander Croom Webster was killed in action on 21 April 1917. He had been educated at Kelvinside Academy, Glasgow and at Cheltenham School before entering Sandhurst in November 1915. He then received a commission in the Seaforth Highlanders.21 He was killed shortly after the capture of Bagdad and is buried in the Bagdad War Cemetery, Iraq.22 Later that year on 14 November, her son-in-law, Captain Robert Scott Cree was killed in Palestine, He was buried in the Deir el Belah War Cemetery and is commemorated on the family gravestone in the Glasgow Necropolis.
On 15 March 1919, Catherine’s daughter Rua married Captain (later Sir) Dudley Williams of Sydney at All Souls’, Langham Place, London. Rua was the ‘second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carvick Webster of 5, Harcourt House, Cavendish Square and of Glasgow’. 23,24
Sometime after 1915, Harry, Catherine and family moved to Orangefield, Monkton, Ayrshire. This mansion had five reception rooms and sixteen bedrooms and was surrounded by fifteen acres of ground with rose and rock gardens. In 1920 another daughter, Joan Marguerite, married Hugh Neilson at Orangefield. 25
(Robert Burns was acquainted with John Dalrymple who owned Orangefield at that time. They were both Masons. Burns wrote that “I have met in Mr. Dalrymple of Orangefield what Solomon emphatically calls ‘a friend that sticketh closer than a brother’.”) 26
Una Zara Marie Cree arrived in Sydney from Glasgow with her son Thomas aged five on 9 January 1920. 27 She married Clive Evans at Darling Point, Sydney on 6 August 1921.28 Back in Scotland at the 1921 Census on 19 June, Harry, Agnes and Iris were all at Orangefield so it was unlikely that they would have been at Zara’s wedding. However, sometime later Catherine and Harry travelled to Australia visiting both their daughters, Zara now Mrs. Clive Evans and Rua, Mrs. Dudley Williams. On their return journey they met up with their son Harry in Bombay. He was a lieutenant in the Sappers and Miners, stationed with the army in India.29 In 1923 tragedy again struck the family when Harry was killed in an ambush by natives when working on roadmaking near the northwest frontier. He was twenty-two years old.30 Some years later Catherine and Harry had a community hall built and donated to the village of Monkton as a memorial to their two sons. The ‘Carvick-Webster’ hall was completed in 1929 to a ‘semi arts and crafts design.31
Catherine and Harry remained at Orangefield and in 1925 their daughter Iris married Cecil Gibb there. On 23 February 1929 they left Avonmouth bound for Jamaica. Harry was now retired and they were accompanied by their daughter Joan Fergusson Neilson.32 They left Jamaica on 31 March to return to Avonmouth, but Joan was not with them. 33 On 18 October 1930, Catherine sailed from Liverpool aboard S. S. Scythia bound for New York. She was described as a housewife aged sixty-three of “Scotch” descent living in Monkton. Also on the passenger list were her cousins John H., and Ruth B., Fairfax. Harry was not present. 34
On 3 June 1932, Harry Carvick Webster died aged seventy from bowel cancer at Orangefield. His death was reported by his son-in-law (Lt. Col.) Cecil Gibb whose address was Gatwick House, Shackleford, Surrey.35 An obituary noted that Harry was born in Sydney but educated at Merchiston College, Edinburgh. After a spell in London in the office of his cousin Alexander Fergusson, he took over the management of the Glasgow branch of the firm. During the war he was controller of lead, tin and zinc supplies at the Ministry of Munitions. He was managing director of British Amalgamated Lead Manufactures with interests in Australia.36
Orangefield House and estate was sold the year after Harry’s death.37 and Catherine moved to a flat in Portman Square, London. She seems to have spent her time visiting family in Scotland and Australia. Her daughter Rua and her granddaughter, also Rua, stayed with her in Portman Square in 1934. 38
On 14 July 1948, Catherine made a gift of a pewter plate dated to 1660 approximately to Glasgow Museums. Her address at the time was ‘Fieldfares’, Thursley, Surrey. This reflects a continuing interest in pewter, As early as 1919 she had hosted the second meeting of the Society of Pewter Collectors in her home at 5 Harcourt House, Cavendish Square, London. She had suggested that members bring along specimens from their collections for an informal exhibition.39 She also made significant donations of British Pewter to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney between 1938 and 1949 – the ‘Carvick-Webster Collection’. Other donations she made to the Gallery included a collection of ninety-seven medals and two drawings – Crowning of a Pope signed ‘Tadeo Zuccaro’ believed to be from about 1563 and a Study of a Dog by the School of Paolo Veronese both donated in 1926.
‘Catherine collected various things e.g. stamps, china and pewter……..She also had a fine collection of Australian paintings by local artists’. 40
Catherine Agnes Balfour Carvick Webster died aged eighty-seven on 23 May 1955 at 2, St. Michael’s Drive, Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire. She may have moved to Helensburgh to be with family as her death was reported by her son-in-law, Hugh Nielson whose address was 3, Easterhill Road, Helensburgh. 41 A service was held at St. Michael’s and All Angels Church, Helensburgh followed by a private funeral. 42
On 7 November 1854, Alexander MacKay married Isabella Thomson in Wick, Caithness. 1 The family moved to Thurso where a daughter, Rose-Ann MacKay was born on 31 August 1856 in Durness Street. 2 From the census taken in 1861, the family had moved to 9 Dempster Street in Pulteneytown, Wick. Alexander, aged fifty-five, was a mason born in Rogart, Sutherland while Isabella, thirty-six, had been born in Eday, Orkney. The couple had two daughters, Isabella aged eleven (perhaps from a previous marriage?) born in Avie, Orkney and Rose-Ann aged four. 3 Ten years later Roseanna (sic) and her parents were still at 9 Dempster Street, but Isabella was not. 4 The family later moved to Kintore, Aberdeenshire where Alexander is listed as tenant/occupier of Kintore House from 1877-1880. 5
Rose-Ann MacKay, (now styled Ann Fitzgerald MacKay) married Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson of 5 Randolf Cliff, Edinburgh on 13 January 1881 in the Manse at Banchory Devenick, Kincardinshire. Walter was thirty-seven and an advocate. Ann was twenty-four living at Kintore, Aberdeenshire. On the marriage certificate, Ann’s parents are Alexander MacKay, architect, deceased and Isabella Catherine Thomson. 6
(According to the 1911 census for England, Ann Simpson (nee MacKay) was born in Thurso about 1857. The only birth listed on Scotland’s People for that date is that of Rose-Ann MacKay born to Alexander MacKay and Isabella Thomson. There is no record of an Ann Fitzgerald MacKay.)
The best man at the wedding was the groom’s brother, William Simpson. The sole bridesmaid was Evelyn Farquharson, cousin of the bride. Ann’s uncle, Peter Farquharson was a witness. (Evelyn Farquharson was born in Kirkwall, Orkney on 24 August 1843. Her parents were Peter Farquharson and Mary Thomson7 who married in Shapinsay on 18 January 1842 8) After the ceremony the couple left for London and thence to a honeymoon in the south of France. 9
Walter Grindlay Simpson was born on 1 September 1843 in Edinburgh. He was the second son of Sir James Young Simpson (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870), the eminent physician and pioneer in the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic) and Janet (Jessie) Grindlay. With the death of his father in 1870, Walter became the second baronet. He was a good friend of Robert Louis Stevenson whom he met at the University of Edinburgh and in 1876, the pair undertook a voyage by canoe from Antwerp to Pontoise. This was later documented by Stevenson. 10
Sir Walter and Lady Simpson had four children, James Walter MacKay Simpson (1882 – 1924), Odo Louis MacKay Simpson (1885 – 1917, k.i.a.), Ethel Lucy Florence MacKay Simpson (later Lady Willert) and Beatrix Frances Frederica MacKay Simpson. In 1891 the family was living in Hanover Square, Belgravia, London. 11 This suggests the painting was completed in London the following year when Lady Simpson was thirty-six.
Walter Grindlay Simpson died on 29 May 1898 at his home, Balabraes, House Ayton, Berwickshire. He was 54. 12 Obituaries mentioned that he was educated at Edinburgh Academy and Caius College, Cambridge where he studied chemistry and anatomy graduating with a BA Hons. in Natural Science. He also rowed stroke for the university. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1873. 13 He was an enthusiastic golfer and was Captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. He published an authoritative guide to the game The Art of Golf in 1887. It seems that he purchased Millbank House about 1890 14 and renamed it Balabraes 15
Now widowed, Lady Simpson continued to live at Balabraes House with her two daughters. She and Florence were ‘living on their own means’. 16 Florence married Arthur Willert in 1908 and by 1911 Ann was in residence in Kensington, London with Beatriix and Odo. The census of that year states that she was born in Thurso. 17 During WW1, her son Odo enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Ann signed his Attestation Papers 18 Tragically, he was killed in action in 1917. She seems to have retained ownership of Balabraes until about 1920 when it was sold. 19 In 1921, Ann Simpson was living at 14a Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London. 20 This was the home of her daughter Beatrix and husband Bertram Couly. (They divorced in 1933). She probably attended the wedding of her grandson Paul Willert in 1934. Lady Ann Fitzgerald MacKay Simpson died on 23 October 1941 at 62 St. John Street, Oxford. She was eighty-six. 21
Lady Willert
Florence Ethel Lucy Mackay Simpson (later Lady Willert) was born in Kensington, London in the second quarter of 1882. 22 She was the daughter of Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson, Bt. and Anne Fitzgerald Mackay. Florence was also the granddaughter of Sir James Young Simpson who pioneered the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic.
She must have been a precocious child since when her grandmother, Isabella MacKay, died on 26 January 1896 at Sunnyside, Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, the thirteen-year-old Florence was entrusted with reporting the death the following day. 23 She was seventeen when her father died in 1898 at the family home Ballabraes House, Ayton, Berwickshire.24 She was one of the executors of her father’s will. 25 In 1901, Florence was with her widowed mother, both living on their own means, and sister Beatrix F. Simpson aged five at Ballabraes House. 26 (There are two mistakes in the census; Florence was not twenty-five and her mother was not born in England). On 25 January 1908, Florence married Arthur Willert. 27 The marriage took place in Italy.
