Violet Gordon-Woodhouse was an acclaimed British harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

ist and clavichord

Clavichord

The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces...

ist, highly influential in bringing both instruments back into fashion.

Family

Violet Kate Eglinton Gwynne was the sister of Rupert Gwynne

Rupert Gwynne

Rupert Sackville Gwynne , was a British Conservative politician. He was Member of Parliament for Eastbourne from 1910 to 1924.-Early years:...

, MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Eastbourne

Eastbourne

Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

 from 1910 to 1924, and Roland Gwynne

Roland Gwynne

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Roland Vaughan Gwynne, DSO, DL, JP was Mayor of Eastbourne, Sussex, from 1928 to 1931. He was also a patient and close friend of the suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams.-Childhood:...

, Mayor of Eastbourne from 1929 to 1931, who is thought to have been the lover of suspected serial killer

Serial killer

A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...

 Dr John Bodkin Adams

John Bodkin Adams

John Bodkin Adams was an Irish-born British general practitioner, convicted fraudster and suspected serial killer. Between the years 1946 and 1956, more than 160 of his patients died in suspicious circumstances. Of these, 132 left him money or items in their will. He was tried and acquitted for...

. Among her nieces was the renowned cookery writer, Elizabeth David

Elizabeth David

Elizabeth David CBE was a British cookery writer who, in the mid-20th century, strongly influenced the revitalisation of the art of home cookery with articles and books about European cuisines and traditional British dishes.Born to an upper-class family, David rebelled against social norms of the...

.

Life

Originally, Violet played the piano but rose to fame playing the harpsichord and clavichord, after meeting Arnold Dolmetsch

Arnold Dolmetsch

Arnold Dolmetsch , was a French-born musician and instrument maker who spent much of his working life in England and established an instrument-making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey...

, a great pioneer of early instruments, in 1910. She was close to many of the leading artists of her day, including, amongst others; Ethel Smyth

Ethel Smyth

Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...

, Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Sassoon

Siegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's...

, Poldowski

Poldowski

Poldowski was the professional pseudonym of a Belgian-born British composer and pianist born Régine Wieniawski , the daughter of the Polish violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski. Some of her early works were published under the name Irène Wieniawska. She married Sir Aubrey Dean Paul, 5th...

 (Lady Dean Paul) and George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

.

She did however scandalise much of society with her private life. She married Gordon Woodhouse on 31 July 1895 on the understanding that they would not sleep in the same room. Violet took lovers and in 1899, much to Gordon's humiliation, William "Bill" Barrington, 10th Viscount Barrington moved into the marital house. He was later joined in 1903 by Max Labouchere, and then, a little time later, by Dennis Tollemache. Barrington was once asked about this arrangement by Violet's niece, Katherine Ayling, and whether the 'ménage-à-cinq' ever argued. He answered: "Yes, Denis and Max once - about a cricket match". This open marriage

Open marriage

Open marriage typically refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. There are many different styles of open marriage, with the partners having varying levels of input on their spouse's...

 arrangement was referred to in society circles as the 'Woodhouse circus'.

Later years

As Violet aged, she took on more extreme views. During the 1930s she was often heard making anti-semitic rants and admiring Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

.
Shortly before her death in 1948, Violet asked her chauffeur, C.F. Law, to promise that he would remain in service with Bill Barrington, by then the 10th Viscount Barrington, until his death. Gordon and Bill Barrington remained at Lypiatt Manor until Gordon’s death in 1951 at which time he bought a house in East Grinstead, Sussex where he lived until his death in 1960.

In popular culture

Sir Osbert Sitwell

Osbert Sitwell

Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet, was an English writer. His elder sister was Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell and his younger brother was Sir Sacheverell Sitwell; like them he devoted his life to art and literature....

 mentions her often in his autobiography. Radclyffe Hall

Radclyffe Hall

Radclyffe Hall was an English poet and author, best known for the lesbian classic The Well of Loneliness.- Life :...

, the lesbian novelist, dedicated a book of erotic poems to her. In 2005 Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton

Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...

premiered the opera "Violet", based on her life.