Evelyn Mary Stapleton-Bretherton 1876 - 1960
Evelyn was born in December 1876 in Steyning, West Sussex. She was the fourth child and eldest surviving daughter of Frederick Annesley and Hon. Isabella Stapleton-Bretherton.
In 1907 she married Count Gebhard Blucher - a Prussian Count. He was born in Silesia in 1865, the son of the third Prince Blucher who was descended from the great Prussian General, Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher (1742-1819). The General was given the title “Prince” and estates in Silesia (now part of Poland) as a reward for his contribution to Wellington’s victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Count Blucher was brought up as a Roman Catholic and received a cosmopolitan education including a period at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.
In 1907 she married Count Gebhard Blucher - a Prussian Count. He was born in Silesia in 1865, the son of the third Prince Blucher who was descended from the great Prussian General, Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher (1742-1819). The General was given the title “Prince” and estates in Silesia (now part of Poland) as a reward for his contribution to Wellington’s victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Count Blucher was brought up as a Roman Catholic and received a cosmopolitan education including a period at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.
He had travelled widely in Europe and in South Africa partly on business and partly for pleasure – game-hunting and other ventures. On one occasion he lost four fingers on his hand to frostbite. Later, during WW1, this injury prevented him from being expected to join the German army to fight against the British forces.
After their wedding on 19th August 1907 at Westminster Cathedral in London, Evelyn and Gebhard Blucher lived in London, mixing with the aristocracy and crowned heads from Europe.
In 1908, Evelyn was asked by the German Emperor to launch a new war ship to be named SMS Blucher. This was in honour of her husband Gebhard Blucher’s ancestor who commanded the Prussian forces in the Battle of Waterloo, 1815.
War was declared on 4th August 1914 and the couple were forced to leave England to be interned in Berlin. They left London on 6th August. Evelyn wrote “ … we had to hurry away, leave our London home and pack at a moment’s notice and flee because we were Germans” They stayed at the Hotel Esplanade with other displaced aristocratic families from Europe.
Whilst in Berlin, Gebhard volunteered for service with the Knights of Malta – a Catholic branch of the Knights of St John. Evelyn spent time helping British prisoners of war and tried to send messages to their families through her mother, Hon. Isabella Stapleton-Bretherton, who was living at Rainhill Hall (later known as Loyola Hall).
Whilst in Berlin, Gebhard volunteered for service with the Knights of Malta – a Catholic branch of the Knights of St John. Evelyn spent time helping British prisoners of war and tried to send messages to their families through her mother, Hon. Isabella Stapleton-Bretherton, who was living at Rainhill Hall (later known as Loyola Hall).
In 1917, Evelyn wrote a book entitled 'An English Wife in Berlin' and from the extract shown below, it seems that life in Berlin in 1917 for ordinary folk was not a happy one...
“February 1917- Berlin with all its unrest and harrowing problems”
‘There is intense cold here …, there are shivering throngs of careworn hungry people picking their way through the snowy streets and anxiously watching for some isolated waggon of briquettes, which may offer the chance of buying ten or twenty, and thus having a warm room for at least one day… Of course there is a perfect epidemic of burst water-pipes all over Berlin, and … there are no plumbers to repair the damage … The snow lies unmolested until the boys’ schools are turned out to shovel it away …
As for the mood of the people. The heroic attitude has entirely disappeared. Now one sees faces like masks, blue with cold and drawn by hunger … The fowls are exasperating and will not lay any eggs, so that if we are lucky we are doled out one egg every three weeks. Our bread is being “stretched” in every way possible, and is now mixed with … turnip…
On the whole all the conscientious scruples which really did hinder many people from storing up underhand supplies of food some six months ago have disappeared before the pangs of hunger and the feeling prevalent in all classes is ;every man for himself and the devil for us all!’
‘There is intense cold here …, there are shivering throngs of careworn hungry people picking their way through the snowy streets and anxiously watching for some isolated waggon of briquettes, which may offer the chance of buying ten or twenty, and thus having a warm room for at least one day… Of course there is a perfect epidemic of burst water-pipes all over Berlin, and … there are no plumbers to repair the damage … The snow lies unmolested until the boys’ schools are turned out to shovel it away …
As for the mood of the people. The heroic attitude has entirely disappeared. Now one sees faces like masks, blue with cold and drawn by hunger … The fowls are exasperating and will not lay any eggs, so that if we are lucky we are doled out one egg every three weeks. Our bread is being “stretched” in every way possible, and is now mixed with … turnip…
On the whole all the conscientious scruples which really did hinder many people from storing up underhand supplies of food some six months ago have disappeared before the pangs of hunger and the feeling prevalent in all classes is ;every man for himself and the devil for us all!’
In Jan 1918, Evelyn wrote in her memoir
“I wish I could add here a few of the letters we have received from and about the wounded and missing and prisoners of war. In this work all my family have helped incessantly, especially my sisters Edith and Monica, whose weekly letters have enabled us to glean an enormous amount of information for anxious relatives at home….."
During her time in exile, Evelyn wrote regularly to her mother and managed to receive news of her family particularly of her four brothers Frederick, Edmund, Wilfred, Vincent and her nephew Osmund who were in active service in France.
When his father Prince Blucher died in 1916, Gebhard inherited his father’s title and estates in Silesia. Evelyn became Princess Blucher. For a time during 1918 they moved to live in the castle of Krieblowitz.
“I wish I could add here a few of the letters we have received from and about the wounded and missing and prisoners of war. In this work all my family have helped incessantly, especially my sisters Edith and Monica, whose weekly letters have enabled us to glean an enormous amount of information for anxious relatives at home….."
During her time in exile, Evelyn wrote regularly to her mother and managed to receive news of her family particularly of her four brothers Frederick, Edmund, Wilfred, Vincent and her nephew Osmund who were in active service in France.
When his father Prince Blucher died in 1916, Gebhard inherited his father’s title and estates in Silesia. Evelyn became Princess Blucher. For a time during 1918 they moved to live in the castle of Krieblowitz.
In January 1919, Evelyn wrote “Now we have to flee from Krieblowitz, as there is danger of an invasion of Poles…… and the miners are threatening to plunder the houses in the neighbourhood should their rations run out.” …” At the same time, we must either let or lend our apartment in Berlin, as all empty ones are to be occupied by soldiers or homeless people……”
On 23 January 1919, she wrote “We have almost completed our preparations for a long departure from here, [Krieblowitz] and in a few days we shall be on our way to Holland, whence I hope … to get over to England.”
Evelyn returned to England in 1919 urgently hurrying to Rainhill Hall to see her mother who was dying. She wrote “At Crewe I met with my eldest brother Freddie, who was waiting there in uniform. He hurried me into a motor car and together we did a two hours journey at speed through Cheshire and Lancashire to my old home at Rainhill. How can I describe my feelings as I caught sight of the crowd of figures waiting on the doorsteps to greet me? There were eight members of my family, our old nurse, some of the old servants…”
After the war in 1920 she published her memoirs ‘An English Wife in Berlin’. The book achieved international acclaim.
The story of Evelyn and her Prince was recorded by the BBC as part of their 'World War One at Home' series and can be heard by clicking HERE.
In 1931 Gebhard died after a long illness. He was buried in St Bartholomew’s churchyard.
Gebhard wrote an autobiography –‘Memoirs of Prince Blucher’ edited by Evelyn and Major Desmond Chapman-Huston. Published in London by John Murray in 1932 (now out of print).
Evelyn died at Worthing on 20th January 1960 aged 83 and is buried with her husband in St Bartholomew’s churchyard, Rainhill