The Massie Family
Barbara (Massie) Dangar
29 April 1906, in Wrexham
district, Denbighshire, Wales
Edward
Richard Massie
Margaret
Maxwell (Lyte) Massie
Dudley
Frederick Oliphant Dangar on 27
November 1932 in Farnham district, Hampshire, England.
Dudley, who was known as "Fred" was born in Wimbledon, Surrey, on 19
September 1902. He was educated at Rugby School, and jesus College,
Cambridge. Fred was an avid mountaineer
and an editor of
the Alpine Journal. He died in 1992.
The Alpine Journal In Memoriam pp323-4
Dudley Frederick Oliphant Dangar 1902-1992
Fred Dangar was born at Wimbledon on 19 September 1902. He was educated
at Rugby School and at Jesus College Cambridge. Before he was twenty,
whilst still living with his parents at Frensham House in Surrey, his
lifelong interest in the Alps began with a visit in the summer of 1922
to the area around Chamonix and Finhaut. This was the first of over 30
visits extending into the early 1960s to the mountains of Switzerland
France and Austria. He was initiated into alpine climbing by C H
Wybergh, a member of the AC, and a former schoolmaster at his
preparatory school, Lambrook Berks, with whom each year between
1923-1927 he climbed in the Bernese Oberland, Arolla and the French and
Austrian Alps. He was elected to the Club in 1931 having been proposed
by Claude Elliott and seconded by C H Wybergh. Fred climbed in the then
traditional way with a guide, enjoying the contentment of the amateur
on the uncrowded mountains of that period without being driven by any
ambition to achieve feats of daring. His climbs between 1929-1936
included the Grand Combin, Matterhorn, Monte Rosa, Zinal Rothorn,
Aguilles Rouges d'Arolla, Petite Dent de Vesivi, Gspaltenhorn and
Wetterhorn, as well as ascents in the Pyrenees and in the Gross
Glockner group. He developed a special interest in Switzerland, getting
to know practically every corner of the country, and acquiring during
the course of numerous later journeys accompanied by his wife an
amazing depth of knowledge about the valleys and the people of the
upper mountain regions.
During the Second World War, having failed to pass his medical
test for active service, he served on the general staff reaching the
rank of captain and was posted at Dorchester where he acted as
quartermaster.
Fred Dangar settled in Devon in 1946 and not long after he
became more closely associated with the Club's activities. His major
contribution to the AC was as Honorary Assistant Editor, together with
Tom Blakeney, of the Alpine Journal
from 1953-1974. His capacity for meticulous research and accuracy for
detail, as well as his scholastic knowledge of alpine history and
literature, ideally suited him for work in which he excelled and which
he enjoyed. His many contributions to the A] include vivid sketches of
several of the earliest Alpine ascents, details from the Fuhrerbuchs of
famous guides, and (with Tom Blakeney) a defence of Whymper's role on
the Matterhorn ascent in 1865. In addition, unspoilt areas such as
Belalp and Arolla, for which he had a special affection, were made the
subject of delightful articles. Besides this he was responsible for the
annual Alpine Notes section, and for the production of two consolidated
indexes for the AJ covering the years 1927-1968 (Vols 39-73). His
election to Honorary Membership in 1969 was a recognition of the value
of his work. He was a member of the Swiss and Austrian Alpine Clubs and
cultivated friendships with leading international climbers, his
knowledge of French and German facilitating easier personal contact
with many.
Apart from his archives on the European alps, Fred Dangar built
up a valuable series of classified records dealing with the greater
ranges. In 1960 after the first 21 volumes of the Himalayan Journal
had appeared the H.C. felt that the time was ripe for preparation of an
index. I approached Fred hesitatingly about whether he would agree to
take on this additional task and was delighted when he agreed to do so.
He subsequently produced two consolidated indexes for the Himalayan Journal covering the years 1929-1978, (Vols 1-35) and he was elected to Hsmorary Membership of the Himalayan Club in 1964.
I have reason to be personally grateful to him. When Fred and
his wife Barbara attended the Swiss Alpine Club Centenary celebrations
in 1963 they were seated at the luncheon table opposite the young
daughter and son of the then president of the SAC Basel Section, and
subsequently became good friends of the family. I met that daughter a
few years later at their house in Dittisham and we were married not
long after.
Fred Dangar was essentially to use a now unfashionable word a
gentleman of the type that has become increasingly rare today, with
personal qualities that combined modesty, humility, and a strong sense
of family and moral values. He was utterly reliable in whatever he
undertook, and would never accept anything second-rate from himself or
from others. When we last met four months before he died I found that
he had lost none of the fervour with which he enjoyed discussing
mountain events and people, about which he retained an amazing memory.
His marriage in 1932 to Barbara (née Massie) resulted in a
perfect partnership and long years of happiness. In September 1992 Fred
would have celebrated his 90th birthday and in November of the same
year he and Barbara would have celebrated their diamond wedding. To
Barbara, their son Richard and daughter Rosemary, and to their
grandchildren and two great grandchildren we offer our deepest sympathy.
