Dorothy and Hal Faber, past residents of Little Worsall
Dorothy Faber or aunt Dorothy as I knew her was my great aunt (my grandmother’s sister on my fathers side). In 1960 she married Henry (Hal) Grey Faber. Dorothy was Henry’s second wife and the couple were married at Holy Trinity Church, Micklegate, York in 1960.
Dorothy and Hal lived in Husthwaite in a house called Little Worsall, a property situated between the Methodist Chapel, a newer house, and The Manor House which was once a farm. However, until I came to write this piece I never knew the name of the property or the house number. Letters were addressed simply to Mrs D M Faber, Husthwaite, York. The postman, my parents were told, knows the house.
The 1939 register records Henry living at Worsall Grange, Low Worsall near Stokesley and it seems that when he moved to Husthwaite, the house was named after this property. The Cleveland and Teesside History Society record the place name Low Worsall as 'Modern English low + place-name Wercesal, Wirceshel, Werchesal(e) 1086 Wi- Wyrkesale 1285-1367, Wirsal (1316) 16th, 1369, Parva Worsall “Little Worsall” 1483.'
Dorothy and Hal lived together at Husthwaite for six years. Henry died in 1966 before I was born but Dorothy continued to live at Little Worsall, with her sister Molly until 1994, then alone until her own death in 1997. Molly died aged 88 in 2003.
Dorothy Dorothy Margaret Clarke was born in Northamptonshire in 1904. She was the daughter of Louisa Jane Shortland and Albert Edward William Clarke, a police sergeant in the Northamptonshire Constabulary. She had one brother named Edward Alexander and three sisters, Cecily Mary (known as Molly, b 1914) who lived with her at Little Worsall from 1966 - 1994, Kitty Alexandra and my grandmother Delia Eileen.
The 1939 register shows Dorothy, working as a schoolteacher, living in the Morrison household at Faceby Manor, Yorkshire (North Riding). It also appears that she worked as a governess. One of the most interesting things I have from Dorothy is a letter from a Miss Lennox-Carr of Piccadilly (according to the biography of the historical novelist Georgette Heyer, Miss Lennox-Carr ran a registry office for governesses), recommending Dorothy for the post of governess to the young King of Iraq. I don’t believe that Dorothy took up the offer but nevertheless it is a lovely piece of family history.
Things I remember about Dorothy are firstly her two dogs, Otter and Toby - sausage dogs, one smooth haired and one wired haired. Secondly, the incredible view from her garden of the Kilburn white horse and one of the most northerly turf-cut figures in Britain. Finally, the way she encouraged my interest in my family from a young age, with letters, stories and photos. Dorothy is hugely responsible for my love of history today.
Hal Henry Grey Faber was a solicitor. The 1891 census shows he was born in Durham in 1887, to Thomas Faber also born in Durham and Ada Faber born in Wimbledon. Aged 14 in 1901, Henry appears to have been a boarder at a school in Harrogate but by 1911, aged 24, he is recorded as being a solicitor.
Henry served in the 5th Durham Light Infantry. He seems to have started army life in the Volunteer Forces in 1905 before becoming a Colonel in later life. In a blog post about local solicitors in world war one, The North Yorkshire history website records Henry as ‘Admitted Oct 1911. Member of Faber, Fawcett & Faber, of Stockton-on-Tees. Mobilised Aug 1914 as Capt., 5th Batt. Durham Light Infantry, promoted Major June 1916. Once mentioned in Dispatches. Served at Home and in Flanders and France. Wounded May 24, 1915.
I never met Henry but am fortunate to have a number of things relating to him including Henry’s official posting as an Officer that appears to have been signed by the King and photos showing the Officers of the 5th Battalion of The Durham Light Infantry, including Henry, taken on the eve of the battalion’s departure for France on 15 April 1915 and again in 1919. I also have a photo taken at Windsor in 1909 at the Presentation of Colours (an event which takes place to mark a special anniversary or event in a Regiment's history), which is depicted in a painting by Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille marking the culmination of significant army reforms that had been taking place. The painting depicts a moment, towards the end of the ceremony, when the two hundred newly blessed colours were drooped in salutation as the National Anthem was played and can be viewed on The Royal Collection Trust website.
The College of Arms hold an extensive pedigree for the Faber family which was recorded in 1902 by Hamilton S Faber, the first cousin of Henry Grey Faber’s father. The arms to which Henry Grey Faber was entitled were granted in 1928. They were granted on the application of Hamilton S. Faber’s widowed mother to the descendants of her late husband’s father, Thomas Henry Faber. Henry Grey Faber was the grandson of Thomas Henry Faber and so he became entitled to the arms by descent.
There was another branch of the family, which had different arms. This branch of the family included two peers, the first and last Lord Faber and the first and last Lord Wittenham. The pedigree recorded at the College of Arms is headed by William Faber of Leeds. He had a son, Rev Thomas Faber, Vicar of Calverley, Yorkshire, who is shown as having four sons. Henry Grey Faber was descended from the third son. Pedigrees for the family can be found in the 1952 and 1972 editions of Burke’s Landed Gentry and Dorothy appears in the entry in the 1972 edition.
Toni Louise Abram, March 2022