Scanning Lady Maud Rolleston's well-travelled sketchbook from c.1900

I recently spent a lovely morning in the company of two Watnall-born sisters who's late father Harry Hannaford had acquired one of Lady Maud Rolleston's original sketchbooks.

It is full of mysterious people, visitors to the hall, friends and family perhaps, no one knows. Many of the stories and people within the tattered pages have fallen from living memory. Some have notes with intriguing comments. Who is Aunt Sophia and why the candid remarks?

As we sat in their cottage on one of the old Watnall Hall sofas over tea and biscuits, each page turned up new questions and characters. I've now scanned the full contents and publish them below.

Thanks to the Hannaford sisters and their family for providing this wonderful insight into Watnall past.

Who was Lady Maud?

Lady Maud was born in Bruges, Belgium in 1859 to a Scottish soldier/aristocratic father and a Canadian mother. Her early years were spent in Devon. She married Lancelot Rolleston of Watnall Hall in Newton Abbot, Devon on 25th February 1882 and moved to the hall. Read all about her life in this series of articles at the Tales From Watnall Hall website...

Colonel Rolleston and an unknown male about to be scanned in...

Who is in the Sketches?

Some people I recognise and I have captioned the pictures accordingly. Others are a best guess based on the time of the sketchbook (which seems to be c.1900) and other pictures from my research.

Lady Maud and her husband Colonel Lancelot Rolleston were actually living away from Watnall Hall and one of the pictures is on notepaper from their residence at the time, Wellow Hall near Ollerton. They were socialising with the Duke of Portland from Welbeck Abbey and some of the sketches do resemble the Duke. Rolleston was acting as Master of the Rufford Hunt hence his relocation to north Nottinghamshire. Their social life at the time included high society hunt balls in the glamourous underground ballroom at Welbeck which Lady Maud had instigated and organised. Her sketches may well include some of the guests.

The inaugural 1891 Rufford Hunt Ball at Welbeck Abbey's underground ballroom.
Looks a bit like Rolleston 3rd man from left
and the Duke of Portland on the extreme left.

In early 1900 the Rollestons both went to South Africa to take part in the Boer War, a very pivotal time in their lives. Some sketches show Boer War soldiers from both sides of the conflict. Lady Maud's companion in South Africa was a young nurse Nan Beaver who features in some pictures. Lady Maud's Canadian mum who lived with them back in England also features. Family pets feature a lot too as to preparatory sketches part finished or erased.

Lady Maud and her husband Colonel Lancelot Rolleston
on their wedding day in 1882

The Missing Sketches

None of Lady Maud's previously published sketches are in this sketchbook despite being from the same period and of the same subject matter. They may have been removed or they could be in another book. They are some of her best and can be seen along with her watercolour paintings in my previous article here... The Watnall Hall Photo Album

One of the missing sketches. If from the same period it may well
be at Wellow Hall rather than Watnall hall.

The Aunt Sophia and Evelyn cartoon

One amusing sketch done on a separate card is this one below... There are some interesting and candid comments on back of this "dressing room" sketch! Reading it now I think it is a cartoony skit based on a comment by a child "Evelyn" about her aunt Sophia that would have caused some family amusement and hence the need for recording as a sketch. The writing on the reverse says...

Evelyn [speaking] – I wonder, Aunt Sophia, why you & Mamma are so different, you know you're twice as big everywhere as Mamma, aren't you, you don't look so very much older than her either, I wonder why it is - (As Aunt Mary is four years younger than Evelyn's Mamma, & as the latter has a lovely figure, Aunt Mary doesn't feel flattered, & comes to the conclusion she will not give Evelyn that locket after all, as she is a disagreeable little thing –) CEMD

CEMD is perhaps Lady Maud's signature. She was born Charlotte Emma Maud Dalzell.

The Sketches

Colonel Rolleston.
Relaxing at Wellow Hall perhaps?

Unknown location but not Wellow Hall which is shown below...

Colonel Rolleston

Poor Nanna with the "Flue"

Nan Beaver

Some Boer War sketches

The identity of the Boer War soldiers in the sketches is up for debate. There are many possibilities. Lady Maud's brother Arthur "Artie" was out there commanding the Oxfordshires; it could include some of the patients from Lady Maud's convalescent home; the one below seems to show a bearded Boer enemy soldier. Lady Maud actually had dinner with a captured Boer commander Piet de Wet and drew him (below). It was used in her Boer War diary which was published as a book called "Yeoman Service" . It is full of her social life and people she met in South Africa any of whom could be in these sketches.

