Valentine Cecil Fane was born on the 30th<\/sup> January 1893 in Nazeing Essex, the daughter of Cecil Fane and Alice Goddard. Related to the Earl of Westmoreland, she came from a privileged and wealthy background. Her grandfather, John William Fane was an MP, a Justice of the Peace and a deputy lieutenant of Oxfordshire who married four times. The ancestral home of the Fanes was Wormsley Park in Oxfordshire, later the home of John Paul Getty, now the home of his son Mark Getty. Valentine\u2019s father Cecil Fane was an Eton-educated civil engineer. In 1899, when Valentine was only six, her mother died. Father and daughter settled at Malting Farm, Little Hallingbury.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 1901 census: father Cecil and daughter Valentine at Malting Farm Little Hallingbury<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most probably young Valentine was educated at home although I have been unable to find proof, i.e. mention of a live-in governess. Then, at some point towards 1910, Cecil, Valentine\u2019s father took a job as<\/span> land agent in Bingley, Yorkshire, and Valentine moved in with her maternal grandparents. <\/span>The 1911 census lists Valentine residing with them at the Nazeing vicarage. It must have been around that time that she started to write poetry and, during a visit to the Opera, met the love of her life: John Barnard.<\/span><\/p>\n Born in 1869, John Barnard was 24 years older than Valentine. He hailed from the Barnard brewing and malting dynasty. John\u2019s nephew was the one time Kidderminster MP and chair of Hertfordshire County Council Edmund Broughton Barnard. Thje Kelly directories listed both uncle and nephew as important local land owners. In 1901 John himself was elected to the Rural District Council representing High Wych. At that time he lived at the Curatage on High Wych Road. John also was a Justice of the Peace. By the time of the 1911 census, he and his mother had moved to Alston Oak on the corner of Redricks Lane and Harlow Road. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What the families on either side thought of Valentine\u2019s and John\u2019s relationship we simply do not know. Traditionally, established aristocracy such as the Fanes would have regarded \u201ctrade people\u201d such as the Barnards with some suspicion. Then, in October 1912 Mrs. Barnard, John\u2019s mother, died. <\/span><\/span>John\u2019s dad had already died in 1881. Mother and son had been sharing a house ever since, first in High Wych, later at Alston Oak Sawbridgeworth. W<\/span>hether John and Valentine\u2019s meeting at the Opera took place before or after Mrs. Barnard\u2019s death we do not know. Still, the loss of a parent is a landmark event in anybody\u2019s life and Valentine Fane must have understood what John B. was going through. She herself <\/span>had lost her\u00a0mother when she was only 6. Valentine had also spent quite some time away from her father. They were in some respects kindred souls, thrown together by fate if you want to put it dramatically. 1912 was an eventful year for Valentine. Not only did she meet the love of her life, she also became a published poet and met her dad\u2019s second wife. Looking at the above photograph taken at the island of Ghigha I would say the woman in the background in Marjorie Ferrand, whom Cecil was later to marry. Marjorie was the daughter of Mr. W. Ferrand of St. Ives, Cecil\u2019s Yorkshire employer. Perhaps Cecil had taken his daughter on a trip to Scotland with the express purpose to introduce her to her future stepmother. <\/span><\/p>\n Cecil Fane and Florence Marjorie Ferrand married in October 1913, Valentine was a bridesmaid and John Barnard a guest. Whether the two attended the wedding as a couple I did not find out. If they did, it is somehow unlikely there was any ill feeling. It was clear though that John and Valentine were desperately and deeply in love. They may even have been living under the same roof at that time. Why the two of them never married remains a mystery. John Barnard\u2019s will however clearly mentions Valentine as his sole heir. Valentine continued to live at Alston Oak. From the mid-twenties, the Kelly directories list Miss Fane and Edmund Barnard amongst the principal land owners in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n Valentine\u2019s poetry shows her to be a sensitive soul with a love of nature and a sense of fun. Her writing was published in Punch, The Windsor Magazine, Grand Magazine and Top Notch, an American magazine. Most of these early poems date from between 1912 and 1915. Her family was certainly proud of her as was shown by the fact that her stepmother carefully cut out her published poems and pasted them in an album. <\/span><\/p>\n However, it is the mystery concerning a poem called \u201cthe Wind\u201d which really got me interested in Valentine. \u201cThe Wind\u201d\u201d was long supposed to have been a late poem written by Ivor Gurney, a poet and composer, who sadly ended his days in a psychiatric institution. \u201cThe Wind\u201d was written on the back of some Oxford University Press letterhead. Gurney initialled it \u201cIG\u201d and also wrote \u201cValentine Fane: on the paper, the implication being that he liked the poem, related to it and wanted to remember who wrote it so he wrote Valentine\u2019s name by his own. \u00a0<\/span>This led to some literary critics suggesting Valentine Fane was the product of Ivor Gurney\u2019s imagination. This assumption was however contradicted by Pam Blevins, Gurney\u2019s biographer who took a lot of trouble to find out about Valentine Fane. Pam got in touch with Sheila Johnson, a niece of Valentine. Both Pam and Sheila have been very helpful in my research.<\/span><\/p>\n Below you will find two poems written (or most probably written) by Valentine Fane. One \u201cOn the back of a Bike\u201d shows her humorous side and her love of motor vehicles. \u201cThe Wind\u201d, if indeed written by her, shows her as the restless, pained soul she must have been. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Back of a Bike<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n If you\u2019re feeling \u201cfed up\u201d and in need of a thrill,<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>There\u2019s a topping sensation you\u2019re certain to like;<\/span><\/p>\n Let your latest young man take you out, if he can,<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>On the back of his new motor-bike.<\/span><\/p>\n It is perfectly safe, there\u2019d no chance of a spill,<\/span><\/p>\n There is nothing on earth to alarm you, but still<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ll be planning your will as you rush down the hill<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>When you ride on the back of a bike!