La Mancha Hall & Blundell Family (1901 - 1970)
The first member of the Blundell family to live at La Mancha Hall was Ethel Hilda Blundell Hollinshead Blundell G47M-Y9Q . Hilda, as she was known, was born on 6th April 1875 in Chelsea, London to Adelaide Fanny Ashworth Astley and Canon Thomas Blundell Hollinshead Blundell MHP1-FLL who was rector of Halsall at that time. Hilda was baptised on 19th May 1875 at St. Peter’s Church, Pimlico, London.
Canon Blundell owned the La Mancha Estate and on his death in 1905, it was left to his only surviving son, Cuthbert. Cuthbert had also inherited the rectory (now Halsall House) which was his residence when he was in Halsall. He sold the rectory to John Arnold Cope, a tobacco dealer in the 1920s. However, Cuthbert still owned La Mancha Hall until his death in 1947, Hilda remaining there until her death in 1951.
The family lived in between Halsall and London, but primarily Halsall, with Canon
Blundell being the rector. Indeed, when we look at the census records for 1881, 1891
and 1901, Hilda was living at home, in Halsall Rectory on Cross Lane.
When the 1901 census was taken, there was nobody at all living at La Mancha Hall. Nevertheless, jump forward 10 years and ‘Miss Blundell’ was named as the resident of La Mancha Hall according to the 1911 census even though she was not actually living there at the time. In her stead, were her butler, Leonard Forder a Londoner from Marylebone, the housemaid, Norah Wholley, also from London (Westminster) and La Mancha’s Scottish cook Jessie Cruickshank who hailed from Aberdeen.
Hilda Blundell was well known and respected. She showed a great deal of interest in the school and the community as a whole. In fact, along with her brother Cuthbert and their father Canon Thomas Blundell and his brother Captain Henry Blundell, the Blundells were great patrons for the village of Halsall – building the school on New Street in the early 1900s for example as well as the new Rectory opposite the church.
When the 1921 census was taken, Hilda was still living at La Mancha and her sister and brother-in-law, Murial and Alexander Alston, were visiting at that time. In the late 1920s, Hilda had formed a relationship with Sir Wroth Periam Christopher Lethbridge M71Y-9D1 who was divorced for the second time in 1928. He has a separate biography page here .
The Liverpool Echo featured a story about the marriage and referred to it as ‘A Secret County Wedding’. From this time onwards, at the age of 53 years, Hilda Blundell became Lady Lethbridge and Sir Wroth moved into La Mancha Hall with his third wife.
Then in 1939, the Register for England and Wales shows Hilda and Wroth still living at La Mancha Hall with their ladies maid, cook, parlourmaid, housemaid and kitchen maid. It was noted on the Register that Hilda was the Head of the Halsall Division of the Women’s Voluntary Service. This service was founded in 1938 and was originally set up to train women to be able to help with air raid precautions. It soon developed into running emergency rest centres, first aid, feeding and assisting with the evacuation and billeting of children.
The couple enjoyed the gardens in the grounds of La Mancha Hall and opened them to the public for charity on numerous occasions – even during the war years.
At the end of the war, or rather in 1947, a ‘Welcome Home’ Dinner was arranged for over 100 ex-service men and women, with Hilda and Wroth Lethbridge playing a major role in the Welcome Home Committee.
Hilda’s husband, Wroth Lethbridge died at La Mancha Hall on 20th February 1950. Hilda died only a year later, on 1st March 1951. Having no children, she left La Mancha Hall and her effects totalling £32, 763 10s 11d to Christian Victor Richard Blundell Hollinshead Blundell, her first cousin once removed.
Major Cuthbert Leigh Blundell Hollinshead Blundell
Cuthbert Blundell MM1V-SQ4 was the youngest of Canon Blundell’s children, but being the only surviving son, he inherited most of his father’s estate which included the La Mancha Estate, the Renacres Estate and the Rectory (Halsall House).
Cuthbert was born on 10th April 1879 in London and baptised on 8th May 1879 at St. James, Westminster. When he was a child, he mostly lived at the Rectory on Cross Lane, Halsall and his name was recorded on the census for 1881 and 1891. He then went to Eton College from 1892 until 1896 followed by Christ Church College, Oxford. His military career saw him in the Grenadier Guards, reaching the rank of Major.
When Cuthbert inherited his father’s estate, he was a 26 year old bachelor – perhaps the most eligible bachelor in the county! He didn’t remain single for long however; in 1907 he married his cousin’s daughter, Miss Marjorie Gertrude Marcia Astley Corbett KZ3P-KRD daughter of Gertrude Augusta Anderson Pelham K8L9-7JK and Sir Francis Edmund George Astley, 4th Baronet of Everley LH11-VJL .
Sir Francis was the nephew of Adelaide Blundell M6P8-WYR and Canon Thomas Blundell MHP1-FLL (Cuthbert’s parents). By all accounts, Sir Francis was a friend of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and in 1895 he was a member of the Prince’s Sandringham team which played an ice hockey match on the frozen lake of Buckingham Palace against a House of Commons side.
