Snippets The Tevis Tragedies: Ordered by Hugh Tevis Jnr – the marriage of his parents Hugh Tevis Snr & Cornelia Baxter Tevis caused a scandal in 1901 when Cornelia threw over her beau – Gerald Hughes for Hugh Tevis – sadly Hugh Tevis was to died whilst he & Cornelia where on honeymoon in Japan. When Hugh Snr died in June 1901 his fortune was left jointly to Cornelia & to Alice (Hugh’s daughter from his 1st wife – it wasn’t known then that Cornelia was pregnant). In 1903 Hugh Tevis daughter Alice died from Bright’s disease & her inheritance was passed in its’ entirety to Hugh Jnr, (estimated in 1903 circa $6,000,000). The Tevis family were amongst the great American pioneers – Lloyd Tevis (1824/1899) was president of Wells Fargo Bank as well as being involved with the California Steam Company, Pacific Ice Company, street-cars in San Franciso, cattle ranches in California & silver & gold mines throughout the USA. In 1905 Cornelia remarried and again caused scandal with her 2nd husband, Andrew Hartupee McKee (a glass millionaire) paying the sum of $300,000 to his wife Lydia Sutton for a “quickie divorce” – he married Cornelia the very next day! This marriage ended in 1908 in spectalular fashion with Cornelia claiming he stole her jewels and their maids fleeing his unwanted attention – he counterclaimed that Cornelia had a flagrant affair with an Italian Marquis! In 1914 Cornelia wed her 3rd husband Evelyn M. Toulmin (his uncle was the 13th Baron Inchiquin), a cricketer of some note and international banker who in 1920 was the co-executor of the French estate of Arthur Capel – paramour of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. Again this marriage ended in divorce and in 1932 Cornelia married for the last time to one William Gower some 20 years younger than her – his 1st marriage was to Huggette Clark (1906/2011) a copper heiress whose death in 2011 revealed that her houses where full of dolls - she left an estate in excess of $300million. Hugh Tevis Jnr’s private life was also one of tragedy – no stable father figure (he was older than his last step-father!) he married twice - in 1926 to Elizabeth Prudence Ponsonby (her father served with the 4th Dragoon Guards & an ancestor Colonel Sir William Ponsonby, was killed whilst leading the Union Brigade charge at Waterloo). Hugh & Elizabeth’s marriage was short lived with the divorce being formalised in 1929 on the grounds of her desertion. Hugh’s 2nd wife was Helen Woods (nee Bright) – her daughter from her marriage to Richard Woods was Anna Kavan - author & interior designer (she chose her surname from a character in her 5th novel “A Stranger Still”). Hugh & Helen Tevis spent many years in Wynberg, South Africa where in 1929 they had established a Vineyard. After owning GBA36 for 6 months the car is shown as being acquired by Dr Henry Harvey Evers, a Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Aged just 21 years old Dr Evers served as a Surg. Prob. in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserves during WWI & was promoted to Captain in 1916. After the war he was a Foundation member of the Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology in London, during the 1930s Dr Evers moved to the Newcastle upon Tyne area where he resided until his death in 1979. Amongst his patients was Eileen Orwell, the 1st wife of George Orwell author of Animal Farm & 1984. After owning GBA36 for some 24 years the car passed into the hands of A C Crankshaw whose company, Pembertons Ltd, specialised in the production of paper bags, the paper for the bags being supplied by the Team Valley Paper Mill Company which was owned by his relative - Turner Crankshaw.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 18:58:12 +0000
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