June Grace Heywood Lonsdale: mother of Duchess of Devonshire
Michael Rhodes
Devonshire, KG, at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, on Monday 10 May,
were bearing a second grievous loss - the death on the previous day of
the new Duchess of Devonshire's mother.
Mrs June Heywood Lonsdale, octogenarian mother of Amanda, the Duchess
of Devonshire, died on Sunday 9 May.
She was born June Grace Shakespeare, daughter of Walter Shakespeare,
of Sefton, Weybridge, Surrey, and according to press reports was a
direct descendant of the Bard himself - William Shakespeare.
She married 3 November, 1932, Commander Edward Gavin Heywood Lonsdale,
DSC and bar, JP (1904-61), scion of the Heywood Lonsdale landed
family, and a grandson maternally of the 1st Baron Hamilton of
Dalzell.
Her husband commanded the frigate HMS Magpie on which the Duke of
Edinburgh served as a junior officer.
June Heywood Lonsdale was the mother of three, a son Peter, born in
1939, a son David born in 1942, and an only daughter, Amanda Carmen,
born 18 April, 1944.
The daughter, a great beauty, was a debutante in 1962. In June 1967,
Amanda became the society bride of the year when she wed Peregrine
(Stoker), Marquess of Hartington, 23, son and heir of the 11th Duke of
Devonshire. Guests at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields included
the Queen (in a white dress and green coat) and Queen Mother (in a
blue and green floral dress and hat). The bride was given in marriage
by her brother, Peter.
In the early days of their marriage the new Duke and Duchess shared a
home in Wimbledon with Mrs Heywood Lonsdale, and gossip columnists
recorded the Hartington's foreign holidays - frequently with "Junie"
among the guests. Dempster oft reported Hartington's "slavish
devotion" to Junie Heywood Lonsdale.
There will be a service of Thanksgiving at The Priory Church, Bolton
Abbey (on the Duke's Yorkshire estate), on Monday 17 May, 2004.
-- Michael Rhodes (please delete the x to e-mail me)
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Brian Gleason
So the Duke died? And this means that Debo, the last remaining Mitford
sister, is a widow? Sorry if I missed this. Thanks, Michael, for the post.
Michael Rhodes
> "Michael Rhodes" wrote
>
> > The mourners attending the splendidly done funeral of the 11th Duke of
> > Devonshire, KG, at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, on Monday 10 May,
> > were bearing a second grievous loss - the death on the previous day of
> > the new Duchess of Devonshire's mother.
> So the Duke died? And this means that Debo, the last remaining Mitford
> sister, is a widow? Sorry if I missed this. Thanks, Michael, for the post.
Here's the BBC's article on His Grace's funeral:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3699595.stm
Michael Rhodes
> "Brian Gleason" <ozma...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message news:<j5ioc.45543$Ut1.1...@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>...
> > "Michael Rhodes" wrote
> >
> > > The mourners attending the splendidly done funeral of the 11th Duke of
> > > Devonshire, KG, at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, on Monday 10 May,
> > > were bearing a second grievous loss - the death on the previous day of
> > > the new Duchess of Devonshire's mother.
>
> > So the Duke died? And this means that Debo, the last remaining Mitford
> > sister, is a widow? Sorry if I missed this. Thanks, Michael, for the post.
>
> Here's the BBC's article on His Grace's funeral:-
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3699595.stm
From the Yorkshire Post, May 15, 2004
Obituary - June Heywood Lonsdale: Duchess's mother with an
indefatigably optimistic outlook on life
FAMILY mourners at the funeral of the 11th Duke of Devonshire, KG, at
Chatsworth House, were bearing a second loss - the death on the
previous day of the new Duchess of Devonshire's mother, Mrs Jane
Heywood-Lonsdale.
Aged 96, she died at her home, Dyneley House, Halton East, not far
from the home of her daughter and son-in-law, at Bolton Abbey. She had
lived there since moving from Wallingford, in Oxfrodshire, 15 years
ago.
She had been a widow since 1961.
Having settled in Yorkshire, she kept black labradors for retrieving,
and had coats made for them out of old white sheets, so she could spot
them when they were working on the moors - a practice which some
people thought odd, but which to her was eminently sensible.
Her most successful dog was Sam - Ulstare Style, to give him his full
name - which qualified for an unprecedented seven years running for
the National Retriever Championships.
After her grandson, William (Lord Burlington), introduced her to horse
racing, she took it up with typical enthusiasm. They bought into a
horse-owning syndicate, and when she was 94 she had a winner with Tall
Story, bought when William took her to the Doncaster horse sales.
When she found out there was racing on television, she watched it
every day right up to the end, despite her failing eyesight.
She did, however, hate riding.
Mrs Heywood-Lonsdale's company was much enjoyed by her grandchildren
and great-grandchildren with whom she was able to identify in a
remarkably effortless way, thanks to her adaptibility and enthusiastic
and indefatigably optimistic outlook on life.
The one characteristic which marked her out as belonging to an older,
more gracious generation was her insistence upon good manners, but she
could do it without seemng stuffy or pompous - a trait which made her
such congenial company.
She dressed well, chose modern outfits so that in old age she never
looked dowdy or drab, and she was never heard to complain, not even
about er failing eyesight. She was unfailingly dignified, but so far
from being staid and stuck in her ways, she relished change. Her
family described her as being the opposite of "one foot in the grave."
Her daughter, the Duchess, says that she was her best friend, their
close relationship holding strong even through the teenage years when
a mother and daughter are most likely to be at odds.
"She hardly ever raised her voice; it just wasn't necessary - but if
she did, you knew it."
As a young woman, her modern outlook was most obviously expressed in
her taste for contemporary art which embraced abstract scultpures,
those by Anthony Caro and Nigel Hall among her favourites. She and her
husband had appreciated modernists such as Picasso and Matisse, while
they were still regarded as outre by traditionalists, which made their
taste rather shocking, and certainly incomprehensible to the rest of
the family. To their dismay, she picked up some original sketches and
drawings for what seemed a great deal of money at the time - the
couple were not well off -but within a few years would prove to be
bargains.
Her family name was Shakespeare - her father was Walter Shakespeare,
of Sefton, Weybridge, Surrey - and she was proud to be descended from
the Bard whose work she read to her children, Peter, David and Amanda.
Among her favourite authors were Trollope, Henry James and the
Brontes, and she encouraged her children and grandchildren, with
limited success, to read them as avidly as she did.
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