RECOLLECTIONS OF THE HUGHES FAMILY

By Walter Money F. S. A.

The love of associating places with persons and persons with places is deeply ingrained in the nature of everybody who has something in him or her higher and better than plain prose and dry matter of fact. This circumstance may therefore plead an excuse for again referring to the old Priory when the property of 'Pater Hughes', who probably through some mystic or magic spell unknown and unsuspected by himself was first led to seek a home in the charming spot watered by the little river Lambourne, where the white-robed Maturines so long lived under English rule - a small community, whose house and church fell at the hands of destroyers of baser mould in the days when many of the noblest edifices in the country were ruthlessly swept away.

But of all the associations connected with the Priory there are none more thoroughly deserving remembrance than that it was the early home of that beautiful and accomplished lady known as Jeanie Hughes, the light and the pride of the village of Donnington,

'A lovely lady, garmented in light
From her own beauty.'

The daughter of 'Pater Hughes' and sister of 'Tom' (the author of 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'), Jeanie (her full name was Jane Elizabeth), was born at Uffington on the 10th December, 1828. Her education was conducted under the supervision of her father - one of the most versatile men of his day, - and from her earliest years Jeanie, who had inherited talent and beauty, resolved to employ her gifts to advantage, and to practice the virtue of self-reliance. But at the same time she did not neglect the lighter side of life, and showed great skill at the local archery meetings in which her father was the leading spirit, and she had a merry children's party at the Priory.

In 1848 - 10th August - Jeanie married, at Shaw Church, Mr. Nassau John Senior, and in that interesting book, 'Many Memories of Many People', written by Mrs. Simpson, Mr. Senior's sister, there is a description of 'the charming young bride', whom the authoress calls 'the brightest ornament of our house'. Many were the descriptions of her personal appearance. A lady who knew her intimately writes:

'She had the most lovely golden wavy hair, very long, and always looking as though the sun was shining upon it. She had a very earnest face, bright complexion, and clear blue eyes which seemed to look you through.'

Another says:

'She was the most fascinating woman I ever met. The beauty of her expression, the sweetness and richness of her voice (in speaking as well as singing), and the charm of her manner combined to make her unlike anyone else.'

Again, a friend who lived with her for years writes:

'I never look back on her as an ordinary woman who lived in this world. Her beauty of form and character always seemed to me as something not of this world at all. I do not believe that any man or woman ever gave out such marvellous influence as she did; and this not to a few, but to everyone and every class of person. All seemed as if they must and did adore her.'

Before leaving the description of her personal appearance, which is not at all overdrawn, and we can vividly recall, allusion must be made to the portrait of her by Mr. G. F. Watts, R. A. and exhibited in the academy in 1859. Most wonderfully in this portrait does her golden hair stand out against the green background, and the whole picture is of such beauty that there is no wonder that it has several times been exhibited since it first appeared.

'Jeanie'

In this brief sketch we have only space to mention a few of the many philanthropic works with which Mrs. Senior so indefatigably identified herself. The sufferings of the soldiers in the Crimea touched her deeply, and she was found among the hardest workers of Miss Stanley's assistants in sending out supplies.

Miss Octavia Hill [founder of The National Trust], too, numbered her amongst the best of her fellow-workers in various charitable undertakings, while during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1 she was busily occupied in the London offices of the Red Cross Society, whose medal she afterwards received.

In 1873 Mrs. Senior was selected by the President of the Local Government Board as assistant-inspector (afterwards Inspector) of Workhouses, and was the first woman to hold the office, which she filled with distinguished and business-like ability. She had in a supreme degree that which Carlyle calls the first quality of genius - an immense capacity for taking trouble. It should be remembered to her honour that she was the founder [one of the founders] of the Girls' Friendly Society and the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, both of which schemes have had results of a most wide-reaching and beneficial kind, and the girls of England owe an incalculable debt to the unceasing toil and loving forethought of Mrs. Nassau Senior.

It is left to speak of her splendid voice. 'She filled our house with music' says Mrs. Simpson. She was the first to try the capacities of the Albert Hall, and her voice amply filled the mighty space.

'To hear her sing was an inspiration,' says a friend, 'and she left her character upon her songs in a remarkable way. Nothing she liked better than singing to a room full of working men, while it has been said she could hold the most cultivated audience enthralled.'

A story is told that when one day visiting with a friend in the East of London they came upon two women fighting in the middle of a ring of spectators. There was no possibility of separating them, and Mrs. Senior's friend suggested she should sing. She immediately went to a doorway and there stood and sang "Angels, ever bright and fair." The effect was marvellous - all were attracted to her and the fight at once died out. Another time she used to go and sing to the navvies while they were at breakfast. 'They must have thought,' says the narrator of this incident, 'that an angel had come amongst them.'

As long as health and strength remained Mrs. Senior took the greatest interest in every movement which had for its object the social, physical and moral improvement of the world in which her lot was cast. In 1874 the breakdown came, when her mother, Mrs. Hughes, took a house in the Isle of Wight, and there Mrs. Senior went about in a chair for a year or two and sketched, and had the delight of Watts and Tennyson as friends and neighbours. Now there came a little more strength and the return to London with some resumption of work. But it was too much. She fell asleep on the 24th March, 1877. As one writes of her,

'Surely a more beautiful life has scarcely ever been lived. Its very brevity seems almost in keeping. It was a concentration of sweetness and beauty which could, one would fancy, hardly have lasted longer than those 49 short years.'

If any lady of the 19th century, in England or abroad, could have been allowed to put in a claim for the credit of not having lived in vain, that woman, we honestly believe, was Mrs. Nassau Senior.

Jeanie as a girl.

Jeanie in 1852.

Jeanie and her sister-in-law, Minnie (taken 1855?*).

*This photograph is in a leather wallet with 'T. R. Williams, Photographer, 236 Regent Street' engraved upon it.
The photograph cannot have been taken before 1855 because that was the year in which
T. R. Williams established his premises at 236 Regent Street.

Nassau John Senior and Walter Nassau Senior (taken 1855?). Walter was 5 years old in 1855.

Jane Elizabeth Senior

In Memoriam

Not for the bright face we shall see no more,
Not for the sweet voice we no more shall hear;
Not for the heart with kindness brimming o'er,
Large charity, and sympathy sincere.

These are not things that ask a public pen
To blazon its memorial o'er her name;
But, that in public work she wrought with men,
And faced their frowns, and over-lived their blame.

Yet never swerved a hair's breadth from the line
Of woman's softness, gentleness and grace;
But brought from these an influence to refine
Rough tasks and squalid, and there leave its trace.

Honour to him who in a sneering age,
Braved quip and carp and cavil, and proclaimed
A woman's fitness pauper needs to gauge,-
In purpose strong, in purity unshamed.

For paupers too have sex: the workhouse walls
Hold mothers, maidens, and girl-babes, on whom
A woman's eye with woman's insight falls,
Sees its own ways for sunlight to their gloom.

And so this noble and brave lady turned
From glad life, luxury and thronging friends
That hung on her sweet voice, and only yearned
To guide her holy work to useful ends.

But Death to Life begrudged her, striking down
The task unfinished from her willing hands,
Leaving to women yet to come the crown
Of her left life's-work, that for others stands.

Then lay and leave her in her quiet grave,
Where the sun shines undimmed, the rain falls clear,
And birches bend, and deodoras wave
Evergreen arms of welcome o'er her bier.

Published in 'Punch' in 1877.

Jeanie's grave at Brookwood Cemetery.

Here is some more about Jeanie.