Gabrielle Margaret Ariana Borthwick was initiated into the Order of the Golden Dawn at
its Isis-Urania temple in
UPDATE MAY 2017
I’ve recently read two
memoirs by members of the Theosophical Society in
UPDATE JANUARY 2017
My biographies tend to run
out of steam in the 1920s! There’s a
lack of sources for GD members who lived longer than that. So it was great, in November, to be contacted
by Nina Baker with news of Gabrielle’s doings in the 1920s and 1930s. Many thanks to Nina for alerting me, and for
emailing me copies of documents that she was using for her own research. Inspired by her enthusiasm, I also found some
newly available information on my own account.
Dr Nina Baker researches the
history of engineering. She also works
as a voluntary historian for the Women’s Engineering Society: see their blog at
//womenengineerssite.wordpress.com
THE BORTHWICK FAMILY
The Borthwick family were
Scottish. At //clanborthwick.com you can read more about
the clan they belonged to. Gabrielle was
the eldest child of Cunninghame Borthwick, who was either the 16th
or the 19th Baron Borthwick, depending on how you count it.
I shall go into this business
of how you count the barons Borthwick as I think it really mattered to
Gabrielle’s father in a way that is difficult to appreciate from the 21st
century. The barony of Borthwick had
lain dormant since the death of a Baron Borthwick in 1772 without any obvious
heirs. Cunninghame Borthwick’s father, Patrick Borthwick, had claimed the
dormant peerage in 1816. Cunninghame’s
elder brother Archibald took up the claim when Patrick died; and when Archibald
died in his turn in 1867, the baton passed to Cunninghame as Patrick’s younger
son. Cunninghame went into the matter
with a great deal more energy and determination than either his father or his
brother: he spent a great deal of time and money petitioning the House of Lords
to agree that he was the true baron, against the claims being made by two other
members of the clan. After four years of
effort by Cunninghame, the House of Lords’ Privileges Committee finally agreed
with him, and he was declared the 16th Baron Borthwick on 5 May
1870.
Barons occupied the bottom
rung of the peerage: viscounts, earls, marquises and dukes all out-ranked
them. But in an era in which precedence
and deference still really counted, some men were prepared to move heaven and
earth even to be a baron. Cunninghame
Borthwick really did want to be a baron.
He wanted to claim what his branch of the family thought was their
rightful place in the social hierarchy; and to have all the privileges that
went with it. By the mid-19th-century
the Borthwick barony lacked one of the most important defining characteristics
of a peerage: it no longer had a landed estate.
No matter: Cunninghame bought one in 1870. It was on the Machars peninsula in what was
then the
What a fuss about a
barony. But as a historian I’m delighted
with it: in order to make his claim to the barony stick, Cunninghame Borthwick
was obliged to produce evidence the House of Lords’ Privileges Committee would
believe, of births, marriages and deaths in his family. The evidence he produced was that it showed
that the family was known and respected in
Patrick Borthwick was
appointed the first manager of the National Bank of
Patrick and Ariana’s second
son Cunninghame was born in 1813. By the
mid-1830s he was working as an actuary in the family accountancy business in
I think it was as a partner
in a City firm, rather than as a would-be Scottish peer, that
Cunninghame Borthwick married
Harriet Alice Day in 1865. If he was
looking for a bride as the hopeful baron Borthwick, Harriet was rather a
strange choice, in that she was not related to any peer’s family as far as I
can discover, nor from a family of particularly great wealth, from any
source. Harriet - who was over 20 years
Cunninghame’s junior - was the daughter of Thomas Hermitage Day, whose family
ran a bank in
From the point of view of the
Day family, Harriet made a very good marriage: they probably didn’t rate her
prospective husband’s chances of becoming a baron very highly, but they could
appreciate the more tangible advantages he offered Harriet. Between 1865 and 1880 the Borthwicks lived
most of the year in various houses in fashionable and expensive Mayfair; and
after 1870 there was the estate in
In her biography of Alva and
Consuelo Vanderbilt, Amanda Mackenzie Stuart credits Consuelo with inventing
the neat summing-up of the duty of a peeress to her husband: the ‘heir and a
spare’. Consuelo was speaking in the
1890s but of course the understanding of what was required was centuries
old. Harriet Borthwick did part of what
was expected, giving birth to a son in 1867 - I think it’s significant that
Cunninghame’s efforts to get the barony resuscitated became more systematic
from that year. However, Harriet was not
able to supply a spare as well.
Cunninghame and Harriet had five children, but the other four were
daughters. In one other respect, Harriet
didn’t measure up to the job-description for the wife of a peer or other man
who wished to be upwardly mobile: from my readings of the Court Circular pages
in the Times I’ve come away with the impression that she didn’t work the social
scene in the way you needed to, to get your husband noticed when jobs were
being handed out - giving dinners and balls, holding house parties, attending
royal events - meeting and cultivating the right people. More or less the only times I found her in
the Court Circular reports was when she went to Buckingham Palace (on four
occasions over 10 years) to launch her daughters’ social careers by presenting
them to royalty. It was not, of course,
a way of life Harriet had been bred to; but she didn’t do it. From what I’ve read of her, I think she was
just not very sociable.
Despite the fact that the
Borthwicks were not really a part of the upper-class social whirl, they lived
in opulent style. I can’t find them
anywhere in the UK on the 1871 census but on the day of the 1881 census they
and their daughters were at their Mayfair house, where their household included
a butler, footman, cook, a lady’s maid, the daughters’ governess, two
housemaids, two nursemaids and a kitchen maid.
Although Cunninghame Borthwick seems to have drawn the line at having
his own personal valet, the employment of two male servants indicates the
amount he was prepared to spend on giving visitors a good impression, and on
his family’s comfort - male servants came expensive. In addition, he will also have employed a
coachman and one groom, perhaps two, to drive at least one carriage and look
after its horses; but they were living in a separate household, probably in the
rooms over the stables round the back of the house. Even as a widow, Harriet Borthwick was able
to maintain a high standard of living; and she hadn’t had to move out of
Gabrielle Margaret Ariana
Borthwick was the eldest of the five children growing up in the Borthwicks’
lavishly-funded household. She was born
on 30 June 1866. The heir Archibald was
born in 1867;
In March 1884, Harriet
Borthwick overcame her reluctance to socialise with her peers and went with her
daughter to
Gabrielle had been through
two ‘seasons’ when, on the day before Christmas, 1885, Cunninghame Borthwick
died. It may have suited Harriet
Borthwick’s un-sociable personality to have an excuse to observe the
one-year-long period of mourning that was expected of the widow and children;
but Gabrielle’s momentum as a young woman of marriageable age in British high
society was slowed down and I get the impression that it never really speeded
up again. With three other daughters and
the heir to establish, Harriet moved on:
Harriet Borthwick married off
three of her daughters, but she failed with Gabrielle. That might have been intentional - some
mothers hoped to have, or even schemed at getting, one daughter who remained
unmarried to look after them when they were old. However, Gabrielle and her mother have
bit-parts to play in two sets of memoirs that suggest a variation on that
story.
Both the memoirs are from
Gabrielle’s time in the Golden Dawn and the years immediately after it; and
concern a group of wealthy ex-pats who spent all or part of their year in
Walburga Paget must have been
a very effective diplomat’s wife - even in her widowhood she entertained constantly,
and she knew a great variety of people.
She even knew some Italians, which for ex-pat residents in
Walburga Paget doesn’t
mention having Gabrielle to stay again but will have seen each other regularly
over the next few years. In November
1900, Violet was the last of Harriet’s other daughters to get married. With that marriage Harriet decided that her
social duties were finally done, as far as they could be, and for the next few
years she spent her winters in
Apart from confusing one
year’s events with another’s, Walburga Paget strikes me as a fairly reliable
memoir-writer. I’m not so sure about
Mabel Dodge Luhan, however: she exaggerates, and I feel she is a bit too
anxious to portray her lifestyle as one of conscious and unashamed
rule-breaking. So I am not quite sure
how much reliance to place on Mabel Dodge Luhan’s suggestion that she and
Gabrielle Borthwick had a lesbian relationship; although an attraction to women
rather than men could be one reason why Gabrielle didn’t marry.
Mabel Dodge Luhan arrived in
Mabel admits in her memoir
that she was strongly attracted to Gabrielle from the start; and she means
sexually. Before long she was inviting Gabrielle
to stay at her villa. These visits seem
to have taken place in a hot-house atmosphere of the sort that ends in
tears. Mabel likes to feel that everyone
she meets is sexually attracted to her; but she describes her son’s nanny,
Marguerite, as having feelings towards Mabel that were certainly possessive, if
not sexual, and sufficiently out-of-control as to be obvious to others in the
house. She says that Gabrielle was one
of several women-friends of Mabel’s who “made Marguerite suffer” over it, but
goes further in Gabrielle’s case, describing how “her own [Gabrielle’s] muscles
dimpled, reflecting the titillation of her being at someone else’s pain”. That’s not the way to behave towards anyone,
least of all a servant; Gabrielle and Mabel ought both to have been ashamed of
themselves. According to Mabel’s memoir,
Gabrielle’s particular way of getting at Marguerite was to suggest to Mabel
that they go and lie down together for a while.
Does this mean there was a lesbian relationship between Gabrielle and
Mabel? Maybe. Or maybe not, but they both wanted Marguerite
to think so, and be jealous and hurt.
I wonder if it doesn’t just
mean that these restricted societies full of people with nothing much to do,
encourage everyone to act their worst.
Writing her memoir in the
1930s, Mabel hadn’t had second thoughts about Gabrielle’s sexuality - she still
believed Gabrielle was a lesbian, and grouped her with women she knew in
Florence whom Mabel thought of as never having any men in their lives, the group’s
leader (if it had such a thing) being Violet Paget (not sure whether she’s a
relation of Walburga), who dressed as a man and preferred to be known as Vernon
Lee. Marriage was not had not been a bar
to being one of this group: Mabel includes in it Mary Berenson despite her
being married to Bernard Berenson who in his turn seemed to hate all women.
As regards relations between
Harriet Borthwick and Gabrielle, Mabel’s memoir does suggest that she was in
Gabrielle’s confidence, or close enough to her to make a good guess about
things not actually stated in so many words.
Mabel writes that, “The Honorable Gabrielle was in a hateful position of
dependence upon her mother whom she disliked but lived with because they were
so poor.” I’m not sure I agree that
Harriet Borthwick was poor; she was certainly managing well enough in
1891. (Neither Harriet nor Gabrielle was
on the census in the UK in 1901 or 1911; they were in Italy, I suppose.) It’s
probably true, though, that Gabrielle was financially dependent on her mother
at this stage in her life. And I think
Mabel got it right when she surmised that mother and daughter had very little
in common. But as the only remaining
unmarried daughter, it was expected of Gabrielle that she would live with her
ageing mother.
