We had grand days at Uncle Eliot's place, Broke (pronounced Brook) Hall, on the bank of the Orwell, a few miles from Ipswich. The best country houses, gardens, and woods I ever knew. The kitchen garden had Suffolk cranky, wavy wall of old brick, not common even in Suffolk, but I think my chief interest was the apricot tree.
Broke was a comfortable large house, perhaps originally Elizabethan, at the end of a long, straight avenue of magnificent Lime trees. There was a cedar near the house and a rise in the ground to the woods that stood all along a sandy cliff above the river shore. The only fault was the tide! The Orwell River was a mile wide and, at low table, 3/4 of the bed was bare and useless, as it was made of black mud. But Uncle Eliot had a small yacht and a delightful old seaman to look after it, and the sailing was good.
We were brought up to regard the Navy as Jack's future, and the figureheads of Chesapeake & Shannon, on the East Wall, brought brave Captain Broke very vividly to life, and his study was a copy of his in the Shannon. (The figureheads are now at Shrubland, near Claydon, owned by Lord de Saumarez.)
I don't know who taught me:
Brave Broke, he waved his sword
Saying, "Now, my lads, let's board,
And we'll stop them playing
Yankee Doodle Dandy, O!"
It was here that we made a friend, Jock Hasted, who owed his name to his initials (John Ord Cobbold Hasted). He was living in the holidays with an Aunt & Uncle at the end of our road, for his Father was in the Indian Police, and Jock was aiming at the Army. Jock and his cousins – Angela, Gladys & Francis Cobbold – were our great friends for the first years. Kathleen Pringle, the only remaining of the Pringles of Torsonse, was the first of a large number of cousins who became known and kind to us. Jock added his name to Kennedy cousins in Gym Competitions at School.
When Jack came home for any leave, we did much together with Jock. He became a very great friend and accepted me, as Jack did, to have a minor place in games and amusements. Once, for instance, we all three joined in experiments with gunpowder. We took the barrel of an 18th-century flintlock pistol off its place and fired into the bottom of a very large flower pot. Then, treating the pistol as a cannon (having tied it to the overturned large flowerpot), we all three lay down about three yards behind, and Jack fired it with a flame at the end of a long stick. We did find the mark of the bullet on the far wall, and the flower pot was upset. Rather a dull ending, but fun.
Later, when Jack was old enough for a gun – and we were staying at Uncle Eliot's – he would take me rabbiting and wandering in the woods. I carried the ferrets in a bag and had the less-than-agreeable job of taking one out and then hurry to catch it by the neck when it came out of the rabbit hole, without getting my hand bitten – and the ferrets used to fight in the bag.
There were no other children at Broke, but all grown ups were kind. Broke Hall was perfect in our eyes. Above the high-walled pew that belonged to the Broke was a stained glass window with coats of arms and names of the family. In the stone-floored, large entrance hall of the house was the portrait of the builder of the house. The owner of Broke Hall was Lady de Saumarez, who had been (with her sister), the only inheritor of the Broke and was treated as the heiress of Broke Hall and Shrubland. When at Family Prayers for all the household, this young girl was made to stand at Broke's side, when leading the household. She married into another heroic Naval family from Guernsey, but her only son went with the Army and – of her three daughters – only one married. The succession seems safe, though, as there are twin boys.
UNCLE ELIOT
Rear Admiral John Eliot Pringle, cherished brother of EV's mother, son of Lt-Colonel John Henry Pringle and Georgiana Ramsbottom. 1901 was the year in which he first leased Broke Hall in Ipswich, maintaining that lease until his death in 1908.
CAPTAIN BROKE
Rear Admiral Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke, 1st Baronet, of Broke Hall in Ipswich, Surrey County, England. Captain at the time of the famous battle between the Chesapeake and the Shannon.
JOCK HASTED
John Ord Cobbold Hasted, son of John Edward Heighan Hasted & Fanny Georgina Cobbold, born in Ootacamund, India. When he met EV and Jack, Jock was living at a "School for Young Gentleman", run by W.R. & Emily Philips. The school was situated in the South Lodge of the Philips Estate in Kirkley Cliff.
JOCK'S AUNT & UNCLE
Talk about a closely knit circle --- Jock's Aunt (his mother's brother's wife) was the Mrs. Cobbold to whom Blanche sent EV for schooling. Lucas Temple & Lucy Maud Cobbold lived just down the road from EV and her mother, at 53 Graham Road.
COBBOLD COUSINS
Francis Alfred Worship Cobbold (Solicitor), Freda Angela Cobbold, and Gladys Jessie Cobbold. In 1901, they are all living together, unmarried, in Ipswich. While Jock was only several weeks older than EV, these three cousins were all older than Jack and would have left the neighbourhood play long before our close trio of Jack, Jock and EV.
KATHLEEN PRINGLE
Daughter of Eliot Charles Pringle & Flora Elizabeth Doman, and last of her line bearing the name of Pringle. In fact, Kathleen was the last Pringle in a long line dating back to Harriet Hester Eliot, wife of William Henry Pringle and daughter of Edward James Eliot and Harriet Pitt (sister of William Pitt, the Prime Minister). This cousin's daughter would forever remain a very dear friend to EV, sharing a lifetime of weekly correspondence and annual holidays.
KENNEDY COUSINS
Paul Adrian Kennedy, Archibald Edward Kennedy, Aubrey Leo Kennedy, John Patrick Francis Kennedy, sons of John Gordon Kennedy and Evelyn Adela Bootle-Wilbraham. Archibald shows up at St. Neot's (same school attended by EV's brother, Jack) for the 1891 census. Ten years later, Paul shows up at the boy's school at Garlands in Harrow. We can safely assume that, wherever they went to school, they were good athletes.
LADY DE SAUMAREZ
Jane Anne Vere-Broke, daughter of Captain Charles Acton Vere-Broke and Anna Maria Hamilton, and wife of James St. Vincent Saumarez, 4th Baron de Saumarez. Her sister was Frederica Mary Horatia Loraine Broke.
SHRUBLAND
The Shrubland Park estate, near Ipswich, was sold, in 2006, by the 7th Baron de Samurez. The figureheads from the ships were sold, at the same time, reportedly to help pay the inheritance tax due after his mother's death. The following was extracted from an old newspaper: "SHRUBLAND HALL. Shrubland Hall, Suffolk, which the Duke of Fife, it is understood, is endeavouring to secure as a residence, is one of the show places of the county, and has a certain historical interest as the home of Broke, of the Shannon, whose memory is still green in the district. The house itself, which is situated on the top of the hill overlooking a wide stretch of country, is a rather florida structure, but the gardens, for the due maintenance of which the late Sir Philip Broke left a large annual charge on the property, have had the benefit of nearly hall a century's unremitting care, and are among the masterpieces of horticulture. The grounds also contain a maze, the idea of which was evidently borrowed from Hampton Court. SOURCE: Western Daily Press 07 September 1889, page 3, column 7."
HEROIC NAVAL FAMILY FROM GUERNSEY
EV makes reference to the "de Saumarez" family. The four children were: James, Evelyn, Gladys and Marion. Gladys and Marion never married. The twin boys were grandsons of this James, born in 1956 (Eric Douglas and Victor Thomas). Eric is the current Baron de Saumarez and has two daughters. The current heir to the title is Eric's brother, Victor.
ILLUSTRATIONS
1) A Crinkle Crankle Wall in Bramfield
2) Broke Hall, Nacton, Suffolk
3) Lady Jane Anne Saumarez
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