Herry's Archives

Ruth (on the right) and Annette aged about 10, with Annette's brother Ivor . Click on the heading for more photos from Ruth's family album Ruth Howard (nee Pugh, later Stevens and finally Howard), was born in London in 1910. He father was Lewis Pugh Evans Pugh KC (1865 - 1940) who was born in Calcutta, educated at Winchester and Corpus, Oxford and was a Puisne Judge between 1910-1914. Ruth's mother was Emily Ada Sophia Chaplin ('Loll') (1867-1953). Ruth was brought up in Wales with her brother Griffith and four sisters, Veronica, Gwladys, Phyllis and Roasmunde, and was very close to my mother Annette (born in Darjeeling in 1911), her first cousin. Click here for some early reminicences about Ruth and also my mother  Annette She married Capt Barry Stevens DSO, DSC, RN and lived at the Manor House Warnford , close to Stocks Farm . Barry Stevens had been married before and had two daughters, Sarah and Biddy. Together they had Auriol...

This is an extract from Herry's speech at his retirement party at Trinity House on 13th April 2006 dealing with his partners and colleagues. The full speech is available on his Journal here . Amongst those who have flattered my career are of course a number of my colleagues, several of them who have already passed into that amazing post-Miller state in which they look 20 years younger than they did before they retired.  I can't avoid mentioning two or three key people, although many more than that qualify.  First Bill Birch Reynardson, whose unwise invitation while shooting with my father to send young Herry up to Millers instead of to the bar was the luckiest break in my life, as well as his wonderful tutelage, both in matters of business and also in how to travel in style in places like Yugoslavia and India – not to mention Bahgdad, I have never forgotten.  The late Frank Ledwith, of course, who taught all of us who joined Miller's in the '60s, indoctrin...

Pleaux in the 1960s Herry spent two summers in France - first in 1961 when he was 16 - and again in 1964. His first stay was with a distant Pugh cousin Mlle Manileve - known as Tante Lily - who lived in a large house ('Les Treize Vents') at Pleaux in the Massif Central and had friends' and relatives' children to stay to improve their French, rather in the manner of the Hupthals of Haldengutli for German and skiing. Herry was driven down by 'Aunt' Ruth (then Stevens, later Howard) and her daughter Auriol, and spent five weeks supposedly learning French but mainly swimming and brushing up his table tennis. In 1964 he went to stay with his former nanny, Marie-Therese Carpita and her husband Lucien at their flat in Cap d'Ail . Marie-Therese then worked at Narmino , the flower shop in Monte Carlo which supplied all the flowers for the Palace, and Marie-Therese herself went there weekly to arrange them. Lucien had an equally enviable job, being the maitre ...

In the summer of 1967 after leaving university and before starting work at Millers , Herry travelled through Europe with the original intention of visiting Roger Allen, an old friend of his parents' who was then ambassador to Turkey. Taking only £25, which was the maximum one was allowed to take out of the country in those days, he drove from Calais through France, Germany and Italy to Corfu. In Florence he stayed for three weeks while his car was repaired after an accident, and where his mother's goddaughter Madelaine Rampling lent him her flat (she had been helping clear up after the great flood of 1966). There he was joined by Charlie Skipwith who was then working in Bordeaux, and his new girlfriend Lucie . Johnny Cooke also drove out from England with Annabelle Coldstream and Tim Boycott joined them with Lu Handcock . Herry actually met Lucie for the first time in Charlie's tent in a wood outside Livorno. It was the shooting season and we spend all day keeping ou...

My parents bought Harvestgate Farm in 1970 from the Biles's when they retired, as it was good land and closely adjoined Stocks . The Biles's stayed on in their cottage nearby, but Harvestgate famhouse, which had lain empty for several years, was given to Herry on his marriage to Prue in December 1971. The house consisted of two small flint and brick cottages with a milking shed with a fine beamed roof at one end. The upper floor of one of the cottages was a hay store, with a hatch from which one could throw hay down into the milking shed. The house stood on one side of a courtyard. The second side was a stable and the third, a large flint barn. An old flint wall closed the courtyard off on the fourth side and there was a a large pond outside the courtyard at the end of the barn. The buildings were roofed in Welsh slate but were simply constructed without damp proofing; the ceilings in the cottages too low for modern useage. To begin with we had to clear the buildings out ...

Martin's summer lunch, held more or less continuously since 1974. Left to right, standing: Di Gibb, Geoff Spawton, Chris Gibb, Annie May (Spawton), Will Martin, Anthony Provest, Julian Pearson , Sandra Wake, Nick Duke, Herry, Mike Lawford, Peter Cartwright, Pauline Provest, Sheila Proffit, Jane Lovell, Ian Hay, Richard Lovell, Erica hay, Val Pile. Front row: Anna-Maria Pearson, Charlie Madge, Terry Porter, Wendy Cartwright, Ayako, Penny Lawford, Sally Wilson-Young, Prue, Belinda Martin. Our Friends Childrens' friends L

For a recent list of friends and godparents at the Hampshire Gathering on 4th January 2009, see here Toby Bowhill Oliver Bowhill Sophie Bowhill Felicity Duke Cordelia Duke Iona Duke Christien Hay Jolyon Hay Simeon Hay Samantha Lawford Rory McCormick Liza McCormick Rebecca Martin Nichola Martin James Martin Charlie McEwan Adam Pile Oliver Pile Naomi Skipwith Alissa skipwith Georgie Skipwith Ian Wilson-Young Olivia Wilson-Young

Radha at Miss Apps's, Meonstoke in March 1978 Edward and Ian Wilson-Young in the front row at Rookesbury 1981 The childrens' schools were: Miss Apps's Meonstoke - Radha, Edward and Charles Hambledon School - Edward Rookesbury Park School Radha and Edward Return to Archive Index Return to Harvestgate Farm

