Life is so ephemeral is it not? When I am working on a vellum, I thoroughly research the subject and as this concerns the Lord Mayor of London I am re-reading ‘Reminiscences of a Lady Mayoress’, by Lady Marguerite De La Bere which is a witty and very readable account of life in the Mansion House and the work of both the Lord Mayor of London and the Lady Mayoress. Sir Rupert De La Bere, Bart, KCVO. MP. etc was Lord Mayor in Coronation Year and lived at Crowborough Place overlooking Ashdown Forest. He was a Director of the Hays Wharf Company,(Through Lady De La Bere – a family Company) and Hays Wharf occupied the south side of the Thames between London and Tower Bridges, and was London’s biggest wharfinger.(ceased trading in 1969 the year of Marguerite’s death) It imported foodstuffs mainly from the Empire, and Tooley Street became known as Londons Larder. The title is marked down for extinction as the present holder Sir Cameron De La Bere (in his eighties) has two daughters and his brother Adrian is 75 and unmarried. My point is, that here was a man at the very centre of London’s and the Nation’s life in the 1950’s his title looks like dying out, his home has been split up into wings and the Company of which he was a Director no longer exists … Have you heard of either Rupert or Marguerite? I doubt it!!!
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 21:16:38 +0000
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