Cunninghame Borthwick had
leisure interests which Harriet doesn’t seem to have shared but which he did
share with some of his children. None of
them shared his curiosity about spiritualism, but Gabrielle, Archibald and Mary
were all interested in that area where archaeology, antiquarianism and folk
history all meet. Archibald was a member
of the Glasgow Archaeological Society; Mary’s first book was a selection of
folk tales from
Gabrielle and her mother were
the only members of the family who joined the London Lodge of the Theosophical
Society. They had joined it by August 1885,
when the Sinnetts - Alfred Percy and Patience - came to stay with the
Borthwicks at Ravenstone. In his
autobiography, Alfred noted that he found Gabrielle’s mother “not altogether an
easy person to get on with” but Gabrielle became a close friend of both
Sinnetts. Gabrielle kept up her
membership of London Lodge until Patience died, in November 1908. When the time came for Patience’s friends to
pay their subscriptions for 1909, Gabrielle and her mother were amongst several
who decided they didn’t want to continue in the TS now she was gone; but
Gabrielle was still in touch with Alfred Sinnett as late as 1912. Another member of London Lodge in its early
years (but not later) was George Wyld.
Gabrielle will have known him too, as a friend and business acquaintance
of Cunninghame Borthwick.
London Lodge held itself
rather aloof from the TS in general, particularly after Alfred Sinnett and
Blavatsky fell out, but the TS held other, regular meetings in
During the 1890s Gabrielle
kept up her theosophy-based friendship with the Sinnetts and also worked when
she could at the reading and other study required of Golden Dawn members if
they wanted to be initiated into its inner, second order and do some real
magic. Her progress was slow,
though. In 1896 Gabrielle reached her 30th
birthday and passed through the barrier that separated the possibly-still-marriageable
from the unlikely-ever-to-marry. Given
the lesbian feelings that Mabel Dodge Luhan was sure Gabrielle had, she may
have seen reaching 30 as a release from a burden and a source of tension in the
family; but she still would have had social duties to perform, as a member of
the upper-classes, and it’s extraordinary how much time these took up: visits
to well-known and influential hostesses in Florence, for example. However, there was another reason why Gabrielle
wasn’t willing to give the attention to the GD’s programme of learning that
some more enthusiastic members did: Gabrielle had discovered the excitements to
be had from another kind of alchemy - the internal combustion engine.
In 1915 the Times described
Gabrielle as having many years’ experience as a car driver. Although they were still very unreliable, the
internal combustion engine was still being developed, and petrol had not yet
won the battle to be the major source of fuel, cars were beginning to be
everywhere in the 1890s. A quick search
of the web established that both Benz and Daimler were attempting to make cars
in numbers rather than as one-offs by 1890; the first organised motor race was
held in 1894 and the first grand prix in 1901 (both in
The Automobile Club of Great
Britain (now the Royal Automobile Club) was founded in 1897. Like most clubs, it had a ‘men only’ policy;
but by 1903 the agitation from women drivers was so noisy that it authorised
the setting up of a Ladies’ Automobile Club.
The early members of the LAC were all wealthy aristocrats - Consuelo
Duchess of
I’m assuming that Gabrielle’s
interest in cars dates from the 1890s but when I researched the founding of the
LAC, I didn’t see her name mentioned in connection with it; I suppose being so
often in
The fact that the LAC so
quickly organised access for its members to a garage reflected the hazards of
early motoring: cars broke down so often!
Even a woman driver was going to need to know how to fix the engine; or
at least what was wrong with it so she could direct someone else while they
attempted repairs. By 1906 the LAC was
employing Mr R Sedgewick Currie to teach its members car mechanics. By 1907 he’d given four sets of lessons, each
attended by 20-30 LAC members. He taught
theory but also practice, on a six-cylinder Minerva supplied by a garage in
Marylebone. I’ve said that I couldn’t
find Gabrielle’s name as a member of the LAC in its earliest years, but I’m
pretty sure she must have been elected a member of the LAC and done one of the
LAC’s courses in car mechanics. And then
practiced a lot on her own cars, despite how unfeminine her mother probably thought
it.
Georgine Classen’s research
for her book Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists has established that
Gabrielle went into business as a woman garage proprietor at some time before
the first World War, firstly in Slough, later in Northwood in west London. Late in 1915 Gabrielle rented a garage at
The photographs were part of
Gabrielle’s attempt to show that her driving and vehicle maintenance courses
could help women make a contribution to the war effort. Many women had already joined the work-force
to do the work of men who had volunteered for the armed forces. On 11 December 1915, Gabrielle was mentioned
by name and her garage featured by the Times in an article called ‘Increasing
demand for women drivers’. A series of
adverts for the garage at
In 1918 Gabrielle advertised
her courses again, this time focusing on ambulance driving. A course of 10 lessons would cost 5
guineas. Later coverage of Gabrielle’s
courses said that some of the women she’d taught had gone to drive ambulances
in
Running a garage and trying
to get women to think of motoring as a source of employment, brought Gabrielle
into a world she may not have experienced quite so directly in the rest of her
life: the world where women worked, at a disadvantage. Although the motoring industry was a new one,
it was already seen by men and women as a male preserve, so that women seeking
a foothold in it were struggling against the same attitudes that prevailed in
older industries. By the time World War
1 began, Gabrielle was taking part in the formation of a trade union for women,
the Society of Women Motor Drivers, founded to fight women’s corner in the
battle to be taken seriously in the motoring trade and have the same rights as
its male workers. Another of the
Society’s founder members was Barbara, social campaigner and wife of Bernard
Drake who was a nephew of Beatrice Webb; so Gabrielle was making some very
radical acquaintances through her garage business.
The Society’s Secretary,
writing in 1918, described how much prejudice there was against the idea of
trade unions, amongst upper-class women who might otherwise have joined the
Society; Gabrielle may have had to overcome such prejudice in herself before
she was able to become a member. Other
women weren’t able to overcome their distrust, unfortunately, and the Society
struggled to campaign effectively. In
March 1918, after some difficult negotiations, it became a branch of a union it
had probably seen as a rival until then - the (male dominated) Licensed Vehicle
Workers’ Union; though the skill of the women in the negotiations ensured their
women’s branch was allowed to be self-governing; that women members would pay
the same subscriptions as the men and be entitled to the same protection from
exploitation; and that the women’s branch would continue to hold its own
monthly meetings. The idea of forming
what became the Society of Women Motor Drivers had originally come from the
London Society for Women’s Suffrage, and the Society met at its Women’s Service
Bureau in
Whether Gabrielle was still
living with her mother while she was running her garage businesses and getting
involved in all this politicised campaigning work, I don’t know. 1910 was a year of tragedy for the
Borthwicks: in June Gabrielle’s sister Violet died aged 38; and then Archibald
died at the age of only 43. I imagine
Harriet Borthwick was hit hard, especially by the death of her only son. She was getting very old (she was 80 in
1914). She will have needed extra care,
perhaps even nursing care, and may have been dogged, too, by a sense of her
husband’s great project having failed.
The Borthwicks tended to run to daughters, and Archibald had married
into another family with the same problem.
He and his wife, Susanna MacTaggart Stewart, had not produced a male
heir to the barony Cunninghame had worked so hard to revive. Apparently, there was some discussion in the
family about whether the Borthwick peerage could be inherited by Archibald’s
only child, Isolde; but there was no documentation to back that argument up, so
the matter was allowed to drop. The
barony went into abeyance again on Archibald’s death and remains dormant to
this day.
Harriet Borthwick died at
Sevenoaks in
It was either when her father
died or - more likely - now on her mother’s death, that income from a trust fund
became available to Gabrielle; probably with Harold Chaloner Dowdall (who was a
barrister) as a trustee. However,
Gabrielle didn’t consider shutting down her garages and retiring, even after
the war finally dragged itself to a conclusion.
The Borthwick Garages and her campaigning work gave her a purpose that
she had not had before. She found being
in business a challenge, though. The
type of education given to upper-class girls in the 1870s and 1880s didn’t
include book-keeping, let alone mechanics and engineering, and Gabrielle was
really stretching her mental resources taking them on. Her campaigning work,
too, moved her into areas where a woman needed to put ideas across by speaking
in public and debate complex issues with a well-educated and possibly hostile
audience. I think this must be why
Gabrielle became involved with the Pelman system of mental training.
There’s a good website on the
Pelman system of mental training at www.ennever.com, compiled by descendants of
the man most associated with it in the
The other photograph I’ve
found of Gabrielle comes from this period of her life. She had it taken on 5 September 1951 by the
fashionable photography firm of Bassano Limited, and it may have been connected
with the role she was taking at the Pelman Institute. Part of the Bassano Collection of portraits
is now at the National Portrait Gallery and you can see this photograph of
Gabrielle via the NPG’s website.
I have only one source for
this, and that from
If Gabrielle was a rare bird
- a female member of the aristocracy working as a garage proprietor - so was
Lady Gertrude though in a rather different way: she was an experienced and
talented worker with lathes. Lady Gertrude
Crawford (1868-1937) had been born Lady Gertrude Eleanor Molyneux; she was the
daughter of the 4th Earl of Sefton.
Both her father and her grandfather the third earl had been enthusiastic
‘turners’ - they used a lathe to make things out of ivory and wood - and Lady
Gertrude’s father had started her off in the craft by buying her a lathe when
she was two! She inherited both his
talent and his enthusiasm and continued to do ‘turning’ work all her life,
exhibiting her work, winning awards and being made a Freeman of the Worshipful
Company of Master Turners in 1907;
although she never took payment for her work.
Lady Gertrude married Captain John Halket Crawford in 1905. They lived mostly in
In 1924, Gabrielle and Lady
Gertrude expanded their business yet again, opening an estate agency (again I
don’t know where its offices were, but they were probably in or near
At the same time as they were
expanding the number of their own businesses, Gabrielle and Lady Gertrude also
committed themselves to another company run by a woman, someone Gabrielle at
least almost certainly knew as a fellow woman motorist. The gloriously-named Cleone de Heveningham
Benest was from a well-known Channel Islands family, though she herself was
born in
Gabrielle had celebrated her
60th birthday in 1926, in the wake of the collapse of Cleone Griff’s
business and while she was trying hard to prevent herself from going bankrupt a
second time. Lady Gertrude was only two years younger, and after the winding-up
of Borthwick Garages Ltd neither of them seem to have ventured into business
again. Gabrielle was by no means
finished with cars, however: in 1929 she got involved with the Women’s
Automobile and Sports Association, which was founded to organise and promote
sports events for women competitors.
