A Family History of the Illustrious, Notorious and Eccentric Lloyds of Birmingham, Brigstock and Pipewell Hall - Flipbook - Page 122
hunting, but rather wet. During dinner they were recounting their deeds in the hunting field when
llow said, "You know that's one of the very best day's hunting I have had, but the most
rdinary thing is, I just could not sit on my horse, I took two tosses." Whereupon the next chap
Well, that's a most extraordinary thing, but I had a couple of falls today as well." This went on all
the table, and poor Foxon could hardly contain himself for laughing, but he never let the secret out.
e the war and the nationalisation of the coal mines, Uncles Pen and Mike were managers of the
ers Main Colliery in Yorkshire. I was under the impression that Uncle Pen first married or lived with
hy Emmanuel, the wife of an American millionaire, who had rented Rockingham Castle, near
, only five miles away from Pipewell. The spin-off for the Lloyd grandchildren was inheriting some
sive American toys, including an electric car which we all enjoyed using at Pipewell.
February 1943 Pen married Monica Murray-Philipson, widow of Hylton Murray-Philipson. Uncle
nd Aunt Monica came to live at Blaston, about twenty miles from Pipewell into Leicestershire, and
Monica's two Murray-Philipson children, Althea (was married to Sam Lloyd) and Robin (d. 2020)
to live with them at Blaston.
Monica's brother was Claude Beasley-Robinson, an Eton housemaster, who had Robin Murrayson in his house of seventy boys. My most vivid recollection of that house comes from VE Day.
was a bus stop just outside the house where two unsuspecting Wrens in naval uniform were waiting
bus, a crowd of boys flooded out of the house expressing their joy at the VE Day news by each
ng a roll of loo paper with them. In no time they had wrapped the two Wrens at the bus stop post
he rolls of loo paper so that they were bound like Egyptian mummies!
Claude Beasley-Robinson retired as a housemaster he had a glorious sabbatical hunting season with
rnie Hounds of which Uncle Pen was joint-master for many years with Derek Hignett. He had a
ment cottage at Blaston, and two heavyweight hunters called, "White Peter", a grey, and "Black
. He charged fearlessly through Fernie country tackling the most formidable fences that most
e avoided, resulting in a series of crucifying falls!
that hunting season, Claude joined a monastic order, the Cowley Fathers (at that point he was nickd by the Lloyd Uncles as, "Claude, not our Bishop", to distinguish him from Claude, Bishop of
orough, who used to visit the Lloyd family. The Cowley Fathers used to all gather together for an
l retreat, which they held at some secular resort to expose the monastic order to the public. One
not long after Sally and I had moved to live in Troon in 1952, they held it at what was the Butlins
ay Camp in Ayr. Claude, a relative new boy in the order, was still bare-headed, since there were fewer
Fathers' distinguishing black hats and Father Claude had to wait for one of the Fathers to drop off
rch before he could inherit one of these hats!
