Edith Marguerite Harrington

Edith Marguerite Tippet (née Harrington, previously Shand) was born on 14 June 1893 at 32 Linver Road, Fulham, London. She was the second of six children born to George Woods Harrington (1865–1920), an accounts clerk, and Alice Edith Harrington (née Stillman, 1865–1935). Her paternal grandfather was a butler, and her father experienced multiple residential moves due to his employment changes within London. During her childhood, Edith’s family lived in various locations including Putney, Acton, and Isleworth. Large Victorian families often had children lodged with relatives; by 1901, Edith was residing with her grandfather at this arrangement.

After completing her schooling, Edith worked as a milliner and later as a secretary. By the outbreak of the First World War, she lived in a small apartment in Hammersmith, London. She married Philip Morton Shand on 22 April 1916 at St. Peter’s Church in Hammersmith. Morton Shand was an English journalist, architecture critic, wine and food writer, entrepreneur, and pomologist. The couple established a residence in a mansion block overlooking Battersea Park. They had one child, Bruce Middleton Hope Shand, born on 22 January 1917.

The marriage between Edith and Morton Shand ended in divorce after four years, on 4 July 1920, due to Morton’s adultery. Morton Shand was known to be a serial womanizer and did not acknowledge or provide support for his son following the divorce. Edith’s son, Bruce, later married Rosalind Maud Cubitt, and they had three children: Camilla Rosemary Shand (born 17 July 1947), now Queen of the United Kingdom; Sonia Annabel Shand (born 2 February 1949); and Mark Roland Shand (28 June 1951 – 23 April 2014).

In 1921, Edith married Herbert Charles Coningsby Tippet, known as Charles, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Charles Tippet was an army reservist who had been invalided out of service due to shell shock from World War I. After his military service, he pursued a career as a golf club secretary and golf course designer. In that year, he was involved in golf course projects in the United States, prompting Edith to accompany him there with her four-year-old son and nanny in late 1921.

During the period from 1921 to 1927, Edith and Charles Tippet lived in the United States, enjoying the social scene of the Jazz Age. Edith adopted the name “Margot” during this time and relocated across various eastern U.S. locations, including New York City, Long Island, and Florida. The couple returned to England in 1927, where Charles took positions as secretary of prestigious golf clubs. Their son, Bruce, was briefly educated at Rugby School and then spent considerable time with his grandparents.

The Tippets lived in London for a decade, including a house on the golf course at Royal Wimbledon. In 1937, they moved to Walton Heath, and in 1938, they spent time in Ireland working on a golf course design project in Tramore, County Waterford. By 1945, Charles Tippet was involved in reviving Rye Golf Club in East Sussex. He suffered a collapse while showing a friend the club, and he died on 28 November 1947 at the age of 56.

Following her husband's death, Edith Tippet resided in Kent, first in a small cottage at Wittersham and later in Cooden Beach, Sussex. She lived there until her death on 3 January 1981. She was survived by her son Bruce and her three grandchildren.