In Genoa, at the Archbishop’s Palace, and before H.B.M.’s Consul General, Arthur, son of P. F. Willert Esq., Headington Hill, Oxford, to Florence, elder daughter of the late Sir Walter Grindlay Simpson, Bart. of Balabraes, Ayton, Berwickshire. 28
The following month, on 10 February both Florence and Arthur left Southampton to sail to New York and then on to Washington D.C. 29
After returning from America, Florence gave birth to a son, Paul Odo Willert, on 25 May 1909, in Marylebone, London. 30 On 15 January 1910, Arthur Willert sailed to New York from Liverpool on his own. His last permanent address was that of his parents at Headington Hill, Oxford. He was a journalist. 31
Arthur and Florence again sailed to New York and then to Washington on 7 February 1910 with Florence’s mother, Lady Simpson, listed as their nearest relative in the old country. They remained in Washington at The Dresden Apartments and were there at the time of the census on 28 April 1910. Florence confirmed that her parents were born in Scotland. Arthur’s occupation was ‘journalist’. They were also travelling with a nurse. So, although Paul does not appear on the census, it would appear he was with them. 32
Arthur Willert was The Times‘s chief United States correspondent from 1910 to 1920, with an interruption from 1917 to 1918, when he was Secretary of the British War Mission in Washington and the representative of the Ministry of Information. He formed an extensive network of influential American contacts, which enabled him to supply the British government with valuable information concerning American politics during the First World War and to convey British views to American officials. 33
It seems likely therefore that Florence and Arthur spent the years 1914-1918 in America returning to Britain at the end of the war. On 19 February 1919, Arthur sailed from Liverpool via New York to Washington. Later that year he was in Canada but there is no indication that Florence was with him. 34
Arthur Willert was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empirein 1919 ‘for valuable services rendered in connection with the war’ and was ‘late secretary of the British War Mission in Washington’. 35
In 1924 Florence was joint author of Told in the Corner Tides with B. Montgomery and E. Paterson. 36 Thereafter she and Arthur appear to have been part of the London social scene. ‘Sir Arthur and Lady Willert (who) lived in Washington for some years’ attended a reception given by the American Women’s Club for the new American Consul-General’. 37 It was also noted that Sir Arthur and Lady Willert and Mr Paul Willert have returned to Cambridge Square from Italy. 38 On 12 November 1925 Lady Willert assisted in the opening of a Grand Bazaar at St. Thomas the Apostle church. 39 In 1927 she sailed to New York with her son Paul who was then a student aged 18. They travelled on ‘Diplomatic Passports’. 40
On 11 June 1934, Paul Willert married the Honourable Brenda Pearson daughter of Viscount Cowdray at St. Mark’s Church, North Audley Street, London. 41
On 20 December 1935 Arthur and Florence sailed from Southampton to New York aboard S.S. New York. He was described as a ‘writer’, she was a ‘housewife’. 42 They remained in Washington over Christmas and the New Year and later visited the White House.
As Eleanor Roosvelt recorded on 4 January 1936,
Sir Arthur and Lady Willert, who spent many years in Washington when he was correspondent for the London Times, were also staying with us. He has since served many years in the Foreign Office in London. There were many to greet them warmly on their reappearance even here where people are quickly forgotten because they change so often. 43
and on 16 March 1936,
This morning, I said goodbye to Lady Willert who is sailing for England, and now I am on the train on my way back to Washington. 44
Arthur and Florence again spent the following Christmas and New Year in Washington having sailed from Southampton on 23 December 1936, aboard S.S. New York. Both were described as ‘writers’. Florence was 57yrs 10mo, Arthur 54yrs 4mo. 45 The following year on 24 February they had dinner at The White House and were also houseguests of President Roosevelt. 46
Eleanor Roosevelt again recorded on 1 March 1937 that
Lady Willert, Miss Fannie Hurst, Mrs. Leach and I had a grand evening of talk.
One of the items discussed appears to have been the White House meals which the President had complained were too ‘routine’. Mrs. Roosevelt revealed that she had given the President a ‘New Deal’ and that the new menus would include several items suggested by Lady Willert. 47
On 4 November 1942, Mrs. Roosevelt recorded,
I was in London. During the day I saw my old friends, Sir Arthur and Lady Willert and their granddaughter (born in 1936) who is my godchild.
From 1939 to 1945, Sir Arthur Willert oversaw the regional work at the Ministry of Information. At a leaving ceremony in 1945 he was presented with an engraved silver tankard, and Lady Willert received a bouquet of flowers. 48
In 1948, Lady Willert and her sister Mrs. Beatrice Long gifted some documents related to the early use of chloroform as an anaesthetic to the University of Edinburgh. These included a letter from Sir William Lawrence to Sir James Young Simpson reporting the first use of chloroform in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1847. 49
Two years after she donated the painting of her mother, Dame Ethel Lucy Florence Mackay Willert died on 3 April 1955. Her address at the time was 12 Sloane Terrace Mansions, Chelsea, London. Arthur Willert died aged ninety in 1973. His papers were bequeathed to Yale University. Among them are his own letters to and from his wife and also correspondence of Florence’s e.g. to and from Winston Churchill in 1917 and to/from Eleanor Roosevelt at various times between 1932 and 1955.
The sisters depicted in Fig. 1 are Charlotte Crawford-Cumming (seated) and Marion Finlay Crawford-Cumming. They are pictured in the garden of their home in Rosneath. The sisters were the daughters of Robert Crawford-Cumming (1808-1876) and his wife Sophia Connell (1815-1890). In 1839, Robert, on the death of his father Dougald, inherited the Barreman Estate on the Rosneath peninsula in Dunbartonshire. This estate comprised about six hundred acres and included the village of Clynder. On 13 August 1840 Robert married Sophia Connell in Rosneath 1 and on 24 June 1841 Charlotte Crawford-Cumming was born. 2 Her sister Marion was born on 22 September 1843.3 In the 1851 census, the family was at Port Street, St. Ninians, Stirlingshire with Sophia’s relatives. Robert was described as a ‘landed proprietor’. His lands included the House and Garden of Barrieman (Barreman), Barrieman Farm (occupier as well), Crossewan Farm, Stroul Farm, Stroul Park and Stroul Quarry. 4 In 1861 the family was at 42 Albany Street, Edinburgh with Charlotte 19 and Marion 17. 5 On 23 July 1868 Charlotte married Robert Henderson, eldest son of Robert Henderson of Malone Park, Belfast in St. John the Evangelist Church, Notting Hill, London. The service was conducted by the Rev. James Connell, Vicar of Hammersmith who was a cousin of the bride. 6 Robert’s father was a shipping agent in Belfast and was also involved in the ship building and ferry trade. In 1847, he became a Commissioner of Belfast Harbour Board and, in 1853, formed the Belfast Screw Steam Shipping Co. He became a shareholder in William Sloan & Co., of Glasgow in 1858 and acted as their agents in Belfast. Robert (1842-1895) carried on the business when his father died. 7 On 4 March 1871 Marion Finlay Crawford-Cumming married Edward James Henderson, merchant, brother of Robert, in St. James Piccadilly, London. 8 It seems that Marion’s parents attended the wedding as they were in London at the time. 9 In the same year, Robert sold his Rosneath Estate to Robert Thom of Canna for £20,300. It was described as a ’fine property…..extending a mile and a half along the Gareloch shore’. 10 The sale was apparently to avoid the estate passing to his nearest male relative who was resident in Australia, as it was covered by a Deed of Male Entail. The sale was thus strictly illegal. However, his wife and daughters appear to have received the funds after Robert died on 24 September 1876. 11 Marion Finlay Henderson (Crawford-Cumming) died aged thirty-five from convulsions leading to a coma at Strollamus, Isle of Skye on 9 January 1881. On her death certificate, her husband Edward is described as a ‘tacksman’. 12,13 Marion was buried on 17 January in Belfast City Cemetery. Edward Henderson died in Bath on 30 May 1890. 14 leaving his daughter Marguerite, orphaned and probably in the care of her aunt and uncle. Charlotte and her husband were staying at the Burlington Hotel in Hene, Worthing, Sussex at the time of the census of 1891 perhaps preparing for the marriage of their niece Marguerite. Robert was a ’shipowner’ neither employed nor employer. 15 Robert died four years later in London. Charlotte published an ‘In Memoriam’ in remembrance. 16 In ever loving memory of Robert Henderson, my beloved husband, who entered into rest on the night of the 30th December 1895 at Clarges Street, Mayfair. Charlotte died at 26 Dover Street, London on 9 January 1900. She was buried on 13 January in the Belfast City Cemetery. 17 Later that year it was reported that ‘the estate of Charlotte Henderson late of Belfast in the County of Antrim formerly of 41, Clarges Street, Piccadilly,….. was granted to Marguerite Kennedy Groome wife of Harry Groome of Luxford Cottage, East Grinstead.18 The ‘estate has been valued at £67,055 17s 10d (£66,223 11s 4d net) (and that she) devised and bequeathed all of her real and personal estate to her husband Mr. Robert Henderson, of Belfast who died in her lifetime……(the) estate has therefor been granted to her niece and only next-of-kin Mrs Marguerite Kennedy Groome 19 Marguerite Kennedy Groome nee Henderson was born on 10 May 1873 in Belfast. 20 She was the daughter of Edward James Henderson and Marion Crawford-Cumming. On 10 November 1893, Marguerite married Harry Groome at St. Botolph’s, Church, Hene, Sussex. 21 Harry was thirty-two and from Broadwater, Sussex. The couple spent their honeymoon in the south of France. 22 The wedding was attended by Mr and Mrs Robert Henderson, the bride’s uncle and aunt. 23 In March 1901, Marguerite, now twenty-eight, was living at Luxford Cottage, Lewes Road, East Grinstead, Sussex, with her husband Harry Groome and a son, Robert E. Groome, aged six and born in Eastbourne, Sussex. They were living on ‘Private Means’. 24,25 Ten years later Marguerite and Harry were boarding at Oak House, Brockenhurst, Lymington, Hampshire. 26 Their son Robert Edward Charles Groome aged sixteen was a boarder attending Harrow School, Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex. 27 Tragically, Robert Groome, died in 1915 after the battle of Ypres. 28