As you would expect, WASA was
a moneyed, upper-class club. Its first
headquarters were at the St Ermin’s Hotel Westminster and it had negotiated a
deal whereby its members could have rooms there, presumably at a discount. Later it had enough funds to lease its own
headquarters building, at 17
WASA’s first president was Irene Mountbatten, the
Marchioness of Carisbrooke; formerly Lady Irene Denison, a relation of GD
member Albertina Herbert. Its second was
Ermine Oliphant-Murray, Viscountess Elibank.
WASA’s secretary was the author Edith Waldemar Leverton. Gabrielle was an active member of WASA from
the beginning. At one of its first
meetings she was elected chairman of its executive committee and she continued
in that role until the second World War.
Although it held other events
from time to time, WASA’s main function was to organise cross-country trials
for vehicles whose drivers were mostly women.
The trials were mostly for cars though one or two, especially in WASA’s
early days, were for motorbikes. The
first trial was held in 1929, from Slough to
None of the references I
found for WASA suggested Gabrielle had ever taken part in any of its
trial-races: she was probably too busy running them. She was also in her 60s and then 70s and
might have reached the stage when cross-country driving at night was a step too
far for her.
During the 1920s and probably
until the second World War, Gabrielle was still living in
The women in Gabrielle’s life
had begun to die off in the 1930s. Lady
Gertrude Crawford died in 1937 at her house near Lymington in Hampshire. Gabrielle’s sister Mary died a few months
before the 1939 Register was taken; and her sister Alice died only a few weeks
before it, leaving Gabrielle the last survivor of Cunninghame and Harriet’s
children, though the oldest. On the day
of the 1939 Register - 29 September 1939 - Gabrielle was at Wickhurst. With her were two women, though whether they
were living there or just visiting isn’t clear, because the Register didn’t
note that kind of information down.
Either way, they were friends of Gabrielle, so it’s a pity that I didn’t
recognise either of their names and I haven’t been able to identify either of
them for sure from other sources. They
were both widows, Mrs Evelyn C White, and Mrs Mary B Carleton. Mrs White’s year of birth was not transcribed
for the Findmypast edition of the Register; but Mrs Carleton was a contemporary
of Cleone Griff rather than Gabrielle - born in 1886. Gabrielle and Mrs White both told the Register
official that they had no occupation, but Mrs Carleton told him or her she was
a company director.
Gabrielle died, at Wickhurst,
on 10 October 1952, leaving personal belongings valued at about £10,000 - which
was worth a lot more than it is now, if you see what I mean. A few months later some jewellery Gabrielle
had owned was sent for sale at Christie’s by her executors.
Gabrielle’s barrister
brother-in-law, Harold Chaloner Dowdall lived on until 1955 and she could have
made him the executor of her Will. But
he was in his 70s and she could not be sure he would still be alive to do the
work, so instead, when she made her Will, she chose two women as her executors:
not Evelyn White or Mary Carleton, her friends from 1939, but a Mrs Teresa Mary
Cecilia Muckleston, and a Miss Mary Charman.
Teresa Mary Cecilia Healy was
born in 1893. I found her on the 1901
census living in Hornsey, north
The Charman family had been
living in
Rather an uncertain note to
end with; but that’s history for you!
***
BASIC SOURCES I USED for all
Golden Dawn members.
Membership of the Golden
Dawn: The Golden Dawn Companion by R A Gilbert.
Family history: freebmd;
ancestry.co.uk (census and probate); findmypast.co.uk; familysearch; Burke’s
Peerage and Baronetage; Burke’s Landed Gentry; Armorial Families;
thepeerage.com; and a wide variety of family trees on the web.
Famous-people sources: mostly
about men, of course, but very useful even for the female members of GD.
Catalogues: British Library;
Freemasons’ Library.
Wikipedia; Google; Google
Books - my three best resources. I also
used other web pages, but with some caution, as - from the historian’s point of
view - they vary in quality a great deal.
CLAIM TO THE BARONY BORTHWICK
At www.clanborthwick.com
there’s a timeline indicating that Cunninghame’s branch of the family had been
claiming the title since 1816. Some
details on Cunninghame Borthwick: educated
Sessional Papers House of
Lords 1869 p6 Cunninghame Borthwick’s
plea to revive the barony of Borthwick was heard by the House of Lords
Privileges Committee. This family
history evidence formed part of his case and was included in the the Minutes of
the hearing:
pA6
- marriage
record of Patrick Borthwick to Ariana Corbett daughter of Cunningham (sic)
Corbett “merchant in Glasgow”; the marriage took place on 13 November 1804
- baptism
record, parish of
- baptism
record, parish of
- burial
record of Patrick Borthwick dated 16 April 1840; he was buried in the Centre
Lair, Borthwick’s Tomb, West Ground
pA7 Patrick Borthwick
described as manager of the National Bank of
- burial
record of Archibald Borthwick, 8 July 1863.
Verification that Patrick
Borthwick had three sons: Archibald, Cunninghame and Thomas
- confirmation
that Archibald Borthwick had died without male heirs; he’d only had pA8
daughters
pA9
- confirmation
that the last holder of the title recognised by the House of Lords, Henry Lord
Borthwick, had died in 1772 without issue.
There were two other men with
surname Borthwick attempting to claim the barony.
Notes and Queries 4th Series number IV issued 18 December
1869 p535 has an article: Filius naturalis: Borthwick Peerage. In it there are a few more details of the
evidence Privileges Committee was having to consider. There were allegations from the other
claimants to the barony that Cunninghame’s claim was invalid because of an
illegitimacy (I think it was in the 14th century!). Cunninghame in his turn was alleging that
documents supporting the other claims were forgeries. Evidence p536 was being heard dating back to
1511!
Times Wednesday 4 May 1870 p13 rpt of House of Lords
business, about the Borthwick barony. On
behalf of the Crown, the Attorney-General had said at the hearing that he was
satisfied that Cunninghame’s claim had been “satisfactorily established”; and
so the Committee had allowed Cunninghame’s claim.
Times Thursday 12 May 1870 p9 A Scotch Barony Revived: this
report said the barony had originally been created during reign of James II of
HE’S VERY ANXIOUS TO ENSURE
HIS NEW STATUS IS RECOGNISED: Times Saturday 8 April 1871 p4 letter
dated 6 April [1871] to Times from Grahames and Wardlaw of 30 Gt George Street
Westminster, who act for Baron Borthwick.
On Lord Borthwick’s behalf, Grahames and Wardlow were protesting that he
had been left off a list of peerages issued by the Times recently. The letter reminded the Times that Borthwick
was now a peer and should have been included in the list.
EXERCISING HIS RIGHTS AS A
SCOTTISH BARON AND WORKING TOWARDS BEING A REPRESENTATIVE PEER FOR SCOTLAND
Times Fri 5 August 1870 p7 Election of a Scotch
Representative Peer. Election held
“yesterday” at Holyrood House. Baron
Borthwick attended and voted. Voting
ended with the Earl of Strathmore being unanimously elected in place of the
late Earl of Haddington.
Times Fri 8 March 1872 p7 coverage of another election of a
Scottish representative peer. Baron
Borthwick was there and voted. This time
there was much more argument between advocates of several possible candidates;
though eventually the Marquis of Queensberry was elected unanimously.
CUNNINGHAME GETS ELECTED
HIMSELF: Times Saturday 17 April 1880 p12 report on elections for
Scottish representative peers, issued Edinburgh 16 April [1880]. The elections took place (as usual) at
FIRST SPOTTED IN HOUSE OF
LORDS: Times Thursday 17 June 1880 p6 report House of Lords business
Tuesday 15 June [1880] - voting on the Burials Bill. Baron Borthwick was in House of Lords and
voted.
HE’S A TORY: at
//special.lib.gla.ac.uk are listings of archives held in
Burke’s Peerage states that the estate at Ravenstone Wigtownshire was
bought by Cunninghame Borthwick in 1870.
Wife Harriet Day was dtr of Thomas Hermitage Day, banker.
Wikipedia: Wigtownshire is
now part of the county of Dumfries and Galloway. The website on Wigtownshire has a picture of
Ravenstone Castle which is at Glasserton.
Website www.francisfrith.com is the site of Francis Frith
Nostalgic Photographs, maps etc. Another
pic of Ravenstone Castle, taken in 1951.
At //canmore.rcahms.gov.uk
there’s a section on Ravenstone Castle: it’s an L-shaped tower house w
interesting barrel-vaulted basements. In
the 18th cent alterations were made to 16th-century
oblong tower. This website isn’t quite
up to date - it describes the Castle as derelict and roofless. It had been put on Buildings at Risk register
in 1992.
However, Ravenstone Castle
has recently been rescued:
The website www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk says a wing was added in
the early 19th century. There
were more additions to the house c 1875 - by Cunninghame Borthwick. The result of the alterations was the
alteration of the original floor-plan to more or less cruciform shape. The website has some sad-looking pictures of
the Castle without roof and windows.
However, it changed hands in 2000 and by 2008 the new owners had put a
new roof on, renewed the windows and replaced a rotten door. As at July 2011 the Castle is still privately
owned, by Mr and Mrs S Atterton, who were engaged in a room-by-room refurbishment
of the interior (which sounds like Grand Designs!!)
NOT CLEAR EXACTLY WHERE THIS
IS, BUT PRESUMABLY ON THE RAVENSTONE CASTLE ESTATE: Times Tuesday 16
September 1884 p3 Ancient Lake Dwellings in Scotland: there had been an
archaeological dig at the crannog at Airrieouland, Dowalton. Lord Borthwick was now owner of the bed of
the lake in which the crannogs were; he had lent some estate workers to help at
the dig.
A BIT MORE ON BORTHWICK
FAMILY BUSINESS CONNECTIONS
Seekers of Truth: The
Scottish Founders of Modern Public Accountancy T A Lee 2006 p80 on Patrick Borthwick, whom the
author describes as “a leading merchant and Burgess of Edinburgh”. In 1825 Patrick was appointed the first ever
manager of the National Bank of Scotland on a salary of £1000 pa. His sons were all in practice together as
accountants in the 1830s but the youngest of the brothers died in 1839 aged
22. This book is the source for two
items of information I haven’t found elsewhere: that Archibald made a formal
claim to the Borthwick barony, which was rejected; and that the father of
Patrick’s wife Ariana was a landowner (rather than a businessman).
CUNNINGHAME’S BUSINESS
INVOLVEMENT IN LONDON
London Gazette no date at the top of the page at this early date but
p1246 is a list of legal notices issued dissolving partnerships. The list of includes one issued 29 April 1853
by the partners Dionysius Wilfred Dowling and Cunninghame Borthwick dissolving
of their partnership. They had been
stockbrokers at 75 Old Broad Street. D W
Dowling would be carrying on the business.
