Christabel Lady Aberconway (neé Christabel Mary Melville)

Born: 12 December 1890.

Died: 1974.

Christabel Mary Melville Macnaghten was born on 12 December 1890. In 1899, when she was 9, she was best friends with Josephine, daughter of Rudyard Kipling, and Kipling wrote a poem “The Way Through the Woods” after talking with the young Christabel about the New Forest.

At age 19, Christabel married Henry Duncan “Harry” McLaren (1879-1953), son of Charles McLaren (1850-1934), a Scottish Liberal politician and jurist. In 1880, Charles was elected to the British House of Commons. In 1877 he married Laura Pochin who in 1895 inherited the Bodnant Estate on the River Conwy in Wales, twelve miles northeast of Bangor. In 1902 Charles became Sir Charles McLaren, Baronet of Bodnant. In 1911 he was created Baron Aberconway by Lloyd George for political services. He chose “Aberconway” because it is Welsh for “at the mouth of the Conwy.” Harry became a successful industrialist and between 1920 and 1922, had constructed at 38 South Street in Mayfair, London, a neo-Georgian mansion of 22,788 sq. ft. with a southerly aspect over and access into one of Mayfair’s secret gardens, in the center of the block; they lived there until 1939. On August 26, 2007, the Sunday Times reported that the property was for sale at £46 million, about $90 million U.S—“one of the most expensive properties for sale in London”.

In 1929 William Walton—who became Sir William Walton in 1951—wrote his Viola Concerto, which catapulted him to the forefront of British classical music, its bittersweet melancholy proving quite popular; it remains a cornerstone of the solo viola repertoire. The concerto is dedicated “to Christabel” and probably records feelings engendered by Walton’s unrequited passion for Christabel, Lady Aberconway, who remained a lifelong friend. During the 1920s, Walton lodged with the literary Sitwell siblings—Sacheverell, Osbert and Edith—and composed in their attic.

Harry McLaren developed and managed the Bodnant Garden for fifty years, most notably the five great terraces facing Snowdonia. He became 2nd Lord Aberconway on his father’s death in 1934. When he became President of the Royal Horticultural Show he had the privilege of taking King George V and Queen Mary around the Chelsea Flower Show. The King was not as interested in flowers as the Queen so Christabel struck up a friendship to keep him amused. The Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, stayed a night with the Aberconways at the Bodnant Estate. A few days before Britain declared war on Germany, Samuel Courtauld, who was Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the National Gallery, was spending the weekend at Bodnant seeking sanctuary for the pictures from the National Gallery, when Harry suggested a disused Welsh slate mine, and this solution was adopted.

In 1932, after the death of his wife, Samuel Courtauld purchased No. 12 North Audley Street and also acquired the lease of No. 11. On his death in 1947, Courtauld bequeathed both houses to Lady Aberconway, who had first drawn his attention to No. 12. Hence the two houses were reunited in 1948-49. Christabel moved in about 1950; Harry died in 1953; she lived in No. 12 until her death in 1974.

In her memoir at age 76, Christabel speaks fondly of her friendships and meetings with numerous celebrities, artists and writers, including H. G. Wells, Osbert Sitwell, Arthur Rubenstein, Samuel Courtauld, Cecil Beaton, Max Beerbohm and Augustus John.