Far End,
East Preston,
Littlehampton
, Sussex,
UK From "Hertha Ayrton: A Memoir" by Evelyn Sharp, publ Edward Arnold, London, 1926:
p.118: "Besides their mutual interest in Will Ayrton, who was regarded as a brother in the Chaplin household, [Hertha and Edith Ayrton] had a common bond in the little stepdaughter [of Hertha's] Edith Ayrton, who, since her mother's death, had spent most of her time at the Hermitage, Uckfield, in Gloucestershire, where the Chaplins kept a small school on rather original lines for boys and girls, most of whom were relatives and Anglo-Indian children. Here Edie had been rapturously happy, always regarding the place as her home, although she came occasionally to London for holidays. It was during the Christmas vacation of 1884 that she first met her future stepmother, at a children's party in Mrs Hancock's house. Professor Ayrton had been amusing the children at this party by doing conjuring tricks, one of his most popular accomplishments; and Mrs Zangwill [Edie] realls how, on their way home in the cab, her father talked to her for the first time about Miss Marks, especially praising her nobility and unselfishness in working so hard to support her relatives."
p.124: After a difficult start with her stepmother (see Hertha Ayrton), relations improved, especially after Barbara was born. Hertha kept Edie posted about Barbara when she went with her father to attend the Electrical Exhibition at Frankfurt or, later, to the Chicago Congress.
p.153: Letter from Hertha: "My dear, dear Edie, How could you! It was very wrong of you to spend such untold sums in such a way. It must have cost mints of money, even in spite of Sir William Crookes's 'expert assistance'! It was very good of you, dear, but you know it was quite unnecessary. There is no need for any talk of what I have done for you, any more than there need be from Barbie. Without any wish to take your mother's place, I have, I hope, been a friend to you, and you have been equally one to me, and between friends there are no obligations; each is naturally on the alert to help the other in every possible way. And you know that if I have been able to devote myself to my work during the last few years it has been very largely owing to you, as I am fully aware, and so our aid has been mutual - as it should be........."
From 'Barbarous Babes', subtitled 'Being the Memoirs of Molly':
This was Edith Ayrton's first book, based on childhood reminiscences - for the other titles, see Publications.doc. In it, she gave all her relatives fictitious names, but enough is in clear to confirm that it is based on fact. For example, in 'The Whipping of Teddy' Mother (who in real life was Edith's mother Matilda Charlotte), says that she has to go on a long journey to the Other-end-of-Nowhere, for the whole winter, and all the children think she is joking. But she isn't, for she has tears in her eyes, and explains that when she was so ill last month the doctor said she must get out of England, and she had just seen a Very Great Doctor who said the same. The children wanted to go with her, but she explained that if was difficult for Father even to find the money for Mother to go alone. Then she cried a little. The next day she explained that she was going to a place called Algiers, "where there were black people, real live ones walking about the streets in funny clothes, and she'd draw pictures of them for us..... Only Teddy seemed happy at all this. On the day she left, "We had to get up very early, because she and Father were going by the 7.45 train, and so the lamp was lit at breakfast......... Mother couldn't eat anything.......... As for Ted, Fraulein hadn't dressed him at all, but had just brought him down to say goodbye in his little scarlet dressing-gown which is made out of my old winter jacket........... At last there was a ring at the bell, and it was the fly. "Now do try to drink up your coffee, my dear," Father said; but Mother said, "I can't, I can't." "Well, we must start at once," Father said. It was all very well for him, for he was going to London with Mother and down to the ship to see her off.........etc etc. Edith Ayrton was an only child, but at the time of the story she had probably been living with all her cousins at the Hermitage, in Gloucestershire, see above. No doubt some detective work would make it possible to relate all the characters in the book to real people! Edith Chaplin Ayrton attended Bedford College from the lent term 1890 to 1892. When she first arrived she attended classes for drawing in her first two terms. The following academic year she took classes in Maths, Physics, Botany, English Language, English History and Latin. In the year 1891-92 she took Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, English Language, English Literature, Latin, Greek and English History. She received her London Matriculation (first division/class) in 1892 (this was the standard award given to graduates of Bedford College in those days). 1911 Census: Edith Zangwill with Margaret Ayrton Zangwill, 11 months, and two servants.
