Duke of Bedford and Woburn Abbey

As a child my Mother lived in the Old Rectory, Eversholt. Her Uncle, with whom she lived was the Duke of Bedfords main agent. These are some of her random memories:

Burnt Cottage
Just before we went to Eversholt we saw two old cottages with thatch on fire. Someone managed to get an urgent message to Woburn Abbey. They took two hours to catch the horses for the fire engine. The cottages were by then burnt to the ground.

The Duke
My Uncle told me that when the Duke changed for dinner he put on 'Tails'. They were made of crepe-de-chine, navy blue with white spots! His trousers were always creased at the side.

As children my brothers and I were allowed the run of Woburn Park. We asked, if we met the Duke, what were we to call him. After some thought my Uncle said:
"The boys will call him 'Sir' and I should call him 'Your Grace'.

The Old Rectory
The Old Rectory was surrounded on 3 sides by high wire fences with a curve at the top and barbed wire to keep the animals out. Our large gate, of which the Uncle had the key, had a small square wire cover over the key hole I, being very small, could climb through the hole. My brothers were too big - so I was sent to retrieve any balls that went over the fence. There was also a large cedar tree with a branch hanging over the high fence - which was convenient for us.

The Animals in Woburn Park
I watched the various animals: several herds of deer, Rheas and cranes from safety in the garden. There was the only herd of Pere David deer in the country at that time, which I frequently watched. Their bones creaked as they walked. I witnessed the wonderful courting dance of the cranes.

One day my Uncle and I bicycled to the Park Farm - on the way back we and our West Highland were chased by a Rhea with 12 chicks (exact replicas of mother Rhea) following her. The Uncle threw his bicycle at her, she swerved magnificently and all her babies swerved after her.

In my lone wanderings in the Park I found the European Bison enclosure. The large bull sauntered to the fence and I scratched his huge hairy head which he seemed to enjoy. I often visited him, until one day a keeper came along and nearly had a fit! He told me NEVER to go there again. I learnt later that the European Bison is one of the most dangerous and treacherous animals in the world!

Colonel S. H. Kershaw
My future Father-in-law came to live in one of the Duke's houses on Aspley Heath. The fire in the dining room became difficult to light and the smoke belched into the room. The chimney sweep put his long rod up the chimney and it struck some immovable obstruction. He climbed on to the roof and prodded with his rod but the obstruction would not move. He had, eventually to remove several bricks. Unbelievably, a red petrol can, half full of petrol, was found. As it was roughly the size of the top of the chimney it seemed quite impossible to have entered. The only explanation anyone could think of was that it had dropped from an aeroplane. The house was remote with a heavy front gate to the drive. As far as he knew the Colonel had no enemies!


The Flying Duchess
The Duke asked my Uncle to find a Dower House for the Duchess. The Uncle travelled to many houses and I always went with him (aged 12 to 14). We went to see one in Norfolk and spent the night in a Hotel. With obvious glee, my Uncle signed the hotel register, "Room 15 - Colonel E. B. Gordon and Miss Massey" (Nowadays it would be sinister, but it certainly was not!).

The Duchess was never satisfied with the houses she saw. Then we went to see one near Uckfield, called 'Whispers' (Now a school I believe). The Uncle told her about it.
"Buy it" she said.
He was aghast - but:-
"You know by now what I like! Buy it"
So he did.

It was a lovely house, not really big by Ducal standards - with a lot of land and a lake. The Duchess enquired if there was room for a hangar, spacious landing ground for her plane and plenty of room near the house for a Dower House. So she said 'go ahead' In time she went to look at it and approved, to my Uncle's relief!

Alas, she never lived in it. She went down in her aeroplane a year or two after the house was finished. After some time bits of the plane were washed up on the Norfolk coast.

Learning to drive at 15
I learnt to drive a car when I was 15. I mostly drove on the Park roads. I never met another car! I alarmed our chauffeur when he met me on my return from school, at Bletchley Station. I said grandly
I will drive Arthur".
I dursent" he replied.
"I am driving" I said and he had to give in.

The Prince of Wales
The Prince of Wales was going to have lunch at the Abbey before he accompanied the Duchess to the Beds and Herts Agricultural show. The Duchess, rather conspiratorially asked my Aunt and another friend if they would like to watch the Prince land on her landing strip, apologising for not being able to ask them to lunch too. They were delighted and promised to be at a discrete distance!

Meanwhile, as the Uncle was judging the jumping at the show he was on the ground by eight o'clock and I was with him. I bagged four seats next to the Royal Box and then enjoyed the jumping. (Every time a horse jumped my Uncle involuntarily lifted his right foot!).