Second-Lieut. Robert E. C. Groome Royal Field Artillery, died near Ypres on March 4th (1915) of wounds received in action on the previous evening. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Groome of Brooklands, Brockenhurst, he was educated at the Priory School at Malvern and at Harrow, afterwards passing to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He received his commission in December 1913 and at the time of his death was in his 21st year. 29
In the census of 19 June 1921 Marguerite was 46 years 1 month. She and Harry were living at Lymington Road, Brooklands, Brockenhurst, Hampshire. Marguerite was probably widowed before 29 January 1929, when she undertook a ‘round voyage’ from England. 30 In the pre-war register of 1939, Marguerite gave her date of birth as 10 May 1873. She was a widow living on private means at 6 Burlington Court Flats, Eastbourne, Sussex. 31 Thereafter Marguerite moved to Sidcliffe House, Sid Road, Sidmouth, Devon and in 1950 she advertised for a ‘cook-housekeeper’ and seems to have been quite particular! Required Cook-Housekeeper; one lady: small flat: age 45; C. of E.; good references. Apply by letter. – Groome, Sidcliffe House, Sidmouth’. 32
The two paintings were donated to Glasgow in 1952 probably because of the sisters’ birthplace in Rosneath near Glasgow. It may also have been about this time that Marguerite moved to a nursing home in Devon. It was here that she died on 14 October 1963 aged ninety. 33 Some details of her will were published the following year. Mrs Margaret Kennedy Groome of Cranford Nursing Home, Exmouth, Devon, widow of Harry Groome, formerly of Sidmouth, Devon, who died on October 14, leaving £149,365 (£148,559 net) left her property “Finaghy” Belfast and one half of the residuary estate to her cousins Jean McMullen and Sidney A. B. Smyth of Malone Park, Belfast and £100 to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. 34 She also left £100 to various hospitals and one half of the residuary estate to be divided equally between the N.S.P.C.C., St. Dunstan’s, the National Institute for the Blind, the Royal U.K. Beneficent Society, the Distressed Gentlefolks Aid Association, the R.N.L.I. and the R.S.P.C.A. 35
References
Scotland Marriages, 1561 – 1910, FamilySearch
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564 – 1950, FamilySearch
On 9 February 1871, William Ridge-Beedle (39), a general merchant, married Jane Walker Denniston (25) in Glasgow.1 After spending a few months in Glasgow with Jane’s parents 2, the couple moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina where a daughter, Elizabeth was born on 24 February 1872. 3 A son, Robert, was born in January 1874. Tragically, the same year that a second son, William, was born, Robert died of dysentery aged fifteen months.4 This may have prompted the family to move back to Scotland where on 20 November 1876, their son Peter Denniston Ridge-Beedle was born in his grandparents’ house at 17 Holyrood Crescent, Kelvin, Glasgow. Peter’s birth was registered by his grandfather, Robert Dennistoun, as his father had returned to Argentina and was ‘domiciled in Belgrana, Buenos Ayres’. 5 The following year Peter’s brother William died in Glasgow and on 2 December 1880 his father died of a suspected heart attack at Cathcart Railway Station in Greenock. 6 After his father’s death, Peter his mother and sister continued to live at his grandparents’ house at 17 Holyrood Crescent. 7 It is not recorded where Peter attended school. However
‘When I was fourteen, my mother, who was a widow, took my sister and myself for about eighteen months to the Riviera and Switzerland. There, I thoroughly acquired French and extended my knowledge of German, which I subsequently perfected. I then tackled Spanish and, after having reached an advance stage in it, was thinking of starting to master a further language, as I had become keen on acquiring them. ……..in later years I acquired a considerable knowledge of Italian’. 8
On return, the family moved to 12 Ashton Gardens, Govan where Peter’s mother was tenant/occupier. 9 By 1898, the firm of Ridge-Beedle & Co., merchants had been established at 116 Hope Street, Glasgow. 10 The following year there would appear to have been a partner in the business.
Beedle, Peter D. Ridge 12 Ashton Gardens (of MacBean & Ridge Beedle, merchants, 57 West Nile Street), later Ridge Beedle & Co., merchants, 116 Hope Street 11
In 1901 Peter, now twenty-four and a merchant was living at 18 Ashton Gardens with his mother Jane who was the head of the household and his sister Elizabeth twenty-nine. There were two servants in the house. 12 It may be that Peter’s mother took more than a passive interest in his business as in 1905 she was the proprietor of a warehouse and workshop at 90/92 Argyll Street, Glasgow. 13 On the census of 1911 Peter’s mother and sister were visiting his aunt Agnes Denniston in Dunoon. Mother and aunt were living on ‘private means’. 14 Peter does not appear on the census. Just prior to World War One, Peter submitted a paper on Air Ships in Naval Defence to the Navy League but was met with little interest. He warned of the ‘aerial threat’ from Germany particularly from a fleet of Zeppelins that Germany was building. 15 In a speech to the Navy League in Glasgow he warned that compared to Germany, Britain only had three tiny airships and about twenty aircraft. The meeting adopted a resolution requesting a grant of £1,000,000 from the Treasury to the Royal Flying Corps. 16 As the war progressed, Peter became more involved with the Navy League. He was Hon. Treasurer of the Ladies Committee appealing for funds to send ‘comforts’ to Royal Navy personnel and to provide food parcels for naval prisoners of war. 17 He was also an early advocate of a ‘Mid Scotland Ship Canal’ and as Hon. Secretary of the Glasgow and West of Scotland branch of the Navy League he sent a letter to the Government urging that such a canal be constructed on a direct route from Grangemouth to Yoker.18 Perhaps feeling that his political views would be best put forward in parliament, on 24 October 1918 he was adopted as the prospective Unionist candidate for the Clydebank and Dumbarton Burghs constituency. He was described as a ‘prominent iron ore merchant of the firm of Messrs. Ridge-Beedle & Co.’ 19 He appears to have withdrawn his candidacy before the election as his name did not appear on the ballot paper. On 31 March 1919, Peter arrived in New York having sailed from Liverpool aboard the S.S. Orduna. He intended to stay for one month. On the ship’s manifest he is described as ‘5ft 6 1/4 in, dark brown hair, dark grey eyes, fair complexion, person in old country, Mrs J. W. Ridge-Beedle., mother’. 20 On his return he was involved in a serious accident on the Drymen Road outside Glasgow when his chauffeur-driven car was involved in a collision with another car. His mother and sister who were with him sustained broken bones when the car overturned. He himself had his leg crushed and his face lacerated. Luckily the chauffeur managed to turn the engine off to prevent a fire. 21 In 1920, Ridge-Beedle and Co. Ltd. was registered as a private company with capital of £40,000 to carry on the business of ore, metal, foreign and general merchants etc. 22 Its offices were at 116 Hope Street, Glasgow with a garage at 17 Elliot Lane, Govan. 23 In 1921 Peter’s mother was still head of the household at 18 Parkville Road, Partick with Peter an ‘ore, metal and foreign merchant’. His sister Lizzie was also present and two servants. 24 In the following three years, Peter again stood for Parliament as a Unionist candidate. In Bothwell in 1922 and 1923 where he lost to Labour and in 1924 in Camlachie where he again lost to Labour but by a close margin of 215 votes.25 Perhaps encouraged by this result, he was again adopted as the Unionist candidate for Camlachie in the 1929 General Election. In a pre-election address at Dennistoun Parish Church, he directed his ire at the Scottish National Party. ‘There was undoubtedly a sinister aspect about this movement in that there existed a Roman Catholic tinge amongst its leaders’. 26 He also blamed the influx of Irish people for the fact that many Scots could not find employment. However, he failed to impress the voters of Camlachie and was again unsuccessful. In the 1930s, Peter was living at 55 Dowanside Road, Hillhead, Glasgow presumably with his mother and sister. 27 Jane Walker Ridge-Beedle died on 30 August 1938 at the age of ninety-two. In 1939 Peter was made a Life Member of the Iron and Steel Institute. He was Governing Director, Ridge-Beedle & Co. of 116 Hope Street, Glasgow. His private address was 6 Albert Gate, Glasgow. 28 During WW2, Peter was again involved with The Navy League, this time as chairman of the Glasgow and West pf Scotland branch. Under the banner ‘Lend a Hand’, advertisements appeared appealing for ‘knitted goods and gifts of all kinds for the men of the fleet’ Subscriptions were to be sent to the chairman. 29 In times of rationing it was clarified later that the wool to be used was ‘coupon free’ and sold at reduced prices. 30 Peter Ridge-Beedle had long been an advocate of the Mid-Scotland Ship Canal. This was a proposal first mooted in the late nineteenth century to build a canal capable of carrying large ships from the Forth to the Clyde via Loch Lomond. It was debated in Parliament in 1913 and a report produced in 1917. However, it was not carried forward. The idea seems to have been revived in the war years, and a Mid-Scotland Ship Canal Committee set up with Peter as a member. The report was submitted to Parliament with a booklet published independently, by Peter in January 1944 entitled Report of Mid-Scotland Ship Canal Committee….The Case for the Canal etc. However, the proposal was not well received, not least by the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce which prompted a furious response from Peter. 31 Peter Ridge-Beedle continued as chairman of the Navy League in Glasgow and in 1945 received a letter from Buckingham Palace informing him that the Queen had instructed that a consignment of comforts be sent to their Glasgow depot. These had been made by the Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Balmoral work parties. 32 Consistent with his interest in languages, Peter in 1947 published a book Why Not English? Which claimed to contain ‘A New Alphabet for the English Language (The Bedel Alphabet) enabling each word to be spelled as it is pronounced and pronounced as it is spelled’.33
Fig. 3 Advertisement for Why Not English and ‘The Bedel Alphabet’ (Stratford Press)
Fig. 4 Example of the Bedel Alphabet in use
A favourable review appeared in the press but the new alphabet seems not to have been taken further.34 On 10 January 1952, two years after the death of his sister, Peter intended to leave Liverpool aboard the Reina Del Pacifico heading for Valparaiso, Chile. It is not clear that he undertook the voyage as his name has a line through it on the ship’s manifest. His address was 8 Albert Gate, Dowanside Road, Glasgow. 35 Peter Denniston Ridge-Beedle died suddenly on 8 May 1952 at 121 Hill Street, Glasgow. He was seventy-six. 36 Just a few days before his death he had been re-elected as a director of the Scottish General Insurance Co. Ltd. 37 A brief obituary appeared in a local newspaper.
