MS 968

Reference code

MS 968

Title

Papers of Cecilia Fisher

Level

Sub-fonds

Administrative / Biographical history

Cecilia Fisher (1886-1965) was the daughter of Blanche Warre Cornish (née Ritchie) (1847 - 1922) and Francis Warre Cornish (1839 - 1916), Master, Vice-Provost and Librarian of Eton College. Her mother Blanche (a cousin of William Makepeace Thackeray), was also a writer and novelist. Cecilia’s maternal uncle was Sir Richmond Ritchie, whose wife (and cousin) was the novelist Anne Thackeray Ritchie, daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray.

Born at Eton, the youngest of Blanche and Francis’s eight children, Cecilia became an accomplished pianist. She married Admiral Sir William Wordsworth Fisher (1875-1937), commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet, in 1907. After his early death, she moved to Hampton Court, where she lived in a ‘grace and favour’ apartment within the Palace, from 1938 to her death in 1965. Cecilia and William Fisher four children, Cecilia, Horatia, Charles and Nevil.

Through her mother’s close family, society and literary connections, Cecilia formed lasting friendships, among whom were Edith (Ettie) Grenfell, Lady Desborough, Hilaire Belloc and Maurice Baring.

Date

1889 - 1952

Extent & medium

1 box, containing 6 files

Content description

The papers comprise letters written from Cecilia Fisher’s brothers Francis and Gerald (who both died abroad) to their parents and siblings while away from home; letters from Edith (Ettie) Grenfell, Lady Desborough to her close friends Blanche and Cecilia; letters from Hilaire Belloc to Cecilia and photographs of her close friend Maurice Baring.

Provenance

The papers have been passed down in the Warre Cornish, Fisher, MacCarthy, and Cecil families. Mirabel Cecil, the donor of the papers (died 2024), married Lord Hugh Cecil, the son of Lord David Gascoyne-Cecil (1902- 1986) and Rachel MacCarthy (daughter of Sir Desmond MacCarthy, a member of the Bloomsbury Group). Rachel’s mother was Mary (Molly) Warre Cornish, Cecilia Fisher’s older sister, a respected literary figure in her own right.

Arrangement

The letters of Francis Thackeray Warre Cornish were bound into volumes and the other letters were housed (presumably by the family) in custom-made boxes. The papers have been arranged in the order they were kept by the family, into four series:

01 Letters from Francis Thackeray Warre Cornish to his parents and siblings

02 Letters from Ethel Grenfell, Lady Desborough to Blanche Warre Cornish and Cecilia Fisher

03 Letters from Hilaire Belloc to Cecilia Fisher

04 Photographs of Maurice Baring and a drawing

Physical characteristics

The three volumes of letters were poorly bound, damaged and dirty; some cleaning was possible with smoke sponge. The letters will be disbound, flattened and rehoused in acid-free folders. The custom-made boxes containing the other letters and photographs were too small and the contents were damaged. These papers have been removed and rehoused in acid free folders.