The Dodds Connection

Aunt(ie) Jean, widow of Uncle Peter Waddell, like Aunt(ie) Val, relict of Elton Gueritz, was sighted very infrequently in the dysfunctional corner of the family that I inhabited. Both of them doubtlessly good and kindly Great-Aunts, they were however rarely put to the test, so to speak, and I have no visual memory of them, unfortunately.

My parents did once take me, aged about 9, to visit Peter and Jean in their very large house (Burford Lodge, Depot Road, in the heart of Horsham; but now sadly no more – my wife and I often remark that new developments down the ages so often bear the names of what has had to be uprooted or demolished in order to make room for its usurpers, as first noted by our literary hero G K Chesterton, but in this case it has no memorial) set in an extensive garden, into which I was sent out to play. In the afternoon I was taken to a local fête, where I won a goldfish in a bowl at the hoop-la stall; sadly, I left it in the waiting room, not unlike The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, at Horsham Station when we caught the train back to London.

There are numerous points of interest (particularly as to her maternal grandfather^$) in Jean's immediate ancestry, as tabulated below, and indeed a good many more in her brother James' step-posterity – which I first started to twig on reading The Times obituary of Virginia Surtees (Sep 2017), in which the name of David Craig was briefly mentioned.

In view of that extraordinary cotangency, I've also started to wonder whether there is a further connection with Agnes Dods (sic) Jamieson, the wife of cousin Eddie Findlay – Granny Weatherwax of Discworld asserts that million-to-one chances regularly come up nine times out of ten.

Elizabeth I famously offered all of her possessions for an extra moment of time in extremis, but it would take a lot longer than that to properly research speculations of this sort, and one does have to reluctantly relinquish them for lack of the necessary collateral.

#	Individual	Spouse / Partner	Family
‑4	Capt Edward Picton Warlow alias Baumgarten (1830/3 – 1913/4) 10th Hussars	Anna Isabella Mackenzie (d 1927) (m 23 Aug 1860) daughter of Rev Charles Mackenzie, Rector of Allhallows, London, and Prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral.	9 children (4 girls, 5 boys) in 15 years including Frances Henrietta Warlow (b 29 Jul 1861) Helen Picton Baumgarten (b 3 Sep 1863)
‑3	Helen Picton Baumgarten (b 3 Sep 1863) Census 1911 nb her birth in the United Provinces	Sir James Miller Dodds (1862, Glasgow – 25 Oct 1935) (m 19 Jun 1889) Portrait Under-Secretary at the Scottish Office 1909/21 2nd son of Rev James Dodds, DD, minister of the parish of Corstorphine, Midlothian	Frances Jean Macalister Dodds (27 Mar 1890 – 20 Oct 1978) James Leishman Dodds (5 May 1891 – 13 Aug 1972) Helen Isobel Mackenzie Dodds (b ca 1894) Edward Anthony Charles Dodds (b 12 Mar 1898)
	Joint portrait
‑2	Frances Jean Macalister Dodds (27 Mar 1890 – 20 Oct 1978)	Peter Hately Waddell (15 Dec 1881 – 30 Mar 1955) (m 11 Nov 1920) Probate	Geoffrey Peter Hately Waddell (2 Nov 1921 – 27 Sep 1982) James Robert Erskine Waddell (7 Feb 1926 – 28 Jun 2007) John Macalister Waddell (15 Apr 1927 – 28 Mar 2003)
‑2	Sir James Leishman Dodds (5 May 1891 – 13 Aug 1972) 2nd Lt / Captain R.G.A. British Ambassador to Cuba and later Peru; Rolls-Royce enthusiast.	Bertha Etelka (née Surtees) Bell (15 Oct 1891 – 19 Dec 1974) (m 7 Jul 1927, Paris) widow of Edward (Ned) R Bell	a daughter of this marriage: Josephine Leishman Dodds (b ca 1928) plus two stepdaughters: Evangeline (Vangie) Bell (27 Nov 1914 – 12 Dec 1995) Virginia (no way Ginnie) Bell (9 Jan 1917 – 22 Sep 2017)
‑1	Evangeline Bell A (27 Nov 1914 – 13 Dec 1995) Portraits Grave	David Kirkpatrick Este Bruce (12 Feb 1898 – 5 Dec 1977) (m 23 Apr 1945) his second marriage US ambassador	Alexandra (Sasha) Bruce (1946 – 7 Nov 1975) David Surtees Bruce (24 Feb 1948 – 24 Feb 2008) Nicholas C Bruce
‑1	Virginia Bell1,  2,  3,  4 (9 Jan 1917 – 22 Sep 2017) Portrait ultimately redevenue Virginia Surtees as a cultural ingenu myself, she irresistibly reminds me of Saki's Francesca Bassington though I have always and uncritically loved the Pre-Raphaelites ever since I saw Burne-Jones' King Cophetua and the Beggarmaid at an early age, but now I've seen Leighton's version I hugely prefer the looks of his maid. I'm an irredeemably testosterone-driven low-brow as regards the visual arts. Perhaps that's more honourable than judging them simply by auction-value. The finest artistic creation of all time for me is Leonardo's cartoon of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist. Nothing else comes even close. OMG, perhaps I fancy the BVM – I'm headed for the pit of boiling sulphur.	Henry Ashley Clarke (26 Jun 1903 – 20 Jan 1994) (m 15 Jun 1937 – 1960) his first marriage ambassador	no children
		David Leonard Craig (30 May 1914 – 11 Oct 1996) (m 1960 – 1962) widower, several children, had proposed marriage unsuccessfully to Frances Hannah Waddell highly successful airline executive
‑1	Josephine Leishman Dodds (b ca 1928)	Sqn Ldr Hugh Glyn Laurence Arthur Brooking (2 Nov 1914 – May 2000) (m 1949) (King's Messenger) Portrait younger son of Hugh Cyril Arthur Brooking (15 Sep 1870 – 31 May 1918) and Florence Eugenie Day elder brother (b 1912) was Granville Reginald Arthur Brooking	Hugh Brooking