I searched the Times for
mention of Borthwick, Wark and Co but didn’t find a single item between 1850
and 1870; I think that the firm was under the Times’ radar during those years.
Times Thursday 7 September 1871 p5 Money Market and City
Intelligence: Borthwick, Wark and Co, the Imperial Bank and Messrs Clews
Habicht and Co were all acting together as “authorized agents of the State of
Georgia” which was looking to float a loan of $1,400,000. Clews Habicht and Co were the main
contractors for the loan; Borthwick, Wark and Co’s role was subsidiary.
Times Monday 15 February 1875 p13 advert issued by Robert
Benson and Co: Bensons and Borthwick, Wark and Co had been authorised to sell
6% Construction Bonds about to be issued by the Illinois Central Railroad and Co. Borthwick, Wark and Co’s current address is
Bartholomew House London EC.
Times Friday 6 July 1877 p10 Money Market and City
Intelligence: an announcment that Cunninghame Borthwick had retired from
Borthwick, Wark and Co. Andrew Wark and
John Wark junior would continue “under the same style”. The firm’s address would continue to be
Bartholomew House.
The History of Foreign
Investment in the United States to 1914
by Mira Wilkins 1989. P490 Chapter 14:
Financial, Commercial and Communication Services, Section on Stockbrokers:
Borthwick, Wark worked with London-based merchant bankers “in U.S. (sic)
transactions”. No Other references in
the same paragraph are to events in the 1870s and 1880s.
Slow Train to Paradise:
How Dutch Investment Helped Build American Railroads by A J
Veenendaal 1996. California:
Stanford University Press. On p213 not
in main text but in a section called Alphabetic Survey: an entry dated 1881 for
Borthwick, Wark and Co; they had sold some stocks in Chicago and Lake Superior
“div. gold loan” in London though most of the shares were sold in Netherlands.
Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society volume 1 1890
p118 a reference to Baron Borthwick (that’s Gabrielle’s brother Archibald) as
“now head of the firm Borthwick, Wark and Co of London, stock-brokers”.
For the location of Bartholomew House: via the web to From
Tinfoil to Stereo which is an account of the early record industry, by W W
Welch and Leah B S Burt 1994. On p108
refers to the Edison Bell Phonograph company opening offices in 1892 at
Bartholomew House, Bartholomew Lane London.
The firm moved shortly afterwards: at
//search.freefind.com a London Directory issued 1894 lists Borthwick,
Wark and Co stocks and shares brokers at 11 Capthall Court London EC.
CUNNINGHAME’S ADDRESSES
PO Court Directory 1880 p2049 Lord Borthwick’s current address is 35 Hertford Street.
PO Court Directory 1881 p2075 Lord Borthwick FSA can now only be contact at Ravenstone,
Whithorn Wigtownshire or via the Junior Carlton Club. He doesn’t have a house in London.
CUNNINGHAME’S OTHER INTERESTS
Proceedings of the Society for the Encouragement of
the Useful Arts in Scotland issued
1836 p164 at a meeting held at the Royal Institution Edinburgh on 9 March 1836
p166 Cunninghame Borthwick of 27 Albany Street Edinburgh was one of several men
elected as Ord members.
Transactions of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts 1841 p45 at a meeting held at the Royal Institution
Edinburgh on 13 November 1839 p46 Cunninghame Borthwick “actuary” of 5 North
Street David Street Edinburgh was one of several men elected as Ordinary
members.
Report on Spiritualism of the Committee of the London
Dialectical Society, Together with the Evidence.... London:
Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer 1871.
Pvi the had been formed and the research begun in January 1869. On p145 giving evidence to the Committee on
Tuesday 11 May 1869 was Mr Borthwick now (that is, by the time the Report was
published) Lord Borthwick. His evidence
concerned “some spirit drawings that had been produced in his presence” - he
couldn’t explain how they had been done.
Probate Registry: notice dated 12 March 1886. The Rt Hon Cunninghame Lord Borthwick had
died at Ravenstone Castle Wigtownshire on 24 December 1885. This notice is confirmation of the
Commissariot of the County of Wigtownshire dated 6 March 1886 that the Rt Hon
Lady Borthwick is the “Executrix Nominate” - (the only one!!). As was usual with notices concerning deaths
in Scotland, no financial details were given - alas!
Website www.forum/gravestonephotos.com
has a photo of the grave of Cunninghame Borthwick, their reference GPR 73728;
it’s at Dean 2e Cemetery Edinburgh.
Harriet Borthwick is in that grave as well.
GABRIELLE’S MOTHER
THE DAY FAMILY
Via familysearch reference England-ODM 9002530:
baptism record for Thomas Hermitage Day, 10 February 1802 at St Nicholas
Rochester. His parents were David
Hermitage Day and wife Mary Ann.
Via familysearch reference England EASy 1469314 first
marriage: Thomas Hermitage Day to Harriet Stone; at Bexley Kent 10 June 1828.
Twiggs’ Corrected List of the Country Bankers of
England and Wales by T Twigg issued
1830 p67 bankers in Rochester: the only ones listed are Day and Sons, with
conns to (the London firm of) Glyn and Co.
The partners in Day and Sons are David Hermitage Day, David John Day and
Thomas Hermitage Day.
At www.serendib.co.uk
is a full transcription of the Will of William Alston of Rochester; from
1833. It mentions David Hermitage Day,
David John Day and Thomas Hermitage Day, all “of the city of Rochester
aforesaid Bankers”.
Via familysearch reference England-ODM 0992530:
baptism record for Harriet Alice Day, 1 January 1835 at St Nicholas Rochester.
At //freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com is a
trans of a Directory issued 1838 and covering Frindsbury in Kent. Listed under “clergy, gentry etc” are a
William Day of Little Hermitage; and Thomas H Day of Frindsbury Road.
Freebmd: birth
of Francis Harry Emilius Day registered North Aylesford Kent July-Sep 1839
http://www.genesreunited.co.uk death
of Harriet Day registered North Aylesford Kent July-Sep 1839.
Via familysearch ref England EASy 1835969 2nd
marriage: Thomas Hermitage Day to Emma Bingham, at St Margaret Next Rochester
on 19 May 1846.
Via familysearch but I didn’t note down the dtls:
Thomas Hermitage Day’s children. From
the first marriage:
- Hermitage
Charles Day born 1833
- Harriet
born 1834
- Francis
Harry Emilius; he marries Elisa Boulcott Taylor at St James Westminster in 1863
From the second marriage:
- Thomas
Hulkes Bingham-Day; he marries Katharine Margaret Watts in 1884 in Bengal
- and
two more daughters, seen on the 1851 census
Website www.frindsburyextra-pc.gov.uk
is the site of Frindsbury Extra Parish Council.
St Philip and St James Upnor, a chapel and a school-building, were built
in 1869-78 and paid for by Thomas Hermitage Day and his wife (the second wife,
that is - Emma).
London Gazette
5 April 1870 p2076 legal notice issued by Tathams Curling and Walls of 3
Frederick’s Place Old Jewry following the death of Thomas Hermitage Day on 9
December 1869. The notice mentions a
Will and a Trust; Emma is one of a number of executors.
Website www.stwerburghhoopeninsula.webeden.co.uk
is the site for the church of St Weburgh on the Hoo peninsula in north
Kent. The church’s east window is
dedicated to the memory of Thomas Hermitage Day.
HARRIET’S BROTHERS
At //singletonsdiary.wordpress.com is a transcription
by Radley College of the 1847 “Diary of a Victorian Educational Reformer”:
Robert Corbet Singleton, co-founder of Radley College. There’s a note on H Charles Day, taken from
College records: born 1833, son of Thomas Hermitage Day. A pupil at the College 1848-51. Then Brasenose College Oxford 1851; BA
1855. Ordained priest 1856. Vicar of Bredhurst Kent 1864-78. Died in Frindsbury Kent 29 September 1917.
London Gazette
13 November 1860 p4178 promotions from cadet to Lieutenant include that of
Francis Harry Emilius Day, as from 1 November 1860.
Hart’s New Army List 1868 p71 long list of lieutenants in the Royal Artillery includes
Francis Harry Emilius Day.
London Gazette
10 November 1871 p4598 Lieutenant Francis Harry Emilius Day had been allowed to
retire from the army with an annuity; issued 11 November 1871.
Probate Registry: Francis Harry Emilius Day of West
Malling Kent died 21 December 1915.
Probate granted at London 18 January [1916] to Francis Hermitage Day
“gentleman” (a son of Francis, I guess)).
At www.cwgc.org there
are notes on Harriet’s half-brother Thomas Day, though I don’t know why because
he didn’t die as a result of injuries incurred during World War 1: Thomas
Hulkes Bingham-Day had died on 11 April 1917; son of Thomas Hermitage Day and
his wife Emma. Husband of Katherine
Margaret Bingham-Day. A career army
officer: 5th Batt Devonshire Regiment. Served in South Africa (they mean the Boer
War, I think). Buried in Bishopstrow
churchyard Wiltshire.
THE HEIR AND THE SPARE
Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: the Story of a Mother
and a Daughter in the Gilded Age by
Amanda Mackenzie Stuart. New York London
Toronto Sydney: Harper Perennial 2005.
Pushed into it by her mother, Consuelo married 9th Duke of
Marlborough in 1895. She duly produced
two sons but the marriage was unhappy from the start and the miserable parties
to it agreed a separation in 1906. The
‘heir and a spare’ phrase is mentioned on p224 though Mackenzie Stuart does say
it’s not absolutely certain who it originated with.
Harriet Borthwick must have been presented at court
sometime, because she presented all her daughters and she could only have done
so if she had been presented herself. I
searched Times 1865 and 1866 to see if she had been presented on her marriage;
but she hadn’t been. So I searched 1870
and 1871 to see if the presentation had happened on her husband getting the
Borthwick peerage, but it didn’t. I’m a
bit puzzled about that.
Details of Harriet Borthwick’s death and funeral were
published in Times Fri 23
February 1917 p9.
GABRIELLE’S SIBLINGS
At //clanborthwick.com/lineage09.htm there’s stuff on
GMAB’s siblings. Confirmation of most of
it is on www.thepeerage.com
- Archibald
1867-1910 - see a bit further down, for more details on him.
- Alice
Rachel Anne born 17 December 1868 married July 1893 Captain Alexander Stratton
Campbell of Weasenham Norfolk. She died
in August 1939
- Violet
Dagmar Marion Olga born 3 June 1871 married November 1900 Captain Lewis Grey
Freeland. Violet died in June 1910.
- Mary
Frances Harriet born 11 February 1876 married July 1897 Harold Chaloner Dowdall
(1868-1955); barrister of Inner Temple - see below.
