‘A Victorian racehorse trainer and a Countess’
This is the story of true love, one that bubbled under for years. It’s the story of how an Earl’s ‘hound expert’ came to meet his one love.
John Maunsell Richardson, referred to as Maunsell (pronounced Mansell) by friends and family, was born at Great Limber in 1847 in the house called Top House or known locally as the Big House (Great Limber House). It was at one time an inn – Limber Inn. It no longer stands.
He came from a well known local family with connections to Limber and Immingham.
He was educated at Harrow and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he excelled at cricket. From an early age he rode and when at home he hunted with the Brocklesby and developed a close friendship with the Earl of Yarborough.
Maunsell began to train and ride horses, which were stabled at Limber not far from the family home and became one of the great Victorian racehorse trainers. In 1872 he had 56 winners. Local man, Captain Machall, gave him horses to train and ride. In 1873 he rode Machall’s Disturbance to victory in the Grand National and he won the following year on Reugny.
When Richardson’s brother married and took over the family home, the Earl of Yarborough had Little Brocklesby built near to the stables, so he would not lose such a great horseman.
The Earl’s wife, Victoria, was the daughter of William Hare, 2nd Earl of Listowel and Maria Augusta Windham, Countess of Listowel, who was the daughter of Vice-Admiral William Lukin Windham, who’d earnt great honours in the Napoleonic wars. Victoria’s father was an Anglo-Irish peer and he’d been an MP in Ireland and the MP of St Albans.
He was a Lord-in-waiting to HM Queen Victoria. Through that connection, Victoria was a god-daughter of the Queen – and of course she was named after her. Her godmother presented her with a gold pendant encrusted with pearls and diamonds and featuring a garnet in the centre. On the back the inscription To Lady Victoria Hare from her godmother, Victoria R 1858.
She married Charles Anderson-Pelham, 3rd Earl of Yarborough on 3 August 1858 in St George, Hanover Square, London. He inherited the titles from his father in 1862. They had five children, Charles Alfred Worsley Pelham (the 4th Earl), Victor Ralph, Henry, Dudley, and Gertrude Augusta Pelham (she married Sir Frank Astley 4th Bt, Elsham Hall).
When the 3rd Earl died in 1875, Maunsell helped the Countess run the hound pack and became Master of the Brocklesby Hounds. A love match developed and on 16 July 1881 the couple were married at St George, Hanover Square, London, and they lived at Brocklesby Park until 1886 when the 4th Earl married Marcia Lane-Fox.
“Love, they say, makes a pleasure of all toil for the beloved, and my brother Maunsell’s reward came when in 1881, the present Lord Yarborough came of age, and Lady Yarborough felt free to marry the man of her choice.
For seven years he’d waited patiently, and I am very sure that had his divinity elected to marry some one else, he would have remained a bachelor to the end of his days.”
The Life of a Great Sportsman, Mary Richardson
The couple moved into Healing Manor in 1887 and began improving the house and stables. The Richardson Crest can be seen on the stable block and the cottages on the main road. Maunsell stood for Parliament as MP for Brigg in 1894.
In 1890 the couple purchased 171 acres of land in the area and by 1892 had purchased the rest of the estate from the mortgagers, including Healing House.
The stable block built by Richardson is a fine example of Victorian love for horses. Outbuildings include an impressive stable block complete with groom’s quarters. In the rear are a barn, a blacksmith’s forge, electricity generating station and rooms for the gardeners, estate joiner and a garage for the cars.
They sold the Manor for personal reasons in 1902 to Captain Gerald Portman for £18,000 – today that is £1,971,104.56. This included Healing Manor, Healing House, cottages, farmhouse and stockyard (this is on the right as you go up Wells Road from the village) and 268 acres.
Famed horsewoman
His wife Victoria was a fine, competent horsewoman, who hunted regularly with the Brocklesby. She came to Brocklesby Hall in 1859 as an 18 year old newly wed. According to Mary Richardson, her future sister in law, no Pelham ladies rode to hounds, in fact hardly any ladies hunted.
She rode to hounds side saddle and was a sight to behold. As Lady Worsley she rode out and acquired many admirers.
Large, clear and blue, as only Irish eyes can be, her manner had the peculiar fascination that only a thoroughly kindly heart and buoyant temperament can give.
Then again, who would fail to admire the perfect little figure, showing to such advantage on horseback?
The Life of a Great Sportsman, Mary Richardson
She attended every meet she possibly could and turned proceedings into a pleasurable event. She had courage and judgment in the field with a charming manner.
A year before they married, Maunsell gave Victoria a beautiful bay gelding called Birthday, who was a very fine jumper and ‘an all-round perfect lady’s horse.’
Richardson’s death
Sadly her second husband Maunsell died in January 1912. He is buried in Edmondthorpe, Rutland but a memorial stone and the lynch gate were dedicated to him at the church in Great Limber and they can still be seen today.
Lady Yarborough had been the one love of his life, and their relationship had a depth and happy constancy to it that was felt by friends and family. They had shared interests and were never far apart. The couple had one child together, John, known as Jack.
She received many kindly letters following her husband’s death.
I do feel for you so. You loved each other so, and 30 years of such love is so rare – I cannot bear to think of your life without him.
Mourner
Service
Victoria’s connection and duty to this area was strong and she carried out many public duties. One of them was the laying of the foundation stone for St Barnabas Church, King Edward Street – now home to Docks Beers.
Interestingly the builder was Henry Marrows, who built many fine buildings in the area and was famed for developing Edwardian Healing.
Thursday, February 22, 1900 was an overcast day with the threat of rain ever-present – but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the large crowds gathered in King Edward Street, Grimsby. They had turned out for the laying of the foundation stone for the new St Barnabas Church at the corner of Fotherby Street, in St James’s parish. Victoria, Countess of Yarborough (the dowager Countess) had the honour of laying the foundation stone. She was accompanied by her husband, Mr J Maunsell Richardson of Healing Manor.
Newspaper report
Death
In 1925 Victoria was living at Wing Lodge, Aylesbury, a modern French style house of white brick with dark brick gables. It has ben home to the Earls of Orkney. It was pulled down in 1985.
Her and Maunsell had a house in Norfolk called The Corner House, in Overstrand a cottage with a villa appearance. On his death she sold it.
She died in 1927. She was survived by her children.
Guided Tours around North East Lincolnshire 