Rhoda Birley

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Rhoda Birley
Detail of Valerie Finnis s photo of Rhoda Lady Birley.jpg
Born
Rhoda Vava Mary Lecky Pike

1899
Ireland
Died1980 (aged 80–81)
NationalityBritish
Occupationpainter and organiser
Known forgardens and festival at Charleston Manor
Spouse(s)Sir Oswald Birley
ChildrenMaxime de la Falaise and Mark Birley

Rhoda Birley, Lady Birley (born Rhoda Vava Mary Lecky Pike; 1899 – 1980) was an Irish-born British gardener, model and artist. She developed the gardens at Charleston Manor in East Sussex where she founded the festival that continued after she died.

Life[]

Birley was born in 1899. Her parents were Catherine (born Howard) and Robert Lecky Pike who was the High Sheriff of Carlow and was keen on cricket. Her parents lived at Kilknock House in County Carlow.[1]

The Scottish sculptor William Reid Dick, created a bust of her.[2]

In her home town Tullow in County Carlow, on 14 September 1921, she married Oswald Birley from New Zealand.[3][4] Oswald was in the army but would later become a society portrait painter. In 1922 their daughter Maxime Birley was born.[3] She became a model and actress who married Count Alain Le Bailly de La Falaise[5] and later John McKendry, the curator of prints and photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[6] The marriage was not too happy and Rhoda was said to have had a Scottish lover. Their other child, Mark Birley, was born in 1930 when her husband was fifty.[7] Mark would in time found Annabel's nightclub, which he named for his wife.[7]

In 1931 she and Oswald bought Charleston Manor in East Sussex which dated from the 12th century and featured a Norman hall. The manor had been empty for some years and in 1932[8] they employed the architect and garden designer Walter Godfrey to restore it and to create a concert hall out of an old barn. She tasked herself with rebuilding the gardens.[9] She and her husband are credited with planting them.[8] She was a keen and eccentric gardener and would feed fish stew to her roses.[6] Her daughter said that she would forget what the stew was for and would add cognac and garlic to the concoction and the "Roses almost cried out with pleasure".[3] It was said that she fed her roses Lobster Thermidor made with cognac.[1]

Rhoda founded the Charleston Manor Festival[4] and it was first called the Sussex Festival.[9] The festival emerged from poetry recitals, readings and talks that she organised at their home over four or five weekends starting in about 1935. Her husband died at their home in London in 1952, but this did not stop the festival.[9]

  • St. Columba's Church where she married in Tullow

  • Charleston Manor in East Sussex

  • An interior view of one of the Charleston Manor barns by Charlie Verrall

Death and legacy[]

After her death in 1980 the manor was sold. However the gardens and manor remain and are grade II listed. The festival has had fallow times but it was still running in 1996.[8]

Birley's descendants include Robin Birley and India Jane Birley. Other descendants include the fashion designer Loulou de la Falaise. Loulou de la Falaise's niece is the fashion model Lucie de la Falaise.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Artistic legacy of the Irish beauty with 'the exotic name'". independent. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  2. ^ "'Lady Rhoda Birley', a Reid Dick carved stone bust". www.christies.com. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Fox, Margalit (2 May 2009). "Maxime de la Falaise, Model, Designer and Muse, Is Dead at 86". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Rhoda (née Lecky Pike), Lady Birley - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  5. ^ "Eighth generation on Burke's Peerage". 23 February 2005. Archived from the original on 23 February 2005. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Horwell, Veronica (8 May 2009). "Maxime de la Falaise". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  7. ^ a b Orth, Maureen (1 February 2008). "Hurly Birley". Vanity Fair. p. 152. ISSN 0733-8899. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  8. ^ a b c "Charleston Manor, Cuckmere Valley - 1000164 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  9. ^ a b c Cohen, Robert. "History". Charleston Manor Festival. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
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