LADY MARY CLIVE

On the subject of the Clive family of Whitfield (different from but related to the Clive family of Perrystone Court, although all seem to have served, at one time or another, in the Grenadier Guards), a mention of Lady Mary Clive (nee Pakenham), who married Captain (later Major) Meysey George Dallas Clive, elder brother of the late Lewis Clive, on 30th December 1939.

Lady Mary Clive on the front cover of "The Bystander" magazine, October 1936.

Lady Mary was the daughter of Brigadier General Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl Longford, who was killed in action at Gallipoli - leading an advance - on 21st August 1915. Reputedly, his last words - clearly to a brother officer - were "Don't bother ducking, the men don't like it and it doesn't do any good...."

Lady Mary was one of six children, and a sister to Frank Pakenham (later and notoriously, Lord Longford, or the eccentric 7th Earl - see HERE), whom we last met (in 1936) fighting Mosley's BUF in Oxford.

Lady Mary was presented as a debutante in 1926, an experience which she later described in her 1938 memoir, "Brought Up and Brought Out". She described the men (the 'debs delights') to whom she was introduced during her debutante year, perhaps focusing on a degree of inbreeding amongst the English aristocracy, as "practically deformed...Some were without chins. Some had no foreheads. Hardly any of them had backs to their heads." An early marriage was not for Lady Mary......

Instead:

Lady Mary travelled around the world, studied art in London, Rome and Munich, and shared, with her younger sister, Violet, an art studio on the top floor of a house in Jubilee Place, just off the King's Road, Chelsea. Violet was accustomed to model for Lady Mary's female nudes, until "news reached them that the mechanics at the motor-works across the road were making ribald remarks about 'the young lady they could see undressing in Lady Mary's studio.'"

Lady Mary - with the commercialisation of the aristocracy that was an interwar novelty - also became a gossip columnist for the "Londoner's Diary" section of the Beaverbrook London "Evening Standard", earning ten guineas a week for two columns, and a novelist (publishing four books under the pen name "Hans Duffy" between 1932 and 1937). Appropriately nicknaming Beaverbrook "the Goblin King", she shared journalistic duties on the "Evening Standard" with Peter Fleming, brother of Ian Fleming, and John Betjeman. 

The marriage to Meysey Clive in December 1939 produced two children in quick succession, George and Alice, and a move from Chelsea to Whitfield. Upon Meysey's death in action in 1943, Lady Mary let Whitfield to the Canadian High Commission (goodness knows why they needed it) and brought the children up in "Rabbit Cottage", the former head gardener's home on the Whitfield estate.

Lady Mary photographed by Cecil Beaton, date unknown.

After the war, and the introduction of the crippling death duties and other taxes which resulted in the destruction of many of the old English country houses, Lady Mary had an inventive solution to save Whitfield. Instead of completely demolishing the house, Lady Mary had the large Victorian wings removed, returning Whitfield to its original Georgian core and remodelling the surrounds:

Whitfield, early 20th century

Whitfield "downsized", early 21st century. The extent of the demolitions is now only
partially hidden by the mature trees, and the old front lawn appears to have
been turned into an ornamental lake. For another view of the original house
from a different angle, see HERE

Post-war, Lady Mary published two historical biographies, one on John Donne (1966) and one on Edward IV (1973), and was close to her sister-in law (the wife of Frank Pakenham), the historian Elizabeth Longford. The two went on research trips together to Spain and Portugal as Elizabeth Longford produced her magnificent two volume biography of Arthur Wellesley, it being recorded that Lady Mary "had an uncanny eye for working out the logistics of historic battlegrounds....as Elizabeth followed in the footsteps of her subject, the Duke of Wellington."

Lady Mary died in Herefordshire in March 2010. She never remarried.

Add:

A young Frank Pakenham in the 1930s, brother of Lady Mary and later the 7th Earl of Longford

(1). Frank Pakenham's encounter with the BUF in 1936 was clearly a savage affair. HERE IS AN ARTICLE based on the memoirs of Lady Antonia Fraser, his daughter and future historian.

