by Gillian Ashley-Smith

In the corner of St Peter’s churchyard tucked between the South transept and the Chancel you will find a modest stone marking the grave of one Mabel Verney.

The Honourable Mabel Verney died in May 1937, and at her funeral over 100 wreaths adorned that corner of the churchyard. She was born at Compton Verney, in 1855, the youngest daughter of the 17th Lord Willoughby de Broke and his wife Georgiana. Her father died when she was only seven years old, but her mother enjoyed a long life and did much for Kineton (her memorial is the great east window of Kineton church, and I will write about her later in this series). It may have been her mother’s influence that inspired the young Mabel to set about a life of public service.

By the time Miss Verney was 35 she had set up her own house at Diana Lodge, Little Kineton, (conveniently close to the cricket ground where she was renowned for serving cricketers’ teas right up to the time of her death). Before long she had joined the Stratford Board of Guardians (who ran the Stratford Workhouse). Her concern was always for the poor and deprived, and she took her place in a relatively enlightened team trying to make the Workhouse a more humane place. At around the same time she became a member of the first Parish Council in Kineton, who supported her idea of setting up a ‘Nursing Association’ for the village. Diana Lodge was used as the meeting place when the first plans for this project took shape. By 1895 subscriptions to the Nursing Association (2s for labourers, up to 10s for the wealthy) entitled those who fell ill to the services of a live-in nurse, who would run the house and look after the children, as well as care for the patient. I have been told that Miss Verney herself would take on such duties. Certainly I have heard one vivid memory of her rolling up her sleeves at the old police house in Banbury Street to scrub floors and look after the children when ‘Mum was ill and Dad away at the War’. The Association continued up to and beyond the coming of the National Health Service.