Biography of Lady Rozelle Raynes, formerly Pierrepont (1925-2015)
-
- Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull (1584-1643)
- Henry Pierrepont, 2nd Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull and Marquess of Dorchester (1607-1680)
- Robert Pierrepont, 3rd Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull (c.1660-1682)
- William Pierrepont, 4th Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull (c.1662-1690)
- Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull (c.1665-1726)
- William Pierrepont, Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull (1692-1713)
- Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull (1711-1773)
- Charles (Medows) Pierrepont, 1st Earl Manvers (1737-1816)
- Charles Herbert Pierrepont, 2nd Earl Manvers (1778-1860)
- Sydney William Herbert Pierrepont, 3rd Earl Manvers (1825-1900)
- Charles William Sydney Pierrepont, 4th Earl Manvers (1854-1926)
- Evelyn Robert Pierrepont, 5th Earl Manvers (1888-1940)
- Gervas Evelyn Pierrepont, 6th Earl Manvers (1881-1955)
- Lady Rozelle Raynes, formerly Pierrepont (1925-2015)
Frederica Rozelle Ridgway Pierrepont was the third, but only surviving daughter of Gervas Pierrepont (1881-1955) and Marie-Louise Roosevelt Pierrepont (1889-1984), formerly Butterfield. Rozelle was born at her mother's family home, Cliffe Castle in Keighley, West Yorkshire, but she was brought up in London where her father was a London County Councillor and magistrate.
Her father became the 6th Earl Manvers in 1940 on the death of his cousin and inherited Thoresby Hall and estates in north and south Nottinghamshire, and Rozelle thereby gained the title 'Lady'.
Rozelle joined the Wrens during the Second World War and worked as a stoker during the D-Day Normandy landings. She loved sailing, and in 1947 joined the crew of the racing yacht 'Moonbeam'. She bought her own boat and sailed all around Europe, sometimes single-handedly.
She married Major Alexander Montgomerie Greaves Beattie in 1953, but the marriage broke down and they were divorced in 1961. In 1955 she inherited the Thoresby Estate on the death of her father. As a mostly absentee landlord, living from the 1960s to the 1980s in London and Dover, she worked closely with the resident Agents.
In 1965 Lady Rozelle married Richard Hollings Raynes, known as Dick, a doctor who worked in London. The marriage was happy, and the pair ran a scheme to train disadvantaged London boys in sailing on the Thames and take them on expeditions.
The pair retired to Thoresby in the 1980s, to a new house built on the estate which Lady Rozelle called 'Butterfields'. In the 1990s she helped refugees from the war in the former Yugoslavia to come to Thoresby and settle in Nottinghamshire.
Lady Rozelle wrote a number of books about her experiences in the Wrens, sailing, and other adventures, including North in a Nutshell (1968), Maid Matelot (1971), The Sea Bird (1979), The Tuesday Boys (1991), 27 Kisses: The Last Coach from Croatia (c.1995), and A Boat Called Martha (2001).
Family
She married Dr Richard Holling Raynes (d 2014) in 1965. They had no children.
In 1974 Lady Rozelle gifted the Kneesall estate to her distant cousin Ian Thorne, a descendant of the 3rd Earl Manvers. In 1976 she appointed another cousin, Hugh Matheson, to be the life tenant of the remaining Thoresby estate. Hugh Matheson inherited the estate on Lady Rozelle's death in 2015.
Archive Collections
- Title deeds and estate papers relating to Lady Rozelle's ownership of her estates are part of the Manvers Collection held in Manuscripts and Special Collections at the University of Nottingham. Correspondence of Lady Rozelle on estate business can be found in the Ma 9 and Ma 10 sections of the Manvers Collection.
Published Sources
- There are no notable published works about Lady Rozelle Raynes, but her own books provide autobiographical information.