(2). Through Peter Fleming, Lady Mary became friends with his younger brother, Ian. For lovers of James Bond, HERE IS AN ARTICLE written by Lady Mary herself on the real personality of the author.

(3). Lady Violet Pakenham married the novelist Anthony Powell, author of the 12 volume "Dance to the Music of Time", in 1934. See her WIKI HERE. 

(4). Lady Mary painted by Henry Lamb in 1929:

(Southampton Art Gallery)

At the date of this portrait, Lamb had just married Lady Mary's sister, Pansy. There is a lengthy and interesting article on all three sisters and their respective lives HERE

RADICAL HERO (2) - LEWIS CLIVE

We last encountered Captain Percy Clive, Unionist MP for the Ross Division of Herefordshire (Hereford South), back in THIS POST about the January 1910 election in the County. 

Percy Clive c. 1900.

Captain Percy Archer Clive (b. 13th March 1873) was the eldest son of Charles Meysey Bolton Clive of Whitfield, Herefordshire, and was educated at Eton and the RMA, Sandhurst. He received a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards in 1891, aged just 18. He was first elected to Parliament, for the Ross Division, in  the "Khaki Election" of 1900 (returned unopposed!). At that time, he was away in South Africa fighting in the Second Boer War. After a somewhat low key political career, punctuated by losing his seat in the Liberal landslide of 1906 and thereafter regaining it in a by-election, Captain Clive MP "rejoined the colours" on the outbreak of WW1 in August 1914. By 1918, Clive had been twice wounded, twice mentioned in despatches, received the Legion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre, and was in command, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, of the 1/5th Lancashire Fusiliers. Clive was killed at the Front on 5th April 1918, defending against the German Spring Offensive in the area of Bucquoy.

Whitfield, near Wormbridge, Herefordshire. Clive's ancestral home. A 1907 postcard.

Lt-Col Percy Clive sat in Parliament initially as Liberal Unionist, and thereafter a Conservative, and cannot therefore be considered a "Radical Hero". That distinction - if distinction is the right word, dependent upon your political point of view - belongs to his second son, Lewis (b.1910)

Lewis Clive aged 21, Oxford University, 1931.

Lewis Clive was educated at Eton (Captain of Oppidans, and of Boats) and Christchurch, Oxford. His principal activity at Oxford seems to have been rowing, for he rowed in the University Boat Race in both 1930 and 1931, losing to the Cambridge boat on both occasions, but also represented Britain in the coxless pairs at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, where he won a gold medal.

After graduation from Oxford, in August 1932, Lewis Clive - just like his father - received a commission in the Grenadier Guards. At some point thereafter, however, his politics took a radical turn to the left. In 1934, for example, he was a founding member of the National Council for Civil Liberties (now known simply as "Liberty"); by 1937, he had been elected as a Labour Councillor on Kensington Borough Council. In that year, possibly by reason of his Council election, he resigned his army commission. He was by now actively engaged with the Fabians, as this interesting letter from May 1937 demonstrates:

Tom Wintringham will have to wait for another blogpost, but at this point had commanded the British Battalion of the International Brigades and been wounded at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937. We don't know if he ever replied to Lewis Clive's letter, but at some point afterwards, Clive decided not to wait, but to volunteer for the International Brigades himself. He arrived in Spain in late February 1938.

Soviet Files on Lewis, incorporating International Brigades records

"...an honest and earnest anti-fascist fighter. Should develop into a good
military leader......"

By July 1938, Clive had been promoted to command a company of the British Battalion, and had taken part in the fighting around the River Ebro. He was by now almost unrecognisable from his days as an Oxford undergraduate:

Lewis Clive in Spain, 1938.