East Preston,
Littlehampton
, Sussex,
UK From "Hertha Ayrton: A Memoir" by Evelyn Sharp, publ Edward Arnold, London, 1926:
p.118: "Besides their mutual interest in Will Ayrton, who was regarded as a brother in the Chaplin household, [Hertha and Edith Ayrton] had a common bond in the little stepdaughter [of Hertha's] Edith Ayrton, who, since her mother's death, had spent most of her time at the Hermitage, Uckfield, in Gloucestershire, where the Chaplins kept a small school on rather original lines for boys and girls, most of whom were relatives and Anglo-Indian children. Here Edie had been rapturously happy, always regarding the place as her home, although she came occasionally to London for holidays. It was during the Christmas vacation of 1884 that she first met her future stepmother, at a children's party in Mrs Hancock's house. Professor Ayrton had been amusing the children at this party by doing conjuring tricks, one of his most popular accomplishments; and Mrs Zangwill [Edie] realls how, on their way home in the cab, her father talked to her for the first time about Miss Marks, especially praising her nobility and unselfishness in working so hard to support her relatives."
p.124: After a difficult start with her stepmother (see Hertha Ayrton), relations improved, especially after Barbara was born. Hertha kept Edie posted about Barbara when she went with her father to attend the Electrical Exhibition at Frankfurt or, later, to the Chicago Congress.
p.153: Letter from Hertha: "My dear, dear Edie, How could you! It was very wrong of you to spend such untold sums in such a way. It must have cost mints of money, even in spite of Sir William Crookes's 'expert assistance'! It was very good of you, dear, but you know it was quite unnecessary. There is no need for any talk of what I have done for you, any more than there need be from Barbie. Without any wish to take your mother's place, I have, I hope, been a friend to you, and you have been equally one to me, and between friends there are no obligations; each is naturally on the alert to help the other in every possible way. And you know that if I have been able to devote myself to my work during the last few years it has been very largely owing to you, as I am fully aware, and so our aid has been mutual - as it should be........."
From 'Barbarous Babes', subtitled 'Being the Memoirs of Molly':
This was Edith Ayrton's first book, based on childhood reminiscences - for the other titles, see Publications.doc. In it, she gave all her relatives fictitious names, but enough is in clear to confirm that it is based on fact. For example, in 'The Whipping of Teddy' Mother (who in real life was Edith's mother Matilda Charlotte), says that she has to go on a long journey to the Other-end-of-Nowhere, for the whole winter, and all the children think she is joking. But she isn't, for she has tears in her eyes, and explains that when she was so ill last month the doctor said she must get out of England, and she had just seen a Very Great Doctor who said the same. The children wanted to go with her, but she explained that if was difficult for Father even to find the money for Mother to go alone. Then she cried a little. The next day she explained that she was going to a place called Algiers, "where there were black people, real live ones walking about the streets in funny clothes, and she'd draw pictures of them for us..... Only Teddy seemed happy at all this. On the day she left, "We had to get up very early, because she and Father were going by the 7.45 train, and so the lamp was lit at breakfast......... Mother couldn't eat anything.......... As for Ted, Fraulein hadn't dressed him at all, but had just brought him down to say goodbye in his little scarlet dressing-gown which is made out of my old winter jacket........... At last there was a ring at the bell, and it was the fly. "Now do try to drink up your coffee, my dear," Father said; but Mother said, "I can't, I can't." "Well, we must start at once," Father said. It was all very well for him, for he was going to London with Mother and down to the ship to see her off.........etc etc. Edith Ayrton was an only child, but at the time of the story she had probably been living with all her cousins at the Hermitage, in Gloucestershire, see above. No doubt some detective work would make it possible to relate all the characters in the book to real people! Edith Chaplin Ayrton attended Bedford College from the lent term 1890 to 1892. When she first arrived she attended classes for drawing in her first two terms. The following academic year she took classes in Maths, Physics, Botany, English Language, English History and Latin. In the year 1891-92 she took Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, English Language, English Literature, Latin, Greek and English History. She received her London Matriculation (first division/class) in 1892 (this was the standard award given to graduates of Bedford College in those days). 1911 Census: Edith Zangwill with Margaret Ayrton Zangwill, 11 months, and two servants.
