Rhoda Vava Mary Lecky, Lady Birley (née Pike; 3 February 1899 – 15 June 1981) was an Anglo-Irish gardener, model, and artist.
Birley was born on 3 February 1899 to Catherine (née Howard) and Robert Lecky Pike, who was the High Sheriff of Carlow and was keen on cricket.
[4] She became a model and actress who married Count Alain Le Bailly de La Falaise[6] and later John McKendry, the curator of prints and photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
[8] In 1931, she and Oswald bought Charleston Manor in East Sussex which dated from the 12th century and featured a Norman hall.
The manor had been empty for some years and in 1932[9] they employed the architect and garden designer Walter Godfrey to restore it and to create a concert hall out of an old barn.