Trevor Braham
After
their marriage, Barbara and Freddy moved to Childe Okeford,
Dorset and then to Gurrow Point, in Dittisham, Devon. Barbara restored
old houses, and lived in one of her
conversions, the Old Rectory at Cornworthy. She was also an
artist, dingy sailor and commodore of the Dittisham
Sailing Club.
Edward Richard Massie
21 September 1845, in Great
Boughton district, Cheshire, England
Thomas Leche Massie
Charlotte
(Townshend) Massie
Olga
Maria Wessenberg, Baroness von Wessenberg-Ampringen on 28 July 1866 in St
James Westminster district, Middlesex, England. From www.fitzwalter.com
we learn that
Olga was the
grand-daughter
of the former Austrian ambassador the to
the Court of St James. She has a son Peter (Pello) at the time, aged
about six, and said she was a widow. Recent research however shows her
to have been the mistress of the French Prime Minister Monsieur
Verbier, and she must have been something of an adventuress. Soon after
the marriage the Regiment was ordered to India, and as she refused to
go there Edward sent in his papers. One can imagine that a young
officer marrying like that would not have been allowed to remain in the
regiment anyway. They then lived in the South of France, mostly at Pau
... On 12 July 1878 Olga was killed in a train crash near
Rennes, and the two surviving sons were sent to live with their
father's sister Maudie in Chester. Pello, now 19, went to live in
Austria where he was in the army at one time and is reputed to have
been tutor to the Hapsburg family; he was a talented artist and writer.
- Roger Henry
Massie (1869 - 1927)
- Edward
Philip Massie (1870 - 1871)
- John Hamon
Massie (1872 - 1914)
Edward Massie remained a
widower for twenty-six years after the death of his first wife Olga.
Margaret
Maxwell Lyte on 9 August 1904 in St.
Marylebone district, London, England.
The
amusing story of how Margaret and Edward met is told at www.fitzwalter.com.
The Maxwell-Lytes
followed the
custom of the times
in trying to arrange "good" marriages for their daughters. This
resulted in young men without a large fortune being told to keep clear,
and I well remember my father telling me that at the time of his youth
in Cheshire young men of good family but poor means were referred to as
detrimentals.
When Margaret was
thirty, her parents, in order to get her away
from an admirer, sent her off to South Africa to stay with a brother on
his fruit farm. Edward was on the same ship, going out to stay with his
son Roger, who as we have seen married a South-African after the Boer
War. It was a very stormy voyage, and the chaperone took to her bunk
and remained there. Edward and Margaret were both excellent sailors,
and enjoyed each other's company so much that by the time they reached
Cape Town they announced their engagement. Margaret's parents were
furious and sent a cable saying "Return at once by separate ships".
This they did and run into another kind of storm. Edward was 59, three
years older than his prospective father-in-law and they thought he
would die soon and leave all his money to the two surviving sons of his
first marriage, and that their daughter would be left a penniless
widow. In fact they had nearly thirty years of happy married life.
The wedding, on 9 August
1904, was not in the family's local church
as it had "happy memories". The bride's parents wore mourning, and the
mother was observed to tear the service sheet into small pieces and
grind them into the floor under her heel...
Margaret’s
parents refused to
have anything to do with
the couple until after Margery's birth. Edward then wrote again to his
in-laws saying that they now had a golden-haired baby and hoped so much
that they would come and see both grand-children. They came, and were
good friends from then on.
Officer. Edward was
commissioned into the 78th Highlanders, and then the Ross-shire Buffs
and later the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders.
Margery (Massie)
Price
11 July 1907, in Wrexham
district, Denbighshire, Wales
Edward
Richard Massie
Margaret
Maxwell (Lyte) Massie
John Charles Hugh Price on 25
November 1933. John was a
Lieutenant, RN, who was killed in a flying accident in South Africa in
1938 and buried at sea.
Margery was a painter and sculptor.
She was also a member of an archaeological society which dates, records
and draws old houses, and took an active part in local affairs,
having been a school governor for over forty years.
Maria Benedicta (Massie) Evans
15 April 1795
3 July 1795
Charles Massie
Benedicta (Lloyd) Massie
Maurice Evans on 8 September 1813, in Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales
Navy Agent.
Maria's husband was a navy agent and Maria seems to have continued this
business after his death in 1827. In partnership with Beresford Eyton,
she was declared bankrupt on 1 March 1838 (London Gazette 12 June 1838 p1353).
She and Beresford are described as being "late of 7
Nothumberland-street, Strand, in the county of Middlesex, Navy Agents,
Bankers, Dealers, Chapmen and Copartners". The bankruptcy proceedings
lasted a long tme with dividends on the bankrupt estate being regularly
paid out at least as late as 1855 (London Gazette 23 January 1855 p287).
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