1852 – 1920
Adeline Marie Russell, Duchess of Bedford, (née Somers-Cocks) was born in 1852 to Charles and Virginia Somers-Cocks, Viscount Eastnor. Her grandfather died just 12 days after her birth and her father succeeded as 3rd Earl Somers.
In 1876, Adeline married George Sackville Russell, and became the Duchess in 1891 when George became the 10th Duke of Bedford. George died in 1893, and the Duchess moved from Woburn to Chenies, taking up residence at Woodside House, at that time a school for young ladies.
The Duchess used the cottage as kitchens, built an extension as a chapel (now the dining-room and main bedroom of Chenies Place) and in 1894 she built a stable block and carriage house (now the Court House). Rose remembers that
‘The Dowager Duchess Adeline of Bedford lived at Woodside House and each year she presented the children of the village with something at Christmas. One year it was a red riding hood cloak for the girls and a red jersey for the boys. Another year it was boots for each child. One year I had a doll but I cannot recall if every girl had one’.
One of the most significant improvements made to the house by the Duchess are the gardens, which were created by Edwin Lutyens, his ‘first important garden for an existing house‘. This 23 year old, unknown and unqualified architect had a sister, Mary Constance Elphinstone Lutyens (1868-1951) who was a scholar at Woodside House between 1884-1885, so Woodside House may have been a personal project for him. Lutyens has since been desribed as the greatest English architect since Wren, and with him he brought his much older friend, Gertrude Jekyll to arrange the planting, who went on to establish herself as the leading plantswoman of her era, who changed the face of English gardening during her lifetime.
The original garden as designed in 1893 measured 12 acres and took in a wide section across the River Chess, with two bridges. Fourteen gardeners were employed for the upkeep, the herbaceous borders being replanted two or three times a year.
The Duchess was a philanthropist and British advocate for penal reform. She worked with the Associated Workers’ League and on a scheme to support poor women and prostitutes around Victoria Station in London.
She led the European War Fund that cared for the wounded of the First World War, regularly visiting the front to inspect conditions and to interview the wounded soldiers. For this she was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (military division) in 1919. She was appointed a Lady of Grace of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in England (L.St.J.) on 13 August 1902.
After the war she continued to work for those wounded in the war and she died of heart failure in 1920 after suffering from influenza. She left a £400 annuity for her personal private secretary, Fannie Gallaher the novelist who she employed in the 1880s. Adeline Marie Russell had no children; she is buried in the churchyard at Chenies.