The Tree of Me

After a very meagre year researching and blogging the holidays are here and it's time to make amends. The first thing I did today was to take a month's subscription to The British Newspaper Archive . My first find today was the reporting of the marriage of Richard Cecil Dawson  to Dorothy Davies-Gilbert on 31st July 1916.  Richard was my great grandfather's first cousin. Sussex Agricultural Express, Friday 4 August 19196, p.  4. Of note is the fact that their honeymoon was held at the Lake House at Highclere.  A search on google maps reveals two lakes, Duncs Mere and Milford Lake just to the north of Highclere.  Highclere nowadays is famous as  Downton Abbey is filmed there. For some time Richard (Dick) Dawson was The Earl of Carnarvon's horse trainer. Most of his early successes were with horses owned by the Earl. 

Yesterday I was in my local bookshop and I saw the book, Lady Catherine and the Real Downton Abbey written by Fiona Carnarvon, the Countess of Carnarvon. Highclere Castle - 2005 I had to buy the book, not just because of my love of the series, but simply because one of my family may be mentioned in the book. Sure enough, the index indicated a hit. Page 82 has a mention of Dick Dawson. So even though the reference to Dick was one sentence in the book it had to become part of my personal collection. One of Porchey's first decisions was to build up his brood mares and then send his youngsters to be trained by Dick Dawson at Whatcombe, who trained the Aga Khan's horses....... The horseracing, breeding and training world is full of dreamers and eccentrics, driven men (it is usually men, and certainly was in Porchey's day) whose existence has been overtaken by the hope that one day, one of their horses may win a Grand National, or an Epsom Derby, and become a househ...