A Knight’s Tale (15: From The Irish Civil War To Estonia)

Evelyn, the youngest of my three Knight great aunts, appears first in the photograph of The Norwood School for The Sons of Gentleman, her brother, Jack’s establishment in which she taught in the early 1900s, shown in https://derrickjknight.com/2021/07/30/a-knights-tale-7-world-war-i/

The contrast between the stern passport and more relaxed studio images of these early photographs are fascinating.

After a post in a school for young ladies in Nantes, Evie returned to England for a series of governess and tutoring posts in England before, in 1920, becoming governess to Genevieve Vaughan-Jackson who became a writer of a series of books on drawing for girls and boys in the 1960s which are still available on the internet. I am not sure whether my father’s aunt also taught Genevieve’s brothers, Oliver, who became an influential surgeon – a specialist in hands, and the discoverer of an eponymous syndrome; and Miles, who died as a captain at El Alamein.

This post was at Carramore, in Ireland, during the time of the War of Independence which brought about the Treaty of 1921, which, in turn provoked the Civil War of 1922-1923. Evelyn left Ireland during this period, to return for another year in 1924.

For three years she worked with Diana and Charles Elliot at Clifton Park, Kelso, in Scotland, then in 1929 took up governess engagements at Newlands Corner and Berkhampstead, until following Mabel to Tallin, eventually being evacuated from there in 1940. Her own words on the occupation of Estonia will follow in the next episode.

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  12. Such fascinating family history, Derrick.
    I was trying to figure out what the fur thing is in the second photo.
    I will wait to read about Estonia. 😀

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