<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>It\u2019s not very easy to do it with grace,<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And people regard you with fear and dislike-<\/span><\/p>\n But a motor\u2019s no go and a side-car\u2019s too \u201cslow\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>So nothing remains but the bike.<\/span><\/p>\n The corners are really far worse than the pace,<\/span><\/p>\n And you clutch your companion with frenzied embrace,<\/span><\/p>\n While an anxious expression is fixed on your face<\/span><\/p>\n (Just in case) as you race well-all over the place,<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>When you ride on the back of a bike.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Valentine Fane.<\/span><\/p>\n ———————————————————————————<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Wind<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All night the fierce wind blew –<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All night I knew<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Time, like a dark wind, blowing<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All days, all lives, all memories<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Down empty endless skies –<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A blind wind, strowing<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bright leaves of life’s torn tree<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n through blank eternity:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dreadfully swift, Time blew.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All night I knew<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n the outrush of its going.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At dawn a thin rain wept.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Worn out, I slept<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And woke to a fair morning.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My days were amply long, and I<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n content<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In their accomplishment –<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Lost the wind’s warning.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Most probably written by Valentine Fane<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0——————————————————————————–<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n After John Barnard\u2019s death Valentine continued to live at Alston Oak where she was often visited by her father, his second wife and the children from their marriage. Judging from the reports in the family album she was a popular older sister. That same family album also records a memorable occasion in February 1926 when both father Cecil and daughter Valentine starred in \u201cEliza comes to stay\u201d a play staged in the Jubilee Hall in Malpas where Cecil Fane then lived. In 1927 another memorable event, Valentine was presented at court. It was rather upsetting though that on the day before that presentation, she had frocks and jewellery stolen from her car while she was with her dressmaker.\u00a0 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The cast of <\/span>Eliza comes to stay \u2013 VF in the middle at the front<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Returning to the subject of poetry, there are the \u201cgarage poems\u201d. Amongst material shown to me by Sheila Johnson was a brochure from a garage in Tenby South Wales. The brochure advertises day trips organised by that garage or coach company, illustrated with scenic photographs and accompanied by a series of poems that describe various places on the tours. The poems very much reflect Miss Fane\u2019s style, her sense of humour and her keen descriptive powers. As Miss Fane owned or part-owned a garage in Wales it is seems obvious that she produced these poems to enhance their promotional literature.\u00a0 <\/span>Pam Blevins is in no doubt they were in fact written by Valentine Fane.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A family visit at Alston Oak<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n At some point in the thirties Valentine then moved out of Alston Oak and into Carters, another property bequeathed to her by John Barnard. There she spent the rest of her lonely life, occasionally visited by family and friends. Sheila Johnson, her niece, who came to Carters together with her father, VF\u2019s half-brother, remembers her as a heavy smoker with skirts down to her ankles. She was a very gentle soul. Slim, not tall and fair in appearance her family members considered her quite clever. Despite her wealth Miss Fane did not live in great comfort. Modern amenities such as gas, electricity and running water were absent at Carters. Water was drawn from a well. Chickens ran about, not just in the garden but even in the kitchen. The absence of electricity meant that the house was in darkness. Once, so the story goes, a visiting doctor was mistaken for a burglar and nearly attacked by a frightened Valentine.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Two pages from \u201cthe Garage Poems\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was however a collection of vintage cars. Some villagers remember her driving about in one of those; the back of her vehicle filled up with boxes. Eric Willison who worked at the post office in the sixties remembers Miss Fane \u201cturning up with parcels from which a gamey smell emanated\u201d. Though Valentine was an animal lover, hunts were held on her land; the \u201cgamey parcels\u201d must have resulted from those occasions.<\/span><\/p>\n Lily Mynott, who came to High Wych, in 1943 had a milk round and Valentine Fane was one of her customers. She remembers Miss Fane as a kind and friendly lady. \u201cHow elegant she looked as she attended village fetes at the Grange\u201d. Nigel Rivers tells of her love of animals. \u201cShe was even reluctant to kill rats. She told me they were her friends\u201d It did not stop her having pheasants shot on her grounds however. Despite her wealth it should be said Valentine Fane was letting herself go. Her finances were not handled in the best of manners. She also became more and more dependent on the people who worked for her. As a result Miss Fane took to living and sleeping in the downstairs kitchen. After a while though, that arrangement too became impractical and the Warwicks the family who lived in Carters Cottage took her in, prepared her meals and generally looked after her. Every now and then she went for dinner at the Wentworth Stanley house. Oliver Stanley later bought one of her properties. <\/span><\/p>\n![\"1901](\"http:\/\/vandebilt.co.uk\/history\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/1901-census-valentine-fane-reduced.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>1912: Cecil and Valentine on holiday at Val Ghigha<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n