MARY DOWDALL Gabrielle’s youngest sister and the most
interesting of them.
Times Wed 28
Feb 1894 p7 report on the Drawing Room held “yesterday” at Buckingham
Palace. Queen Victoria attended it (she
usually didn’t); the Prince and Princess of Wales and Princess Alice of Hesse
(Queen Victoria’s second daughter) were also there. Amongst those presented: Hon Mary Borthwick,
presented by her mother Lady Borthwick.
Times 2 July
1897 p10 Court Circ report issued Windsor Castle 1 July [1897]. A short paragraph, with no guest list, giving
notice of the marriage of Harold Dowdall to Mary Borthwick at St Mary Abbot’s
Kensington. The service was taken by the
bishop of Glasgow and Galloway, assisted by the Rev Lancelot D Dowdall and Rev
Charles Ridlay. Lady Borthwick gave a
reception afterwards.
Mary was an author.
Between 1911 and 1927 she published a book of folk tales; several
novels; and some essays.
Via the web to a copy of Mary’s novel The Book of
Martha. It has a frontispiece by
Augustus John. Published 1913 by
Duckworth and Co. NB that it is NOT a
bible story; it’s a modern-day tale.
At www.ngv.vic.gov.au website
of the National Gallery of Victoria: a reproduction of a portrait by Augustus
John now in its collection, of Harold Chaloner Dowdall dressed for his role as
Lord Mayor of Liverpool; portrait by Augustus John. Apparently there was a companion portrait of
Mary Dowdall; but I can’t find a picture of it on the web.
Times Sat 20
May 1939 p14: one-paragraph obituary of Hon Mrs Chaloner Dowdall, wife of Judge
Dowdall KC, who’d died “on Thursday after a long illness” at Melfort Cottage,
Boar’s Hill Oxford. Born 11 February
1876; married 1 July 1897; 1son 3daughters.
No mention of her career as a writer.
The obituary of Mary’s husband has more information on
Mary: Times Fri 22 April 1955 p15 obituary of Harold Chaloner Dowdall QC
who’d died “on Good Friday” at his home near Oxford. The Dowdall family was Irish. Harold was the youngest son of Thomas
Dowdall, who was a stockbroker. Trinity
College Oxford where he studied Natural Sciences. Qualified for the bar 1893. Inner Temple.
Practised as a barrister in Liverpool until 1917. QC1920.
County Court Judge on Circuit 6 - Liverpool - May 1921 to 1940. Held a number of posts in the CofE - chancellor
etc. Wife Mary: “a lady of intellect,
wit and charm”; a “prominent figure” in Liverpool’s social life especially the
circle around the University. She wrote
novels and “amusing sketches and essays”.
There are portraits of Mary by Augustus John and Charles Shannon. Mary and Harold’s son was also a barrister;
and they had three daughters. All their
children were still alive in 1955.
Via www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a
to list of contents of Liverpool Record Office.
List includes a large collection, correspondence and other papers of
Harold Chaloner Dowdall and Mary Dowdall, covering 1901-54. Part of the collection is letters to/from
Augustus John, who taught at Liverpool School of Art; and became friends with
both the Dowdalls then.
One of Mary Dowdall’s daughters, probably a
god-daughter of Gabrielle is mentioned on www.thepeerage.com:
Ursula Gabrielle Borthwick Dowdall who married 1920 Charles Alexander Petrie
later 3rd Baronet but got divorced quite soon afterwards. Ursula died in October 1962.
GABRIELLE’S BROTHER ARCHIBALD, the 17th
Baron Borthwick:
Times Wed 8
May 1889 p13 report on the levee at St James’s Palace yesterday, with the
Prinece of Wales presiding. Amongst the
presentations made to the Prince: Baron Borthwick, who was introduced by the
Earl of Orkney. In next few years I saw
Baron Borthwick named in the Times as attending quite a few royal functions.
Wikipedia: it must have been the 6th Earl
of Orkney: George Fitzmaurice 1827 to 21 October 1889; married, no children,
succeeded by his nephew Edmond 1867-1951.
Transactions
of the Glasgow Archaeological Society volume 1 1890 p118 a reference to Baron
Borthwick “now head of the firm Borthwick, Wark and Co of London,
stock-brokers”. (Presumably, Lord
Borthwick is a member of the Society).
Times 19 July 1901 p10 Court Circular, short report on the marriage of Baron Borthwick to
Susanna Mary daughter of Sir Mark and Lady Stewart, at Ardwell Church. Gabrielle was a bridesmaid.
Armorial Families p300 on Mark John Stewart, later MacTaggart Stewart. He’s 1st Baronet and his main
estate is Southwick Kirkcudbright. Born
1834. Tory MP 1874-80 and again
1885. Married 1866 Marianne Susanna
Ommaney whose mother was the only child and heires of Sir John MacTaggart of
Ardwell. Sir John MacTaggart died in
1895 and Mark inherited Sir John’s estate on condition that he take the
MacTaggart surname. Mark and Marianne
had a large family, Susanna being one of the younger daughters. My Book of the Road shows Ardwell on the east
side of the Mull of Galloway peninsula; originally it was in Wigtownshire, it’s
now in Dumfries and Galloway.
Times 5
October 1910 p11 obituary of 17th Lord Borthwick who’d died “at his
town house yesterday”. He was Archibald
P T Bortwick, only son of 16th baron and his wife Harriet Alice née
Day. The 17th baron was born
in 1867. He became a partner in the
stockbroking firm Borthwick, Wark and Co which had been founded by his
father. The 17th baron was
also an accomplished musician. In 1901
he married Susanna MacTaggart Stewart.
They had one child, a daughter, and the barony would probably have to go
into abeyance again. The funeral would
be on Saturday at Kirkmadryne Ardwell Wigtownshire. The Hon Gabrielle Borthwick, Lady Cassilis
(one of Susanna’s sisters) and Mr E O Stewart, Grenadier Guards (Susanna’s
brother) were comforting Lady Borthwick.
Whitaker’s Peerage, Baronetage etc... 1910 p191 a note about the Borthwick barony:
“Recently it was a question whether it was open to female succession” as no
papers existed any longer which indicated exactly the conditions under which
the barony could be inherited.
Using Burke’s Peerage on the dukes of
Grafton. P1193 the 8th Duke
of Grafton’s 2nd marr, in January 1916, was to Susanna Mary, widow
of Baron Borthwick.
GABRIELLE’S SISTERS ALICE AND DAGMAR
Times Sat 25
April 1888 p10 rpt on Queen Victoria’s drawing-room held at Buckingham Palace
“yesterday afternoon”. Lady Borthwick
presented the Hon Alice Borthwick.
Alice had children, includingl three sons: at
genforum.genealogy.com/campbell there was a message posted February 2007 by Ian
Campbell who’s a descendant of Alexander Stratton Campbell and his wife Alice,
via their middle son of three, Michael; Patrick was older, David was younger.
Times Thurs
6 March 1890 p10 report on the drawing room at Buckingham Palace yesterday; at
which Queen Victoria was actually present, with the Prince and Princess of
Wales and Princesses Victoria and Maud.
Amongst those presented was the Hon Violet Borthwick, by her mother Lady
Borthwick.
Times Fri 23
Nov 1900 p7 Court Circular issued 22 November [1900] includes a brief notice of
the marriage of Violet Borthwick to Captain Lewis Gray Freeland of
Northamptonshire Regiment, “lately invalided from South Africa”. The wedding at Holy Trinity Sloane Square
“yesterday afternoon”. Archibald
Borthwick gave Violet away. Other guests
included a Colonel Freeland (probably the groom’s father), another Captain
Freeland (a brother?) and his wife; Vicountess Gage; Lord Glenesk; Miss
Borthwick (Gabrielle); Captain and the Hon Mrs Campbell (Alice); and Hon Sydney
St John. The Dowdalls aren’t listed so I
suppose they couldn’t go to the wedding.
Probate Registry: Hon Violet Dagmar Marion Olga
Freeland of Gestingthorpe Castle, Hedingham Essex wife of Lewis Gray Freeland
had died on 13 June 1910. Administration
26 Aug [1910] London to Lewis Freeland as Captain (retd). At //tribalpages.com Freeland family page but
no source: Lewis Gray Freeland born 1867 Marylebone, died 1938 Bath.
GABRIELLE:
Via google books found these:
Burke’s Landed Gentry of Great Britain 2001 ed p77 gives Gabrielle’s date of birth as 30
June 1866: Gabrielle Margaret Ariana.
SHE COMES OUT
Times Sat 15
March 1884 p12 The Drawing Room held “yesterday afternoon” at Buckingham
Palace, at which the Princess of Wales had stood in for Queen Victoria. Amongst those presented was Hon Gabrielle
Borthwick; presented by her mother.
THE GIPSY LORE SOCIETY
Seen via archive.org/stream at the online collection
of the University of Toronto:
- Journal
of the Gipsy Lore Society New Series Volume 2 July 1908-April 1909. Printed for the Society by Edinburgh
University Press though the offices of the Society are at 6 Hope Place
Liverpool. On pxii a list of members:
Gabrielle at the Ravenstone Castle address.
- Journal
of the Gipsy Lore Society New Series Volume 5 July 1911-April 1912. Printed for Society by Edinburgh University
Press; offices now at 21a Alfred Street Liverpool. On pxii in members list: Gabrielle still at
the Ravenstone Castle address.
No other person called Borthwick is a member; in
either publication.
SHE’S IN THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
Theosophical Society Membership Register June
1898-February 1901 has her sponsoring a new member: p21 July 1898 it was Miss
Annie Roby Evans of Boundary Road London NW.
Annie’s other sponsor was A P Sinnett.
On p184 of the 1898-1901 volume there’s finally a membership entry for
her, in a group of members known personally to Patience Sinnett; the details of
this group of people only got added to the membership list after Patience
Sinnett’s death on 9 November 1908. None
of this group of members has as application date, there are no details of
subscriptions paid, no proper addresses and their sponsors are not named: on
p184 against the entry for Gabrielle Borthwick are membership dates of 1900-09
(which can’t be correct) and then a note, “Resigned March 1. 1909". Gabrielle’s address from 1900-09 was: Viale
Regina, Vittoria, Florence, but she was a member of the London lodge, not the
active lodge based in Florence. The only other GD member in Patience Sinnett’s
personal group of friends was Lina Rowan Hamilton.
The Sinnetts:
Autobiography of Alfred Percy Sinnett published in an unedited version by the Theosophical
History Centre, Gloucester Place, 1986: pp32-33 although Gabrielle’s parents’
titles are wrongly given as “Lord and Lady Northwick”.
