Rachel Theodora Byng

From FreeBMD: Registration of birth of Rachel Theodora Byng in 1869

January to March 1869: Registration of birth of Rachel Theodora Byng; in Kensington (Volume 1a, Page 173)

From British Newspaper Archive: Sunday Post Sunday, 20 March 1927 Page 13 Chatty Gossip To The Day: A Popular Hobby

Rabbit breeding is becoming quite a popular hobby among society women nowadays. Lady Rachel Byng recently moved her rabbit farm to Windsor in order that she could extend the scope of its operations, and now I hear that Lady Layland Barratt has a big rabbit farm down in Devonshire. She specialises in black Alaska rabbits and Chinchillas.

From British Newspaper Archive: Western Gazette Friday, 29 April 1927 Page 9 Livestock - farm and domestic

Rabbits for Sale, bargain, Angora Bucks, Lady Rachel Byng strain; nearly four months old, 12s 6d each. — Miss K. Fryer, Shroton House, Blandford.

From British Newspaper Archive: Belfast Telegraph Thursday, 11 August 1927 Page 8 Lady's Angora rabbit farm: Started With Six Rabbits

Lady Mary Byng, whose engagement to Major Frank Naylor, D.S.O., is announced, is the younger daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strafford. The home of the family at Wrotham Park, Barnet, was built by the famous Admiral John Byng, who named the place after the Wrotham in Kent, for the Byngs were originally men of Kent.

Lord Strafford's town house in St. James's Square has been in the family for generations, and is full of valuable pictures and furniture. Before he succeeded his father in the earldom in 1918 Lord Strafford was for six years a civil engineer, and for a longer period a member of the London Stock Exchange.

One of his half-sisters, Lady Mary Byng's aunt, is also rather original. This is Lady Rachael Byng, whose home is situated near Windsor. She conducted a millinery shop in London several years ago. Last November 1926 she took 400 white Angora rabbits from Northumberland to Berkshire by special train to a new rabbit farm which she was setting up there. Her brother, the Hon. Ivo Byng, who is heir to the earldom, joined her as a partner to help to run the farm.

Lady Rachel had really started this line of business at Hexham four years previously with only six rabbits, from which she bred 2,000 and retained 400 of them. Her reason for migrating from Northumberland to the south was partly that it was easier to get the rabbit food she wanted in Berkshire. Her house also with its six acres of land was bigger than the one at Hexham. "The mills," she remarked, "are crying out for Angora fur. They give 34s a pound for it, and each rabbit yields three-quarters of a pound. Since I started it my pupils have set up farms of their own and now it is a large and thriving industry."

From MyHeritage: Probate index 1932

15 November 1932 probate of the Honourable Rachel Theodora Byng of Kingsmead, Winkfield, Windsor, Berkshire, spinster, who died Sunday, 25 September 1932, probate granted at London on 15 November 1932 to the Honourable Lucy Margaret Byng, (wife of the Honourable Anthony Schomberg Byng). Effects £6427 12s. 9d. Resworn £4363 16s. 2d.

NOTE: [Kingsmead Cottage, Hatchet Lane, Winkfield, Windsor SL4 4RJ 51.4450203, -0.6611209]