For 36 years, Aunt Eleanor lived alone in North Lodge at Muthill (quite an isolated spot). In today's terms, Aunt Eleanor would be described as feisty -- not a word she would have known! She was a lover of life who never grew old within, who was excellent company to visitors of all ages -- wherever they came from. She possessed a highly tuned brain, a good sense of humour, and was much loved and respected by all who knew her.
Aunt Eleanor always maintained an interest in the world and was up-to-date on all topical subjects, as an avid listener to the wireless. (She never bought a newspaper, as that would have meant a 15-mile journey by bus to Crieff.) She was passionate about wild flowers and most knowledgeable of standing stones and circles, which are in plentiful in this part of Scotland.
If she felt a member of the family had been foolish, her comment was "Oh, dear, how very misguided they are," and left it at that. When pleased or excited, her exclamation was "capital" or "splendid", a throwback to her Edwardian days.
When she was 91, the deep winter snow of 1981 combined with cold temperatures to freeze the water pipes in her cottage. For three long weeks, she preferred to melt the snow for her water, rather than come and be warm with us nearby. Such an independent spirit!
In the time I knew her (1977-86), never did she complain about her lot in life. Her three great loves were her Mother, brother Jack, and nephew Charles. Her fortitude, resilience, and deep Christian values and beliefs carried her through her long life, which was not blessed with the comforts and ease we today take for granted.
It was during her last two years that she wrote down some of her memoirs for me. It can now be read by anyone with an interest in the life of a simple woman, with thanks to Sarah G. and her Mother (living in America) who have transcribed her very difficult handwriting. I feel that Aunt Eleanor is very happy that, twenty-nine years later, the telling of her remembrances has finally been achieved. In her own words, an "admirable job has been done".
Camilla Jauncey, April 2014
[Notes from e-mails]
Aunt Eleanor was a very strong personality, with a first-class brain. I wait to read if she mentions her work during the first War, when she worked in the Admirality in London. I don't know what her job was, but after the war they offered her a permanent position. She turned it down, as she felt she couldn't leave her Mother alone in Suffolk – even though she could have gone home each weekend, and they sure could have done with the pennies! If I had been Blanche, I would have told her to accept the job. Apparently, Blanche was tiny and very demanding. Aunt Eleanor had the best brain, just a shame she never had a good career. I think she minded. However, in the 2nd War, she was asked to go to Bletchley and work on breaking the codes. By then, she was in her 50s, but of course she went, living with a railwayman's family and biking to work. She did a lot of the nighttime code breaking so that the young ones could all go out and enjoy themselves.
Aunt Eleanor spoke fluent French, Italian, German. She was educated at the local Grammar school in Ipswich, but she and her brother did have (when very young) governesses, who would have begun languages with them. She could also do a bit of Russian. Much would have been self-taught, as she was an avid reader. I would imagine that Jack spoke French and a bit of German, as after the 2nd War he had ajob in Germany. As for Blanche, I don't know, but again she would have had a typical Victorian upbringing so possibly spoke French and Italian.
Henry Hastings Jauncey was in the Navy. He got TB, so he and Blanche went to Switzerland for a cure but to no avail. He too was an artist. We have many of his watercolours, done while serving in China in 1871 or so. My late Mother-in-law always said he was considered rather a lazy little man! How she knew that, I have no idea, as she would never have met him! Charles' father, Jack, died at 69 of throat cancer. Sadly, I never met him but have heard from so many what an exceptional man he was. He was part of the PQ17 convoy to Russia during the 2nd War, called back to the Navy in his 50s. That was the photo I sent of him receiving the DSO.
Yes, I did know Cousin Kathleen. She came North from Sussex each summer to stay with Aunt Eleanor, so they came to lunch. After Aunt Eleanor died, I corresponded with Kathleen quite a lot. They were close cousins. She kindly left my Charles her Pringle silver which now belongs to Cressida, our daughter. There probably is a great deal of it out in the world somewhere. It has a shell on the back; very pretty it is.
Aunt Eleanor was small, about 5'3". Her Mother was even smaller, as they called her "Dot".
Aunt Eleanor was a keen horsewoman and rode horses from the stables at Broke Hall (where her Uncle Eliot lived). The meet is where the Hunt collects before they depart for the hunt of a fox, so she followed the hunt on foot (lots of people do this). She was a terrific walker, and it kept her young and fit!
The little sketch I sent is Aunt Eleanor with her horse. I think she mentions this toy in her writings. No? Odd, I was sure she had mentioned the small house. She used to talk about it as a Russian toy. She must have been three to four in this picture.
Blanche died in 1939, I think. Aunt Eleanor and Jack let the house, or they sold it and then and she put her furniture in store. She came to Scotland about 1949, as that was where her brother lived. The term Lodge means a small house at the gate of a larger house. There is a big house called Orchill, and hers was the Lodge on the road by the large pillars. If I can find a photo, I will send it to you. It had two bedrooms, a good sitting room, a tiny kitchen and one bathroom. Perched on a hill as it was, with lovely views to the hills in the west, she loved it dearly. She went to Dalginross in 1983 and died there in January of 1985. Luckily, it was in our village of Comrie. She was not a happy soul there. She had lived alone for so long that living with other people and sharing a room was not easy, but it was there that she wrote all those memoirs for me – writing them on bits of paper perched on her knee!
Aunt Eleanor knew a great deal about botany and wildflowers in general. I once took her to a certain spot to look for a special Orchid she had heard was growing, but we never found it. She took books from the Crieff Library each week; I think they were biographies but can't be certain. Collecting watch and clock pieces which she would have given to Jack, he became a well know Horologist in his own right. I have no idea who this unknown admirer could have been. When she was about 93, she told me (rather sadly, I thought) that she never had as she put it "a love affair". There was a man she rode with in Suffolk who was an American, who declared his love for her, but she was appalled when he told her he was already married!! She clearly did not have feelings for him -- to a Victorian girl this was most improper!
Think I told you that, after the first war, Aunt Eleanor was offered a job in the Admiralty. She turned it down, as it meant leaving her Mother in Ipswich. Such missed opportunity. Charles said she could have had an amazing career, likely to have been made a Dame, she was that clever!
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