P. D. Ridge-Beedle (76), a well-known Glasgow merchant who in 1947 published the “Beedle Alphabet”, which was designed to make the spelling and pronunciation of English correspond. He was a director of two prominent insurance and assurance companies. 38
He was buried in the Glasgow Necropolis. The inscription on the gravestone reads:
Erected by PETER DENNISTON RIDGE-BEEDLE Merchant Glasgow in memory of his father WILLIAM RIDGE – BEEDLE Foreign Merchant who died 2nd December 1880 aged 48 years, and his mother JANE WALKER RIDGE-BEEDLE who died 30th August 1938 aged 92 years, who are interred in the vault in the 5th avenue to the west of her father ROBERT DENNISTOUN Shipowner Glasgow, also his brothers ROBERT and WILLIAM who died in infancy in 1875 and 1877 and interred in this vault, his sister ELIZABETH( LIZZIE) DENNISTON RIDGE-BEEDLE who died 27h February 1950 aged 78 years, PETER DENNISTON RIDGE –BEEDLE Merchant Glasgow born 20th November 1876, died 8th May 1952
Two years after his death, on 30 December 1954, the firm of Ridge-Beedle & Co., Ltd. was wound up voluntarily. 39
References
Scotland’s People, Marriage Certificate
Scotland’s People, Census 1871
Baptisms Recorded at St. Andrew’s Scots Presbyterian Church Buenos Aires, Vol. 3 1871-1878, Jeremy Howat, June 2015
Deaths Recorded at St. Andrew’s Scots Presbyterian Church Buenos Aires, Vol. 3 1871-1878, Jeremy Howat, June 2015
Scotland’s People, Birth Certificate
Scotland’s People, Death Certificate
Scotland’s People, Census 1881
Why Not English? The Stratford Press, 116 Hope Street. Glasgow, 1947
Scotland’s People, Valuation Roll, Govan, 1895
Grace’s Guide
glasgowwestaddress.co.uk
Scotland’s People, Census 1901
Scotland’s People, Valuation Roll, Glasgow 1905
Scotland’s People, Census 1911
Aberdeen Press and Journal, 13 March 1913
The Scotsman, 13 March 1913
Glasgow Herald 30 October 1916
Milngavie and Bearsden Herald 13 July 1917
Glasgow Observer and Catholic Herald, 2 November 1918
New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island) 1892-1925, family search
Daily Record, 15 October 1919
Grace’s Guide
Scotland’s People, Valuation Roll, Govan, 1920
Scotland’s People, Census 1921
United Kingdom Election Results, Wikipedia
John o’ Groats Journal, 9 November 1928
Scotland’s People, Valuation Roll, Glasgow 1935
Grace’s Guide
Daily Record, 22 January 1940
Various newspapers, e.g. Linlithgowshire Gazette, 10 October 1941
Daily Record, 1 February 1944
The Scotsman, 10 March 1945
Why Not English, The Stratford Press, 116 Hope Street. Glasgow
Daily Record, 26 January 1948
ancestry.co.uk, UK and Ireland Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960
On 6 September 1881, John McLean Finlayson married Elizabeth Semple in Hillhead, Glasgow.1 The following year, on 17 September, their daughter Elizabeth Campbell Finlayson was born at 19 Shaftesbury Terrace, Glasgow, Kelvin.2 By 1891, the family had moved to 144 Holland Street and Elizabeth now had two sisters, Georgina and Margaret. The family also employed two servants. 3 Ten years later, Elizabeth aged eighteen and an arts student had moved with her parents and siblings to forty-seven Albert Drive, Pollokshields. John Finlayson was now a sugar broker. 4 Shortly afterwards, the family moved again. This time to 8 Matilda Road, Pollokshields 5 and from the census of 1911, Georgina was now twenty-seven and a music student while Margaret, aged twenty-two, was a student in arts. 6
On 27 June 1914 at the Trinity Free Church, Claremont Street, Glasgow, Elizabeth Campbell Finlayson, thirty-one, married William Barr Inglis Pollock an ophthalmic surgeon aged thirty-six. The wedding reception was held in the Grand Hotel.7,8 After a honeymoon in Switzerland, the couple moved into the groom’s home at 21 Woodside Place, Glasgow. In 1916, Dr. Inglis Pollock completed registration for the Medical Recruiting Scheme. He was at that time Consultant Assistant Surgeon, Glasgow Eye Infirmary, Ophthalmic Surgeon, Ayr County Hospital, Govan School Board and Ayr School Board. He stipulated that should his services be required, arrangements had to be made to ensure his present work was carried out during his absence. 9 The couple continued to live at 21 Woodside Place. 10 In 1926, Dr. Pollock applied unsuccessfully for the Chair of Ophthalmic Medicine and Surgery at the Anderson College of Medicine.11 Dr. Inglis Pollock died aged seventy-five at 1055 Great Western Road, Glasgow (usual residence 21 Woodside Place). He was an ophthalmic surgeon, retired. 12 The two paintings were given to Glasgow shortly afterwards, possibly as a result of Elizabeth downsizing. Elizabeth Campbell Pollock died of a cerebral haemorrhage aged eighty-one on 23 September 1963. She was found dead at 14 Royal Terrace, Glasgow. Her death was reported by a nephew John A. Barr Pollock. 13
Daily Record, 29 June 1914 (This contains a full report of the wedding including a description of the dresses etc. worn by the bride and bridesmaids. Two of the latter were the bride’s sisters, Georgina and Margaret. The best man was Mr. A. Barr Pollock from Hong Kong, brother of the groom).
https:/smsec.rcpe.ac.uk
Scotland’s People, 1921 Census
Archives of Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow.
In 1953, Lewis Pash Renateau donated forty-seven artworks by Charles Conder (1868 – 1909) to Glasgow. These included prints and drawings and two oil paintings. 1
Lewis Renateau’s mother, Florence Pash, was born in Kingsland, Middlesex in 1863.2 She was the daughter of Daniel John Pash (1823 – 1914) a boot manufacturer, and Martha Fassett (1829 – 1906).3.4 In 1887, having gone to France apparently to study art, Florence gave birth to a son in Tours on 11 December that year. Details are contained in a notice of birth:
Fig. 3 Notice of a Birth. 5
The gist of this is that, On 12th December 1887 at two o’clock in the evening, a midwife called Angele Passelin appeared before the deputy mayor of Tours, to inform him of a male born yesterday at 11 o’clock in the evening at Rue Nationale No. 2, the son of John Pash, aged thirty-four Lieutenant (absent) and Florence Pash his wife aged 25 no profession (married in London, England) given the first name Ludovic. (Notes in the margin suggest that John Pash was in the English Navy and was ‘passing through and that their home was in London).
Another version is that,
Florence had an illegitimate child born in Tours, France on December 11, 1887, while she was in the country studying art. The father was Albert Carl Gustav Ludovici who was born in Prague in 1852. Lewis (Ludovic) was raised in France by foster parents named Renateau. This version seems to have been verified by Lewis’ grandson. 6 That Albert was Lewis’ father is possibly borne out by the fact that in 1889 Albert Ludovici opened a studio at 132 Sloane Street, London ‘under the management of Florence Pash’. This was a studio where lady artist pupils would be able take life classes, etc.7 Florence was with her parents and siblings at 94 Fordwich Road, Hampstead, London at the time of the census in 1891. She was now an ‘artist painting’. There is no mention of her son.8 In his biography of Walter Sickert, Matthew Sturgis has a description of Florence.
‘(She) was a forceful and handsome figure: tall, dark-haired with heavy-lidded eyes. At 28 and two years younger than Sickert when she met him when they were both showing at Suffolk Street’. ‘She had established herself with remarkable assurance in the London art world. The daughter of a successful North London shoe retailer, she had studied painting briefly at South Kensington and in France’. Sickert painted her portrait and ‘it is possible, even likely, that the friendship with Florence became an affair’. 9
Florence became a successful portrait artist exhibiting at the Royal Society of British Artists, the Paris Salon and the Royal Academy of Arts. A portrait she painted of Walter Sickert was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1924 and subsequently at the Louvre. She also sat as a model for Charles Conder and Walter Sickert. 10 In 1898, Florence, now thirty-eight, married Albert Anthony Humphrey, aged fifty-four, an ‘advertising news agent’ who had been born in Quebec, Canada. Florence and Albert were living at 122 Victoria Street, Westminster, London in 1901 along with Lewis Renateau who is listed on the census, as a ‘visitor’, born in France but now a British citizen.11 Later that year Lewis was in the lower fifth at Borden Grammar School in Kent. He was awarded prizes for being first in mathematics, languages and divinity and second in science. 12 Lewis attended Dulwich College, London between September 1903 and July 1905. He was listed as living with a guardian, Mrs Humphrey, who was his aunt, at 122 Victoria Street, London. His final form at the College was the Remove Engineering (roughly equivalent to modern Y12 in England, the penultimate year of school). In his final term he placed 10th in a class of 18 overall. In French he came 3/19; workshops 7/25; and in drawing he came 4/26.13 In 1904, Florence Humphrey gave birth to a son, Cecil Albert Humphrey. 14 (Cecil later became a Balliol Scholar and joined the Indian Civil Service. He and his wife had a daughter born in Bengal in 1937. Cecil died in Hampstead, London on 5 September 1949).15 After college, Lewis must have undertaken courses in naval architecture as this turned out to be his profession. However, in 1909, along with his stepfather, he took out a patent on ‘Improvements in and Connected with Aeroplanes’ dated 15/25 December.16 On 4 April 1913, Lewis emigrated to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Canada. He sailed from Liverpool aboard the Corsican giving his occupation as ‘draughtsman’. 17 The following year on 23 September he volunteered for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force, Royal Highlanders of Canada. He stated that he was born in London (?) and was unmarried. His next of kin was a cousin, Cecil Albert Humphrey of 122 Victoria Street, London. (Actually, his half-brother). Lewis’s occupation was as a naval architect, and his previous military experience was in the officer training corps. 18 In 1915, having previously been reported missing, 19 it was confirmed that Lewis, (now Lieutenant Renateau of the 13th Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada) had been taken prisoner at St Julien, near Ypres, on 24 April 1915. He had been transferred to the Giessen POW camp.20 While there, a fellow prisoner, Raphael Drouart (1894 – 1972) painted his portrait.