George Wyld:
Notes of My Life by George Wyld MD. London:
Kegan Paul Trench Trübner and Co 1903: p42.
HERMETIC SOCIETY: there’s a very short account of it
on pp322-23 of Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times by
R van den Broek and Wouter J Hanegraaff, 1998.
There’s more but possibly not so reliable on the web; and search also
for Anna Bonus Kingsford, the Society’s president.
THE TWO MEMOIR-WRITERS
FIRST is Mabel Dodge Luhan. Wikipedia on her: 1879-1962, wealthy American
patron of the arts. Married 4 times
(though she was on number two when Gabrielle knew her):
Married (1) 1900 Karl Evans, who was killed in an
accident while out shooting, in 1902.
Mabel’s son from this short marriage was her only child.
Married (2) 1904 in France, architect Edwin
Dodge.
Mabel is described on her wikipedia page as actively
bisexual. She lived in Florence from
1905 to 1912; and then again for a few months in 1913 with her lover Maurice
Sterne (who became husband number 3).
The wikipedia page has a great deal more on her extraordinary life but
from 1912 she lived in the USA.
Mabel Dodge Luhan’s memoirs are in 4 volumes. Gabrielle Borthwick appears in the 2nd: Intimate
Memories published 1935. The
references to Gabrielle come on p164, where Mabel writes that Gabrielle called
her ‘houri’. The fuller description of
Gabrielle and her circumstances, and the unpleasant goings-on in Mabel’s house
when Gabrielle was a guest there is at p280; and the placing of Gabrielle in a
wider group of women-without-men is on p283.
Again on p450 Mabel speaks of Gabrielle as very intimate with her at a
time (p445-46) when Mabel’s marriage to Edwin Dodge is in a bad way but she
can’t yet face the social consequences (which were very great) of getting a
divorce. Mabel speaks of Walburga
Paget’s socialising and her social status in Florence on p450. On p183 Mabel says that Walburga Paget
actually helped to launch Mabel on the Florence social scene when she first
came to live there.
I checked the third volume of Mabel Dodge Luhan’s
memoirs - Movers and Shakers, published in 1936. It concerns the years after Mabel returned to
live permanently in the USA. Gabrielle’s
name doesn’t appear in it and in Intimate Memories p185 Mabel states
that she kept up with very few of her acquaintances in Florence after she
stopped living there.
SECOND is Countess Walburga Paget often wrongly
spelled WalPurga. Wikipedia, in French
but not in English, on Walburga Paget: Walburga Ehrengarde Helen von/de
Hohenthal, daughter of Count Charles von Hohenthal, born 1831 in Berlin. Lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria’s eldest
daughter Victoria after she married Prince Frederick of Prussia. Marries Augustus Berkeley Paget (1823-96)
British ambassador to Denmark; then Rome; then Vienna. After her husband’s death Walburga spent
winters at Villa Bellosguardo in Florence. She died in 1929 at
Newham-on-Severn.
Wikipedia in English, on Augustus Berkeley Paget:
1823-96 son of Sir Arthur Paget and his wife Lady Augusta née Fane; grandson of
the 1st Earl of Uxbridge who led the cavalry at the battle of
Waterloo. Married Walburga 1860; 2sons
1daughter. British minister to Italy
1867-76; British ambassador to Italy 1876-83; British ambassador to
Austria-Hungary 1884-93.
Not always trustworthy website thepeerage.com says
Walburga and Augustus’ two sons both married but neither had any children. Their daughter married the 1st
Earl of Plymouth.
In My Tower
by Walburga, Lady Paget. London,
Hutchinson and Co 1924 and it’s volume 2 of 2 with the index to both
volumes. The ‘name’ Borthwick doesn’t
appear in the index which seems just to consist of the famous and the
titled. The book is based on diary entries
and letters. It’s not organised very
systematically and has very few fixed dates, so I could anchor events in
Walburga’s life only when she referred to events which were taking place in the
wider world. There is a yearly pattern
in the book, though: Walburga seems to go to London from about July to about
October, most years. The section
containing the reference to Gabrielle begins on p321 with a diary entry p323
dated “January 27"; by p324 we’re at April 28th. On p327 Walburga says her daughter and
daughter’s family have all come to visit. The quote about Gabrielle being one
of her houseguests the week is on
p330. A diary entry on p328 gives this
houseparty as including “June 19th”; I established the year from a
reference on p329 that it’s one week after Lord Airlie has been killed while on
active service in the Boer War.
DATING GABRIELLE’S VISIT TO WALBURGA PAGET IN FLORENCE
AS TAKING PLACE IN 1900:
The date of Lord Airlie: wikipedia on the earls of
Airlie establishes that Walburga means the 11th earl, David Stanley
William Ogilvy, born 1856 in Florence, son of 10th earl and his wife
Henrietta née Stanley. Career army
officer. He’d married in 1886 and had 6
children; his eldest son inherited the earldom at the age of 6. At time of his death he’d been fighting in
South Africa for a while and had already been badly wounded once. He was killed during a battle at Diamond Hill
Pretoria, leading his troops in a charge, on 11 June 1900.
A BIT MORE ON WALBURGA PAGET:
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research volume 4 1889-90.
Published by the Society for members only. On p65 issue of May 1889; a list of new
associate members includes Lady Paget c/o The Embassy, Vienna. Just noting p203 that even associate members
have to be elected. Proceedings of
the Society for Psychical Research volume XI 1895 p618 Lady Paget is still
an associate member but now at Villa Bellosguardo Florence. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical
Research volume XV 1900-01 p502 Lady Paget still an associate member at the
Florence address.
FOUNDATION OF THE LADIES’ AUTOMOBILE CLUB
I followed it through the Times from February 1903 to
June 1904.
A Monthly Magazine devoted to the interests of New
York Athletic Club volume 12 1903 p20
describes looking down the list of members of the LAC as like reading an
edition of Burke’s Peerage.
Good Housekeeping volume 38 1904 p343 names the Duchess of Marlborough as one of the the
LAC’s members.
Via google I reached www.gracesguide.co.uk/1904_Ladies_Automobile_Club
where there was a list of the members of LAC in that year. Gabrielle was not on the list.
The Horseless Age volume 17 1906 p56 noted that the LAC had taken on an engineer to
teach car mechanics, a Mr R Sedgewick Currie.
P604 the LAC’s members had a special day at the Crystal Palace Show in
February 1904.
The Auto: The Motorist’s Pictorial volume 12 1907 p329 gave a description of Mr
Sedgewick Currie’s classes and the car the students worked on.
Automobile Topics volume 16 1908 p1157 the LAC was already organising races for its
members.
Royal Automobile Club Yearbook 1908 p1 lists member clubs, which include the
LAC. On p217 a note that you had to be
elected to bec a member of LAC.
Gabrielle’s work during the war:
Times 11
December 1915 p11 an article with title ‘Increasing demand for women drivers’,
as indicated by large number of adverts now appearing in the Times’ small ads
for women who could drive and act as companion.
Times 4
February 1916 p13 and 17 February 1916 p2 in small ads: adverts for driving
courses at Gabrielle’s driving school, where she was the Principal. There were no such adverts during the whole
of 1917 but in Times 18 September 1918 p3 and 22 October 1918 p13, the
advert does appear again. A slightly
different wording was published in Times 27 February 1918 p14a this time
specifying a training in driving ambulances.
Woman’s Leader
volume 10 1918 p58 and again p223: an advert for a course in driving motor
ambulances: 10 lessons for 5guineas with “individual tuition” though the advert
doesn’t say who will do the teaching.
The lessons will take place at “the Hon Gabrielle Borthwick’s workshops”
at 8 Brick Street; there’s a telephone number, which wasn’t the case in the
adverts in the Times.
Aeronautics
volume 14 1918 p540 also has an advert for Gabrielle’s training courses. This gives two addresses: Brick Street,
and 87 Kinnerton Street
Knightsbridge.
Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality volume 115 number 1493 1921 p360 confirms that
Gabrielle herself was able to strip down a car engine.
A TRADE UNION FOR WOMEN IN THE MOTORING INDUSTRY
Via the web to The Common Cause issue of 3 May
1918 article: the women motor drivers TU.
This had been formed at the outset of World War 1 by Mrs Bernard Drake;
“the Hon Gabrielle Borthwick, of the Borthwick garage”; Miss McLaren; Miss
Tynan, who had experience of trade union organisation; and Mrs Chettle who
became its first Secretary.
Via the web to Women’s Leader volume 10 1918
p145 refers to 58 Victoria Street as the headquarters of the Women’s Service
Bureau and of the London Society for Women’s Suffrage.
Women in Trade Unions by Barbara Drake.
Saw one via archive.org from Cornell Univ’s library but couldn’t find a
date of publication on it; though all research ended with 1918. It’s TU Series no 6, published jointly by the
Labour Research Department of 34 Eccleston Square; and George Allen and
Unwin. Couldnt find a page number for
this but somewhere in the text it says that the women motor drivers’ union was
formed by the London Society for Women’s Suffrage.
Barbara Drake is Mrs Bernard Drake; Bernard Drake is
Beatrice Webb’s nephew: all quite clearly stated in a letter from Sidney Webb
to John Maynard Keynes dated 6 Dec 1930.
In The Letters of Sidney and Beatrice Webb volume 3, ed Norman
Mackenzie, published 2008.
Modern sources on early women motorists:
Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists by Georgine Classen.
Johns Hopkins University Press 2008.
Gabrielle is the only GD member mentioned in this book.
Dictionary of British Women’s Organisations 1825-1960 Peter Gordon and David Doughan 2005 On p70 this books
states that the LAC was founded because the RAC had decided that it wouldn’t
have women as members. The LAC was
formed by a group of women led by Lady Cecil Scott Montague and had a number of
objectives: to fund and find a place where women drivers could meet; to help
women drivers get the necessary technical skills and experience; to provide
driving lessons; to organise touring and competitions; and to help women obtain
the necessary papers to drive abroad.
Via the web to The Car and British Society by
Sean P O’Connell. Published Manchester
1998: Manchester University Press p48 the meeting that led to founding of LAC
was held in April 1903 and only 17 women were present at it. However, by 1909 the LAC had 400 members. (Unlike the RAC) the AA always has allowed
women to be members.
THE PELMAN SYSTEM
Wikipedia: a system of mind-training popular in the
first half of 20th century.
Devised in the UK and taught by the Pelman Institute of London through
correspondence courses. Pelman training
can be seen as a mind-equivalent of physical training; it was claimed it would
get rid of forgetfulness, depression, phobias etc.
-
Website www.ennever.com
is run by a descendant of William Joseph Ennever who developed the Pelman system
though the name comes from a man claiming to be Christopher Louis Pelman, who
is generally thought to have put together the actual course by which the system
was taught. Very little is known about
Pelman. A suggestion made by this site
is that he was American but he might also have been German, with his surname
originally spelled Poehlman or Pöhlman.
