Wodehouse, Miss Christine, The Rectory, Bratton Fleming
Christine Lucy Wodehouse[1] (1881-1980) was born on 24 December 1881 in the rectory at Bratton Fleming, where her father, Philip John Wodehouse was Rector. Philip Wodehouse, a former Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, had been presented to the living of Bratton Fleming by the College in 1875.[2] In 1879, two years after his first wife and their infant daughter had died, Wodehouse married Marion Bryan Wallas, daughter of Rev. Gilbert Wallas, the Rector of Shobrooke and former Vicar of Barnstaple.[3] The couple shared a love of chess which they both played competitively as county representatives by correspondence.[4] Marion was a keen musician; Philip played cricket. They had four children: Helen (b.1880) Christine (b.1881), Philip George (b.1883) and Charles Gilbert (b.1885). Philip senior’s younger brother Henry Ernest Wodehouse was the father of the well-known comic novelist, P.G. Wodehouse. Marion had eight siblings; her sister Katharine had been an early mathematics student at Girton College Cambridge.
The Wodehouse children grew up in a large early Victorian rectory (17 rooms were recorded on the 1911 census) with extensive grounds and gardens often used for parish fetes, and with two resident servants. Both their parents were indefatigable workers in the parish, and the children, particularly though not exclusively the girls, would become involved in putting on entertainments to raise funds for good causes such as the Church of England Society Homes for Waifs and Strays, or the parochial reading room and library.[5] They were also part of Barnstaple society, attending events such as the annual Children’s Fancy Dress Ball in the Assembly Rooms.[6] As Christine grew older she would be involved in serving teas at such events, training the village children to perform dances for entertainments; and managing the lantern at a slide show for the Young Women’s and Men’s Club in the village.[7] After her mother had a bad accident alighting from a train at Barnstaple in 1910 Christine appears to have taken over some of her commitments, such as membership of the Ladies’ Committee of the North Devon Infirmary.[8]
Philip Wodehouse was committed to improving education: he regularly inspected and reported on church schools for the diocese and became a member of the Barnstaple Society for University Extension.[9] Later, when the County Council began to run technical education classes he and Marion were heavily involved in promoting evening classes in Bratton Fleming in sheep-shearing, butter making, hedging and ditching and dressmaking.[10] The Wodehouses were also active in securing a good education for their children to prepare them for professional life. The boys went into the navy (Philip) and to Haileybury (Charles). Helen went away from home to be educated at Notting Hill School where Marion’s sister, Katharine, taught mathematics, and then went on to read Mathematics at Girton College in 1898.[11] There is no evidence that Christine herself went away to school, although she evidently had a studious turn. When the new Reading Room was opened in Bratton Fleming in 1907 (a project which the Wodehouses had led) Christine read a paper she had written about the history of Bratton Fleming from the time of William the Conqueror to 1875, and this was later published as a booklet to be sold for parochial funds.[12]
In 1912 Miss C.L. Wodehouse of Bratton Fleming appeared for the first time on the list of branch secretaries of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), as Barnstaple branch secretary. During her term of office she organised a public meeting held in April 1913 in the Parish Church Rooms, addressed by Mrs Knight-Bruce (q.v.) and by her sister, Helen Wodehouse (q.v.).[13] Early in 1913, however, Prebendary Wodehouse had determined to retire at the end of 38 years in office. The Devon and Exeter Gazette, reflecting on the service that the Wodehouses had given to Bratton Fleming, reported that ‘Miss Wodehouse has given her special care and attention to the needs of the young people who, by her departure, will suffer a loss which will take much to retrieve’.[14] Christine’s last appearance in Common Cause as secretary was in May 1913, and in July 1913 the role of Barnstaple NUWSS secretary was taken on by Miss Leach and Miss Adams.[15]
The Wodehouses moved to South Devon, first to Torquay and then to Teignmouth, where they remained throughout the war, in which both Philip and Charles served with distinction. Prebendary Wodehouse died at the end of 1917 and Marion Wodehouse in 1922.
After her mother’s death Christine inherited a substantial legacy as her mother was a shareholder in the Great Western Railway, and later some money from her mother’s sister, her aunt Frances. She moved away from Devon to Kensington where she lived for many years.[16] She died on 19 Sep 1980 in a nursing home in St Austell, leaving over £35,000, and is buried with her parents and brothers in the churchyard of St Peter’s, Bratton Fleming.
Entry created by Marilyn Smee and Julia Neville, January 2019
[1] Census and family references from www.ancestry.co.uk
[2] Taken from obituary in the North Devon Journal (NDJ) 6 Jun 1918.
[3] NDJ, 2 Oct 1879.
[4] Taken from obituary, see note 2.
[5] NDJ, 6 Apr 1903; 26 Dec 1901.
[6] NDJ, 19 Jan 1893, 17 Jan 1895.
[7] NDJ, 1 Jul 1909; 14 Apr 1910; 14 Mar 1912
[8] NDJ, 26 Oct 1911.
[9] NDJ, 21 Mar 1891.
[10] NDJ, 28 Jan 1900; 4 Oct 1900; 7 Sep 1905; 24 May 1906.
[11] https://bingleycollege.co.uk/helen-wodehouse/ (accessed 10 Jan 2018).
[12] NDJ, 3 Jan and 19 Sep 1907.
[13] CC, 2 May 1913.
[14] Devon and Exeter Gazette, 24 Jan 1913.
[15] Common Cause (CC), 4 Jul 1912, 218; 4 Jul 1913, 220.
[16] Findmypast.co.uk Electoral Registers