Fig. 4 Lieutenant Lewis Pash Renateau 13th Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada Raphael Drouart, 1916 National Army Museum, London/ArtUK
The same artist later (1917) completed a painting of the camp under snow. This was done on a box lid of a food parcel originally sent to Renateau. The lid still listed the contents of the original parcel: ‘Margarine/Potted Meat/Biscuits/Prunes/Cherries/Camp Pie/Golden Syrup/Lemonade Powder/Service Rations/Cocoa/Milk/Sugar
Fig. 5 POWs at the Giessen POW Camp, Germany Autumn/Winter 1917 Raphael Drouart National Army Museum/ArtUK
In September 1916, TheBurlington Magazine published a letter from Lewis.
THE CAMP AT GIESSEN, HESSE – [We have received from a Canadian artist, Mr. Lewis Renateau, with whom we are otherwise unacquainted, the letter published below, which may relieve the anxiety of the friends of prisoners in one German camp. We have also received from Mr. H. Walter Barnett, as specimen of the work of this imprisoned society of artists, a photograph of a very pleasing pencil drawing of our correspondent, Mr. Renateau, by one of his fellow-prisoners, Mr. Albert Venelle. Mrs. A. A. Humphrey, 122 Victoria St., S.W., desires us to say that she will gladly receive any gifts on behalf of these interned artists. -ED]
GENTLEMEN, – We have received many numbers of The Burlington Magazine from Mrs. A. A. Humphrey (122 Victoria St., S.W.), and she writes to me that you were the kind donators. We appreciate them greatly and send you our most grateful thanks and best wishes, The “we” consists of about twenty men of many various talents and qualities, from theatrical scenic painters to wood-carvers. The best artists here are Raphael Drouart (Parisian), A. Nantel (on“The Standard” Montreal), Tisseire, caricaturist (Parisian), and as students of art, A. Venelle (Brussels), Patoisseaux (Nantes), Beddoe (Ottawa). The rest are architects, decorators, furniture designers, etc. We are very well treated and can work as we can work as we like and get in any materials from the town we need that we can afford, so that we are really very well off. Thanking you again for your, kindly thought and gifts on behalf of the Giessen Art Fraternity, I remain, Yours truly, LEWIS RENATEAU.
The pencil drawing referred to above by Albert Venelle was offered for sale during the London Art Week on 6 December 2023 priced at £1200.00.
Fig. 6 Lewis Renateau by Albert Venelle 1916, Blue chalk on paper londonartweek.co.uk Forgotten Masters/Enduring Images III 6 December 2023
Lewis’ stepfather died in 1917 and on 12 May 1923, his mother married Major C. T. Holland in Kensington Registry Office, London. 21
Fig. 7 Marriage of Florence Humphrey and Charles Holland. 22
However, the marriage ended with the death in London of Major Holland aged sixty-nine in 1927. After the war, Lewis returned to Canada to be demobilised and on 8 April 1919 he married Ruth Meryl Smith in Montreal.
Fig. 8 Marriage Certificate 23 Lewis Pash Renateau, bachelor, son of John Renateau and Florence Pash and Ruth Meryl Smith daughter of Samuel Smith and Jane M Roberts both of the City of Montreal united by me by Authority of License in the holy bonds of matrimony on the eighth day of April nineteen hundred and nineteen. Ruth Meryl Smith was born in Dorking, Surrey in 1882. Her family was living in Amhurst Road in Hackney in 1891 24 suggesting that her parents emigrated to Canada later. Sometime in the early 1900s she worked for six years for a Scottish engineering company, 25 but by 1911, aged twenty-seven, she was living with her sister Alice Margaret in Greenwich, London. 26 She moved to Canada in 1912 27 where she met Lewis but returned to England in 1915 to engage in war related work. She became secretary to Sir Frank Sanderson the then Controller of Trench Warfare, National Shell Filling Factories and Stores at the Ministry of Munitions. After the armistice, she returned to Canada in arriving at St. John’s Newfoundland on 1 March 1919 28 on her way to a job in Manchuria. However, she got a cable from Lewis asking her to marry him. 29 The couple returned to England, initially to Kensington in London where a son, John Pash Renateau was born on 6 November 1919. A daughter, Ann Meryl Pash Renateau, was born on 29 January 1921 at 9 Highland Road, Upper Norwood, London, the family home. From the census of that year, Lewis, aged 33 years and 6 months, born in Tours, France but a British subject was employed by the Port of London Authority as a naval architect. Also listed were Ruth Renateau aged 39 years and 2 months and their children. 30 9 Highland Road remained their address throughout the 1920s. Ruth must have returned to Canada after the birth of her daughter (possibly to introduce her children to her parents?). She returned in 1922 to resume her role as secretary to Sir Frank Sanderson after he became MP, a position she retained until 1940.31 An entry for Lewis (possibly in a list of foreign nationals) appeared in the London Gazette on 5 April 1929. Pash, Ludovic (known as Lewis Pash Renateau); Doubtful Nationality; Naval Architect; 39, Sylvan Road, Upper Norwood, Croydon. 18 March 1929.
Lewis joined the Port of London Authority as a naval architect and remained with them for forty years. His pastimes included swimming, tennis and cricket: he was for a time secretary of the Port of London tennis club. 32 He was also a talented amateur artist as this review of a Painting Exhibition held at the Port of London Authority indicates.
‘The best paintings are those of Mr. L. Renateau, an engineer’s draughtsman, whose normal occupation has scarcely any influence upon his pastime. Mr. Renateau’s portraits are virile and to the point, although their colour is often unsound.’ 33 The family moved to The Nutshell on Hamhough Island in the Thames and were there from 1936 until at least 1946. In 1939, Lewis was a ‘shipbuilding draughtsman and Ruth a ‘private secretary’ while Ann Reniteau claimed to be, single and an unpaid domestic, living at The Nutshell, Sunbury on Thames, with her parents. 34 During WW2, Lewis saw service in the War Office until 1947. He was in the Corps of Royal Engineers (Transportation) involved in design and construction of ports and opening up rivers etc. He was made second lieutenant on 3 March 1941 (later promoted to captain in 1944). 35 After the war, the family moved to 21 Bowes Road, Walton-on-Thames. In 1950 the occupants at this address were, Lewis, Ruth, their son John and Ruth’s sisters Alice and Frances. 36 In the same year, Ann Renateau married Arthur Douglas Eade in Cornwall and John Renateau married Gwendoline D. Fleet. 37 Lewis’ mother, Florence Pash Humphrey Holland who was still actively exhibiting in her 80s, died on 25 June 1951 aged eighty-nine. 38 His wife, Ruth Meryl Renateau died in October 1952 at 21 Bowes Road, Walton-on-Thames. She was buried on the 27th at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking, Surrey. 39 The following year, Lewis married Avalon Ethelston Osborne in Surrey. 40 (Perhaps as a result of moving house after his marriage, Lewis decided to clear out some items. Ruth may have been employed by a Glasgow firm during her time in Scotland and would have been acquainted with Kelvingrove Art Gallery. This may have prompted Lewis to deposit the Charles Conder materials there.) In 1958, Lewis penned a letter to his local newspaper.
To the Editor Sir, – Like Major Kirkpatrick, M.C., I suffered for many years from dyspepsia and indigestion and was treated with many medicines and diets. I had all my teeth extracted and appendix removed, all of which was quite unnecessary, as I found out the cause and cured myself. Tannin in tea and food fried in a pan was the cause. Lewis Renateau, Common Moor Cottage, Burley Street, Burley. 41
Lewis Pash Renateau died on 9 October 1978 at Couch Hill Lane, Burley Ringwood, Hampshire. His funeral was held at Bournemouth Crematorium on 17 October. He was survived by his wife Avalon, two children and two grandchildren. An obituary was published in a local newspaper. 42 According to Sturgis, he left a manuscript, ‘Life of Florence Pash’ which is to be found in Islington archives in London. 43
Lewis Renateau and Charles Conder Alexander H. MacAdams, a lumber merchant, married Sarah Emma Humphrey about 1858 in Quebec, Canada. Sarah was a sister of Albert Alexander Humphrey who married Florence Pash. The couple had a daughter Stella Maris MacAdams born in 1862. 44 In 1889, Stella married George Noel Belford in Kensington, London but she was widowed within ten years. In early summer 1901, Florence Humphrey invited Stella, her niece, to tea to meet Charles Conder.
Fig. 9 Charles Conder, Stella Maris Belford (MacAdams) and Florence Pash
The couple seem to have hit-it-off immediately so much so that Conder was heard to declare at that first meeting, ‘I’m going to marry that woman’. 45 After a holiday in Normandy with her sister Annie and Florence, Stella married Charles Conder in the British Embassy in Paris in 1901. Condor suffered from syphilis and died in a mental home in Virginia Water on 9 February 1909. 46 When Stella died three years later, it is probable that some of Charles’ artwork would have passed to Florence and thence to Lewis.