My mother Annette loved opera. There was usually someone singing on the hi-fi equipment in the drawing room and Kobbe was always to be found on a table near her chair. One of her best loved pieces was this unaccompanied song by Kathleen Ferrier - 'Blow The Wind Southerly'. Although she loved to listen to Victoria de Los Angeles, Joan Sutherland, Callas and Kiri Te Kanawa, I think Ferrier remained her favourite. She used to accompany her friend Kitty Bulman , who had a beautiful voice, on the piano and they often performed this piece. My father Patrick , whose taste was more Don Giovanni, may have particularly appreciated Ferrier because she looked a lot like his first wife, Catherine Stephenson - although he was too discreet ever to say so..... Return to Archive Index Return to Annette Lawford Return to Kathleen Ferrier (Land of Hope and Glory)

Martin's summer lunch 1994. This lunch was held more or less continuously since 1974. Left to right, standing: Di Gibb, Geoff Spawton, Chris Gibb, Annie May (Spawton), Will Martin, Anthony Provest, Julian Pearson , Sandra Wake, Nick Duke, Herry, Mike Lawford, Peter Cartwright, Pauline Provest, Sheila Proffit, Jane Lovell, Ian Hay, Richard Lovell, Erica Hay, Val Pile. Front row: Anna-Maria Pearson, Charlie Madge, Terry Porter, Wendy Cartwright, Ayako, Penny Lawford, Sally Wilson-Young, Prue, Belinda Martin Click the heading for more photos of friends at that lunch Anne-Marie and Iain Attwell Julian and Quenelda Avery Alex Adnams Sam and Claudia Bartosik (Sam died 2008) Tony and Susan Bird Patrick Bateman Prof Yvonne Baatz Nigel and Susannah Bateman Cmdr Tim and Sally Boycott Charles and Katsuko Buckeridge (Charles died 1996) Bill and Nik Birch Reynardson (Nik died 1997) Tom and Imogen Birch Reynardson Carol Bowhill Indira and Jagdish Baveja Rita Bettancourt Suza...

Click on the heading for more photos of Edna St We bought 24 Edna St in Battersea through John D Wood in 1993. It was a perfect location for the time having a delightful garden with a south-west aspect and kind neighbours, not far from the local Montessori and the favoured local prep school, Thomas's in Battersea High St. Edna St was one of the 'sister' streets built by a Mr Orbel in the 1840s with each street named after one of his daughters - Edna, Ursula etc. Recent developments have been helpful, creating an enclave by means of a one-way system which ensured that there was no through traffic. The house had three bedrooms, one of which became my study. That and the kitchen overlooking the well-planted garden and the pond, and a 'Frisia' flourished at the end giving perfect shade when we sat out or barbecued. We had the front door painted many coats of the the classic Parisian 'Amersterdam' green so that it glowed, and put in a wrought-iron gate and ...

Fuff with a bust of his great-grandfather, HE Luxmoore, at Luxmoore;s Garden at Eton . HE was a  noted housemaster  at Eton in the 1800s Fairfax - or Fuff as he is universally known - was born on 17th July 1940 to Annette Luxmoore (nee Pugh, later Lawford) and Wing-Commander Arthur Luxmoore . Arthur crashed and died in Belgium in 1941. Annette married Patrick Lawford in 1944 and Herry (1945) and Piers (1947) became his half-brothers. Fuff went to St Ronan's , where he was a fine athlete, then to Charterhouse where he excelled at hockey, and thereafter to Cirencester , where he had an energetic social life. In 1961, Fuff and two friends drove a Jaguar from England all the way to India via Iran and Afghanistan. They sold it in India and Fuff continued on to Australia by ship, arriving in Perth. From there he rode a motorbike all the way across the Nullarbor Plain to the east coast, finally ending up in New Zealand. In 1963 Fuff married Belinda Roberts from Thirsk,...

Edward Lawford as Clerk to the Drapers' Livery Company by Pickersgill Edward Lawford at Eden Park c1842 - possibly by Udon Upton Eddis Edward Lawford (1787 - 1864) was Clerk to the Drapers' Company as well as Solicitor to the East India Company . He amassed a large fortune and rented a fine house, Eden Park, which stood in 300 acres at Beckenham in Kent. The house was commented on appreciately by Pevsner in his 'Houses of England'. Edward moved to Switzerland in 1854 and died there, being buried at Vevey. Edward had four sons; Henry became Solicitor to the Drapers' Company and practiced as 'Lawford, Waterhouse and Lawford' in Austin Friars. Charles became a clergyman, Melville a cavary officer and diarist• and Henry Baring, who became a High Court judge in Bengal. Amy Lawford married the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Coleridge. Photos of the family can be seen here * see here for an example of Melville's Diary report on his visit to Wa...

Drapers' Hall set for the Election Dinner The Livery Companies of the City of London are the descendants of the ancient guilds which controlled England’s trades in the middle ages, and which now administer large charitable funds, as well as supporting schools, universities and almshouses. Their wealth is based mainly on bequests and gifts of land and buildings acquired over the centuries. Few of them have any links with their original trades, though some, like the Goldsmiths , still do. Of the 110 livery companies, the oldest make up ‘the Great Twelve’, and the Drapers - which once controlled the woollen cloth trade - ranks at No 3 in an order of precedence settled as long ago as 1515 (the Mercers - the general merchants - and the Grocers are No 1 and 2). The Queen is a Liveryman of the Drapers' Company (and a member of the Court), and Prince Charles is a Freeman. The Companies are run by the Clerk, usually a distinguished retired serviceman or businessman, while a sen...