Around 1st August 1938, Clive was killed by a sniper's bullet. A fellow IB fighter, George Wheeler, recalled:

"Lewis Clive re-appeared and asked about the activity in the fascist lines. It was a hot, sunny day and, as usual, my shirtsleeves were rolled up. At that moment I felt splashes on my left forearm, and glancing down, was astonished to see that they were splashes of blood. Turning, I saw Lewis reel and fall. Someone below said "What a ghastly sight". I slid down from my firing position and saw that the top of his head was severed completely...This big, cheerful, and sincere man had performed his duties as Company Commander with distinction. Well-liked and respected in the battalion, this was a great loss to us all...."

Notes:

(1). Accounts of Lewis Clive's rowing career, and death in the Spanish Civil War, are set out in a very helpful blogpost, "Lewis Clive - the Red Blue" HERE. His Wiki entry is HERE.

(2). Lewis Clive's elder brother, Major Meysey George Dallas Clive (b.1907), was killed in action with the Grenadier Guards in North Africa on 1st May 1943. See more HERE.

(3). Lt-Col Percy Archer Clive is commemorated in an ornate plaque within Hereford Cathedral. It notes that he was "killed in the act of rescuing a wounded comrade".

(4). Before he left for Spain, Lewis Clive had proposed to Mary Farmer, subsequently better known as Mary Wesley, author of "The Camomile Lawn". In that novel, the character Oliver Anstey is apparently based on Clive. There is also a splendid biography of Wesley by Patrick Marnham, in which Lewis Clive features:

CLIVE OF PERRYSTONE COURT

Now who is this fine military chap ? 

Lt-Gen Sir (George) Sidney Clive, GCVO, KCB CMG, DSO, DL, JP
of Perrystone Court, Herefordshire.

We'd better let his "Who's Who" entry summarise a distinguished career:

Lt-Gen Sir (George) Sidney CLIVE, GCVO., cr. 1937; KCB cr. 1933 (C.B. 1918); CMG 1919; DSO 1915; late Grenadier Guards; Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps, 1935 - 45; b. 16th July 1874; s. of late General Edward Henry Clive and Isabel, d. of  Daniel Hale Webb; m. 1901, Madeline, 2nd d. of late F.W. Huxton M.P.; two s, two d. Educ: Harrow; Sandhurst. Entered Army 1893; Captain, 1900; Major 1909; Maj-Gen 1924, Lt-Gen 1932; passed Staff College 1903 - 1904; General Staff War Office and London District 1905 - 1914; served Nile Expedition, 1898 (two medals, clasp); South Africa 1899 - 1902 (Queens Medal, 5 clasps); European War, 1914 - 1918 (DSO, Bt.-Col, C.B., CMG); Military Governor at Cologne, 1919; Commanding 1st Infantry Brigade, Aldershot 1920; British Military Representative, League of Nations, Geneva, 1920 - 1922; Military Attache to Paris, 1924 - 1927; Director of Personnel Services, War Office 1928 - 1930; Military Secretary to Secretary of State for War, 1930 - 1934; retired pay 1934; a Director of the Royal Academy of Music; President Union Jack Club and Hostel, 1944; Hon F.R.A.M. 1939; Order of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class (Russia); Grand Croix Legion of Honour; Order of the Crown Commander; Croix de Guerre, French and Belgian, J.P., D.L., Herefordshire, High Sheriff County of Herefordshire, 1939. Address: Perrystone Court, Ross, Herefordshire. Clubs: Guards' Brooks's.

Two generations of Grenadier Guardsmen - Sir Sidney with his son, Archer Clive

It appears that Sir Sidney spent much of the Great War as a liaison with French GHQ, which no doubt explains his subsequent quasi political appointments as the British Military Representative to the League of Nations and then Military Attache to Paris (as well as his Legion d'Honneur and Croix de Guerre). But it is his final appointment, as Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps, that brings him into our period of the late 1930s:

Introducing the new German Ambassador to the Court of St. James, 1936.
Behind the sinister figure of von Ribbentrop, a pillar of the British Establishment,
in monocle and ostrich plumed bicorne - Sir Sidney Clive (of Perrystone Court,
 Herefordshire) performing his duties as Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps.

Escape to the country - interior of Sir Clive's Perrystone Court.
Early 20th Century watercolour.