Sturgis, Matthew, Walter Sickert: A Life, , HarperCollins, London, 2005 (Sickert and Ludovici, both artists, met while painting in St. Ives, Cornwall). This version is also quoted in www.jtrforums.com
Helen Robertson Carmichael was born on 28 March 1869 at 13 Balfour Street, St. Peter, Dundee. She was the seventh child of James Carmichael, a leather merchant and his wife Helen Robertson who had married on 19 June 1857 in Dundee. 1,2 Her brother, Stewart was born on 8 February 1867 at 4 Heathfield Place, Hawkhill, Dundee. 3 An eighth child, Lizzie Batchelor Carmichael was born on 8 October 1871. 4 Helen’s father was widowed on 15 January the following year when Helen’s mother died from heart disease. 5 By 1881 the family had moved to 51 Park Wynd, Dundee. 6 Helen attended Aberdeen Teacher Training College from 1890 – 91. 7 While at the college, she was lodging at 18 Balmoral Lane, Aberdeen and in the census was described as a ‘normal student’. 8 The following year she began teaching at Blackness Primary School in Dundee. 9 In the 1901 census she was aged thirty and living with her brother John at 10 Airlie Terrace, Dundee. Her occupation was ‘school board teacher’. 10 From 1915 till at least 1940, Helen was a tenant at 89 Magdalen Road, Dundee. 11 In August 1931, she was one of a group of tenants which sought an interim interdict to prevent the town council from closing Magdalen Park to hold the annual flower show with the resultant expected disturbance. 12 However, the matter was resolved when the council agreed not to hold the show there in subsequent years and to take steps to minimise noise etc. in the present year. 13 Helen retired from Blackness Primary School in 1932 after forty years as a teacher there. 14 She died on 25 February 1953 at Maryfield Hospital, Dundee. She was 83. Her usual address was 2 Windsor Street, Dundee. 15
*There would seem to be a doubt as to who donated the painting. The Paintings’ Register at Glasgow Museums’ Resource Centre (GMRC) states that it was Mrs John Roberts while a record card in the Object File at GMRC says John Roberts.
The Roberts Family George Roberts (1798 – 1877) was a clothier in Selkirk. In October 1838, he purchased Forest Mills in the town to build a spinning mill in partnership with Andrew Dickson a manufacturer in Galashiels. In January 1843, George married Agnes Scott Fowler (1871 – 1901) in Melrose. The couple had a daughter Eliza and six sons. The company prospered and expanded. When George died in 1877, he was succeeded by his sons George, Alexander and Thomas James Scougal and his nephew Frank. Another son, John (1845 – 1934) emigrated to New Zealand but his son, also John (1876 – 1966), returned to Scotland and in 1894 joined the firm and played a major role in its development. The firm became very prosperous and up till the outbreak of WW1 was one of the leaders of the Scottish woollen industry. The two relatives associated with this painting are John junior and Thomas Scougal Roberts. 1
Thomas Scougal Roberts (He commissioned the painting) Thomas Scougal Roberts was born in Selkirk on 24 January 1850, the son of George Roberts and Agnes Scott Fowler.2 In the 1861 census he was aged 11, a scholar living at Wellwood Park, Selkirk with his parents, brothers and a sister.3 On 31 March 1875 he married Hyndmer Rutherford Crawford aged eighteen of Caddenfoot, Selkirk.4 The couple moved to Byethorn House in Selkirk and had two children, George Crawford born in 1878, and Alexander Thomas born in 1885. (Alexander became the ‘American Cousin’ mentioned in the donation). In 1881 Thomas was 31, a tweed manufacturer living at Byethorn House, Selkirk.5 By 1891, he had moved with his wife and son Alexander aged 5, to the Mansion House, Stow, Caddonfoot, Selkirk.6 (His son George had died in 1885.) It was possibly here that he commissioned the present painting of his wife, Hyndmer, from Alexander Roche in 1895. In 1901, the family was living at Drygrange, Melrose, Roxburghshire, with eight servants.7 Hyndmer Roberts died in 1911. The following year, Thomas travelled to Canada arriving in Victoria aboard the Makura in May 1912 8 and then on to Vancouver in June 1912 aboard the Empress of Japan.9 Thomas Scougal Roberts died on 3 February 1921 in Edinburgh. 10 Probate was granted in Edinburgh on 16 May 192111, on 16 June in London.12 and in Otago and Wellington, New Zealand in the same year. Among his executors were his brother Alexander Fowler Roberts, Fairnielee, Galashiels, and his son Alexander Thomas Roberts. His will was dated 4 March 1920 and recorded in Jedburgh on 16 May 1921. The value of his estate was £253,246.4s.2d.
Fig. 2 Label from the reverse of the painting.
This label indicates that the painting was owned and exhibited in 1908 by Thomas James Scougal Roberts who was now living at Drygrange, Melrose.
Fig. 3 Record card for the painting (GMRC)
This record card states that the subject of the painting is the mother of the ‘American cousin’. This is Alexander Thomas Roberts who was born in Selkirk but emigrated to America in the early 1900s. The card gives the donor as John Roberts.
Sir John ‘Jack’ Roberts – Mill owner and Provost of Selkirk. (Possible Donor of the painting) John Roberts (1845 – 1934), a brother of Thomas Scougal Roberts emigrated to New Zealand from Selkirk and married Louisa Jane Kettle (1848 – 1922) on 26 January 1870. Their son, John Roberts junior was born in 1876. He was educated at Otago Boys High School from 1888 to 1892 and then emigrated to Scotland where he attended Merchiston Castle School from 1892 to 1894. After leaving school, in 1895 he joined the family firm of George Roberts and Co Ltd.13 At the 1901 census he was lodging at 4 Marion Crescent, Selkirk, and was a ‘manufacturer of wool.14 Later the same year, on 18 September, he married Agnes Amelia Muir, daughter of Dr. John Stewart Muir the local GP in Selkirk.15 This was the same year that his grandmother Agnes Scott Roberts (nee Fowler) died. She had occupied the house and lands around Wellwood in Selkirk which had belonged to her husband, George, and then to her son, John Roberts senior, who, in 1902 was listed as the proprietor of Wellwood and Haugh, Railway Station Lands and in 1903 of a house with garden and stable at Wellwood, Ettrick Terrace, Selkirk.16 These properties were passed on to John junior by at least 1914. In the census of 1911, John and Agnes were boarding at the Gordon Arms in Selkirk with their children, Andrina Barbara Henderson Roberts, 8, John Stewart Roberts, 6, Louisa Jane Roberts, 4, Stewart Muir Roberts, 3, and George Edward Roberts, six weeks.17 In 1914 he gave ‘an interesting lecture’ in the Masonic Hall in Motherwell in which he described a trip to New Zealand.18 In the same year he subscribed to a fund for the relief of the Belgian People.19 John Roberts was Provost of Selkirk three times, the first of these in 1908 and then in 1915-1920 but he resigned from the latter term for health reasons and stated in a letter to the local newspaper that he would remain in office until the new Council was elected. 20 He was again Provost in 1935 until 1941 when he resigned both as Provost and Councillor. 21 He does not appear on the 1921 census, but he was the proprietor/occupier of Wellwood House at 52 Ettrick Terrace, Selkirk.22
Fig. 4 Wellwood House. Selkirk 23
John Roberts was a prominent member of the Roxburgh and Selkirk, Unionist Association, 24 later becoming vice-chairman.25 He was made a Freeman of the Royal Burgh of Selkirk in 1952. The following year, he received a knighthood in the Coronation Honours ‘For political and public services in Selkirkshire.’ 26 Sir John Roberts died at the age of ninety at Craigallan, Heatherlie Park, Selkirk on 23 January 1966 having outlived his wife by eighteen years. His son Stewart reported his death. 27
Alexander Thomas Roberts (Inherited the Painting and donated it remotely) Alexander Thomas Roberts was born on 8 May 1885 in Byethorn House, Selkirk to Thomas James Scougal Roberts and his wife Hyndmer Rutherford Crawford who had married on 31 March 1875 at Mountainview, Duns(e). Perhaps his parents had second thoughts about his name as it was Thomas Alexander Roberts on his birth certificate, later changed on 23 July. 28 At the age of fifteen, he was a pupil at Fettes College, Comely Bank, Edinburgh.29 In the early 1900s Alexander emigrated to America. He is recorded as arriving at Ellis Island, New York in 1913 aboard the S.S. Campania. His place of residence was Melrose, Scotland.30 This was probably a return trip from Scotland as on 15 June 1913 he married Evelyn Laura Henderson, 22, in Detroit. On the marriage license he was described as a ‘manufacturer’.31 It is possible that his father attended the wedding as he had been travelling in Canada the year before.32 In 1916, Alexander and Evelyn visited Scotland and stayed at Drygrange, Melrose with Alexander’s widowed father. They returned from Liverpool to New York aboard S.S. St. Louis on 25 November. He did not list an occupation. 33 On 12 September 1918 Alexander provided the following details for a draft registration card. He was a British citizen, living with his wife at 10 Longfellow Avenue, Detroit and was an officer in the British War Office on sick leave. He was of medium build and height with blue-grey eyes and black hair.34 (According to his obituary, he had attained the rank of Captain in pre-war service in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers).35 Alexander and Evelyn again travelled to Scotland to stay at Drygrange, Melrose with Alexander’s father. They returned to Detroit by way of Liverpool and the S.S. Orduna on 19 December 1919.36 Thomas Scougal Roberts died on 3 February 1921. Alexander and Evelyn may have spent most of that year in Scotland. Alexander was in Edinburgh on 9 May for the reading of his father’s will. As an only child he would have inherited the bulk of his father’s £253,246.4s.2d estate. This enabled him to purchase the Park-Ward company of London which manufactured automobile bodies for Rolls-Royce and Bentley. He retained ownership of the company until 1939 when he sold it to Rolls-Royce.37 Alexander and Evelyn arrived back in America on 2 December 1921 having sailed from Liverpool aboard the S.S. Baltic. Both had ‘nil’ under ‘occupation’ and both listed an aunt, Mrs. A. F. Roberts of Fairnielee, Galashiels, as their nearest relative in Scotland.38 In April 1922, Alexander and Evelyn again travelled to Scotland for an extended stay in Melrose.39 They returned to New York from Southampton travelling first class aboard S.S. Mauretania on 19 October 1923.40 Sometime afterwards, Alexander and Evelyn were divorced. Evelyn married William Frue, ten years her junior on 22 June 1931 in Fulton, Ohio.41 It seems that Alexander also remarried about this time as on 2 February 1935 he sailed from Southampton aboard S.S. Bremen presumably bound for New York. His place of birth was given as ‘Selkirk’ and his last permanent residence ‘London’. He was accompanied by Mary Elizabeth Roberts who was 37 and born in Toronto. Both were listed as ‘married’. 