Robert Dempster & Sons Ltd
| Edith Pretty | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Edith May Dempster 1 August 1883 Elland, Calderdale, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 17 December 1942 (aged 59) Richmond, Surrey, England |
| Residence | Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England |
| Occupation | landowner, benefactor, magistrate |
| Spouse(s) | Frank Pretty (married 1926) |
| Children | Robert Dempster Pretty |
| Parent(s) |
|
Edith May Pretty (1883–1942) was an English landowner on whose land the Sutton Hoo ship burial was discovered, after she had paid a local archaeologist to find out if anything lay beneath the mounds on her property.
Edith Pretty was born in Elland, Yorkshire on 1 August 1883, to Elizabeth (née Brunton, d. 1919) and Robert Dempster (b. 1853). She and her older sister, Elizabeth, were the Dempsters' only children. The Dempsters were wealthy industrialists who amassed their fortune from the manufacture of equipment related to the gas industry. Robert Dempster's father, Robert Dempster, had founded Robert Dempster and Sons at Elland in Yorkshire in 1855 for this purpose.
In 1884 Edith's father, Robert, moved his family to Manchester, where he founded the engineering firm of R. & J. Dempster with his brother, John. Edith and her family travelled extensively abroad, visiting Egypt, Greece, and Austria-Hungary. After finishing her education at Roedean School, Edith spent six months in Paris in 1901. Later that year, the family embarked on a world tour that included visits to British-India and the United States.
From 1907 to 1925, Edith's father took a lease on the large country house of Vale Royal Abbey, near Whitegate, Cheshire, the family seat of Lord Delamere. Here Edith grew up with an indoor staff of 25 and 18 gardeners. She engaged in public and charitable works that included helping to buy land for a mission.
During World War I, Edith served as quartermaster at the Red Cross' auxiliary hospital at Winsford, and helped to house Belgian refugees. By 1917 she worked with the French Red Cross at Vitry-le-François, and also at Le Bourget in France.
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