Lady Maud dined with Boer commander Piet de Wet
the leader of the convoy attacked by her husband

Lady Maud published her wartime diaries in 1901 under the title "Yeoman Service". The book gives a graphic and very personal view of the war from a lady of her time. Lady Maud comes across as a very capable and fair-minded woman always willing to listen and help out when needed and not afraid to put herself in harm's way. Certainly not a superior, interfering busy-body that some society ladies were accused of being. The Lancet medical journal called that particular phenomenon of the Boer War "lady hindrance". Her book is still quoted in scholarly texts on the development of nursing today. She also has a handy knack for Victorian "social networking". En route to Kroonstad, arriving late at a remote railway station on the De Wet river a voice calls out of the dark...

"Is that Lady Maud?" I replied, asking who it was, and it was Mr. Frank Fitzherbert, whom I had last seen at Cape Town. He rode along as far as he could close to the carriage and told me he had had a most exciting week. He is in a Militia regiment, and they had been in the thick of the fighting about there. The others were much amused at the way I found friends everywhere, and Colonel Ryerson declared that when I died "Yeoman" would be found written on my heart. I thought it extremely probable."

You can read "Yeoman Service" for free online here or listen to it as an audiobook (click the headphones in the link). It makes a good companion to the Boer War sketches, really brings Lady Maud's character alive giving a great amount of detail of her South Africa adventures, companions, social life and some rather amusing anecdotes.

Count Gleichen's 1898 guest sketch

Count Gleichen was an aristocratic British army officer, socialite and nephew of Queen Victoria who served in the Boer War. He may well have moved in the same circles as the Rollestons in England too. It would appear that he has contributed a couple of guest sketches in Lady Maud's sketchbook. The style is definitely not Lady Maud's! They show a tropical sunset with palm trees and stick figure native warriors carrying spears. The other one is a not very flattering cartoon of the Queen of Abysinnia dated 1898.

Count Gleichen

"The Queen of Abyssinia as depicted by Count Gleichen 1898"

Possibly the Duke of Portland

William Arthur Charles Cavendish-Bentinck,
6th Duke of Portland in 1900

Possibly the Duchess of Portland
on Wellow Hall note paper

A rather relaxed coachman with cigarette

Looks like Lady Maud's mum

Possibly the Duke of Portland

Could this be the same girl as below?
Her enchanting tale is told in this article

Above - Mary Elizabeth Langley, daughter of
Miss Langley who worked at Watnall Hall. Painted by Lady Maud

Looks like Nan Beaver again

Sailing poem

This page shows a handwritten draft of a sea poem from the 1920's. The Rollestons did a lot of sailing at Cowes on the Isle of Wight...

Then o'er the long waves we're buoyant straying,

The ocean before us, the cord on our lee,

When high o'er the topmast the sea-bird [is] wheeling
And the winds are alive with the salt of the sea.

Then up with the main sheet, up the jack [yard],

And down with the tack till the tackle comes home,

And as gaily she heels where the sea-winds come harder,
The rail buries deep in the wash of the foam.

And other ventures are o'er in the day that come after,

Till death is our brightest of memories

Of the heave of blue water, the numberless laughter
Of waves where the sunlight flies back from the sea.

February 13th 192(2?)

The Rolleston's at Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight
(that's not their daughter!) from The Tatler August 1921

What is the sketchbook's history?

The sketchbook covers quite a few years with drawings from 1898 to the 1920's. Lady Maud may well have taken it to South Africa with her as it contains several Boer War sketches. It's quite a thought that for all the scrapes and adventures she and Nan Beaver went through in war-torn Transvaal, this sketchbook may have been a witness. The sketchbook would then have remained at Watnall Hall until Lady Maud's death in 1949. It was sold off as part of a miscellaneous lot in the estate auction in 1954. Harry Hannaford's daughter takes us through that story...

"My father’s name was Harry Hannaford, but his best friend was Bill Jackson, both lived in Watnall and were very interested in local history. Dad bought Lady Maud’s sketch book from the Watnall Hall sale, it was included in one of the last lots of miscellaneous documents and pictures, he said no-one was interested in it, so he got it for not much money. He also bought the sofa we still use today, Baron von Hubes rocking chair and a rotating bookcase, both of the latter articles didn’t survive the woodworm they came with.

My sister Pam and I had a lovely childhood in Watnall playing in the surrounding fields, the Hall grounds and RAF ruins - much to our mother’s dismay. The legacy of the Rollestons was obvious to us, from Lady Mauds portrait in the WI hall, seeing the family burial plot to talking to older village residents who worked at the hall.

We are so pleased you managed to successfully scan the sketch book and now its images are out there for all to see. I’m searching for some other papers and documents of my fathers which may be of interest to you and will contact you once found."

The Hannaford Watercolours

Harry Hannaford also had a collection of watercolours perhaps connected to Watnall Hall. They are signed "H.Walker" and dated 1917-1925. Some are local scenes others further afield. Lady Maud was known to encourage local artists so maybe they are from one of her protégées. In the meantime if anyone knows the location of the watercolours, some look like the Lakes, others maybe Devon, please comment below...