A Baby Show at Knowle House, Possibly with Lady Margaret Ryder, pre 1932
Title
A Baby Show at Knowle House, Possibly with Lady Margaret Ryder, pre 1932
Subject
Description
A photograph of what certainly seems to be a Baby Show, held at Knowle House. The left end of the manor house, completed c. 1878 for the late Mr. James Hole and designed by J.D. Sedding (1), is visible. In later years the house, situated just northeast of the village of Timberscombe, is better known as Knowle Manor.
A group of women is seen, all with infants and a woman to the right holds an odd poster of what appears to be a face with clenched teeth and an arrow running through it. "SHOW" is lettered under the image. It has been suggested that the photograph was taken around 1919 but the clothing seems more suggestive of the later 1920's or early 1930's. Knowle House was sold in 1916 as Lot 1 at an auction of the Knowle Estate and by 1919 was occupied by the Hon. Mrs. Drury-Lowe (2). There is scant information about Mrs. Drury-Lowe. She appears to have been a shopkeeper in Taunton (3) and it seems she left Knowle House before the end of 1919.
In the centre of the front row is a kneeling older woman, holding steady a standing infant. She appears to be Lady Margaret Ryder. Margaret, with her sisters, Lady Constance Ryder and Lady Audrey Anson likely occupy Knowle House by the end of 1919. On the 7th of November 1919, Lady Margaret Ryder became a Foundation Manager on the Board of Governors of the Timberscombe School, replacing Mr. Thomas Norrish who had resigned because he had left the parish (4). Lady Margaret first appears in the Timberscombe School Log Book on 13 February 1920, visiting the school in the afternoon and examining the children's writing skills in their Exercise Books (5).
Lady Margaret Susan Ryder was born 11 September 1860, at Sandon Hall, the Staffordshire family estate of the Ryder family, purchased in 1776 by Nathaniel Ryder, the first Earl of Harrowby (5). Margaret was the eldest of the eight children of Henry Dudley Ryder, later to become the 4th Earl of Harrowby and Susan Juliana Maria Hamilton (nee Dent) Ryder. Their second child , born in 1863, was Angela Mary Alice and their third, John Herbert Dudley, born in 1864, will eventually become the 5th Earl of Harrowby. Margaret's sisters, who will live with her at Knowle House, Constance Susan Euphemia, born 1871, and Adelaide Audrey, born 1875, are the 6th and 7th children (6).
Margaret's father was the 4th Earl only for a short time. Henry Dudley Ryder fell overboard from his yacht off the coast of Algeria in 1900, nine months after his father died (7). Margaret's sister, Angela Mary Alice had married Colin Frederick Campbell in 1890 and Audrey married Maj. Hon. Henry James Anson in 1902 (8). Margaret's mother, Lady Susan, had moved into a manor house, High Ashurst on Box Hill at Dorking, Surrey. This would have been Lady's Susan's dower house, with her son now head of Sandon Hall. Margaret and Constance moved with her. Their mother died at High Ashurst in 1913 (9). On the weekend in August, 1914, just before World War I was declared, Margaret hosted 150 supporters of the Dorking Branch of the National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage on the grounds of Box Hill (10),
As soon as the war ended in 1918, squeezed by land value taxes, Margaret and Constance were forced to sell High Ashurst (11). Lady Audrey Anson's husband had died in 1904, after which, at some point, she had joined her sisters at High Ashurst (12). The three women came to Knowle House, where they all lived the rest of their lives.
Margaret died on 17 September 1932 (13). On September 21, all the children of Timberscombe School attended her memorial service at St. Petrock's Church in Timberscombe, officiated by its vicar, the Rev. Henry Herbert Bell (14). On September 8 1932, Margaret had attended, as Foundation Manager, a meeting of the school's Board of Governors. Recording the Board's next meeting on the 1st of December in the Minutes Book, Rev. Bell wrote of the loss of Lady Margaret Ryder, recalling her as a great benefactor, a general supporter of all matters, a regular attendant of all meetings, concluding "she had left a very gracious memory" (15).
This copy of the photograph of the Baby Show was donated in September 2021 to the St. Petrock's History Group by John D. Jones of Monmouthshire, as part of the estate of his late aunt, Mary Wright who had been Head Teacher at Timberscombe School from 1976 to 1985.
A group of women is seen, all with infants and a woman to the right holds an odd poster of what appears to be a face with clenched teeth and an arrow running through it. "SHOW" is lettered under the image. It has been suggested that the photograph was taken around 1919 but the clothing seems more suggestive of the later 1920's or early 1930's. Knowle House was sold in 1916 as Lot 1 at an auction of the Knowle Estate and by 1919 was occupied by the Hon. Mrs. Drury-Lowe (2). There is scant information about Mrs. Drury-Lowe. She appears to have been a shopkeeper in Taunton (3) and it seems she left Knowle House before the end of 1919.