After lunch I was seated when the 'Royal party' arrived. It was immediately evident that the Prince of Wales was in a bad temper. His face was saying:
"I did not want to come, the whole thing bores me stiff. The Duchess is deaf and she can't hear a word I say."
I was shocked. He had been a real pin-up prince, but from that time I disliked him.

Woburn Abbey
Near to the Park Farm buildings the Duke had built a beautiful house with a moat round it. His son had been born and no taint of germs should be allowed near his Dairy. Miss Gunnel presided over it and was one of the defenceless people I used to visit when the Uncle was at Park Farm. There was the butter churning room and a marble counter where the butter for the Abbey was made into small flat round pats with the day and date stamped on them. Another room had a long marble counter where large beautiful bowls stood, full of rich milk, waiting for the cream to be taken off the top.

The Duchess again
There was great excitement amongst us children at Christmas, as the Duchess always sent the Uncle and Aunt a lovely present. One year it was a wooden box about 2 ½ x 1 ½ feet by 12 inches, covered with Chinese pictures. Another year a beautiful seal in Royal Copenhagen (It looked almost as if the water was dripping off it).

When the Duchess was lost flying it was a very sad time for all of us. The Duke was badly hit by her death. In the course of time he told my Uncle that he would like my Aunt to go tot the Abbey and choose a picture in memory of the Duchess. The Aunt panicked! How was she going to choose a picture when the Abbey was stuffed with Rembrandts, Constables, Tititians, Vandycks and Gainsbroughs?
My Uncle calmed her with his advice. She should to to the Duchess' rooms and look at the many pictures there, some of which were obviously not 'old masters' and choose one fairly anonymous one which SHE liked. This she most successfully did. She picked a picture of moorland, about 3' x 2' 3" with a plain gold frame by Eggington. I inherited it and love it (along with the Chinese box and seal).

Eggington Painting
Years later, at my last home, a man came to mend my television. He knelt back on his heels and said "I see you have an Eggington". I was a bit surprised and asked what he knew about him. Evidently he knew Eggington. Eggington and his father were both artists and very good ones at that.

This is not a ducal story, but relates to the last paragraph! An expert on knitting machines came to sort my very complicated machine. She noticed a picture I have of my Uncle's Great Great Aunt. It is in pastels and probably by Russell 1750. She guessed the age of the portrait and said "I see it has the original glass still". "How do you know that?" I asked. Then she told me how they made glass in the 1700's. A long metal rod and a furnace and a lump of solid glass on the rod. An empty room with a perfect floor. When the glass was hot enough it was thrown with a splendid gesture on to the floor, where it covered a large area. The outside part of the glass was thin and only slightly wavy and was used for pictures. The middle part was thicker and was used for windows and the middle 'knotted' bit was for cottage windows, which were made of diamond shapes of lead holding the 'knots'.

The Ducal Estate
The Duke's estate at Woburn was very extensive. Besides the Abbey and the Park he owned most of the villages for miles around. And very good to his tenants he was. It was like a beneficent Kingdom. He had other estates in Devonshire, Somerset, Scotland and Norfolk and of course, a large part of London. His family were buried at Chenies. I visited all of these with my Uncle. In Scotland the local Agent presided, he had a beautiful daughter. She had a tame fox which followed her around. I was utterly enchanted.

The Devonshire estate was large. It had a big house, which was called 'The Cottage' and twenty two miles of the River Tamar and the most wonderful shooting. My brother and I had many happy times there. The elderly local Agent Mr Rundle had retired and his place was taken by Mr Bliss. Each had two sons the same age as my brothers.
We were all messing about and bathing in a lake below the house, except the eldest Rundle boy TED who was fishing in the river. Ted visited us on his way back, dressed in body waders. The other boys dared him to get in and swim. He jumped in and swam for TWENTY minutes. When, exhausted, he got out, his waders were full of water. It was a great comfort when later on, I fell in a few times to know that one did not necessarily drown if one had waders on!
My Uncle asked someone with a horse and cart to take 3 Rob Roy canoes and a Canadian canoe up to Launceton Bridge. We drove up in the car, when there embarked in the Rob Roys which were very narrow and difficult to balance. I fell straight out of mine and had a wet day! The Uncle was in the Canadian with dry clothes and refreshments. We then 'shot the rapids' back to Endsleigh. I thing about 10 or 12 miles. Very exciting.

The Uncle, in later years, had the shooting and we went down every Autumn and had 3 days at the pheasants. There were hills beyond the river so the birds came high and fast. I trained a Labrador so was fully occupied without a gun!. We had lovely lunches. I remember one very large farmer, who was six foot tall and 6 foot round the waist! He and his wife produced a feast for us. My brothers counted the glasses of cider, He drank 16! There were usually 6 guns.

