aged 25, living in London. Divorced from Simon Powers, and has reverted to her maiden name.
Lady Dulcie Ingham, fourth daughter, aged 18. She lives at Cavendon.
The four girls are still referred to affectionately as the four Dees by the staff.
The children of Lady Daphne and Mr Hugo Stanton are Alicia, aged 12; Charles, aged 8½; the twins, Thomas and Andrew, aged 5, and Annabel, aged 2.
OTHER INGHAMS
Lady Lavinia Ingham Lawson, sister of the Earl, aged 53. She lives at Skelldale House, on the estate, when in Yorkshire. She is mostly in London. She is now widowed. She was married to John Edward Lawson, known as Jack.
Lady Vanessa Ingham, the spinster sister of the Earl, aged 47, who has her own private suite of rooms at Cavendon, which she uses when in Yorkshire. She spends most of her time in London.
Lady Gwendolyn Ingham Baildon, the widowed aunt of the Earl, aged 86, who resides at Little Skell Manor on the estate. She was married to the late Paul Baildon.
The Honourable Hugo Ingham Stanton, first cousin of the Earl, aged 45. He is the nephew of Lady Gwendolyn, the sister of his late mother, Lady Evelyne Ingham Stanton. He is married to Lady Daphne.
BETWEEN STAIRS
THE SECOND FAMILY: THE SWANNS
The Swann family has been in service to the Ingham family for over one hundred and seventy years. Consequently, their lives have been intertwined in many different ways. Generations of Swanns have lived in Little Skell village, adjoining Cavendon Park, and still do. The present-day Swanns are as devoted and loyal to the Inghams as their forebears were, and would defend any member of the family with their lives. The Inghams trust them implicitly, and vice versa.
THE SWANNS IN 1926
Walter Swann, valet to the Earl, aged 48. Head of the Swann family.
Alice Swann, his wife, aged 45. A clever seamstress who takes care of the clothes and makes outfits for Lady Daphne and her daughters.
Harry, son, aged 28. A former apprentice landscape gardener at Cavendon Hall; he is now learning estate management and works with Miles Ingham.
Cecily, daughter, aged 25. She lives and works in London, where she has become a famous fashion designer, with three shops.
OTHER SWANNS
Percy, younger brother of Walter, aged 45. Head gamekeeper at Cavendon.
Edna, wife of Percy, aged 46. Does occasional work at Cavendon.
Joe, their son, aged 25. Works with his father as a gamekeeper.
Bill, first cousin of Walter, aged 40. Head landscape gardener at Cavendon. He is widowed.
Ted, first cousin of Walter, aged 51. Head of interior maintenance and carpentry at Cavendon. Widowed.
Paul, son of Ted, aged 27, working with his father as an interior designer and carpenter at Cavendon.
Eric, brother of Ted, first cousin of Walter, aged 46. Butler at the London house of Lord Mowbray. Single.
Laura, sister of Ted, first cousin of Walter, aged 39. Housekeeper at the London house of Lord Mowbray. Single.
Charlotte, aunt of Walter and Percy, aged 58. Retired from service at Cavendon. Charlotte is the matriarch of the Swann family. She is treated with great respect by everyone, and with a certain deference by the Inghams. Charlotte was the secretary and personal assistant to David Ingham, the 5th Earl, until his death.
Dorothy Pinkerton, née Swann, aged 43, cousin of Charlotte and the Swanns. She lives in London and is married to Howard Pinkerton, a Scotland Yard detective. She works with Cecily at Cecily Swann Couture.
CHARACTERS BELOW STAIRS
Mr Henry Hanson, Butler
Mrs Agnes Thwaites, Housekeeper
Miss Susie Jackson, Cook (niece of Nell, who has retired)
Mr Gordon Lane, Head footman
Mr Ian Melrose, Second footman
Miss Jessie Phelps, Head housemaid
Miss Pam Willis, Second housemaid
Miss Connie Layton, Third housemaid
Mr Tim Hartley, Chauffeur
OTHER EMPLOYEES
Miss Margaret Cotton, the nanny for Lady Daphne’s children, usually addressed as Nanny or Nan.
Miss Nancy Pettigrew, the governess, usually addressed as Miss Pettigrew. The governess is not at Cavendon in the summer. The children are not in school.
THE OUTDOOR WORKERS
A stately home such as Cavendon Hall, with thousands of acres of land, and a huge grouse moor, employs local people. This is its purpose for being, as well as providing a private home for a great family. It offers employment to the local villagers, and also land for local tenant farmers. The villages surrounding Cavendon were built by various earls of Mowbray to provide housing for their workers; churches and schools were also built, as well as post offices and small shops at later dates. The villages around Cavendon are Little Skell, Mowbray and High Clough.
There are a number of outside workers: a head gamekeeper and five additional gamekeepers; beaters and flankers who work when the grouse season starts and the Guns arrive at Cavendon to shoot. Other outdoor workers include woodsmen, who take care of the surrounding woods for shooting in the lowlands at certain times of the year. The gardens are cared for by a head landscape gardener, and five other gardeners working under him.
The grouse season starts in August, on the Glorious Twelfth, as it is called. It finishes in December. The partridge season begins in September. Duck and wild fowl are shot at this time. Pheasant shooting starts on 1 November and goes on until December. The men who come to shoot are usually aristocrats, and always referred to as the Guns, i.e., the men using the gun.
July 1926
‘The little world of childhood with its familiar surroundings is a model of the greater world. The more intensively the family has stamped its character upon the child, the more it will tend to feel and see its earlier miniature world again in the bigger world of adult life.’
Carl Jung, The Theory of Psychoanalysis (1913)
Cecily Swann knew it well, this path. She had walked it all of her life, and it was an old familiar. Lifting her head, she looked up at the grand house towering above her on top of the hill. Cavendon Hall. One of the great stately homes of England, it was the finest of all in Yorkshire.
The house was her destination this morning, as it had been so often when she was growing up. Her parents and her brother Harry lived in Little Skell village, at the edge of Cavendon Park, just as their ancestors had done. For over one hundred and seventy years, in fact.
It was a lovely Friday morning in the middle of July, and there was no hint of rain today. The sunshine streamed down, bathing the house in that crystalline northern light which gave the exterior its soft, peculiar sheen at