Derby Daily Telegraph 16 Jul 1969

Widow of 12th Earl Ferrers dies at 78

The Dowager Countess Hermione Justice Shirley Ferrers, widow of the 12th Earl Ferrers, died at her home at Shirley today, aged 78.
She had lived there since the death of her husband in 1954. His family was founded about the ninth century and has had its seat at Staunton Harold since 1423.
Countess Ferrers, whose marriage to the Earl took place in 1922, was a daughter of the late Mr. Noel Morley, of Lychwood, Worplesdon.
She lived in India when first married and then in London, and came with her husband to live at Staunton Harold in 1937.

ENROLLING MEMBER

There she took a great interest in the Mothers’ Union as enrolling member, presiding member and vice-president of the Leicester Diocese of the M.U.
She was also president of Staunton Harold Woman’s Institute and a member of the Leicester Federation of Woman’s Institutes.
She was a member of the Leicester Diocesan Board of Finance and ran a Sunday School at Staunton Harold.
A member of the Board of Governors of Ashby Grammer School she was also on the board of, and member of various committees of Ashby Cottage Hospital.
During the war she helped with the Land Army and was a J.P. for Leicestershire
After coming to Derbyshire she continued to take part in public affairs.
She was president of the Ashbourne Deanery of the Mothers’ Union and was on the Derby Diocesan Board of Moral Welfare. She helped a great deal when her former home, Staunton Harold Hall became a Cheshire Home and retained her interest in it when she was living at Shirley.
She was a speaker for the Mothers’ Union in Leicestershire and Derby Dioceses.

EMBROIDERED KNEELER

She recently embroidered a kneeler for Shirley Church which extended across the chancel steps.
It was dedicated on Whit Sunday and took her a year and a day to complete. She did the work on this despite arthritis from which she had suffered a great deal in recent years.
She leaves a son, Earl Ferrers, and two daughters, Lady Elizabeth Luttrell, of Itchen Abbas, Hants, and Lady Penelope Robson, wife of the Rev. J. M. Robson, Rector of Brailsford and vicar of Shirley.
The funeral service will be held at St. Michael’s, Shirley on Saturday at 2.45 p.m.