In the centre of the front row is a kneeling older woman, holding steady a standing infant. She appears to be Lady Margaret Ryder. Margaret, with her sisters, Lady Constance Ryder and Lady Audrey Anson likely occupy Knowle House by the end of 1919. On the 7th of November 1919, Lady Margaret Ryder became a Foundation Manager on the Board of Governors of the Timberscombe School, replacing Mr. Thomas Norrish who had resigned because he had left the parish (4). Lady Margaret first appears in the Timberscombe School Log Book on 13 February 1920, visiting the school in the afternoon and examining the children's writing skills in their Exercise Books (5).
Lady Margaret Susan Ryder was born 11 September 1860, at Sandon Hall, the Staffordshire family estate of the Ryder family, purchased in 1776 by Nathaniel Ryder, the first Earl of Harrowby (5). Margaret was the eldest of the eight children of Henry Dudley Ryder, later to become the 4th Earl of Harrowby and Susan Juliana Maria Hamilton (nee Dent) Ryder. Their second child , born in 1863, was Angela Mary Alice and their third, John Herbert Dudley, born in 1864, will eventually become the 5th Earl of Harrowby. Margaret's sisters, who will live with her at Knowle House, Constance Susan Euphemia, born 1871, and Adelaide Audrey, born 1875, are the 6th and 7th children (6).
Margaret's father was the 4th Earl only for a short time. Henry Dudley Ryder fell overboard from his yacht off the coast of Algeria in 1900, nine months after his father died (7). Margaret's sister, Angela Mary Alice had married Colin Frederick Campbell in 1890 and Audrey married Maj. Hon. Henry James Anson in 1902 (8). Margaret's mother, Lady Susan, had moved into a manor house, High Ashurst on Box Hill at Dorking, Surrey. This would have been Lady's Susan's dower house, with her son now head of Sandon Hall. Margaret and Constance moved with her. Their mother died at High Ashurst in 1913 (9). On the weekend in August, 1914, just before World War I was declared, Margaret hosted 150 supporters of the Dorking Branch of the National League for Opposing Women's Suffrage on the grounds of Box Hill (10),
As soon as the war ended in 1918, squeezed by land value taxes, Margaret and Constance were forced to sell High Ashurst (11). Lady Audrey Anson's husband had died in 1904, after which, at some point, she had joined her sisters at High Ashurst (12). The three women came to Knowle House, where they all lived the rest of their lives.
Margaret died on 17 September 1932 (13). On September 21, all the children of Timberscombe School attended her memorial service at St. Petrock's Church in Timberscombe, officiated by its vicar, the Rev. Henry Herbert Bell (14). On September 8 1932, Margaret had attended, as Foundation Manager, a meeting of the school's Board of Governors. Recording the Board's next meeting on the 1st of December in the Minutes Book, Rev. Bell wrote of the loss of Lady Margaret Ryder, recalling her as a great benefactor, a general supporter of all matters, a regular attendant of all meetings, concluding "she had left a very gracious memory" (15).
This copy of the photograph of the Baby Show was donated in September 2021 to the St. Petrock's History Group by John D. Jones of Monmouthshire, as part of the estate of his late aunt, Mary Wright who had been Head Teacher at Timberscombe School from 1976 to 1985.
Creator
Anonymous
Date
likely between 1919 and 1932
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
A Baby Show at Knowle House, Possibly with Lady Margaret Ryder / Timberscombe. / northeast of the village
Acquisition Date
2021
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
EVENTS / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
Entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2021
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
12.5 X 20
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) British Listed Buildings.co.uk (2) Kelly's Directory of Somerset, 1919 (3) UK, City and County Directories, 1766-1946 (4) Timberscombe School MINUTES BOOK, 15 July 1903-11 October 1929 (5) Timberscombe School LOG BOOK, 4 April 1910-25 March 1947 (6) cracroftspeerage.co.uk/ harrowby 1890.htm and whatsonlive.co.uk (7) en. wikipedia.org/ wiki/ High Ashurst (8) cracroftsperrage.co.uk (9) en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ High Ashurst (10) "DORKING IN THE GREAT WAR", by Kathryn Atherton, Pen and Sword, 2015 and Dorking Museum Photo, pinterest.co.uk/ pin/ 205124958007782647/ (11) boxhillcommunity.com (12) cracroftspeerage.co.uk and "Gladdy's Story", personal memories of Gladys Collins (1911-1991), who had worked at High Ashurst, boxhillcommunity.com (13) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Register, 1916-2007 (14) Timberscombe School LOG BOOK, 4 April 1910-25 March 1947, page 361 (15) Timberscombe School MINUTES BOOK, 3 April 1930-2 April 1974
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group
Storage Date
2021
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-121
Technique
Copy
Citation
Anonymous, “A Baby Show at Knowle House, Possibly with Lady Margaret Ryder, pre 1932,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 15, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3220.
Comments