Lady Darri at the Wilderness (General)

by Jim Moore , California, Friday, April 14, 2006, 14:14 (6789 days ago)

Does anyone have any information on a Lady Darri who lived at the Wilderness before Colchester-Wemyss? An ancestor, George Samuel Baggett (1867 - 1930+), wrote the following in a 1924 letter to my great uncle, Joseph Hopkins (1881 - 1962):

"Lady Darri used to live at the Wilderness near the Beech Walks about 1 ½ miles from Drybrook. My father rented our home from her. She always treated my father as her equal and always wrote his name on the rent receipts as James Bagot. At her death, Colchester-Wemyss succeeded to the estate. He was there when you were a boy in Drybrook."

I believe that Lady Darri would have lived at the Wilderness sometime between 1850 and 1880.

In September 2005, my wife and I were able to tour the Wilderness grounds by appointment one afternoon. We also hiked the "Beech Walks" with our relatives from Cinderford. The largest Beech trees were over 5 feet in diameter.

Jim Moore
Cupertino, CA