Members’ Evening 31st May

The topic of the meeting, presented by Allan Howard, was focussed on documents which had been found in Ivy

Butcher’s effects that were interesting to the Historians. There were four topics.

1. The first item was a letter from The Royal Archive to a Mrs. Sumpter, a solicitor who was dealing with the

probate of Jane Lane, who died in 2013. This letter outlined that Mrs. Sumpter had sent the Archive a set of

letters to Susan Anne Vincent. Some of these had been returned, but 16 had been retained, 6 letters from

Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester to Susan Anne Vincent, 5 letters from Princess Sophia Matilda and 5

letters from Princess Mary Adelaide.

Mrs. Sumpter was contacted and remembered sending the letters to the Archive but could not find the

returned letters in her records. The Royal Archive at Windsor was contacted and a date has been agreed for

Allan Howard to visit the Archive and see the letters.

Susan Anne Vincent married John Henry Bagot Lane, Lord of the Manor of Kings Bromley in 1864. The letters

would have been passed down the Lane family via JHHV Lane and Thomas Lane to Jane Lane. Susan Anne’s

father Henry William Vincent was a lawyer and Queen’s Remembrancer from 1823 to 1858. This post

involves many legal duties to be carried out for the monarch, so it is very possible that he would have been

familiar with her relatives - but it was not clear why his daughter would have received letters from these

minor princesses.

The results of Allan’s visit to the Royal Archive in Windsor will be presented at the next members’ evening.

2. There was a brochure about the Townsends and Raynham Hall, Norfolk with ‘for proof reading’ written on it.

The connection with Kings Bromley comes from the fact that JHHV’s youngest daughter Dorothy or “Dottie”,

1913 - 1994, married twice, secondly to Lt. Cmdr. Robert Martin Dominic Ponsonby, RN by whom she had a

daughter Honey, or Hermione born 1945. Hermione Ponsonby married, in 1975, Charles George

Townsend, the 8th Marquess Townsend of Raynham Hall, East Raynham, Norfolk. Hermione was tragically

killed in a head-on road accident on 23/1/1985 (with her husband in the car, but he did not die as well - this

from Miss Mary Dyott’s tape 05/08/86). Her son, Thomas is the current Marquess Townsend.

It is not clear why Ivy was sent the brochure, which contains nothing about Hermione, or the Lane

connection.

In this photo of the Lane children with their mother, Grace, taken in the 30’s. Dorothy is second from the left

in the back row.

3. There was a letter from Charles Lane, a descendant of Thomas Lane who had inherited Kings Bromley with

his brother John from the Newtons in 1794. Charles was the only member of the Lane family, albeit not

descended from the John Lane side, who kept in contact with Ivy: he opened the Show one year and also

unveiled the Ernald Lane painting in the Village Hall in 2012:

Charles and Celia had visited Rochester Cathedral and discovered a brochure which described the

‘Northbourne Pall’ which had been donated by Lord Northbourne to commemorate Ernald Lane,

Dean of Rochester 1904 - 1913. Charles and Celia sent a copy of this brochure to Ivy:

In the brochure there is a long description of the pall, which is a large and important piece of embroidery.

Lord Northbourne had married Edith Lane, the sister of Ernald Lane, when he was plain Walter James, at All

Saints, Kings Bromley in 1868, the ceremony being conducted by Ernald when he was Rector of Albury in

Surrey. Edith was close to Ernald throughout his life.

The pall needs to be investigated further, and as it happens Lynne and Dennis O’Dea will soon be visiting

Rochester. The results of this visit will be presented at the next members’ evening, along with a resume of all

the other art works and monuments that commemorate Ernald Lane, the most eminent and well-loved of

the Kings Bromley Lanes -closely followed by his brother Major General Sir Ronald Bertram Lane K.C.V.O.,

C.B.

4. Photographs from a 2016 sales brochure for Treworgan , nr. Falmouth, Cornwall. Thomas Lane lived there

from 1935 to 1941 after having left his mother and sisters to fend for themselves on a pittance. The house

was valued at £5,000,000. Ivy visited the house as a child.

Tommy Lane had few redeeming qualities; he wasted his inheritance on fast cars, fast boats and fast living.

It is not known how Ivy came to have this brochure. Her father had been coachman for JHHV Lane and her

mother lady’s maid to the Hon. Grace Lane and she retained an affection for the family which was somehow

both proprietary and feudal. Ivy’s interest into the history of Kings Bromley centred heavily on the Lane

family.