On returning to Halsall from their honeymoon on the Continent in May 1907, the residents of Halsall had organised a surprise ‘Welcome Home’ celebration for the newly married couple, such was the popularity of Cuthbert Blundell in the village.
The couple went on to have two daughters and continued to live at Halsall House as it was then called until the mid 1920s. His sister Hilda and her husband Wroth remained at La Mancha.
In 1925, Cuthbert purchased Slaugham Place in Sussex and moved to live there with his family and father-in-law Sir Francis Edmund George Astley Corbett.
Meanwhile, Halsall House was sold to the Cope family. Sir Francis died in 1939 and the Blundells left Sussex in November 1940 and Slaugham Place was later sold in 1945.
Spending time between their London residence at Cadogan Gardens and La Mancha Hall, the Blundells enjoyed the best of city and country life. Cuthbert’s passion was the sporting life, in particular, hare coursing; he was a regular attendee at the Waterloo Cup in Altcar.
Major Cuthbert Blundell died on 16th April 1947 in London. Despite having stated in his will that his daughters would be disinherited if they were to marry a Catholic man, this was overturned in 1950 by Mr. Justice Danckwerts in respect of Cuthbert’s daughter, Bridget.
The probate records state Cuthbert’s effects totalled £250, 220 5s 2d which equates to approximately £8 million today.
Major Christian Victor Richard Blundell Hollinshead Blundell
Major Victor Blundell inherited La Mancha Hall from Hilda, Lady Lethbridge.
Victor Blundell L2YY-9LK was born in London on 20th March 1904 to Eugenie Sybil Ward and Dermot Howard Blundell Hollinshead Blundell, who was the cousin of Ethel Hilda Blundell Hollinshead Blundell.
Victor was named after his father’s friend and comrade, Major Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein who had passed away on 29th October 1900, aged 33.
Major Prince Christian Victor was in fact a member of the British royal family; his mother was Princess Helena, the third daughter of Queen Victoria.
Victor Blundell’s father, Dermot Blundell also passed away at a young age on 26th October 1910 – he was only 36 years old.
He left his widow, Eugenie and their two young children Victor who was 6 years old and Violet who was only 3.
In 1911 we can see that Victor was living at 12 Lennox Gardens in Chelsea, which was the home of his grandfather, Richard Blundell. Also living with him was his 4 year old sister Violet, his cousin Marie Keppel and uncle Colin Keppel.
The Keppel family is an English aristocratic family of Dutch origin headed by the Earl of Albemarle. Alice Keppel was one of the most notable Keppels, being a British society hostess and a long-time mistress of King Edward V11. Her descendants include Sonia Keppel and her daughter, Queen Camilla (grandaughter and great grandaughter respectively of Alice Keppel). Victor’s mother Eugenie was living at 63 Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London when the 1911 census was taken.
Victor gained a step-father when his mother, Eugenie married Maximillian David Francis Wood on 30th December 1911. Maximillian was a British Army officer and an English first-class cricketer. He fought in WW1 and was killed in action at Gallipoli on 21st August 1915 aged 42 years. Eugenie was once again widowed and Maximillian’s step-children were again without a father.
Four years later in January 1919, Eugenie married for a third time. Her husband was Charles Seymour of Kilbees Farm, Berkshire – a company director and gentleman according to the Freemasons records. This was to be a much longer marriage and gave Victor and Violet another father figure in their lives.
Like his biological father, Victor was a military man, serving in the Scots Guards. As he reached his 20s, he made frequent visits to Canada to see family and his wife-to-be, Helen. On one of these excursions in 1931, he married his wife Helen Kate Guthrie L2YY-9L5 at Guelph, Wellington, Ontario, Canada.
Helen was the daughter of the Honorable Hugh Guthrie, a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as a minister in the governments of Sir Robert Borden, Arthur Meighen and Richard B. Bennett, prime ministers of Canada.
After their marriage, the couple came back to live in London and had two children. In 1939, at the beginning of WW2, they were living with Victor’s mother and step-father, Eugenie and Charles at Kilbees Farm, Berkshire. Charles Seymour died in 1943 and Eugenie passed away on 1st November 1950. It was only four months later that Lady Lethbridge (Hilda Blundell) also died and left her estate including La Mancha Hall to Victor Blundell.
We can see from an article in the Lancashire Evening Post on 16th July 1957 that Victor Blundell was living at La Mancha Hall. He had recently been appointed a Justice of the Peace for the area. In 1959, as patron, he invited Cannon Herbert Bullough to become Rector of Halsall (incidentally in 1948 he was also instrumental in the appointment of Rector Charles Robert Claxton, later the Bishop of Warrington).
Major Christian Victor Richard Blundell Hollinshead Blundell died at his London home on 21st March 1971.
He is still remembered by some Halsall residents today as being an eccentric character, although, somebody who was kind, generous and a great patron to the village of Halsall.
His wife Helen passed away on 30th June 1989, also in London and they are buried together at St. Peter’s churchyard, Bracknell Forest, Berkshire.