I fished the Tamar much later on. My husband took our daughter Adria with us, aged 2 ½. When I had carefully felt my way over the stony bottom to the middle of the river, I heard a plop. Adria had fallen down the steep bank and was rapidly floating down stream. There must have been some reason, which I cannot remember, for Jack not rescuing her and I had to step extremely carefully as I tried to catch her up with her. NO way. Luckily the Head Gardener's daughter came to visit me and plunged in and retrieved her!

Years later Tony Coke and I had a few days on the Tamer. I got one good fish which Tony nobly netted for me, near the steep bank in fast water. He was a tall and rather large man and it was quite dangerous.

Endsleigh
One year, when I was about 13, I went with the Uncle to Endsleigh in Devon. We then left for Dorset and Mr Bliss, the Agent came too. The car was a two-seater with a 'dickey'. I was in the dickey and with no hood I got colder and colder. That night I felt very ill. I somehow found my way to the Uncle's bedroom and more or less collapsed, dragging at the bed clothes. He got up in great concern and carried my back to my bed. We were staying with General and Mrs Gordon Steward and the Uncle woke them up. All I can remember from then is Doctors, being ill and the Uncle almost in tears.

Zebras on Woburn Estate
About half a mile from the Old Rectory lived the Zebras, looked after by an old man called Mr Cook. I was a frequent visitor. He carried a big knobbly stick and always got between me and the zebras. He was terrified they would bite or kick me. I was told that Lord somebody drove a Coach and Four Zebras along Pall Mall!

Riding on the Estate
I was riding in the Park with Bunk Clifford. He was on a bicycle and we took it in turns to ride. Galloping up a hill called 'Stump Cross', I took a fall and was winded and lay on the ground. Munster Marine, the horse, stood by me for a bit and then kicked up his heels and galloped off. Unfortunately he got me in the side and broke a few ribs! Bunk hurried up, but I told him to follow Munster and catch him. The man at the Park gates had caught him and Bunk rode him home. It was a Saturday and there were many cars on the public road through the park and someone gave me a lift home! We went back the next day to try and find my crop which I had left behind. A car stopped and hailed me. It was the car which had given me a lift and they gave my crop back. A great coincidence that we were both there at the same time!

Giraffes on the Estate
My brothers were told by a keeper that the Duke used to have giraffes which did not do too well. When the last one died they had a huge fire and cremated it. He said that in the intensive heat of the fire its long neck and little head rose up and waved about.

The Duke's Private Garden
On one occasion my Uncle let me peep into the Duke's Private Garden. I was greatly awed by privilege.

Many years later I visited Woburn when it was open and had tea in the cafe. (It was pretty nasty, with black tea and stale buns). I asked for a loo and was directed to - the Duke's Private Garden. What sacrilege!

The Park Lodges
All gates onto the Park (except the two into and out of the main road through) were locked and all had a lodge keeper and his cottage.
I was driving with Pinsent Elliot, the local Agent, and we got to Ridgemont Gate. Mr Mallet presided over this one and was always very smart in a long black overcoat and a bowler hat which he doffed and held rigidly, at his side. On this occasion he did not take off his bowler. After a minute or two Pinsent said:
"There is something wrong there, I am going back".
Mallet came out again and doffed his bowler. Pinsent asked
"why did you not take off your hat when we came through? You always do. Is something wrong?"
Yes, there was. He was very angry about something and had sworn not to doff his bowler to the next car that came through - "be it the Duke himself".


Pinsent was a very pleasant 'confirmed' bachelor. He was polite and distant to me until I got engaged to Jack and then he became quite friendly. I was SAFE, you see. He brought me home from some function and when we reached the top of the hill, in sight of the Old Rectory, we saw, outside the back gate, the Chauffeur and the housemaid in a loving embrace.
"I am going to stop here - we cannot spoil their good night kiss."
We waited until they parted and he drove on. Next morning the housemaid said to me:- very conspiratorially and with meaning:- "I saw you last night stopping in the car with Mr Elliot" ! !

More of the Ducal Estate
As a 12 or 13 year old my Uncle took me when he went to see the Duke and left me in the car in the garages. I came to know the cars and the chauffeurs well and the forge and the blacksmith and others, who I now forget!

I visited the Real Tennis Court and the sculpture Gallery. The first thing one saw in the Sculpture Gallery was "The Three Graces" which fascinated me. I suppose I looked at the other sculptures but I cannot remember anything but the Graces.

The Duchess once showed some Americans around the Gallery. They were suitably impressed and asked the Duchess, " And which is Your GRACE?".

There were to be new bathrooms in the Abbey. My Uncle told us of a happy morning when he and the Duchess inspected a great many bathroom effects which were arrayed outside the Abbey at the back. The Duchess gleefully tried them all out for size!

