Abbot John Whethamstede’s Chronicle of the Abbey of St Albans
Abbot John Whethamstede's Register aka Chronicle of his second term at the Abbey of St Albans, 1451-1461, is a remarkable text that describes his first-hand experience of the beginning of the Wars of the Roses including the First and Second Battles of St Albans, 1455 and 1461, respectively, their cause, and their consequences, not least on the Abbey itself. His text also includes Loveday, Blore Heath, Northampton, the Act of Accord, Wakefield, and Towton, and ends with the Coronation of King Edward IV. In addition to the events of the Wars of the Roses, Abbot John, or his scribes who wrote the Chronicle, include details in the life of the Abbey such as charters, letters, land exchanges, visits by legates, and disputes, which provide a rich insight into the day-to-day life of the Abbey, and the challenges faced by its Abbot.
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On 26th September 1865 Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford was born to Walter Tribe [aged 33].
On 31st January 1888 Herbrand Arthur Russell 11th Duke Bedford [aged 29] and Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 22] were married at Barrackpore. He the son of Francis Russell 9th Duke Bedford [aged 68] and Elizabeth Sackville-West Duchess Bedford [aged 69].
On 21st December 1888 [her son] Hastings William Russell 12th Duke Bedford was born to [her husband] Herbrand Arthur Russell 11th Duke Bedford [aged 30] and Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 23]. He married November 1914 Louisa Crommelin Roberta Jowitt Whitwell Duchess Bedford and had issue.
On 14th January 1891 [her father-in-law] Francis Russell 9th Duke Bedford [aged 71] shot himself as a result of insanity at 81 Eaton Square, Belgravia. His son [her brother-in-law] George [aged 38] succeeded 10th Duke Bedford, 10th Marquess Tavistock, 14th Earl Bedford, 14th Baron Russell of Cheneys, 12th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, 10th Baron Howland of Streatham. Adeline Marie Somers Duchess Bedford [aged 38] by marriage Duchess Bedford.
Monument in the Bedford Chapel, St Michael's Church, Chenies erected by [her mother-in-law] Elizabeth Sackville-West Duchess Bedford [aged 72] in 1892.
On 23rd March 1893 [her brother-in-law] George William Sackville Russell 10th Duke Bedford [aged 40] died. George William Sackville Russell 10th Duke Bedford was buried at Bedford Chapel, St Michael's Church, Chenies. His brother [her husband] Herbrand [aged 35] succeeded 11th Duke Bedford, 11th Marquess Tavistock, 15th Earl Bedford, 15th Baron Russell of Cheneys, 13th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, 11th Baron Howland of Streatham. Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 27] by marriage Duchess Bedford.
10th May 1898. James Lafayette [aged 45]. Photograph of Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 32]. After leaving Woburn Abbey in a DH.60GIII Moth Major (G-ACUR), she crashed into the North Sea off Great Yarmouth. The airplane's struts were later washed up at Yarmouth, Gorleston, Lowestoft and Southwold. Her body was never recovered. On 14th May, a body of a woman in a flying suit was found in the English Channel, by a train ferry, five miles out from Dover, but Flight Lieut. Preston said there was no chance of the body being the Duchess - there were quite a few daring female aviators lost over the sea in those early years.
Before 19th May 1909, the date his obituary appeared in The Times, [her father] Walter Tribe [aged 76] died.
In November 1914 Hastings William Russell 12th Duke Bedford [aged 25] and Louisa Crommelin Roberta Jowitt Whitwell Duchess Bedford were married. He the son of Herbrand Arthur Russell 11th Duke Bedford [aged 56] and Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 49].
On 2nd August 1929 Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 63] departed on a record-breaking flight of 10,000 miles from Lympne Airport to Karachi (then in India) and return to Croydon Airport in eight days. She was accompanied in her single-engined Fokker F.VII (G-EBTS, Princess Xenia, which she renamed "The Spider" for its tenacity) by her personal pilot Captain C. D. Barnard and mechanic Robert (Bob) Little.
The History of William Marshal was commissioned by his son shortly after William’s death in 1219 to celebrate the Marshal’s remarkable life; it is an authentic, contemporary voice. The manuscript was discovered in 1861 by French historian Paul Meyer. Meyer published the manuscript in its original Anglo-French in 1891 in two books. This book is a line by line translation of the first of Meyer’s books; lines 1-10152. Book 1 of the History begins in 1139 and ends in 1194. It describes the events of the Anarchy, the role of William’s father John, John’s marriages, William’s childhood, his role as a hostage at the siege of Newbury, his injury and imprisonment in Poitou where he met Eleanor of Aquitaine and his life as a knight errant. It continues with the accusation against him of an improper relationship with Margaret, wife of Henry the Young King, his exile, and return, the death of Henry the Young King, the rebellion of Richard, the future King Richard I, war with France, the death of King Henry II, and the capture of King Richard, and the rebellion of John, the future King John. It ends with the release of King Richard and the death of John Marshal.
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On 8th April 1930 Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 64] made her first solo flight, in her DH.60G Moth.
On 10th April 1930 Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 64] embarked on a record-breaking flight from Lympne Airport to Cape Town, in "The Spider", flying 9,000 miles in 91 hours and twenty minutes over 10 days, again with Barnard and Little.
On 22nd March 1937 Mary Caurroy Tribe Duchess Bedford [aged 71] died in a plane crash.
On 27th August 1940 [her former husband] Herbrand Arthur Russell 11th Duke Bedford [aged 82] died. His son Hastings [aged 51] succeeded 12th Duke Bedford, 12th Marquess Tavistock, 16th Earl Bedford, 16th Baron Russell of Cheneys, 14th Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, 12th Baron Howland of Streatham. Louisa Crommelin Roberta Jowitt Whitwell Duchess Bedford by marriage Duchess Bedford.