Biography of Rachel Anne Gurney Countess Dudley 1867-1920

On 3rd October 1864 [her father] Charles Henry Gurney (age 30) and [her mother] Alice Maria Prinsep (age 20) were married.

On 8th August 1867 Rachel Anne Gurney Countess Dudley was born to [her father] Charles Henry Gurney (age 33) and [her mother] Alice Maria Prinsep (age 23).

1885. George Frederick Watts (age 67). Portrait of Rachel Anne Gurney Countess Dudley (age 17).

On 7th May 1885 William Ward 1st Earl of Dudley (age 68) died at Dudley House Park Lane. His son [her future husband] William (age 17) succeeded 2nd Earl of Dudley of Dudley Castle in Staffordshire, 12th Baron Ward of Birmingham.

The Royal Academy Conversazione, 1891, by George Henry Grenville Manton (age 36).

John Seymour Lucas, Dame Alice Ellen Terry (age 43), Sir William Quiller Orchardson, Rachel, Countess of Dudley (age 23), Marcus Stone, Henry Stacy Marks, Sir Henry Irving, Unidentified man, Unidentified man, Sir John Everett Millais (age 61), William Charles Thomas Dobson.

Unidentified woman, James Sant, William Powell Frith, Sir Hubert von Herkomer (age 41), Unidentified woman, Briton Riviere, Unidentified man, John Pettie, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (age 54), Frederic Leighton (age 60), Baron Leighton.

Philip Hermogenes Calderon, Walter William Ouless, Thomas Faed, Robert Walker Macbeth, Edward Onslow Ford (age 38), William Frederick Yeames, Unidentified woman, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (age 57), Unidentified man.

Mary Anderson, John Calcott Horsley, possibly Joanna Margaret Hadley, Unidentified man, Henry Tanworth Wells, possibly Alice Joanna Street, Marion Harry Spielmann, Unidentified woman.

In 1891 William Humble Ward 2nd Earl of Dudley (age 23) and Rachel Anne Gurney Countess Dudley (age 23) were married. She by marriage Countess of Dudley of Dudley Castle in Staffordshire. He the son of William Ward 1st Earl of Dudley and Georgina Moncrieffe Countess Dudley (age 44).

1899. Frederick John Jenkins (age 27). Portrait of Rachel Anne Gurney Countess Dudley (age 31).

On 9th February 1899 [her father] Charles Henry Gurney (age 65) died.

In 1913 Rachel Anne Gurney Countess Dudley (age 45) commissioned a new reredos at Saint Michael and All Angels Church, Great Witley [Map] from Salviati of Venice. The three lamps hanging in the sanctuary were given by the Countess in thanks for her [her husband] husband (age 45) and his two brothers [[her brother-in-law] John Hubert Ward (age 42) and [her brother-in-law] Robert Arthur Ward (age 41)] returning safely from the Boer War. The initials on the mosaics appear to be those of the three brothers.

On 22nd November 1919 [her mother] Alice Maria Prinsep (age 75) died.

On 26th June 1920 Rachel Anne Gurney Countess Dudley (age 52) drowned at Screebe House, Connemara. She had left the house alone to swim in the sea-lake from which her body was later recovered.

On 30th April 1924 [her former husband] William Humble Ward 2nd Earl of Dudley (age 56) and Gertrude "Gertie" Millar Countess of Dudley (age 45) were married. She by marriage Countess of Dudley of Dudley Castle in Staffordshire. He the son of William Ward 1st Earl of Dudley and [her former mother-in-law] Georgina Moncrieffe Countess Dudley (age 77).

On 29th June 1932 [her former husband] William Humble Ward 2nd Earl of Dudley (age 65) died. He was buried at the Earl of Dudley's Memory Garden, St Michael's Church, Himley [Map]. His son William (age 38) succeeded 3rd Earl of Dudley of Dudley Castle in Staffordshire, 13th Baron Ward of Birmingham.