Ennever’s Pelman course was probably launched in 1900
and in 1901 the School of Memory Training was listed at 70 Berners St, the same
house that Ennever’s wife was living in.
The Institute’s office was at 4 Bloomsbury Street until the 1920s. In 1930s it was at Adam House, Strand.
These people were listed by www.ennever.com
as using the Pelman system: Herbert Asquith the Liberal Prime Minister; Baden-Powell
founder of the scouts movement; H Rider Haggard, author of She; and
others, mostly men but also including the composer Ethel Smyth.
Pelman training was especially popular between the
world wars but even survived Ennever’s bankruptcy which happened in 1940; the
last ads for the training that the website could find were from 1967. Some good illustrations on this website.
-
The Accountant
volume 62 1920 p82 advert for an evening meeting due at the Pelman Institute on
15 April [1920]: a talk on the Pelman system would be given by the Institute’s
Director of Instruction, T Sharper Knowlson; followed by a discussion. Gabrielle Borthwick would be chairing the
meeting. Woman’s Leader volume 12
1920 p191 has the same advert.
GERTRUDE ELEANOR MOLYNEUX CRAWFORD:
At //ornamentalturning.net/history, website of the
Worshipful Company of Turners; and entry for her in their page ‘Turners of the
Victorian Era’: Lady Gertrude Crawford 1868-1937, daughter of the 4th
Earl of Sefton. Both the fourth and third earls were expert turners, using
ivory - a collection of pieces they made is still on show at Croxteth
Hall. Gertrude’s father bought her her
first lathe when she was 2! He and his father
both used Holtzapffel lathes and in 1897, Lady Gertrude commssioned her own
lathe from Holtzapffel - the firm’s number 2332 which is now at Croxteth
Hall. Lady Gertrude moved to live in
London on her marriage. She had received
several awards for her turning already, and in 1907 she was made a Freeman of
the Company as John Halket Crawford’s wife.
She later won the Company’s silver medal, and then its gold medal, for
her work. In 1923, G A Grace’s Ornamental
Turning Design featured illustrations of 10 items by Lady Gertrude. In 1929 she organised an exhibition of her
own work at Leighton House; some items were for sale. This exhibition was covered in the magazine English
Mechanic. Gertrude had an article on
her work in Society of Ornamental Turners Bulletins 88. The Company of Turners created the Gertrude
Crawford medal in her honour.
Times Sat 27
April 1907 p11 Court Circular issued Marlborough House 26 April [1907]. Gertrude Eleanor wife of Captain John Halket
Crawford of 32nd Lancers Indian Army had been admitted to the
freedom of the Turners’ Company “yesterday” as a “skilled amateur”. She was a frequent exhibitor with the
Company. Just noting that Angela
Burdett-Coutts had also been a member of the Company. Gertrude made a speech of acceptance saying
that her father had taught her her skills; he’d been an “enthusiastic
amateur”. The ceremony was at the
Guildhall.
Via web I came across a book for sale: Original
Patent Application Number 4169... pubd HMSO 1898; it’s a patent owned by
Lady Gertrude for improvements to the design of the pocket knife.
List of the Fellows...of the Zoological Society of
London issued 1922 by the Society;
p39 Gertrude Eleanor Crawford is a Fellow; elected 1900.
List of the Fellows...of the Zoological Society of
London issued 1926 by the Society;
p49 Gertrude is still a Fellow.
SHE MARRIES JOHN HALKET (SIC) CRAWFORD
At www.thepeerage.com:
Gertrude Eleanor Molyneux married John Halket Crawford on 25 April 1905. There’s no indication that they had any
children. He died 23 September 1936; she
died 5 November 1937.
Visitation of England and Wales volume 17, privately printed 1911; by Joseph Jackson
Howard. On pxxxiv report of the marriage
of John Halket Crawford to Gertrude Molyneux 25 April 1905. Crawford was a Captain in the 31st
Lancers, Indian Army at the time.
Times Sat 26
Sep 1936 p1 death notices: John Halket Crawford had died “On September 23 1936
at Dieppe”. He was the eldest son of
John Thomson Crawford BCS.
OBITUARY OF GERTRUDE CRAWFORD:
Times Mon 8
Nov 1937 p19 Gertrude Crawford had died in Lymington Hospital “on Friday”. She had been the wife Lieutenant-Colonel John
Halket Crawford; and daughter of the 4th Earl of Sefton. In 1918 she had became the first ever Chief
Commandant of the Women’s Royal Air Force.
She had been known as an “amateur wood turner”. In 1915 the Turners’ Co had given her a
special badge to commemorate her work as an amateur turner and her “patriotic
efforts in supervising the manufacture of munitions”. Her work as a turner had been “distinguished
by ingenuity and discovering new possibilities of the lathe and tools”. She’d been given the freedom of the City of
London in 1934.
At her death she was still preparing to show her work:
Times Tue 9 November 1937 p13: Gertrude Crawford had got a stall of her
work at the 15th Annual Exhibition of Applied Arts and Crafts which
had opened “yesterday” at the Royal Horticultural Halls Westminster. She was the “only woman master turner”. More coverage of her work appeared in Times
Wed 10 November 1937 p16: she worked in wood, ivory and plastic. Times described Gertrude as a “sound
craftswoman” though “a little inclined to over-elaborate”.
Times 24
December 1937 an advert for Gertrude’s house, Coxhill near Lymington, now up
for sale.
WITH GABRIELLE’S GARAGE ONE THING LED TO ANOTHER: via
trove.nla.gov.au to Launceston Examiner Tue 6 May 1924 p7 short item
saying that Gabrielle and Lady Gertrude Cochrane, sister of Lord Sefton, were
in business together. They had been
running a garage at Piccadilly, a restaurant and a hostel; and now they were
setting up as estate agents. Gabrielle
was described in the article as, “A qualified engineer”. Gertrude was a master turner and freeman of
the Turners’ Company.
NB the Launceston Examiner has got Lady Gertrude’s
surname wrong: the woman who fits the description as a master turner and sister
of the Earl of Sefton is Lady Gertrude CRAWFORD.
BANKRUPTCY OF GABRIELLE’S BUSINESS
The only other references I found for the businesses
run by Gabrielle and Lady Gertrude were these:
RAC Guide and Handbook for 1927 p50 has an advert for The Borthwick Garages.
The World’s Carriers and Carrying Trades’ Review pubd 1925 by the Carriers Pubg Co; p132 notice about
Borthwick Garages ltd: Sir William H Peat of 11 Ironmonger Lane had been
appointed Receiver and Manager by a court order issued 26 November 1924.
Gabrielle and Lady Gertrude seem to have staved that
one off but in 1927:
London Gazette
18 March 1927 p1845 a set of winding-up petitions issued under the Companies
Acts 1908-17 includes one issued 15 March 1927 for The Borthwick Garages Ltd of
8 Brick St.
London Gazette
24 May 1927 p3435 winding-up orders under the Companies Acts 1908-17; re The
Borthwick Garages Ltd of 8 Brick Street.
The first meeting of the firm’s creditors would take place on 2 June 1927 at 33 Carey St L Inn.
London Gazette
14 Aug 1928 p5496 Notices of Release of Liquidator: the list includes a Notice
for Borthwick Garages Ltd, registered office 8 Brick Street Piccadilly. This company was released 18 July 1928 by the
liquidator George Digby Pepys of 33 Carey Street Lincoln’s Inn.
London Gazette
13 March 1931 p1727 and again London Gazette 16 June 1931 p3922. Both under the Companies Act 1929 Section
295(5): long lists of companies recently dissolved, including Borthwick Garages
Ltd.
Sent to me by Nina Baker in her email of 7 Nov 2016:
list of items at the National Archives concerning the winding up of Borthwick
Garages Ltd, company reference number 150653.
Incorporated 1918. Document
references J 13/11308; J 107/39; BT 34/4281/150563 the liquidator’s accounts;
and BT 31/24082/150563.
CLEONE GRIFF’S STAINLESS AND NON-CORROSIVE METALS
COMPANY LTD
Items sent in November and December 2016 by Nina Baker
PhD who researches the history of engineering and runs the occasional blog
Women in Engineering History:
- extract from The Woman Engineer volume 1
number 17 1923 p280: profile of Cleone Griff.
- London Gazette 29 Dec 1925 p8674 re the
winding-up meeting.
- items now at the National Archives concerning the
winding-up of the company: list of shareholders with their addresses and the
number of shares they owned; and a list of the company’s directors - Cleone,
Lady Gertrude and Gabrielle who was described as a “motor car business
proprietor” (though Lady Gertrude wasn’t).
And a couple of items I found:
Via www.newspapers.com to the Albuquerque Journal of New Mexico
Sunday 2 December 1923 p9 a photo of Cleone Griff dressed as a pilot; and as
Managing Director of the Stainless and Non-Corrosive Metal (sic) Co ltd of GB,
which had what was thought to be the only all-woman board of directors in the
world.
At archive.commercialmotor.com, a short reference to
the Company in Commercial Motor 8 September 1925 announcing its new
address - 149 Sherborne Street Birmingham.
Its expanded range of products would include stainless steel castings
and pressings, particularly suitable for car dashboards.
A modern reference to Cleone Griff, in Women, A
Modern Political Dictionary by Cheryl Law.
2000 London: I B Tauris: p70
WOMEN’S AUTOMOBILE AND SPORTS ASSOCIATION
Sent by email 9 Nov 2016 by Nina Baker. From The Woman Engineer vol 3 issue 1
1929 p4:
The Women's Automobile and Sports
Association. An interesting
new Club has been formed, with headquarters at St. Ermin 's Hotel, Westminster,
to promote women's interest in automobile and sports events. The President is
the
Most Hon. the Marchioness of Carisbrooke, and the Vice-President
the Viscountess Elibank. We
are pleased to see that Miss Borthwick has been elected Chairman
of the Executive Committee.
Full particulars of the Club can be obtained rom the Secretary,
Mrs. Waldemar Leverton, St. Ermin's, Westminster. This Association is
responsible for the first girl road scout, Miss Grace New, who made her
appearance recently on the roads. It also organised the first Women's Classic
Motor Trial London-Exeter-London.
Follow up WASA:
Times didn’t
have anything on a rally f cars orgd by the Wood Green and Dist MC but on Tue
11 Jan 1927 p12 there was a short rpt on their wmn-only motorcycle trial,
through Herts. There were 50
competitors; some were named but no mention of Gabrielle or Benest/Griff.
