"MRS FRANCES DURNFORD: 1886
Frances Catherine (d 1888), daughter of Col Trenchell of the Ceylon Rifles. In 1854 she married Anthony William Durnford (1830–79), army officer, eldest son of Gen Edward William Durnford, Col Commandant, RE, and Elizabeth Rebecca Langley. He was killed in the infamous massacre at Isandlwana during the Zulu War. They had three children, only one surviving into adulthood. Mrs Durnford must have joined her husband in Ceylon, as the first child, Edward, was born there in 1855 but died in Malta one year later. The middle child, Frances Elizabeth (1857–1919) was born in Malta and later married A McIvor Rapp in Twickenham.
LADY CLIFFORD: 1883
Josephine Elizabeth (d 1913), only child of Joseph Anstice (1808–36), classical scholar, of Madeley Wood, Shropshire. In 1857 she married Maj-Gen the Hon Sir Henry Hugh Clifford (1826–83), VC, KCMG, CB. He served in the Kaffir War, 1852–3, with great distinction, in the Crimea, receiving the Turkish war medal, the VC, the Légion d’honneur and the Order of the Medjidie, in the China Expedition and in command in the Zulu War. He held various appointments at the Horse Guards and was ADC to the Duke of Cambridge. Their eldest son, Sir Hugh Charles Clifford (1866–1941), who became a colonial governor and author, was born in London on 5 March 1866. He suffered badly with his health whilst on postings overseas and during 1901–3 he slowly recuperated in his mother’s grace-and-favour apartment in Hampton Court Palace and supplemented his half pay by writing. Josephine was a Professor of Classics at King’s College, London.
LADY SMITH DORRIEN: 1932; resigned 1936
Olive Crofton, DBE, daughter of John Schneider; widow of Gen Sir Horace Lockwood Smith Dorrien (1858–1930), GCB, GCMG, DSO, FRGS, Col Sherwood Foresters. He served in Zululand (and was one of only five officers, together with 50 other Europeans and 300 Africans, to survive the catastrophic defeat by the Zulu at Isandlwana), Egypt, Suakim, Nile, Chitral Relief Force, Tirah, Sudan, South Africa and the First World War. He was ADC to George V; AG of the Indian Army with the rank of Maj-Gen; Governor of Gibraltar. They married in 1902 at St Peter’s, Eaton Square, London. Olive was goddaughter to Sir Donald Stewart, and her mother was stepsister to General Palmer. Their first son, Grenville, was born in 1904, followed by Peter in 1907 and David in 1911. The couple also effectively adopted the two daughters of General Palmer, left homeless after his death in 1912. The Treasury allocated £600 to improve the condition of the apartment. In December 1933 the Queen gave Lady Smith Dorrien a temporary flat in London, which she held as Secretary of the Needlework Guild, and her rooms at Hampton Court were allocated by an informal arrangement to Mrs Barbara Brooke. One month later, however, Mrs Brooke was allocated her own apartment (Apt 21) and Apt 8 remained empty until Lady Smith Dorrien’s formal resignation in 1936."
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