Patricia’s life took quite the turn when she met the Earl of Jersey. Photos: Trove.
In the summer of 1931, a young woman who’d been raised amid the dusty paddocks outside Cootamundra stepped into a London ballroom and into the orbit of an English earl.
Patricia Richards, daughter of a Riverina grazier, spent her early years on Cowcumbla — a station better known for Merino wool than for making international headlines.
Within months, she would become the Countess of Jersey.
Born on 20 January 1914, Patricia was the only child of Kenneth Richards – a prominent grazier and racehorse owner – and his former wife Eileen Mary Richards.
“Cowcumbla Station”, situated four miles east of Cootamundra on the Gundagai Road, was emblematic of Riverina pastoral life, and what Kenneth Richards saw in its rolling paddocks and scattered gums was prime fat lamb raising country – which proved successful.
Splitting their lives between Cootamundra and a house in Sydney’s Darling Point, the Richards family’s social activities were frequently noted in newspapers, giving Patricia a familiarity with public attention long before she stepped into London society.
Educated abroad, Patricia attended schools in England and France, culminating in a finishing school in Paris.
Her first London season was a whirlwind. At 18, Patricia was presented at Court in June by the wife of Australia’s High Commissioner, and soon became a popular figure at dinners, dances and parties.
She was frequently seen at the top spots – the Berkeley, the Malmaison, the Cafe de Paris and Ciro’s, often in the company of the young George Francis Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey.
According to contemporary accounts, they first met at a ball hosted by Lord Camrose, and the earl, grandson of a former Governor of NSW – Victor Albert George Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey – was immediately smitten and they were engaged by November 1931.
The wedding was a lavish affair from start to finish.
Held on 12 January 1932 at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, it was among the largest events of the new year season in London and newspapers, metropolitan and regional, frothed with detail.
Mounted police managed the crowds as hundreds of Londoners came to catch a glimpse of the young couple, some even climbing railings to secure a better view of the bride.
The church was decorated with lilac, Bermuda lilies and lilies of the valley, specially grown in the conservatories of the bridegroom.
“Cinquencenlo vases, nine feet high, filled with scarlet poinsettia, stood each side of the altar,” newspaper reports said.
Patricia, then 19, wore a flowing ivory satin gown trimmed with pearls, paired with a rare Brussels lace veil lent by the Dowager Countess of Jersey, once owned by Marie Antoinette and held in place by a headpiece of interlaced pearls.
She completed the ensemble with a pearl necklace and diamond brooch, gifts from her 21-year-old bridegroom, and carried a bouquet of white orchids.
Attended by nine bridesmaids dressed in vivid velvet flame-coloured gowns topped by Russian gold and diamante headdresses and carrying lily of the valley bouquets, the wedding party read like a who’s who of British, Australian and American society: Ladies Diana Wellesley, Ann and Joan Child-Villiers and Misses Sheila Berry, Anna Coats, Lucille Brokaw, Jocelyn Wingfield, Dinah Hordern and Rose Bingham..
After the ceremony, the couple honeymooned in Australia, visiting Sydney and regional towns before returning via New York to settle at Osterley Park, the Earl’s grand mansion in Middlesex.
Patricia’s tenure as countess was brief but intensely public.
She attended Ascot, hosted visitors at Osterley, sat on charity committees and participated in the State Opening of Parliament. She and the Earl had one child, Caroline.
Yet the marriage was troubled. By 1935, friends noted that the Earl often appeared unaware of his wife’s whereabouts. Their interests diverged – he immersed himself in modern art while Patricia showed little interest.
Scandal followed: in 1936 the Earl arranged an affair with a dancer, published a letter disavowing her debts and Patricia petitioned for divorce on 11 January 1937.
He remarried Virginia Cherrill in July, while Patricia married London banker Robin Filmer-Wilson in September.
Filmer-Wilson saw active service during the Second World War and was killed in a car accident in Italy in 1944.
Patricia then married Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Laycock in 1953, living in Sutton Courtenay and London until his death in 1977.
Her fourth marriage, in 1986, was to Roderic More O’Ferrall, a racing trainer and breeder.
She remained engaged in society well into her 90s and passed away in 2017 at the age of 103.
Her father’s life, by contrast, ended tragically.
Kenneth Richard died in 1938 after being thrown from a horse near Cowcumbla.
Reports following his death said he remained a quiet, thoughtful, horse-loving Australian all his life.
“Travel and high society had no appeal for him. He wanted the quiet life.”
*Information sourced on Trove.