After one final public appointment within the County (as High Sheriff in 1939), Sir Sidney finally retired. It was a long retirement, cut short by tragedy - an appalling house fire on 7th October 1959 that destroyed Perrystone Court and cost "the old Grenadier" his life. From a retrospective piece in the "Hereford Times":

"Sir Sidney had, over the years, looked across from his country house towards the distant Church of St Mary at Ross. On an October day 46 years ago it was the setting for his memorial service. For three centuries the Grenadiers' March had been beaten to mark the return home after a campaign. At St Mary's that day two drummers of the Grenadier Guards, standing in full dress uniform in the north porch, beat out that march to the accompaniment of the organ. Music at the service included an anthem of Sir Sidney's composition, "Whither Thou Goest". All was carried out with pomp and ceremony and military precision - a far cry from the chaotic and grim scenes that had unfolded at Perrystone Court a few days earlier.

Jean Rundell, a nurse living in a flat at Perrystone, was awakened at 5.30 am by her mother who had heard a crackling sound. Looking through a window she could see a rosy glow of fire reflected on trees. Flames and sparks were coming from the morning room window. Perrystone housekeeper Gertrude Enseleit awoke other members of staff in the servants' wing and then ran to the neighbouring Bothy Cottage of air traffic controller Ronald Wilson, shouting `Fire!' and `the General is still in there!' He and his wife tried to enter the mansion but were driven back by dense smoke. But he was not to be defeated and later recalled: "The gardener got a ladder and I went up to the General's room. Down below the morning room was like a torch and the hall was beginning to blaze. I had to make two or three attempts to get across the room before I located General Clive. He was lying on the bed. I dragged him to the window and the people below had got a bigger ladder. Chauffeur Michael Cullum came up with a rope and between us we got it round the General's waist and got him out and down to the ground."

Jean Rundell carried out artificial respiration until the ambulance arrived. En route to hospital the grand old military man died. It was thought that the General's faithful old sheepdog Tony had perished but he was later found asleep on a rug in the housekeeper's room.

Many valuable paintings, including Gainsboroughs, and silver were taken to safety from the house by members of staff. Damage to Perrystone Court - bought by the Clive family in 1865 - was severe. A number of rooms were completely gutted and the roof of the main part of the house had collapsed as had a massive chimney stack which crashed into the middle of the building.

At the inquest later that month South Herefordshire coroner Cyril Shawcross heaped praise on Ronald Wilson for his courage in entering the blazing mansion. He also complimented chauffeur Cullum for his quick-thinking...."

St. Mary's Church, Ross-on-Wye.

Note : Sir Sidney's son, Archer Clive, continued the family tradition. Educated at Harrow and then Sandhurst, he fought with the Grenadier Guards during WW2, being awarded an MC in 1940 and then commanding the 6th Batt., Grenadiers, between 1941 and 1943. Retiring from the Army in 1947 with the rank of Brigadier, he became a Justice of the Peace in Herefordshire and served as Deputy Lieutenant of the County in 1960. He died in March 1995. See his WIKI entry here.

HEREFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD WW2 (2) - A REDOUBTABLE LADY

Following the previous post on the Home Guard in Herefordshire during WW2, a little more:

“One of the more unusual units of home defence in Herefordshire was known as the ‘Much Marcle Watchers’. Formed before Eden’s speech, the unit came about when Lady Helena Gleichen, a distinguished artist and relative of King George VI, walked into the Headquarters of the Shropshire Light Infantry at Ross-on-Wye and asked for 80 rifles together with ammunition. She added that she could do with some machine guns as well in order to form a defence force. Stunned by this outrageous request, the officers stuttered that no guns were available and even if this were not the case they would not let her have any. Undefeated, Lady Helena went ahead and gathered together a force of men armed with an armoury of shotguns including Austrian rifles and bayonets taken from her own collection of guns. That same night the ‘Much Marcle Watchers’ were on duty ready to defend their beloved Herefordshire, the forerunners of the yet to be formed Home Guard.” (note 1)

Lady Helena Gleichen in her WW1 Uniform.