42 They must have returned to Britain later that year as on 26 February 1936 they again left Southampton aboard S.S. Bremen and while Alexander lists his occupation as ‘none’, Mary is a housewife. 43 On 25 April 1940, Alexander flew from Havana in Cuba where he had been staying at the Hotel Plaza to Miami. He was now fifty-five and retired. His home address was 11 Keofferam Road, Old Greenwich, Connecticut. 44 In 1941 he was required to complete a Draft Registration card. His address was now 5 Grant Avenue, Old Greenwich, Connecticut. His ‘named person’ was David Rosen of 105 Bedford Street, Stamford, Connecticut, possibly suggesting that he was now widowed or divorced. 45 In any event, on 14 February 1946, Alexander now aged sixty obtained a licence to marry Emily Wright Johnston who was thirty-nine from Buffalo, New York. According to the licence, obtained In Marlboro County, South Carolina, Alexander was an American citizen.46 After their marriage, and possibly as late as 1952, the couple moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina.47 Alexander had been a frequent visitor to Pinehurst since travelling there to play golf in 1917. 48 This is about the time he gave instructions for the painting of his mother to be given to Glasgow. Alexander Thomas Roberts died of a cerebral thrombosis on 14 May 1972 aged 87, at the Moore Memorial Hospital, Pinehurst, North Carolina. His wife Emilie Wright Roberts reported his death and gave his occupation as ‘owner, auto body manufacturer’. 49 He was buried at the Mount Hope Cemetery, Southern Pines, North Carolina. Still apparently a Scottish citizen. 50 He was survived by his wife and a stepdaughter. 51
Mary Ellis (Possible Donor)
Fig. 5 Mary Ellis about 1936 (Archiveradio1930@archiveradio1930-dw5kg, YouTube)
May Belle Elsas was born on 15 June 1897 in Manhattan, New York to Herman and Caroline (nee Reinhardt) Elsas. Her father had emigrated from Germany; her mother was born in Texas to a German father. In 1900 the family was living at 88th Street, New York. Herman was a paper manufacturer. 52 As a child, May made several trips to Europe with her family. For example, on 28 September 1909 aged 12 she, along with her parents and twenty-one-year-old sister Lucile who was born in Texas, arrived back in New York from Southampton aboard the S. S. KronprinzWilhelm. Her father was forty-five and her mother forty-one. All were U.S. citizens. 53 Herman Elsas was a manufacturer in the paper industry. 54 Caroline Elsas was a talented pianist. May began studying music and taking singing lessons in her teens. She made her professional debut, with her name now Mary Ellis, in December 1918 at the Metropolitan Opera in the world premiere of Puccini’s triptych Il trittico , creating the role of Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica and understudying Florence Easton in the role of Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi . She was only the second singer to perform the aria ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’ when Florence Easton became ill. Her performance was very well received and was followed by roles as Gianetta in L’elisire d’amore with Enrico Caruso and in Charpentier’s Louise with Geraldine Farrar. 55 During the war years, Mary met a young airman, Louis G. Bernheimer, who had been ‘sent home from France with medals and a nervous breakdown’. 56 After the first season of the opera, he persuaded Mary to marry him and on 6 February 1920, escorted by her parents, Mary married Louis in City Hall, Lower Manhattan. The subsequent honeymoon in Paris proved to be ‘traumatic’ as Mary recounts in her autobiography. ‘Louis told me he longed to see his mistress of the war days, Marie Delorme. Finally, I had the sense to tell him to go and visit her. He said that if he did not come back to the hotel by six that evening, he would be staying with her and that we would take it from there’. After a day spent on a bench on the Champs Elysees, Mary returned to the hotel to find Louis there. However, he was inconsolable as Marie had died months before. ‘Added to this he was suffering unromantically from piles, to which I had to apply some healing ointment every few hours. The Paris honeymoon was over’. The couple divorced within the year. Mary’s next venture was in to classical theatre, possibly while waiting for her voice to mature. She signed up with David Balasco to appear as Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice. This opened in the Lyceum Theatre, New York on 26 February 1923. Perhaps because of the staging and although it ran for several months, it was not a success. However, Mary later said ‘it gave me an experience the like of which I have never had again’. Later that year, on 30 April 1923, despite misgivings and advice from friends, Mary married Edwin Harris Knopf in Manhattan, New York. 57 Again, the marriage was short-lived. The following year on 2 September at the Imperial Theatre in New York, Mary appeared in the title role in the operetta Rose-Marie ‘and the ‘Indian Love Call’ became theatre history. All I remember of that first night is sitting cross-legged on the table in Act One and reaching a pianissimo high B-flat which brought the house down’. After a successful year, Mary felt she had had enough and persuaded the producer Arthur Hammerstein to let her leave. However, he made her sign an injunction which prevented her from singing for any management but his. This meant she never sang professionally in the United States again. In a return to the stage, Mary played Leah in The Dyubbuk in 1925 and in 1927 she played Kate in The Taming of the Shrew opposite the British actor Basil Sydney. The play ran for thirty-two weeks, the longest ever consecutive run of a Shakespeare play! In 1929, in New Milford, Connecticut, Mary and Basil were married and subsequently settled in Britain. Her first London appearance was in Knave and Quean opposite Robert Donat at the Ambassadors Theatre in 1930, and she played Nina in the British premiere of Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude a year later. Her marriage to Basil Sydney ended in 1934 when Basil left her to live in New York with a young actress who had appeared in his play Dinner at Eight. Mary was offered a two-year contract with Paramount to do three films in Hollywood including All the King’s Horses ‘a pretty mediocre effort’ and Paris Love Song. In 1935, she travelled back to London to star as Militza Hajos in Ivor Novello’s musical Glamorous Night at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. When it closed, she completed her contract in Hollywood with a third film Fatal Lady. While there, she obtained a divorce from Basil in Nevada. Back in London, Glamorous Night was made into a film in 1937 at Elstree Studios with Mary in the leading role.
Clip of Mary Ellis performing in Glamorous Nights 58
In January 1938, Mary met Jack ‘Jock’ Roberts the oldest son of Provost and Mrs Roberts of Selkirk (above) while she was appearing in The Innocent Party at the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. 59 It was just after Mary had learned that her father had died. Jock told her that he had been so excited to see her that he had crashed his car on leaving the theatre. As a result, he had stayed overnight and was still in his evening clothes and a bit dishevelled. He asked for her to forgive him which of course she did but also told him she was in deep distress. ‘An hour later my room at the hotel was filled with flowers from him’. After six months of ‘the most hectic and instructive courtship’ during which Mary met Jock’s family ‘(his mother had her doubts about me, but his father liked me)’ the couple announced their engagement on 28 June that year although they had been engaged for some weeks. 60
Fig. 6 Dundee Courier 28 June 1938 p2
Mary Ellis married Jock Muir Stewart Roberts on 1 July 1938 at Westminster City Register Office (Caxton Hall). Miss Ellis’s mother and two friends were the only people present. 61 They spent their honeymoon in Norway. Mary co-starred again with Novello in The Dancing Years which opened in March 1939 in Drury Lane. After that she gave up the stage temporarily during the war years to engage in ‘Welfare and occupational therapy work in Emergency Hospitals’. Her first posting was to an RAF Coastal Command unit on the Isle of Islay in the Inner Hebrides. This was followed, months later, by a posting to an emergency hospital near Peebles. After a spell in Iceland, Jock was posted back to London and Mary Joined him. On 9 November 1943 she returned to the stage at the Phoenix Theatre in Ivor Novello’s Arc deTriomphe. When this closed in 1944, she returned to Scotland to stay with Jock and his family until he was called away on war duty. ‘I loved his family, and I could talk for hours to his father about Edwardian life and listen to his Scottish stories.’ Post war, Mary’s created the roles of Millie Crocker-Harris in The Browning Version and Edna Selby in Harlequinade in Terence Rattigan’s Playbill in September 1948. The following year she was asked to appear at the Edinburgh Festival in a Peter Ustinov play The Man in the Raincoat. This gave her the opportunity to meet Jock’s family again and they all came to the theatre. However, relations with Jock were strained. She also appeared in several television plays; all broadcast live. On 6 March 1950 while preparing for a trip to Switzerland, Jock Roberts was killed in a climbing accident in Thornbush Quarry on Selkirk Hill. In 1952, Mary appeared as Volumnia in Shakespear’s Coriolanus at Stratford-Upon Avon and in Mourning Becomes Electra, directed by Peter Hall in 1955. Her final musical role was in 1954 as Mrs Erlynne in After the Ball, Noel Coward’s musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windemere’s Fan. Her final West End performance was in Look Homeward, Angel in 1962 at the Vaudeville Theatre and her last theatre appearance was in Mrs Warren’s Profession at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford in 1970. In the same year as she published her autobiography, Mary was interviewed on the Christmas Day edition of Desert Island Discs. She made two appearances on television in The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, 1993 and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 1994. Mary Ellis died on 30 January 2003 at her home in Eaton Square at the age of 105 ‘as a snowstorm flurried around SW1: a friend told me that Miss Ellis had given a drinks party in her bedroom only the previous day’. 62 At the time of her death, she was believed to have been the last surviving performer to have created a role in a Puccini opera.
