Lady Mary Wood (Meynell) (née Lindsay) (1852-1937)
Lady Mary Wood was the third daughter of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres. On marrying Frederick Lindley Wood in 1878, Lady Mary, accepted an unusual life and the responsibility of living with her wealthy sister-in-law, Emily Meynell Ingram (1840-1904). Suddenly widowed in 1871, Emily had inherited the entirety of the vast Meynell Ingram estates and became one of the wealthiest independent women of her time. To help the newly widowed Emily cope with the enormous task of running of two estates as well as extensive investments, her younger brother, Frederick, left his career at the Bar to assist her. So when he married Lady Mary they moved into private apartments at both Temple Newsam, Yorkshire and Hoar Cross, Staffordshire and accompanied Emily everywhere.
It was not always an easy situation, Emily was an intelligent, strong and in grief a difficult woman; Mary was younger, bright and optimistic, and Frederick was torn between his duties for both. But, they made it work and Emily became very fond of Frederick and Mary’s five children.
In January 1889, Lady Mary travelled with her husband and Emily to Egypt and for several months sailed down the Nile in a Dahabiya, the Horus, a floating house boat. An accomplished writer and watercolorist, she painted the exotic views and the sights that enthralled her as they travelled into the heart of Egypt. These watercolours, which she signed with a superimposed M and W, were bound, together with those of her sister-in-law, in a leather volume recording their trip.
On the death of Emily in 1904, her husband Frederick inherited the Staffordshire estate of Hoar Cross and as a mark of respect changed their name to Meynell. Later in her life she published her memoirs, Sunshine and shadows over a long life, London: John Murray, 1933, where she describes her family’s unusually entwined life with Emily, candidly but fairly.
