21st December 1943 SS
Hon. Dudley Ryder’s
Coming-of-Age
CELEBRATIONS AT SANDON
CELEBRATION of the coming-of-age yesterday of the Hon. Dudley Ryder, elder son of Viscount and Viscountess Sandon and grandson of the Earl of Harrowby (Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire) and the Countess of Harrowby, was on a restricted scale owing to wartime conditions; but it included one of the tree-planning ceremonies which are so strong a tradition in the Harrowby family.
Mr. Ryder is a Lieutenant and Assistant Adjutant in the Field Artillery. At Eton, where he was in Mr. Rowlatt’s House, he took his school certificate with seven credits. He was a member first of the school Boy Scouts, and later of the O.T.C.
His war service began in the North Staffordshire Home Guard; he was a sergeant at North Staffordshire Zone Headquarters. Then he joined a Young Soldiers’ Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, and later became instructor at the South Staffordshire Depot. After training at an O.C.T.U., he was posted to the Field Artillery, in which he is now serving.
The Celebration
The coming-at-age yesterday was celebrated at Sandon Hall, the home of Lord and Lady Harrowby, and the family party consisted of Viscount and Viscountess Sandon; the Lady Frances Ryder (Viscount Sandon’s sister); the Hon. Frances Susan Ryder (daughter of Viscount and Viscountess Sandon); and, of course, Lord and Lady Harrowby themselves. Mr. Ryder’s younger brother, the Hon. John Ryder, is in Canada being trained as an R.A.F. pilot.
At the morning service in Sandon Church on Sunday, hymns and psalms chosen specially for the occasion were sung. Two of the hymns were sung at Viscount Sandon’s coming-of-age thanksgiving.
Yesterday Mr. Ryder received many messages of congratulation.
One of the first of the day’s events was the presentation to him of a wallet by the staff of Sandon Hall. The presentation was made by Mr. E. Rotlatt, the house carpenter, who has been in service at the Hall for 23 years.
Mr. Ryder’s other gifts included a birthday cake, made by the canteen staff at the American Red Cross Service Club in Hanley—visited recently by Lord and Lady Harrowby. The tenants of the Sandon estate and of Viscount Sandon’s Gloucestershire estate are deferring their presentations until after the war.
An Oak Planted
In the afternoon, Mr. Ryder planted, in the grounds of the Hall, and within sight of Sandon Church, an oak tree grown from an acorn planted by Lord and Lady Harrowby to commemorate their silver wedding in 1912. The tree was grown by Mr. J.P. Farr, head gardener at Sandon Hall for 43 years; the acorn from which it was grown came from an oak in the grounds of Lady’s Harrowby’s old home in Buckinghamshire.
It was a picturesque ceremony, watched by members of the family; Mr. T.W. Knowles, the Sandon estate agent, and Mr. H. Askey, the clerk of works—whose connections with the estate have lasted 41 years and 39 years respectively—and other members of the Hall and other members of the Hall and estate staff, and a group of children from Sandon schools.
Oldest Tenant
Assisting Mr. Ryder in the planting of the tree was Mr. John Wright, the oldest tenant on the estate. Mr. Wright is 94. Rosy-cheeked, white-bearded, he is as active as a man of 20 or 30 his junior. He was organist at Sandon Church until comparatively recent years—and he is still a vigorous gardener.
Shaking hands with Lord Harrowby after playing his part in the tree-planting, Mr. Wright jokingly boasted of his 14 years seniority over his landlord—Lord Harrowby is in his 80th year.
Also assisting Mr. Ryder in the ceremony were Mr. Frank Middleton, whose family has one of the oldest estate connections, and Leslie Seabridge, the oldest boy attending Sandon school.
After the tree-planting the Bishop of Lichfield (Dr. Edward S. Woods) conducted a Holy Communion service in Sandon Church. This was at the exact hour of Mr. Ryder’s birth.
Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD
