Philip Wilson Steer, O.M., N.E.A.C.

Painted for the parents of the sitter c.1918 and thence by descent

London, New English Art Club, winter 1917-18, no.108 as Betty

Bruce Laughton, Philip Wilson Steer 1860-1942, 1971, p.152, cat.no.529

The canvas has not been lined. There are some specks of surface dirt scattered throughout. The work would benefit from a light clean. Otherwise the work appears to be in good condition. UV light inspection reveals some minor spots of retouching to the girl's face, notably spots to her chin and hairline, with some possible minor touches elsewhere. Held in a decorative carved and gilded frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

She was born on the 4^th May1912. She was the daughter of an army officer W.C.Elwes. Her mother was as far as I can remember from Kilcullen in Ireland which at the time was one country. I believe her mother’s surname was Hughes. On the outbreak of war in 1914 her father went off to France with his regiment, The Royal Horse Artillery. Her mother went to help run a hospital with an aunt, the aunt being the matron and her mother being the cook. Little Betty went to stay with various friends or cousins for the rest of the war, whilst her parents were away. It was whilst she was staying with one of these relatives that the parents of the relative commissioned Wilson Steer to paint a portrait of their child. Whilst he was painting their child he met little Betty. He was captivated by her and wrote to Betty’s mother asking whether her could paint a portrait of Betty, ( I believe that no money was mentioned but my grandmother probably sent him a cheque for £100 as a gift according to my mother)

Her father was invalided out of the army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1917 with trench foot. The parents immediately set about trying to find a permanent home for themselves and Betty, (and 2 other daughters that were to follow). The original intention was to buy a farm in Ireland and breed racehorses. (A close relation had bred a Derby Winner as far as I can remember). But because of ‘The Troubles’ there at the time, they decided against it and decided to buy a farm in England instead. Whilst her mother was staying with a friend at Rusper near Horsham West Sussex she heard of a farm for sale at Ockley, near Dorking in Surrey (RH5 5NN), so she walked over and viewed Oakdale Farm. It was a farm of 150 acres with a large farmhouse of 8 bedrooms and also a Dower House, (built for a mother-in-law in 1909). Her parents decided to buy Oakdale Farm and that was to become Betty’s home (except for a short time when she was first married), for the rest of her life. (She died here in 2005 a week after her 93^rd Birthday).

Betty grew up on the farm with her two sisters. She had a horse called ‘Ghost’. Then when she was 18 tragedy struck. Her mother died of Staphylococcal Infection of the Throat. So she remained on the farm to help look after the farm, do the farmwork, help look after her father and act as a mother to her 2 younger sisters with the help of a ‘nanny’ who was taken on to look after the children when they were small but stayed on when her mother died. Betty was mildly dyslexic. There was the famous occasion when she left out a note for the baker delivering bread which read ‘3 Long Loves today please’ instead of ‘3 Long Loaves today please’! I know her father relied on her to be a bridge partner when he went out to play ‘Bridge’ with other couples. She was also keen on hunting with the local hunt both as a way of meeting eligible men and for the hunting!.

When her father bought the farm there was a small herd of the Red Poll Cows or it was established soon after they arrived. In 1933 it was decided to change the breed of cow on the farm to Jerseys on the recommendation of the vet who said they were easy calving. Her father was a marvellous judge of animals and he bought in foundation stock for a first class herd that won lots of prizes in local shows right up to the 1990’s when my niece did the showing.

So life continued for Betty on the farm when in 1938 her father said ‘There is going to be a war, you had better join up’ so she went into Horsham and joined ‘The Auxiliary Territorial Service’ (ATS) which was a Territorial (part time) anti-aircraft regiment. When she was asked what she could do, she said ‘I can cook’ so she started her army career as a cook. On the outbreak of war she was mobilised and became a full time cook rising through the ranks. There is the famous occasion in the dark days of 1940 when food was so short that she had the idea of giving the soldiers apple dumplings for their tea. Since there were plenty of apples that year and the other ingredients namely flour and lard were ‘off ration’ , the ‘Top Brass’ were absolutely delighted to find something that was readily available and they could recommend to other units, and I believe she got a ‘Mentioned in Dispatches’ award for this. As the war went on she progressed up the ranks and became involved in the operation of anti-aircraft guns. These guns were placed around strategic towns vital for the war effort to protect them. One of these gun emplacements was placed on a farm (Park Farm) adjoining the farmyard at Ticknall in Derbyshire. The gun emplacement was placed there to protect the Rolls Royce Aero Engine Factory in Derby. It was there that she met my father Cyril George Eason who was the son of the farmer. He as well as being a farmer had a dairy supplying Derby. They fell in love. They continued to correspond for the rest of the war. I have still got some of the letters that my father sent her. As the war moved on my mother was posted to Europe and I know that she was involved with protecting Brussels from aircraft at one time. At the end of the war she had become a Colonel in her own right in charge of all ATS personnel in Germany. It was a very creditable achievement for somebody who had joined up as a cook! For her war service she got awarded the MBE and was mentioned three times in dispatches.

