Herry's Archives

Valentine Lawford by Horst My uncle Valentine, who died in 1991, was a most interesting character. Gay - long before it was fashionable or even legal - brilliant (a double first) and extremely cultured. He was educated at Repton and Corpus Christi, Cambridge where he read modern and mediaeval languages, and compeleted his studies at the Sorbonne, Strasbourg and in Vienna. In 1934 he joined the Foreign Office and in 1936 was posted to the embassy in Paris, where he became friends with a wide circle of artistic and fashionable people such as Gertrude Stein, the Duff Coopers, Sir Charles and Elsie Mendl, Douglas Fairbanks, the Rothschilds, Coco Chanel, the de Castellanes and the Windsors. We have a letter to him, inviting him to dine at Maxim's, signed 'Wallis Windsor'. He was particularly close to Nancy Cunard , who gave him some fine presents, such as a bronze of Napoleon on horseback and an antique map  of Scandinavia (c.1700) He was summoned back to London in Sept...

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 Click the heading for more photos from this lunch. Click here for more photos from the Sydney Albums Bernard and Grittie Allez Philippe and Carol Allez Gerard and Vigdis Allez Julian and Quenelda Avery Sam and Claudia Bartowsik Tim and Sally Boycott Nigel and Susannah Bateman Tomo and Vedrana Badurina Bill and Nik Birch Reynardson Carol and Barry Bowhill Frances Duke Patrick and Angela Bruce-Gardyne Janie Christmas Peter and Penny Crittle Richard Courtauld Julie Courtauld Mic...

Patrick played regularly for Colin Balfour 's Wintershill eleven in their annual match against Durley. Colin is sitting in the middle at the front and Patrick, in an excerable hat, over his right shoulder next to Jonathan Findlay. Annette is standing at the back, third from the right (in dark glasses). The others are as follows: Back row (l to r) John Colvin (Prue's brother), Marie-Therese Hill, Minnie Hughes-Onslow, Bruce Spicer, Peter Lyndon Skeggs, Jenni Napier, Annette Lawford, Gill Winterton, Robbie Walford. Middle row - Fergus Hughes-Onslow, Patrick Lawford, Jonathan Findlay, David Winterton. Front row - Jamie, Harry Joynt, Colin Balfour, James Hill, Robin Napier. These were some of my parents' friends: Lady Liz and Capt Sir Edward (Teddy) Archdale Cmdr Colin and Prue Balfour Nigel and Susannah Bateman Derek and Ann Bazalgette Pat Bertlin Michael and Patricia Blake Capt. Peter Bence-Trower Bill and Nik Birch Reynardson Paddy & Ja...

Litchfield Manor during the war. Herry's bedroom was on the near corner. The window was broken by a bomb just after he was born. Having completed his pupilage with Percy Bragg at Headbourne Worthy , Patrick was offered the Litchfield Estate by the then owner, Carey Druce (who lived in Switzerland as well as at The Mount, Whitchurch). He came there in 1938 and married Catherine Stephenson in 1940. She died in December 1941. Patrick married Annette Luxmoore nee Pugh (who was living with her mother, Lady Herbert and step-father, Sir Alfred Herbert, at the neighbouring estate of Dunley ) in 1944. Herry was born at Litchfield Manor in 1945 and christened at Litchfield Church that September. Herry's Christening at Litchfield September 1945. Annette (holding Herry), Patrick, Jane Lawford (Patrick's mother), Percy Bragg, Constance Travers (Herry's godmother), Gill Luxmoore  It was at Litchfield that Patrick became a fine horseman and shot. Charles Carey Druce g...

Bottom right: Elsa and her mother by the fire, both characteristically smoking. In the other photos - Ruth's stepdaughter Sara [from Ruth's photo album 1946] In 1963, between leaving school and going to university , Herry spent the winter in Engleberg where an old friend of the Pugh's, Frau Prof Hauthal (known as Tante Erica) and her daughter Elsa had a chalet called 'Haldengutli'. Members of the family who loved skiiing - particularly the Pughs and the Cassels (Francie - Sir Francis- and later his son Tim) - had spent the winter there since the 1930s. Griffith Pugh , who later played a crucial role in supporting Hilary and Tenzing on their successful conquest of Everest in 1953, learned to become an Olympic-level skiier there, ignoring his father's entreaties to return home to his medical studies. As Elsa and her mother got older, looking after up to 16 guests every day proved too much for them and one of the family or close friends used to send thei...

Notes for the Address at the Funeral of Patrick Lawford in Meonstoke Church in February 2002 Patrick Lawford was born on 23rd November 1914, the youngest of five children, to Capt Vincent Lawford (CMG, DSO, RN) and Jane Agnes nee Mapplebeck at Chorleywood in Hertfordshire. The Lawford family were mostly bankers and solicitors but his brothers Adrian and Denys followed their father into the Navy, while his other brother Valentine had a distinguished career in the diplomatic service and then became a noted author, art connoisseur and artist in New York. His sister Sylvia Findlater, who is 92, survives them all. It was doubtless the Navy’s loss but Patrick had one term at Dartmouth before deciding to go farming after he left Repton - where he was an outstanding long-distance runner - and was taken on as a pupil by Percy Bragg at Headbourne Worthy , just outside Winchester in Hampshire. There he spent a marvellous three years before being recommended to Carey Druce...

Fuff , Annette with Piers , Herry in the wheelbarrow at Danegate Summer 1949 . Photo by Horst Following Patrick's pupillage at Headbourne Worthy and his first management job at Litchfield , the family moved to Eridge in 1946 - first to Crown House and then to Danegate on the Marquess of Abergavenny's estate. Danegate was an imposing crenellated house overlooking Eridge Park and we had a most happy time there as it was a perfect place for children. Herry remembers to this day the taste of the Michaelmas daisies he tried to eat in the border and his mother remembers finding him half-way up a huge ladder trying to see the moon better! He also used to ride his tricycle (and later an orange tractor) in the house's wide corridors. Later, having learned to ride a bicycle, he used to bike down the long drive to play with the little girl who lived in the lodge. Piers was born there in 1947 and Fuff started school at St Ronan's the same year. The ...