Lady Helena, an aristocratic and clearly redoubtable lady (note 2) lived at Hellens Manor, an ancient house and estate situated close to Much Marcle, seven miles north east of Ross on Wye and some two miles south west of Ledbury (note 3). In VBCW terms, this clearly places the estate at the very limit of Anglican influence (centred, in the south, upon Ross on Wye in the charge of Captain "Teddy" Jermingham) yet, at the same time, vulnerable to the increasing BUF build up in Ledbury itself. Quite what position Lady Helena took upon Edward VIII's intended marriage to Wallis Simpson is unknown, but it is unlikely that such a strong County personality would have passively stood aside, even from civil conflict, should it have swept uninvited towards her estate....

Notes:

(1)  Source - Herefordshire & Worcestershire Airfields in the Second World War by Robin J. Brooks pub. Countryside Books, Newbury (2006) pps. 226

(2). See Lady Helena's WIKI entry HERE

(3). Hellens still stands, and is open to visitors on escorted tours. See HERE for the history of the house (going back to at least the 12th century) and HERE for the Manor's modern web page.

(4). Lady Helena's memoirs, "Contacts and Contrasts", going up only to the end of WW1 but containing such charming chapter titles as "Yachting with Princess Eugenie", "About Horses" and "Dogs" can be found on the Internet Archive HERE

HEREFORDSHIRE'S OWN CHIEF SCOUT

Everyone will know that Robert Baden-Powell founded and lead the Scouting Movement. Perhaps few, however, will remember that Arthur Herbert Tennyson Somers-Cocks, 6th Baron Somers, of Eastnor Castle in the County of Herefordshire, served as the Deputy Chief Scout from 1935 - and then the Chief Scout, upon Baden Powell's death, from March 1941 until his own death in 1944. Although not appointed Chief Scout until Baden Powell's death, Lord Somers must effectively have served in that position from Baden-Powell's retirement from public life at the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937.

Lord Somers in scouting uniform

In short, therefore (and as with so much else), Herefordshire must have been the epicentre of the Scouting Movement during the Very British Civil War of 1938....

Lord Somers in civvies, May 1936, Bassano

Lord Somers had a distinguished war record during the First World War, from serving with the Life Guards in 1914 to commanding the 6th Battalion of the Tank Corps in 1918. He was twice wounded, mentioned in despatches, and awarded both the MC and the DSO. Post war, he served as Governor of Victoria from 1926 - 1931.

Lord Somers, with inevitable dogs, Eastnor Castle May 1936

Goodness knows what Lord Somers would have done upon the outbreak of the Very British Civil War - and, in keeping with campaign tradition, it would be wrong to speculate. Perhaps it can be ventured, however, that he would have been most anxious to retain the integrity of the Scouting Movement and, on a more personal note, to defend the Eastnor estate against all aggressors. As Somers was a retired military man of considerable personal wealth, the Herefordshire Scouts could expect to be well equipped during the VBCW...

In that context, it must have come as a particular disappointment to Lord Somers that the first engagement of a local scout troop (Mortimers Troop at the Battle of Mortimers Cross) resulted only in the said scouts immediately defecting to Commissar Professor Colonel Winter's Communist Faction (there are some suggestions of outrageous bribery, viz. "free pop and buns"). Lord Somers must hope that other Scout troops are made of sterner stuff, for Eastnor Castle now lies in the path of the BUF advancing towards Ledbury along the A438. An engagement with Storm Leader Reckless' Recce Troop surely cannot be long delayed...

A modern day map of Eastnor Castle and its grounds. The terrain has not changed much from 1938.

Thankfully, the grounds of Eastnor Castle seem eminently defensible, protected to the east by an ornamental lake and generally swathed in woodland. And if Lord Somers has insufficient scouts at his disposal, he can surely call upon some of his old Australian friends and WW1 veterans from the State of Victoria to come to his aid....