On demobilisation she came home briefly before marrying my father in August 1946. After marriage she moved back to Ticknall where she originally met my Father and my parents set up home in the end of the Vicarage at Ticknall. My father was still very involved with his Dairy which had become quite a large business. I, the eldest son was born in 1947 to quickly be followed by a brother and a sister. This involved moving twice more within 5 years Ticknall village ending up at ‘The Hollies’. By this time my father’s dairy business had begun to suffer from competition from the co-op so he decided to sell it as a going concern for £8000. Also by this time Betty’s father was in failing health at Oakdale and Betty and us three children moved back here so she could look after him for the last few months of his life. My father in the meantime was preparing to move down to Oakdale permanently to be with Betty and us children and made numerous trips from Derby to Oakdale with plants from his parents garden for a new garden at Oakdale as he was a keen gardener and the garden at Oakdale had been neglected go during the war years. When Betty’s father died in 1952 my parents bought out Betty’s two sister’s share of Oakdale Farm with the money he got from the dairy. I was five when we moved down here and we children had an idyllic childhood with my parents here. Although we had an idyllic childhood my parents decided to have us privately educated which put an intolerable strain on their finances and the finances of this small dairy farm despite the fact that they had expanded the farm business since Betty’s father’s time. Betty, as well as looking after us children, was also in charge of rearing the calves and helping with the milking. In the school holidays my brother and I liked nothing better than helping our parents on the farm. When we left school we both decided to stay on the farm and help our parents try and further expand the farm business with mixed results. ( My sister was not very interested in the farm and left to get married in 1972 and subsequently moved to Derby to take advantage of the cheaper houses there). My parents made us junior partners in the farm. My brother left the farm in the early 1970’s after a family disagreement which left me in charge of the farm with my mother. By this time my father had lost interest in the farm business and I ran it in conjunction with my mother. My father although not taking much part in the farming by now looked after the one acre garden at Oakdale which was widely admired and thoroughly enjoyed accompanying my mother to play bridge with other couples. My mother had taught my father to play Bridge and they were both very good Bridge Players. My father died in 1992. I am sure she felt rather alone without him.

The farm continued with the Jersey Herd until we had a financial crisis in September 1999, when my brother (who had re-joined the farm to help with finances) and I went to see the bank manager for an immediate loan of £15,000 which was needed to keep the farm going. He agreed with our request providing we went out of business as a dairy farm by March 31^st 2000. When we came home and told my mother she was devastated and three days later she fell down whilst getting out of the bath and broke her hip. This was the beginning of the end of her life for her. She never fully recovered but kept on looking after the very young calves when she partly recovered until the last calf was sold. She would have been 88 then. With the remainder of the dairy herd following, it was as if the ‘stuffing’ had been knocked out of her. After a short time a small herd of beef bullocks was bought to keep us farming but it was not very profitable and I got a part time job as corporate host at the nearby Gatwick Airport, spending the rest of my time on the farm looking after the bullocks. Although she was no longer able to take an active part in the farm she still kept an interest in what was going on, on the farm. My sister, husband and three children had by then moved back to the farm and helped look after her and took her out. This state of affairs continued until she died in her beloved Oakdale approximately one week after her 93^rd Birthday after a short illness

The farm limped on after her death as a beef farm until 2010 when on the advice of our accountants the farm and farmhouse was sold with me retaining half of the Dower House where I still live and my sister retaining the other half. My brother had moved away to be near his daughters. I never married during her lifetime because my dedication to her and the farm but eventually got married last year.