Youth

Later Betty became a dedicated skier. Below a postcard from Betty's first skiing holiday in St.Anton/Arlberg to her parents, written by Betty in her serene hand

Betty was a very good rider. At the age of about 16, though, she had an extremely severe riding accident, with a long recovering time, affecting her memory and other neurological functions.
 
The mental training after her recovery must have been quite painful; may be this is the explanation why later in her life she seemed to react with a certain reluctance or ambivalent resistance on   anything that came near to a wilful stress or test on her capacity for remembering.

Later Betty studied arts at Lancaster. She became an accomplished and dedicated artist and did a lot of painting and sketching all her life.
 
Enjoy a  small

of her wonderful

.
Have also a look at her

, and two pictures she painted in

.

Her brother, Betty's elder son John Humphreys, adds:
"A librarian colleague ... had worked at Mum's old girls school, which still exists (I think). She told me that the library's stock had been little modernised since Mum's time, but that would have been about 20 years ago. As far as I can remember, Mum and Foi did not attend schools in the Lake District (as Anne says). The family developed the routine of going down to London where they rented a house for some time (3 months?) after Christmas, and there the girls began to go to this school, returning home with the family when the time came. Eventually they asked to stay there as boarders.I don't know about flower arranging, but I assume the curriculum was directed to the needs of well-brought-up young ladies. English, certainly (writing letters to each other was an essential accomplishment). A smattering of simple maths, and very likely French. It would be nice to think that some of the rest was both intellectual and practical, but I doubt it. Wikipedia's list of private schools in Kensington & Chelsea includes one called 'Queen's Gate', founded in 1891 and with alumni including Camilla, and Nigella Lawson. Sounds classy enough. But I simply can't remember the name for sure."

At a  primary school age Betty and her sister Frances (Foi) did not go to school but were taught by governesses. Betty's daughter Anne Humphreys remembers that only later they went to school, "to a secondary school, in London (Kensington/ Knightsbridge area). Foi referred to it as Spee's (or at least it sounded like that), a name whose origins were never explained as far as I can remember. (Maybe the headmistress was a Miss P. who was then abbreviated?) I think its main job was to teach them to be young ladies and arrange flowers etc. but it did involve ordinary lessons too, such as we would recognise (at least in history & geography," maybe not chemistry or physics)."

Anne H.: "Yesterday evening the name 'Queen's Gate' slid into my mind while I was cooking. Does this ring bells with you? On brief investigation it turns out to exist (as a girls' private school) and to have done so since 1891. Notable Old Girls include Camilla Parker Bowles and Vanessa Redgrave."
 
John H.: "Mum would have been a full-time pupil there when she painted two watercolours we have. One shows cars, going towards an arch (at Hyde Park Corner) and is signed 'Dickson'; the other is of the river, and I think says she was aged 16. I can recall Mum saying that they used to be able to ride, borrowing cavalry horses from a nearby barracks. The horses probably needed all the exercise they could get, but I can't imagine how this would have been arranged."
 
Richard H.: "I think they once had a house in Lancaster Gate, presumably on one of their winter trips. I believe Mum learnt to skate at Queen's Club, and perhaps to play tennis, too.The Queen's club 'history' page says that they used to have ice skating, so it sounds possible. However if an up-market school called Queen's Gate exists, your memories could be absolutely right. I think riding for pleasure in London c.1932 (Mum at age 16) must have been a fairly exclusive activity. Rotten Row and Hyde Park spring to mind, the Wikipedia article about Rotten Row gives a bit of atmosphere, and I expect it would be easier to borrow horses from Knightsbridge Barracks (?) if your father was a Lt. Col. (retd.)."

Betty's sister Foi