Some Far-Flung Tapply Cousins

As some of you know, our great grandfather Charles Tapply had six siblings. This story is about his younger brother George and his great-granddaughter Phillippa or "Pip".  George settled in Kent and raised his children there. His grandson, Peter, would have been my mother's second cousin. Pip was my third cousin. Pip Tapply married Henry Lord Powlett the 8th Baron of Bolton.

The Baron of Bolton is the direct descendant of Richard LeScrope who built a castle over 600 years ago in Wensley, North Yorkshire. Imagine being the member of a family who has lived on the same plot of land for over 600 years! There is an extensive bit of land with a large home, gardens, and the remains of the castle.

Bolton castle

Pip Tapply found herself with a full-time job. She and her husband had three boys. The family still lives in Bolton Hall. The castle has long since become unlivable. However, as with Lord and Lady Carnavon at Highclere (think Downton Abbey) the Orde-Powletts have had to scramble to make the property pay for itself. There are reenactments, castle tours, a gift shop, vacation rentals and all manor of income-producing ventures. You can read more about that here.

Bolton Hall

In my ramblings on the internet for obituaries, I ran across an obituary. First, hers then his.

Pippa and Henry (Lord and Lady Bolton)

Here is the obit I found in a Yorkshire paper. It gives you some feel for the kind of person she was:

"A DALES woman deeply ingrained in the local community has died following a short illness.

Philippa Anne Orde-Powlett, 64, better known as Lady Bolton, or simply Pip, from Wensley, near Leyburn, was a keen gardener and avid supporter of events in the local area, including the Dales Festival of Food and Drink.

Lord and Lady Bolton regularly opened their gardens at Bolton Hall in Wensley to the public, although this year’s opening has been cancelled.

Mrs Orde-Powlett had also been a supporter of tramp Mel Bird who was a fixture of Leyburn Market Place in the early 2000s - prompting headlines about the unlikely alliance between the lady and the tramp - before Mr Bird’s actions caused him to fall out of favour with Lady Bolton.

She was an organiser of the Wensley Flower Show at Holy Trinity Church Wensley - a two-day festival featuring displays of flowers that represent many diverse musical tastes and has included the opera La Boheme, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and Elvis themed displays.

Gerald Hodgson, an organiser of the Dales Festival of Food and Drink, said he was deeply shocked to hear of the death of Lady Bolton, who had been a supporter of the event from its early days.

He said: “Each year at the festival she hosted a lunch for the speakers and other guests. I know all our guests really appreciated the warm and friendly way she looked after them.

“She was a keen supporter of the festival and was a well known, friendly member of the local community. My deep condolences go to her family.”

Lady Bolton was a much loved wife, mother and grandmother. A private family cremation service will be followed by a service of celebration and thanksgiving for her life at Holy Trinity Church Wensley, on Thursday, May 26 at 2pm."

Looking a little further, I found his obituary as well from 2023.

A celebration and thanksgiving for the life of Harry Algar Nigel Orde-Powlett, 8th Baron Bolton, was held last Friday following his death from cancer at the age of 69.

The service was held near his beloved home, the Bolton Estate in Wensleydale, at Holy Trinity Church, Wensley. Lord Bolton leaves three sons, eight grandchildren and his second wife Valerie. 

He was renowned as a humanitarian and determined custodian and environmentalist, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds in his lifetime for charity and setting up British Direct Aid, which delivered vital aid to Bosnia during the war in the former Yugoslavia, and later to Rwanda.

His eldest son Tom told the congregation: “Dad was fearless and tough, physically and mentally and an adventurer at heart. He was always up early, even in his last few days, he was up and dressed in good time.

“He was very determined and if he wanted to do something nothing would deter him. He cared passionately about the estate and always strived for the highest standards of stewardship. He achieved this with distinction, leaving the estate in better condition environmentally, socially and economically than when he inherited it.”

In his youth he was a daredevil amateur jump jockey and accident-prone amateur pilot, but he became an energetic champion of the family estate in North Yorkshire, winning the largest ever repair grant paid by English Heritage towards the restoration of the medieval family seat, Bolton Castle, as well as a Site of Special Scientific Interest award for work to increase the wildlife value of the estate.

He was a keen huntsman, once swimming across the River Ure after a fox and contracting hypothermia. In 1977 he married Philippa.

Tom added: “In so doing he was blessed with the greatest good fortune, she was the rock at his side and with modesty and quiet determination they achieved so much together.” Philippa died from cancer in 2016. The couple had three sons, Thomas, Benjamin and Nicholas.

During the war in the Balkans the couple started collecting aid and he took it over in a horse box.

There the 8th Baron found warehouses full of supplies but not nearly enough people transporting it to where it was needed so he bought six army Bedford trucks and painted them white, recruiting volunteers to deliver the aid.

At one point they helped rescue 200 Bosnian Muslims, mostly women and children, who had walked 14 miles to escape, with five dying on the way from hyperthermia and others killed by snipers. “That was the beginning of his charity British Direct Aid which grew to a fleet of 51 trucks over a couple of years and they succeeded in getting aid to many people in need, often in desperately harsh conditions,” added Tom.

During the service a tribute was read by his Bosnian translator Ismilda Mallinder, who said without Harry she would not be here today.

“You were a hero to us all, a driving force, the world has lost a very special soul,” she added.

Harry Orde-Powlett became 8th Baron Bolton in 2001 following the death of his father and dedicated much of his time to improving and preserving the estate.

One of his most ambitious efforts to raise money for charity was a solo challenge, abseiling down three of London’s tallest buildings, The Shard, Gherkin and Walkie Talkie, raising £50,000. He married Valerie in 2019.

His son Tom, who has four children, becomes 9th Baron Bolton."

Lord Bolton had rather an exciting life.

The three boys have done well. As you read in the obit, Tom is now the 9th Baron Bolton. He has four children and currently manages the estate. His brother Ben is a retired jockey and has several children. Nicholas runs a company which retrains retired police and military for new careers. 

So if you ever find yourself in Yorkshire....