Social Victorians/People/Sneyd

Also Known As

• Family name: Sneyd
• Ralph de Tunstall Sneyd
• "Sporting Ralph" Sneyd
• Col. Ralph Sneyd

A different Ralph Sneyd was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

• Golden Dawn motto: Nec Opprimi Nec Opprimere — "Neither to oppress nor to be oppressed"

Demographics

• Nationality: British

Residences

• Keele Hall, Staffordshire
• Newcastle
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Bradwell Grange, Codford, Wiltshire

Family

• Ralph de Tunstall Sneyd (10 December 1863 – 25 December 1949)
• Mary Evelyn Ellis (1865 – 30 Aug 1923)
• 2nd wife
• 3rd wife

Relations

Ralph de Tunstall Sneyd

• Father, Walter Sneyd
• Uncle, Ralph Sneyd (9 October 1793 - July 1870 sp), descendant of the famous Ralph Sneyd and the country gentleman who rebuilt Keele Hall (1855-1860).

Mary Evelyn Ellis Sneyd

• Major-General Sir Arthur Edward Augustus Ellis
• Mina Frances Labouchere

1. Mary Evelyn Ellis (1865 – 30 Aug 1923)

Acquaintances, Friends and Enemies

Acquaintances

• Horse-racing people at the level of the social network of the Prince of Wales

Friends

• Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild

Organizations

• Marlborough House Set?

Timeline

1870, Keele Hall passed to Ralph Sneyd's father Walter Sneyd.

1884, circa, "Walter’s son Ralph threw a notable party for three thousand people at Keele Hall when he attained his majority."

1885 December 17, Ralph Sneyd and Mary Evelyn Ellis married.

1886 July 21, Wednesday, Sneyd and Mary Ellis Sneyd attended a ball at Marlborough House hosted by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

1889, Sneyd commissioned Lawrence Alma-Tadema to paint a portrait of Mary Ellis Sneyd; the portrait was completed the same year.

1890, circa, photo of Ralph Sneyd in about 1890, from Getty Images [img here].

1890 December, Ralph Sneyd lived in or near London.

1891 July 9, Sneyd and his wife attended a garden party at Marlborough House hosted by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

1892, Sneyd was the High Sheriff of Stafford.

1897 July 2, Friday, Mary Sneyd (#667 on the list of people who were present) attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House.

1901, Sneyd had to rent Keele Hall to the Grand Duke Michael of Russia to manage the debt he had built up.

1901, Edward VII made a weekend social visit to Keele Hall (but the social event was probably hosted by the Grand Duke Michael of Russia rather than Ralph Sneyd).

1901-1910, Keele Hall rented to the Grand Duke Michael of Russia.

1917 February 13, Sneyd arrested Mata Hari "in her room at the Hotel Elysée Palace on the Champs Elysées in Paris."

Ralph (Ralph Sneyd) by "Stuff," Vanity Fair 10 March 1898

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

At the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, Mary Evelyn Ellis Sneyd was dressed as a Venetian in "white satin and lace."

Mary Sneyd's father and sister were also present at the ball: Major-General Arthur Ellis and Miss Alexandra Ellis.

Mary Sneyd's husband, Ralph de Tunstall Sneyd, although perhaps running out of money in his personal life, was in the Prince of Wales's social network. No newspaper reports that he was present at the ball, but that does not mean he was not there. A caricature portrait (right) of Sneyd by Henry Charles Seppings-Wright ("Stuff") was published in Vanity Fair on 10 March 1898, as one Number 707 in its "Men of the Day" series.

Anthology

Ralph Sneyd

also found time to race horses and to lead the local Hunt. "Sporting Ralph" was the last of the family to reside at Keele, although he actually lived away for much of the time. He founded the Keele Park racecourse and built breeding stables (now the Clock House buildings) and even a railway station for the convenience of race-goers. The Keele racecourse was located to the right of Clockhouse Drive, facing away from the Clock House.

"Sporting Ralph" continued as a Victorian gentleman at the end of the nineteenth century should – a world tour, a new yacht, shooting-parties with the King, horse-racing, three wives and an expensive divorce. He seldom visited Keele although it seemed to "possess every qualification which could be required in a country seat". In 1902 there was a severe reversal of future - an economic slump coincided with the expiry of the lease on the Silverdale coal mines. Legal disputes over the condition of the mines continued for years and heavy financial losses were incurred.

Questions and Notes

1. This page and the Timeline contain two men: as it seems to me that the Ralph Sneyd who was a member of the Marlborough House Set cannot have been a member of the Golden Dawn. (This blog posting about Ralph de Tunstall Sneyd, for example, suggests that he died in 1947, not 1949, which was the death of the aristocrat: http://www.pitsnpots.co.uk/tag/ralph_de_sneyd_tunstall/ — url no longer present in the Internet Archive.) Tunstall is one of the towns near Keele Hall, so if they are not the same person, perhaps the Golden Dawn Ralph Sneyd is a relative of Sporting Ralph de Tunstall Sneyd?
2. 1890, December, the other Sneyd joined the Golden Dawn, the Isis-Urania Temple.
3. Mary Evelyn Ellis Sneyd was present at the ball; where was Ralph de Tunstall Sneyd?