Valerie, Lady Meux

[5] She is believed to have met Sir Henry Meux at the Casino de Venise in Holborn, where she worked as a banjo-playing barmaid and had a stage name Val Langdon.

[3] Never accepted by her husband's family or by polite society, Lady Meux was a flamboyant and controversial figure, given to driving herself around London in a high phaeton, drawn by a pair of zebras.

[8] Their house at Theobalds in Hertfordshire was lavishly improved and enlarged; additions included a swimming pool and an indoor roller skating rink.

[9] In 1887, at Lady Meux's request, the dismantled Temple Bar Gate was purchased from the City of London Corporation, transported to Theobalds Park in Hertfordshire and carefully rebuilt as a new gateway to the estate.

[12] She was a noted collector of ancient Egyptian artefacts; the Egyptologist Wallis Budge published a catalogue of more than 1,700 of her items including 800 scarabs and amulets.

[15][16] When Sir Hedworth Lambton, the commander of the Naval Brigade at Ladysmith, returned to England, he called on Lady Meux at Theobalds to thank her for her gift and recount his adventures.