- 1 OCT 1874 - Birth - ; Yedo, Japan
- 5 MAY 1945 - Death -
- DEC 1884 - Fact -
- MAY 1885 - Fact -
- 1898 - Fact -
- SEP 1901 - Fact -
- FROM 1890 TO 1892 - Education - Royal Holloway College
PARENT (M) William Edward Ayrton , F.R.S. | |||
Birth | 14 SEP 1847 | London (see obituary) | |
Death | 6 NOV 1908 | 41, Norfolk Square, Hyde Park, London, England | |
Marriage | 21 DEC 1871 | to Matilda Charlotte Chaplin , M.D. at Saint Matthew, Bayswater, Kensington. | |
Marriage | 6 MAY 1885 | to Phoebe Sarah (Hertha) Marks at Mr and Mrs Hancock's house in Queen's Gate | |
Father | Edward Nugent Ayrton | ||
Mother | Emma Sophie Althof | ||
PARENT (F) Matilda Charlotte Chaplin , M.D. | |||
Birth | 20 JUN 1846 | Honfleur, Normandy, France (Baptized Sprowston Norfolk in 1847 according to Andi Smith) | |
Death | 19 JUL 1883 | her residence, 68 Sloane Street, London | |
Marriage | 21 DEC 1871 | to William Edward Ayrton , F.R.S. at Saint Matthew, Bayswater, Kensington. | |
Father | John Clarke Chaplin | ||
Mother | Matilda Adriana Ayrton | ||
CHILDREN | |||
F | Edith Chaplin Ayrton | ||
Birth | 1 OCT 1874 | Yedo, Japan | |
Death | 5 MAY 1945 | ||
Marriage | 26 NOV 1903 | to Israel Zangwill |
PARENT (M) Israel Zangwill | |||
Birth | 21 JAN 1864 | Off Stoney Lane, Houndsditch | |
Death | 1 AUG 1926 | Midhurst, Sussex, of pneumonia | |
Marriage | 26 NOV 1903 | to Edith Chaplin Ayrton | |
Father | Moses Zangwill | ||
Mother | Ellen Hannah Marks | ||
PARENT (F) Edith Chaplin Ayrton | |||
Birth | 1 OCT 1874 | Yedo, Japan | |
Death | 5 MAY 1945 | ||
Marriage | 26 NOV 1903 | to Israel Zangwill | |
Father | William Edward Ayrton , F.R.S. | ||
Mother | Matilda Charlotte Chaplin , M.D. | ||
CHILDREN | |||
F | Margaret (Peggy) Zangwill | ||
Birth | 12 APR 1910 | ||
Death | |||
M | Oliver Louis Zangwill | ||
Birth | 29 OCT 1913 | ||
Death | 12 OCT 1987 | ||
Marriage | to Shirley Tribe | ||
Marriage | to Joy Moult | ||
M | Ayrton Israel Zangwill | ||
Birth | 15 AUG 1906 | ||
Death | |||
Marriage | to Sara Olivares |
[S12758] | Ann Gregory (Mendell)'s copy of 'A short account of the Families of Chaplin and Skinner........' with annotations by Ayrton Chaplin & others |
[S37942] | Raymond Airton emails etc from 19 July 2006 (and some earlier) |
[S22616] | 'Who's Who' |
[S28950] | Hertha Ayrton 1854-1923: A Memoir by Evelyn Sharp. Edward Arnold & Co, 1926 |
[S9164] | Effie Ray-Jones by word of mouth or in writing |
1 Edith Chaplin Ayrton b: 1 OCT 1874 d: 5 MAY 1945
+ Israel Zangwill b: 21 JAN 1864 d: 1 AUG 1926
2 Margaret (Peggy) Zangwill b: 12 APR 1910
2 Oliver Louis Zangwill b: 29 OCT 1913 d: 12 OCT 1987
+ Joy Moult b: 1924 d: 2016
3 David Ayrton Zangwill b: FEB 1952 d: 1953
2 Ayrton Israel Zangwill b: 15 AUG 1906