Times nothing on the setting up of WASA but Times
Wed 6 Nov 1929 p17 in the Arrgts f To-day section of the Ct Circr page: annct
of the inaugural dinner of WASA at the St Ermin’s Hotel 8pm.
Wiki on St Ermin’s Hotel wh still exists, horseshoe
shaped bldg at 2 Caxton St W/m. Orig
built as a block of flats 1880s converted to a hotel reopening 1899. Long assoc w MI5 and MI6.
Times Wed 4
Dec 1929 p1 Personal Ads; in the Club Anncts section an ad f WASA “a club f
sportswomen” but also offering hotel accomm.
The first 3000 members wldn’t be charged an “entry fee”. Contact is the Sec. Club already has a tel number. Ad rptd in Times 9 Dec and 11 Dec
1929.
From 1929 no coverage in Times of any event orgd by
WASA.
Times 2 Jan
1935 p13 had a ref to a wedding reception held in WASA’s hq at 17 Buckingham
Palace Gdns ((so they’ve still got the bldg at that stage)).
Times 27
March 1935 p11 at the bottom of an article on events orgd to benefit the ((GV))
Jubilee Trust Fund: WASA Ltd (sic) wld be holding a motor gala w proceeds going
to the Fund; on Sun 14 July. Fur dtls
wld be avail 8 April [1935]. Lord
Rothermere had donated 50gns to get the prize fund started. After that, Times had no fur coverage of
it. Next mention of WASA was:
Times Fri 22
Nov 1935 p17 Court Circr: Vcts Elibank wld preside at the annual dinner of WASA
on “Tues” [26 Nov 1935] at the Savoy Hotel ((perhaps Elibank is the pres
now)). The year’s trial prizes wld be
pres’d at the dinner, incl the Lord Wakefield Trophy. No coverage of the actual event.
Via www.motorsportmagazine.com to issues of Motorsport in which WASA
figured. I searched f Borthwick but all
responses were men; searching f Gabrielle got no responses. Issues of:
December 1931 p32 WASA members were eligible to
compete in the 21st London to Gloucester trial.
July 1932 p10.
April 1934 p34 descg WASA’s trials as
“well-orgd”.
Dec 1935 p17
Aug 1937 p24 WASA did allow men into some but n all of
their Wakefield Trophy trials.
Aug 1938 p20 another mention of the Wakefield Trophy
named after Lord Wakefield of Hythe.
WASA’s 3 trials per year were consid the “most difficult” trials
competitions.
And a mod take on it:
April 1996 p76 by “WB” who mentiond sevl drivers at
the time thinking that WASA putting its own scouts out on the road was
“overambitious”. The Wood Green and Dist
Motor Club ran a trial f wmn in Jan 1927: Ally Pally to tring in a set time;
lunch; then back again. No mention of
any of WASA’s first-year officers in the a/c of that trial but the formn of
WASA was a direct res of it. WASA’s
first compv event was a night drive from Slough to Exeter and then back to
Basingstoke; some of the navigators were men.
In 1930 there was a trial to Land’s End; and trials at Montlhery in
France and at Brooklands. WASA took part
in inter-club racing at Brooklands; some of the team members named in the
article - not Gabrielle. WASA did a
Welsh trial bsd round Llandrindod Wells wh was regarded as partic chall. In 1935 WASA held a gala at Hurl Club as part
of King’s Jubilee.
End Motorsport mag
WASA’s first-year officers:
Pres Mcs Carisbrooke who’s a ?niece ?gt-niece of
Albertina Herbert:
Wkp on the only Mqs of Carisbrooke, title cr 1917 f P
Alexander of Battenberg 1886-1960, gson of QV via her ygt dtr Ps Beatrice; his
sister marr Alfonso of Spain. Surname
change July 1917 to Mountbatten. Marr
July 1917 Irene Francis Adza Denison 1890-1956 only dtr of 2nd E of
Londesborough. They had 1 child, Iris,
1920-1982 but Cecil Beaton’s diaries allege that the Mqs had a long-term male
lover. The Mqs was the first member of
the royal family to do a proper day’s work: starting in the offices of Lazard
Brothers.
V-pres Vcts Elibank.
Wkp on the viscounts Elibank.
Viscountcy cr 1911 f a man who was already a baron; old Scottish
title. WASA’s vcts is wife of the 2nd
Vct: Gideon Oliphant-Murray 1877-1951; colonial cvl serv; unionist MP to
1922. V conserv; v implt. Marr 1908 Ermine M K Aspinwall née
Madocks. No child. They moved to S Africa 1950 and he d there
1951.
At www.npgprints.com item X121207 is a photo of Vcts Elibank tkn 1948 at
Bassano and Vandyk. She d 1955.
Sec Mrs Waldemar Leverton. Cldn’t see m abt her or indeed abt him via
google - no dates, no wkp page. Google
had books incl
householdbooks.com a copy of her The Veg Cookery
Book pubd George Newnes Ltd; no pubn date.
BL catal had others but n that one. Her name’s Edith:
Little Economies and How to Practice Them. C Arthur Pearson Ltd 1903
Small Homes and How to Furnish Them. C Arthur Pearson Ltd 1903
Little Entertainments and How to Manage Them. C Arthur Pearson Ltd 1904
In entry f mag The World of Dress, pubd 1898-1905 by C
Arthur Pearson Ltd she’s listed as the editor of its last volume; but there’s a
diff name editing the first few vols.
Dressmaking Made Easy.
London: George Newnes 1910
Housekeeping Made Easy. Subtitle states it’s aimed at the m-c
mistress of h/h. London: George Newnes
1910
Servants and their Duties. A Helpful Manual for Mistress and
Servant. London: C Arthur Pearson Ltd
1912
Modern: Women, Clubs and Assocs in Britain by
David Doughan and Peter Gordon 2007. In
section Sporting Clubs p81 it’s mentioned in their a/c of the Wmn’s Billiards
Assoc, founded 1931. Its first Pres was
Vcts Elibank; v-chair Teresa Billington-Greig.
Had its hq at 17 Buckingham Palace Gdns SW1 courtesy of WASA. NB that’s the only ref to WASA in the
book. At speedqueens.blogspot.co.uk,
item added 6 Nov 2016 on WASA. Anon; no
sources. Lots of names of participants
but I cldn’t see any ref to Gabrielle in the a/cs of the trials. WASA was founded fllwg the success of the
Wood Green and Dist wmn-only trial of early 1927. The first event staged by WASA was in 1929:
Exeter, w 38 cars and 17 all-wmn crews ((driver and car mech)). 1930 trial to Land’s End staged by WASA. The WASA trophy (pictured on the site) was
awarded at least up to 1938; but WASA didn’t get started again after WW2.
GABRIELLE’S DEATH
Probate registry: Gabrielle Margaret Ariana Borthwick
of Wickhurst, Broadbridge Heath Sussex, spinster, died on 10 October 1952. Probate granted at the London office on 9
January 1953 to Teresa Mary Cecilia Muckleston, married woman, and Mary
Charman, spinster. Effects £10589/10/7.
London Gazette
27 February 1953 p1208. As sent to the
web, the page doesn’t say what list this is, but I can tell from experience
with other GD members that it’s a list of people lately dead who had an income
from a trust fund. The people are listed
in accordance with the Trustee Act 1925 as part of the winding-up of the dead
person’s estate. The list includes
Gabrielle Borthwick. Interested parties were to contact Eager and Sons
solicitors of 8 North Street Horsham; who were acting for Teresa Mary Cecilia
Muckleston and Mary Charman.
Muckleston:
At www.mytrees.com
there’s a page for the Healy family.
Teresa Mary Cecilia Healy is 1893-1973; she married 1919 Bertram Brookes
Muckleston 1888-1983 - marriage details from freebmd.
Via archive.org/stream to the Air Force List for July
1941. On p7 a B B Muckleston is working
in the Department of the Permanent Under-Secretary; he is not on active duty.
Charman:
A Complete Memoir of Richard Haines... by Charles Reginald Haines, published 1899 pxxi
describes the Charman or Carman family as “an old and important clan in Sussex...in
the neighbourhood of Horsham, Warnham and Shinfold”.
At www.wscountytimes.co.uk
an article from Tue 10 April 2012 about Mike Holmwood, who had traced his
family history back to the 16th cent and discovered people called
Charman in it. A John James Charman had
gone down with the Titanic (April 1912) aged 26; he was a son of Solomon and
Mary Charman who lived in the Gardner’s Cottage, Pondtail Road Horsham.
Times 3
March 1953 p14e in set of adverts for forthcoming sales at Christies: some
jewellery once owned by Gabrielle Borthwick was part of a bigger sale of such
items; they were being sold by her executrices.
PORTRAITS OF GABRIELLE
At www.npg.org.uk
there’s a portrait of her done by Bassano on 5 September 1921. NPG x121152.
Wikipedia on Bassano.
The firm was started by Alexander Bassano 1829-1913, born London of
Italian extraction. He opened his first
photography studio in Regent Street in 1850 and bec THE society photographer at
that and various other addresses. His
main studio was at 25 Old Bond Street from 1876 to 1921; during 1921 it moved
to 38 Dover Street. Many of Bassano’s
company’s original glass plates are now held by the National Portrait Gallery
so Gabrielle’s photograph at their website must be one of those.
Confirmation that Gabrielle’s photo is in the Bassano
archives: at //library.temple.edu/collections/scrc/bassano-ltd-photograph,
there’s a list of their collection of photos of society figures taken by
Bassano Ltd between 1920 and 1939. The
photograph of Gabrielle Borthwick is in the collection’s Box 3. The list doesn’t include dates for any of the
photographs in it.
A couple of Gabrielle, and several of the garage
including her working on an engine: at www.topfoto.co.uk/gallery.wwiwomenatwork.ppages/ppage44.htm
- number
1067006 is Hon G M A Borthwick School of Motoring and Engineering, Piccadilly
London. Showing 3 women removing a car
axle.
At //cache33.fkft02.de.topfoto.co.uk file number
1067012
- a
photo of Gabrielle posing with her Great Dane.
The website suggests the photograph is from the 1920s or 1930s but her
dress is nearly to her ankles and her hair is long and done up Edwardian style,
so I think it must be earlier. She’s
standing in an empty side-street, between imposing looking stone walls. I think she must be near her School of
Motoring therefore it’s probably Brick Street Piccadilly. She’s wearing the same dress/overall in the
photograph below:
At thumb16.jpg@theimageworks.com:
- She’s
leaning over a car engine, watched by 2 other women also in grubby overalls -
probably trainees.
Copyright SALLY DAVIS
14 May 2017
Find the web pages of Roger Wright and Sally Davis,
including my list of people initiated into the Order of the Golden Dawn between
1888 and 1901, at:
www.wrightanddavis.co.uk
***