A Cinderella story
William Buchan
THE UGLY ONE: THE CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF HERMIONE COUNTESS OF RANFURLY, 1913-39 Michael Joseph, £12.99, pp. 202 In a generation of families more close- knit than they would be nowadays there was much plain speaking, some of it of a brutality not wholly genial. Thus the infant Hermione Llewellyn was given to under- stand that she, born between a handsome brother and beautiful younger sister, was the ugly one of the family.
After a while I got used to being told I was ugly and gave up minding about it. Instead of minding I determined to ride better, run faster, be funnier .. . than the rest of my fam- ily.
So began to be shown the qualities of character which would be the foundation for the amazing display of courage, perti- nacity and humour which Lady Ranfurly described in her first book, To War with Whitaker.
The two main components of the young Hermione's family, Llewellyns from Glam- organshire and Elweses from Gloucester- shire, were ' both in their time very rich. Since her father, Griffith Llewellyn (Gruff), had succeeded to a large share of the fami- ly's money and lands, Hermione's small family, to begin with, was decidedly well- off.
Owen Llewellyn and his sister were devoted to each other. They were free spirits, too free sometimes for the demands of a family discipline still stringent in their day. Theirs seems to have been an ideal country childhood, lively, adventurous, high-tempered and a little wild.
Two serious flaws in the family make-up would one day have dire effects. The hand- some, dashing and popular Griff Llewellyn was dangerously extravagant.
We knew our father bought anything he fan- cied regardless of cost, that beautiful cars and presents arrived often, that the Red Poll bull for which he paid a record price had proved to be impotent ...
The second flaw lay with Hermione's mother, Constance. Beautiful, spirited, loving and adored by her family, quite early in life she began to change alarmingly. Griff loved her devotedly and sought by every means to cure her mental illness. She grew worse, however, and before long he decided to take her to Switzerland, where doctors pronounced her manic-depressive. Owen remained in England at school, but the daughters, by now three in number, had to go with their parents. The children had become accustomed to having beloved homes sold over their heads, to parting with animals and toys, and to living in places they did not like. They mourned for their mother and regretted their father's unhappiness, although he seemed to care little about theirs.
Soon Owen and I became increasingly wor- ried about poverty, so we decided to try to earn money. He joined the Empire Air Force and I went to London to find work.
This was in '1930, at the worst time of the Depression, and jobs were hard to find. Hermione landed one selling gas appli- ances. She knew little about their workings, but had some success recommending large ovens as comfortable for suicide. She then found employment at the War Office, where she was most kindly treated, but to add one great sorrow to the others in her life, she learned of Owen's death in an air- crash.
Unlike many of her contemporaries, Hermione had for some time had experi- ence of the hurrying, hard-pressed working girl's world where, although she received invitations to balls and country houses, she could not afford to buy the necessary clothes. All this Lady Ranfurly records with admirable dry humour and no tinge of self- pity.
One day, at the instance of a managing aunt, Hermione went to be interviewed by Lord Wakehurst, who was just leaving to take up his appointment as Governor of New South Wales. With every misgiving, she accepted the post of secretary and set sail with her employers for Australia. Everything in her life then changed, and for the better. On a visit to Canberra, she met a young man, Dan, Earl of Ranfurly, ADC to the Governor-General. Her hard time as a kind of Cinderella was about to come to a very happy end.
This small book has been prettily produced, with photographs to disprove handsomely its title. It will be essential reading for all who admired To War with Whitaker.
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