‘Who’s that girl?’ The anonymous diary of a 1920s flapper (part 2)

By Nichola Court, Archivist

Last week’s blog explored the story behind an ‘anonymous “flapper’s” diary’, bought by WSRO at auction in 2008 and later catalogued as AM 75/1. Thanks to the meticulous research carried out by two of our volunteers, Anna and Sue, we were able to identify the anonymous author as Luise Rosemary ‘Rosie’ Kerr, a wealthy, fun-loving, aristocratic young woman who lived in London but also spent time in the Oving area with her relatives. In this week’s blog, Anna explains how she and Sue set about identifying our mysterious diarist…

This Flapper’s Diary was purchased by WSRO from Stride and Son Auction House in Chichester. My project was to try to discover the identity of the fun-loving and obviously upper-class, well-connected lady referred to as ‘Self’ in the diary. Her family lived in London, but she also came to visit people in the Chichester area.

SUMMARY OF THE DIARY

The first diary entry is for 31^st December 1927 and Self is in Malta celebrating the New Year with friends. From there she travels through Syracuse, Rome and Milan, by ship and train, to Klosters where she skies and skates. Self makes detailed entries about the company she keeps, all of whom on closer investigation turned out to be people who were part of the aristocracy of the 1920s and 1930s.

Self travels home to London and spends her time partying, visiting friends, playing bridge, shopping in Sloane Street and Bond Street, taking trips to the theatre and cinema and having her photo taken as a debutante. She then travels by train to Oving (Drayton station) to stay at a country house. There she rides, walks, visits Chichester, including Pallant House, to shop and lunch. She visits friends, Colonel and Mrs Hankey, in Binderton.

Returning to London, Self resumes the active social life of a 1920s flapper. She volunteers to serve on the Women’s Conservative Entertainment Committee. Self plans her 21^st birthday party and draws up her guest list. 

INVESTIGATION

• My first task in trying to find the identity of Self was to read the manuscript several times. Then I wrote down the names of all the people mentioned in the diary (around 40 people). I drew up a table and used the internet to research who they were in the hope of finding some connection or link to who Self was. The table showed their name, date of birth and death, and any interesting information.

• The Kell family appear prominently in the diary so initially I wondered if Self was part of this family. So, I did a great deal of research on Ancestry and FindMyPast to investigate the family in as much detail as I could. However, this turned out to be a ‘red herring’. Although the Kell family were great friends of Self I have found no evidence to confirm that they were related to her in any way.

• Thinking that Self may be related in some way to the Hankey family at Binderton House, as she visited them during her stay in the Chichester area, I contacted Albany Hankey’s son, Peter. He lives in Bosham and thinks that Self would have been a member of the aristocracy and great friends with his Grandparents, Colonel Cecil George Herbert Alers Hankey and Gertrude Clare Featherstonhaugh. However, Peter was unable to help with identifying Self.

• Further detailed investigations into the Gilpin Brown, Scott, Dundas and Ellwood families all referred to in the diary also failed to help identify the Flapper. However, it made fascinating research. 

• Nichola Court, one of the archivists at WSRO, then looked to see if there was a newspaper report of the motor accident, detailed in the diary, that happened to Alix on 7th February 1928. The accident was reported in the Daily Mirror on this date and the person named in the report was Alexandra [Alix] Kerr, daughter of Admiral Mark E. F. Kerr.

• Using birth, baptism, marriage and death certificates, I investigated the Kerr family. Admiral Kerr married Rose Margaret Gough on 10^th July 1906. In the 1911 census, the Kerr family is listed as including Alix Kerr (aged 3 years) and Luise Rosemary Kerr (aged 2 years). In the Flapper diary, Alix is often with Self but there is no mention of Rosemary. So, it appeared highly likely that Self was Alix’s sister, Rosemary (Rosie).

• To check this theory further research was carried out. Namely:

1. Rosemary’s birth certificate showed she was born on 22^nd November 1908. This ties in with the diary in that Self was planning her 21^st birthday on 22^nd November 1929.
2. Rosemary’s grandmother was Beatrice Mary Guthrie Gough and her name appears as a witness on Rose Gough and Mark Kerr’s marriage certificate in 1906 (Rosemary’s parents).

• Rosemary had a debutante photo taken on 28^th January 1928 by Hay Wrightson and the National Portrait Gallery holds his sitting diaries in their archive. Vanessa Knight, Archivist Assistant there, confirmed that Miss Rosemary Kerr is in Sitter Book 2 (1927-1931), with negative number 12499. The negative numbers in the book seem to confirm that the photo would have been taken around 1928, which fits with the date in the diary.

• Looking further into the Guthrie family, I discovered that Aunt Agnes, Aunt Lily and Aunt Vi, all mentioned in the diary, were all younger sisters of Rosemary’s grandmother, Beatrice Gough (1851-1926).

• In 1880 Rosemary’s grandmother, Beatrice Mary Guthrie married William Arbuthnot Gough who died in 1885. In 1887 she married again, this time to Henry Charles Denison. They had a son, Edward Denison, who was stepbrother to Rosemary’s mother, Rose. Edward married Maira Brabazon Heaton Ellis and they had two children in 1919 and 1921, who must be the children referred to in the diary when Self visits the Chichester area, as they lived at Oving Manor House. This is confirmed by the electoral registers for Oving for the 1920s and 1930s, which show Edward and Maira Denison resident at Oving Manor House. Self definitely stayed with family so this fits.

• The ‘Taffy’ (Gustaf Guthrie Rennel Rodd) mentioned in the diary is the son of Aunt Lily (Lilias Georgina Guthrie Rodd), and so would have been Self’s cousin.

• Miss Annie Hurrell mentioned in the diary looks after the children at Oving Manor House. She appears in the electoral registers of 1932 and 1933 at Oving Manor House.

CONCLUSION

So, all the evidence points to the fact that Self in the diary is Rosemary Kerr, the second daughter of Admiral Mark E.F. Kerr and Rose Margaret Gough, and the younger sister of Alix Kerr. 

You can read part one of our blog about Rosie Kerr and her diary by clicking on the link, https://westsussexrecordofficeblog.com/2023/08/08/whos-that-girl-the-anonymous-diary-of-a-1920s-flapper-part-1/.

The Ancestry and FindMyPast websites can be accessed free of charge at West Sussex Record Office and West Sussex libraries. Electoral registers for West Sussex dating from 1829-1963 can be searched and viewed online via the Ancestry website.

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