I did not want to give my name as I did not want to seem to swank about the St.George family from which my descent is decidedly iffy. However, this seems to have turned into a bit of a family forum and, having Googled you Jerry (respeck, b'wana, respeck and apologies if I was a bit acerbic - I was not amused by the treatment given to George St.George of which more later) I have decided to blow my own gaff. I am Vivien St.George's only son; my name is Antony Stanley Clarke and I am eighty one. The reason for my tea with Sir Henry Marten, by then Provost of Eton, when I was twelve was a typically Etonian cock-up. Although I had been entered at birth for Jacques's house, when the time came he had let my place go. My father being dead Vivien pulled rank as sister of George, Avenel and Ferris complaining to Sir Henry who invited us both to tea. He must have liked the cut of my jib because he got me into Wickham's house chop-chop. A friend told my mother that she should have sent Jacques a case of port every Christmas. I don't believe this but it makes a good yarn. A nice link to the past is that Sir Henry used to cross the river to Windsor,starting in 1938, to teach Princess Elizabeth constitutional history. Thus Avenel shared a tutor with our present monarch who liveth yet.
Orpen (aka Woppy) was through his mother Howard St.George's first cousin once removed. This was close but no cigar in terms of looks. It is the same relationship as I enjoyed with both Rhodie and Pony Duke, George St.George's grandson, but neither looked remotely like me; they were both handsome lads. Woppy must have had very strong genes. I was sitting at a Sothebey's auction a few years ago with my brain in neutral and my mouth agape, just as Woppy used to portray himself in his private drawings, when a total stranger tapped me on the shoulder to ask if anyone had told me I looked exactly like Orpen. Sadly Pony bought the farm very recently, only a year or two younger than me. Buying the farm is American slang. If you know it, skip the following; otherwise it might entertain a military historian like you, Jerry. In WW1 American country boys would take out government backed life insurance. If they died or were shot their families would use the proceeds to
redeem their mortgages. Hence the expression, which I rather like.
My suggestion of consulting Burke's or Debrett's was really for your benefit, Viktoria. It is indeed a complicated family. I use a 1938 Burke's. This is a huge volume and the family takes up over a page and a half of tiny weeny type but tells you all you need to know. It might be worth trying your local library but take a magnifying glass. It would have told Rhodie about Uncle George and Jerry about Uncle Ferris for instance. A word of caution; a St.George family has become prominent both on the English racing scene and the political scene in the Bahamas. They are highly liked and respected but hail from Malta and changed their name from Zimmerman.Can't understand the fellers.
Jerry, you asked about their houses. After Ashorne Mrs. St.George bought Coombe in Surrey which earlier belonged to Lord Palmerston. After that she bought Cam House, Campden Hill in London and The Priory in the Isle of Wight as a country retreat. Howard St.George was not in evidence and I cannot recall meeting him although I saw Granny almost every day; but they never divorced. To my great displeasure one of the clever-dick online "Peerages" describes my mother (but not Ferris) as having been born out of wedlock; but I am too old and ill to take issue with the scum. James, as a barrister you might like to have a go. But I digress. The Priory is now an hotel and an excruciatingly expensive one. It owns Priory Bay which I remember well with its huge and magnificent private sandy beach. One year a freak storm washed away the whole caboodle and Granny simply had another one trucked in. God bless America.
Cam was something else. It's site is now occupied by The Holland Park School. Cam was previously Argyll Lodge, London home of the Dukes of Argyll and before that Bedford Lodge, home of the Dukes of Bedford. It was pretty big. After Wyatville added the West wing in the early nineteenth century it was valued for rates higher than Holland House. I was born at Cam and Granny died there; not cause and effect I hope. I can tell you much more on request but I am drivelling off the subject.
James 57 you seem to have got into the habit of working up mental fantasies, some of them quite barmy, which you then produce as matters of fact. I am used to this and aim off accordingly but to post your drivel here, as with Mrs. St.George's alleged behaviour towards her son at the beginning of the war, could cause serious damage. This forum kicked off with Jerry Murland, a well known military historian, undertaking research on Uncle Avenel. If he had quoted you in good faith in a book, then he, not you, would have got it in the neck from the likes of me. Pray ponder and don't do it again.
Antony