THE SIBLINGS OF GEORGE KING-HALL
INTRODUCTION
As we have learnt earlier George King-Hall was the eldest surviving child of a family of nine. He had four brothers and four sisters who reached adulthood. The remarkable story of one of his brothers, Russell, has been described elsewhere. This section looks briefly at the lives of his other brothers and sisters. It has been included mainly for the benefit of the family, however the general reader may find the activities, behaviour and connections of some of GKHs other siblings of interest.
META 1852 - 1881
In 1874 Meta married Edward Grogan, an officer in the Black Watch. She died of typhoid in 1881 leaving two sons and a daughter. Her eldest son, George, had a very distinguished military career and was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1918.
ROBERT 1856 - 1933
Robert was the second son who proved to be a disappointment to his parents, but unlike his elder Russell, he survived into his 70s and was a problem to his family until the day he died.
We have little detailed information about his life, but the sheer variety of his activities is worth recording.
FRANCES 1860 - 1925
In 1883 Francie married Edward Banbury, a banker. She led an uneventful and prosperous life, ending her days in a house in Eaton Square. She had two sons and a daughter. Her eldest son was killed in the 1st World War. Her daughter Rosemary lived until 1985 and was loved by all that knew her.
HERBERT 1862 - 1936
Like his eldest brother George, Bertie joined the Royal Navy and had a very distinguished career. For reasons that will touched on later his final days in the Royal Navy were a disappointment.
In 1905 he married Lady Mabel Murray, daughter of the Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield.
EDITH 1864 - 1933
Edie never married and appears to have been a rather retiring person. She was however a successful authoress of chidren's book. She had over 15 books published between 1894 and 1910.
One of these, Admiralty House, is a semi autobiographical account of her life while her father, William, was Commander-in-Chief at the Nore.
ELLA 1866 - 1942
Unlike her sister, Ella (also known as Lel) was a most dynamic person and one gets the impression from his diaries that GKH would often turn to her for help and advice. She was also a composer of songs and some of her work reached the Edwardian 'charts'.
In about 1912 she set up a literary agency which she ran until her retirement in 1935. As we will learn later she had one particularly distinguished client.
BALDIE 1868 - 1929
We do not know very much about Baldie's early life. After his mother died in 1875 he was brought up by his father and elder sisters. In 1882 he acquired a stepmother and at about the same time failed to enter the Royal Navy. The only other thing we know about his early days is that in 1886, just before his father's death, George mentions in his diary that ' I had been down to Berkshire and arranged about Baldie going down to read with a clergyman'. It is not clear what this involved however the news apparently gave his father pleasure.
The next we hear about Baldie is that in 1899, with the support of his sister Ella, he opened a school at Emsworth House, Emsworth in Hampshire. The aim of this school was to prepare young boys for entry to the Royal Navy. A member of his staff was a young man called Herbert Westbrook (HW), who had recently left Cambridge.
It was through HW that the King-Hall family acquired one of its most distinguished connections, the author P.G. Wodehouse.