Hyndmer Rutherford Crawford (The Sitter) Hyndmer Rutherford Crawford was born on 27 February 1857 in Newtown Street, Dunse, Berwickshire. Her father, Alexander Crawford, was a writer. Her mother was Agnes Hewat. 63 In 1871 she was living at Mountview Villa, Dunse aged fourteen with her brothers William, 33, Richard, 21 and David, 16 and sister Agnes, 28, and three servants. 64 After her marriage to Thomas Roberts the couple moved to Byethorn House in Selkirk where Hyndmer gave birth to two sons, George Crawford Roberts on 20 August 1876, 65 (Tragically, George died of Bright’s disease on 30 March 1885 aged eight 66), and Alexander Thomas Roberts on 8 May 1885. Hyndmer Rutherford Roberts died on 6 September 1911 aged 54 at Drygrange, Melrose. 67 She was buried in Wairds cemetery. The inscription on her headstone reads: In memory of Hyndmer Rutherford Crawford, Wife of TJS Roberts of Drygrange, Born 27th February 1857 Died 6th September 1911. Also, of his son George Crawford Born 30th August 1876. Died 30th March 1885. 68
Supplement to the London Gazette, 1 June 1953, page 2941 and Jedburgh Gazette, 5 June 1953
Scotland’s People, Death Certificate
Scotland’s People, Birth Certificate and Register of Corrected Entries
ancestry.co.uk, Scottish Census, 1901
New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924, FamilySearch
Return of Marriages in Michigan, FamilySearch,
Canada, Passenger Lists, 1881-1922, FamilySearch
New York Passenger Arrival Lists 1892-1924, FamilySearch
United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918″, databasewith images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7T6S XCMM:8July 2024), Alexander Thomas Roberts, 1917-1918.
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), 15 May 1972, p20 (On findagrave.com)
New York Passenger Arrival Lists 1892-1924, FamilySearch
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), 15 May 1972, p20 (On findagrave.com)
New York Passenger Arrival Lists 1892-1924, FamilySearch
Ibid
ibid
Ohio County Marriages, 1789 – 2016, FamilySearch
United Kingdom Outgoing Passenger Lists, 1890 – 1960, FamilySearch
Ibid
Index to Aliens Arriving by Airplane at Miami, Florida, 1930 – 1942, FamilySearch
United States World War II Draft Registration Card, 1941, FamilySearch
South Carolina, County Marriage Licenses, 1911 – 1953, FamilySearch
Greenwich Directory, 1952 states that ‘Roberts, Alex. T. and Emilie W. removed to Pinehurst, N.C’. FamilySearch
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), 15 May 1972, p20 (On findagrave.com)
Death Certificate, North Carolina State Board of Health, Family Search
Find a Grave Index, Database, FamilySearch
Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), 15 May 1972, p20 (On findagrave.com)
Family Search, United States Census, 1900, Manhattan, New York
Family Search, List of Alien Pasengers for United States
Family Search, United States Census, 1910, Manhattan, New York
‘The Lord Provost intimated that Robert Hannah, Esq., of 82 Addison Road, Kensington, London, had, through his friend, David Ritchie, Esq., of Messrs. Buchanan, Wilson and Co., Limited, Glasgow, intimated his desire to present to the Corporation, to be placed in the New Art Galleries, Kelvingrove Park, the free gift of a picture entitled “The Countess of Nithsdale Petitioning George I on Behalf of her Husband who was under sentence of death for rebellion” painted by the donor, and which had been exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1854. The Lord Provost moved that, in accepting this picture, the Corporation express their high appreciation of the valuable gift and accord the donor a cordial vote of thanks therefor. The motion was unanimously agreed to.’ 1
This painting depicts; ‘The interior of a room in Windsor Castle (in 1716). In the centre is George I making for the door and dragging (Winifred) Lady Nithsdale, who grasps his coat, along the floor. Two courtiers endeavour to release the King from her hold. On the right, kneeling, is Mrs Morgan a friend of Lady Nithsdale, and to the left, seated, are Lady Nairn and the Duchess of Montrose. Various groups of lords and ladies-in-waiting etc. are about the room.” 2
(The King turned down her petition but Lady Nithsdale (1680 – 1749) was successful in rescuing her husband from the Tower of London by dressing him as a woman. The couple then escaped to France).
According to the Parish Register, Robert Hannah was christened on 2 July 1812 at Kirkmabreck near Creetown, Kirkcudbright. (Most references state that he was born on 3July in Creetown). He was the fifth of eight children born to John Hannah, a builder and artisan, and Janet Brait. 3 (The family name was originally Hannay but Robert`s father preferred the palindromic symmetry of Hannah). Janet Brait`s father had been a farmer in Chapleton but died relatively young. It was said that his three daughters were ‘remarkable for their personal attractions.’ 4
Very little is known about Robert`s early life but it may be that, like his eldest brother John, he spent his youth with his mother`s relatives in Chapleton. 5 It was said that John left home at an early age ‘to avoid the possibility of becoming burdensome to his parents.’ Perhaps a similar sentiment influenced Robert`s decision to leave home early. He studied first in Liverpool and then at the Royal Society of Arts Schools in London. He also spent some time in Rome and by 1842 was exhibiting his paintings at the Royal Academy (RA) in London. His address at this time was Shubbery House, Brompton Road, London.6 In all he exhibited 22 works at the RA between 1842 and 1870.7 Two of his paintings – The Novel and The Play – which were exhibited at the RA in 1852 – were bought by Charles Dickens.
Two small oil paintings (10 inches x 7.2 inches) of Dickens giving a public reading are in the Charles Dickens Museum in London. These were made from memory by Hannah the morning after he had been present at one of Dickens` readings. The paintings were given to Georgina Hogarth, Dickens` sister-in-law, by Hannah in January 1904. They were gifted to the museum in 1941 by Comte Alain de Suzannet.8 One of these paintings was exhibited at the 34th Annual ‘Dickens on the Strand’ festival in Galveston, Texas in December 2007 9.
In 1845 Robert Hannah married Emma Cordy Baxter in Kensington, London. 10 She was born in St. Pancras on 26 June 1820.11 In 1851, the two were living at 2 Alfred Place West, Kensington. His occupation was ‘artist and painter’ and he employed two servants. 12
In 1851, Robert`s eldest brother John (b. 1802) was living in Burton-on-Trent with his sister Agnes. He was a widower with three young daughters and a son. John was a ‘cheese factor’. 13 He was also a part-time poet; a volume of his poetry was published posthumously. 14 John Hannah died in 1854 and Robert and Emma, who had no children of their own, took over the task of raising John`s three girls; Janet Sarah, born 1837, Gertrude, born 1841 and Bessie (Elizabeth?), born 20 August 1842. They afterwards became the subject of many of Robert’s paintings.15
Fig. 4 Portrait of Bessie Hannah painted by her uncle and given to her as a wedding gift.
In the 1861 census Robert Hannah (listed as Hannay) was a ‘bond fund holder and proprietor of houses.’ Bessie aged 17 was still living with Robert and Emma while Gertrude had found employment as a governess at Eton. In 1863, the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts held an Exhibition of Works by Living Artists. Robert Hannah whose address was 2 Alfred Place West, Old Brompton, London, exhibited two works: Sisters of Charity (no price given) and A Birthday Present priced at £105.00.16 Both pictures had been exhibited at the RA in London the previous year.
By 1871 Robert and Emma had moved to 153 Upper Church Street, Chelsea. From the census, Robert was living on ‘income from houses and dividends’. Emma and his niece Janet were with him. It seems that he was now part of the thriving artistic community in Chelsea and was a friend of William Holman Hunt.
In 1870 Birnie Philip moved his workshop to a villa in Manresa Road, and artists were also starting to move into Upper Church Street: Robert Hannah, the Scots historical painter, made large additions to (the house at) number 153. He was still at the same address in 1881.
In the 1890s several artists moved into Upper Church Street. Number 123 on the corner of Elm Park Road was built in 1894 for Felix Moscheles, and by 1901 the Chelsea Arts Club had moved into two old villas at numbers 143-5. Evelyn and William de Morgan moved to numbers 125-7 (8-9 Bolton Place) Upper Church Street, where two terraced houses were adapted for them in 1909-10. Augustus John occupied Robert Hannah’s house at number 153, until he moved to Mallord Street. 17
Fig. 5 Robert and Emma Hannah in their London Home.
By this time (1891) Robert and Emma had moved to 82 Addison Road, Kensington. In the census of that year, Robert is described as ‘living on his own means’ and employing two housemaids, a cook and a footman. He was still at the same address in 1901, aged 88 and an ‘artist and painter’. He had four servants.
Emma Hannah died at home the following year aged 82. Robert Hannah died in Kensington on 5 April 1909 aged 97 after a long illness. 18
It may be that Robert Hannah made more from his property dealings than from his paintings. He does not rate a mention in the Dictionary of National Biography.
Among his listed paintings are: Astronomy in the Castle Douglas Art Gallery, Stewartry Collection 19. Confidence (1844). Refreshing the Weary (1847) which was bequeathed anonymously to York Art Gallery in 1970 20. William Harvey Demonstrating the Circulation of Blood to Charles I (1848). (A wood engraving of this painting was published in the Illustrated London News, in 1851 and was also reproduced in Nuland, Medicine: The Art of Healing, 1992). Master Isaac Newton in his Garden, (1856) Portrait of the Artist, J. C. Hook, A.R.A. (1859). Eton College from the Thames, In the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. (Dixon Bequest) Honeymoon (This painting was sold in London on 5 November 1997, for £4,485) 21.
Robert Hannah was described as a painter of portraits, genre scenes, landscapes and historical subjects with a style similar to that of the Faeds. 22
References
Minutes of the Corporation of Glasgow, 22 February 1906, C1/3/34 page 876, Mitchell Library, Glasgow
McEwan, Peter J. M., Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture, Antique Collectors Club 1994
Parkinson, R., Victoria and Albert Museum,Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 117
Dexter, Walter, The Dickensian, June 1941. (From Michael Slater, Emeritus Professor of Victorian Literature, Birkbeck, University of London – by e-mail).
Glasgow Museums Art Donors Group 