Trip from Trinidad - part 2 - back to Louise

April 18, 1930

Ebeneezer showed me his diary entry, and we had a good laugh about it. I guess that if I want to down details about these people, I will have to do the asking of the right questions myself. All he did was get them to talk about whisky and cricket.

Baronet Hugo Fitzherbert has his stately home at Tissington, Derbyshire . He told me all about it when I cornered him one day when we were sitting by the pool.

Tissington sounds like a lovely village. At the centre is Tissington Hall (pictured above), which is some 400 years old and is still the family home to the Fitzherbert family since its origins. The Church of St Mary;s dates back to the Norman era, and the village holds its well dressing celebrations each year on Ascension Day.

The Hall is a large a very fine Jabcobean mansion built in 1609 for Francis Fitzherbert possibly incorporating parts of an earlier hall. During the Civil swat Tissington was garrisoned by Colonel Fitzherbert in support of the King. He told me a great many details about the history of the place, but although I have taken careful notes, I won't put it all down here.

I asked him about well dressing as I don't think they do that sort of thing in Worcestershire. He said that it mostly started in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

“The five wells and one children’s well are dressed to depict varying religious themes, “ he said. “Natural materials such as flower petals and mosses are pressed into clay set in a wooden frame, to form a unique and colourful picture. The tradition si suppose to have originated as a thanksgiving for the endless supply of pure water to the village. I don’t think Hugo is married, and it seemed lthat his brother is likely to inherit the title after him. He's had it since 1906. He seemed quite a nice man when I got to know him. And he never mentioned cricket once.

April 20

We had dinner tonight with the Clarke-Jervoises. |They were all perfectly delightful and I wouldn’t have known I was in the presence of the “quality” if I hadn't known before hand that he was a baronet.

I asked about their home. “Idsworth was not mentioned in the Doomsday book, but there was a place of that name in the 12^th century, although the Hall we have there was built much later. Our occupancy dates from when my great-great Grandfather, who was called Jervaise Clarke, inherited the title on the understanding that he change his name to Jervaise Clarke-Jervaise,” said Dudley.

“Why?” I asked

“It all started with Mr. Samuel Clarke who got a knighthood in 1712. His son Samuel married Mary Elizabeth Jervoise. Maybe they thought the hyphenated surname sounded like more aristocratic . Anyway, his son, my father inherited and then my elder brother, but he had no children, so I got the title when he died in 1916.”

“And will Gladys inherit it when you die?” I asked stupidly. There was a long silence, and I could sense that I had touched on an uncomfortable subject. It was Grace who answered me.

“Dudley's mother wasn't married to his father,” she said, “so even his inheritance as looked on negatively by some people. And they (meaning those who control the details of the aristocracy) don't even mention me when they talk about Dudley. It's as if I don't count at all. They mention Gladys, but put her down on their list as if she had no mother or father, and just happened to come into the family by some sort of magic. But, no, she won't inherit and the title will die when Dudley does.”

“I'm sorry for asking but thank you for your  candour. But you are going back there to the seat of your ancestors. Tell me what it is like.”

“It is in a little village called Finchdean, near the railway line in the midst of very beautiful country. I the centre of the village ina small triangular green, near which is the smithy, the George Inn, and a small Congregational Chapel. Our house is to the north, but for mant years, we have had others living in the house. So when we do go, we will be in the visitor’s section rather than taking over,” said Dudley.

“It stands in a fine park of 150 acres, commanding wide views over the surrounding country and the Isle of Wight,” added Grace.

“One of my sisters-in-law lived in the Isle of Wight,” said Ebeneezer, “She loved it there, but I have never visited it myself.”

Later when I was writing up the diary Ebeneezer said, “you shouldn't put in all those things they told you about their irregular situation.

Well, I don't see why not If it's listed in de Bret like that, then everyone must know that it is not the normal situation, but I feel sorry for them, as they are not one thing nor the other. No wonder they choose to live on Barbados. At least they must have loads of money.”