Shooting down a pheasant
Aged about 12 I took an airgun into the garden to pot at anything moving. My brothers did, so why shouldn't I? A pheasant flew up out of the cabbages and I fired. I hit the thing and it came down the other side of the high fencing. So I climbed the cedar tree and over the fence. The pheasant was fluttering. I tried, at point blank range, to put another pellet into it and carried it back, in triumph, to my Uncle. His only comment was "but out of season".

Another misdemeanour
Aged 17 I acquire a delightful Labrador puppy. I called him Shin, after the river we had been fishing and where he was born. He committed every sin in the book. My Uncle sent him to the keeper at Endsleigh. After a week he had to be returned as the keeper had a heart attack after trying to catch him. Another keeper, in Somerset I think, returned him as untrainable. Then an advertisement in the Field caught our attention. "Colonol Badcock trains difficult dogs". Colonel Badcock rang us after a week with Shin, saying he was untrainable. They only cure for his wickedness was a really thorough beating. I refused this and he came home, cheerfully as bad as ever.
I exercised him riding every morning on a lead - dangerous - and afternoons with a bicycle (on a lead) and took a few falls as Shin's energy was not even dented by the long exercise. My Uncle ordered him to live in the kennel, so I more or less lived in the kennel too. I walked him with a 20 yard rope, and brought him up with a severe jolt if he tried to run away. This chastened him a certain amount. I took him to the Evergreens, where I found a keeper in an open glade, feeding pheasants. Shin sat quivering by my side and the keeper remarked that he was becoming quite good! Five minutes later he dashed off and I brought him up short and the rope broke. I drive round the evergreens hooting and calling but as night fell I had to go home without him.
I had a call from a keeper next morning. There was a black Labrador sitting waiting by his gate with ten yards of rope trailing. Was he mine?
This was the last straw and he had to go. I have Shin to a schoolmaster who was quite certain he could tame him, but when I met them by chance a year later, I went to pat him and he shot away from me with such violence that he scratched nail marks in the tarmac on the road. He had obviously been really soundly beaten and was terrified of me.

The Church in Ridgmont
There is a little Church in Ridgmont which was ancient and unused. My Uncle took an architect to see it. (One of his jobs in the County was to look after old and unused Churches). The Architect dated it and said there was a Norman(?) Door which had been walled in and they called for workmen with pickaxes to find it. There was and they uncovered it. In the Chancel the outer layer of plaster on the walls was peeling, thus showing a painted under layer of great interest.
He said, "We must find some gentle handed person to uncover that." He then looked at me, aged about 15, and said, "Why don't you do it?"
Armed with a ladder and flat ended tool I worked away nervously and uncovered three more layers of pictures underneath. Very exciting and I wonder if the Church still stands and was restored.

After leaving school
When I left school my Aunt decided that before I thought of getting a job ( not necessary in those days) I should have a year at home to become a young Lady and not a school girl. I had a wonderful time, far beyond expectations.

I was invited, with my Uncle and Aunt to lunch at Woburn Abbey. A very large dining table seated about 20 people. We ate off solid gold plates. There were eight footmen waiting at table. After desert the eight footmen came round with two plates of goodies. I was almost overwhelmed with choice!

I was engaged and the date for the wedding was fixed and wedding presents were arriving. The post was brought to me, in bed one morning. There was a letter from the Duke with a one hundred pound cheque. I was really overwhelmed. I had never seen a cheque for £100 before.

Talking to the Duke about Hong Kong
Soon after I married, my husband was sent to China in a new Submarine. I sold the car, bought a passage (in a German ship, the Scharnhorst), and followed him. We had a splendid two years in Hong Kong and Wei-hei-wei, Canton and Shanghai. On my return my Uncle gave me a message from the Duke that he would like to hear of my time in China.
Being war time there was no petrol for visits so I walked the 1 ½ miles to the Abbey, pushing the pram with my year old daughter. I was met at the imposing portals of the Abbey by two footmen, who assisted me to de-pram Jill and escorted us along passages to the 'Sisters' apartment where I left Jill - then another walk to the Duke's room. I cannot remember much about the visit, but I think it went all right. I was then escorted back to the 'Sisters' for tea. The Sisters were two much favoured nurses who had presided over Battlesden Nursing Home which the Duchess ran. Both my Uncle and Aunt had been nursed there and my Mother died there. They had become good friends of the family.
We sat down to a cosy tea with Jill on my lap. Unfortunately she misbehaved herself and I had a large patch of wet, which trickled through to the back of my tweed skirt. Imagine my confusion when I has eventually escorted back to the pram and seen off by two footmen, with a large patch of wet on my skirt, while I wheeled the pram up the drive.

Moat Hall
The Duke gave my Uncle the money to buy a farm. After 24 years he was near retirement when the Duke died (during the second World War) . We went to stay in Suffolk with a friend and bought a farm in Layham, close to Hadleigh. The Duke also left him money.