Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
(1910-1986), Author as 'Penelope Chetwode'; wife of Sir John Betjeman; daughter of 1st Baron Chetwode and 7th Baronet of OakleySitter in 14 portraits
Penelope Chetwode grew up in northern India. She married poet and writer John Betjeman in secret but within a year she was abroad, studying in Berlin, while he was having an affair. Animals interested her more than humans. Moving to Berkshire, goats and chickens roamed freely through the house. She converted to Catholicism, having an affair with novelist Evelyn Waugh. Having published a successful book about a Spanish journey with a donkey, in the 1960s she revisited the scenes of her Indian childhood. Her trek from Shimla to the head of the Rohtang Pass was recorded in Kulu: The End of the Habitable World (1972). She continued leading treks in the area, finally dying there.
Alice Hester Camilla (née Cotton), Lady Chetwode; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 23 January 1918
NPG x33137
Alice Hester Camilla (née Cotton), Lady Chetwode; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 23 January 1918
NPG x81396
Alice Hester Camilla (née Cotton), Lady Chetwode; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 23 January 1918
NPG x81397
Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
by Lafayette
half-plate film negative, 19 February 1932
NPG x48079
Candida Lycett Green; Sir John Betjeman; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman; Paul Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
quarter-plate glass negative, 30 July 1948
NPG x78423
Candida Lycett Green; Paul Betjeman; Sir John Betjeman; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
quarter-plate glass negative, 30 July 1948
NPG x78424
Paul Betjeman; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
quarter-plate glass negative, 30 July 1948
NPG x78427
Paul Betjeman; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
quarter-plate glass negative, 30 July 1948
NPG x78428
Candida Lycett Green; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman; Paul Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
quarter-plate glass negative, 30 July 1948
NPG x78429
Candida Lycett Green; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman; Paul Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
quarter-plate glass negative, 30 July 1948
NPG x78430
Candida Lycett Green; Paul Betjeman; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
quarter-plate glass negative, 30 July 1948
NPG x78431
Candida Lycett Green; Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman; Paul Betjeman
by Bassano Ltd
quarter-plate glass negative, 30 July 1948
NPG x78432
Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman; Sir John Betjeman
by P.A. Reuter Photos Ltd
vintage print, 15 March 1960
NPG x194234
Penelope (née Chetwode), Lady Betjeman; Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson, 14th Baron Berners
by Fox Photos Ltd
bromide print, 4 July 1938
NPG x44621
Related People
- Sir John Betjeman (husband)
- Paul Betjeman (son)
- Philip Walhouse Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode (father)
- Alice Hester Camilla (née Cotton), Lady Chetwode (mother)
- Candida Lycett Green (daughter)
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Caroline Ferguson
17 April 2018, 17:57
Penelope is a distant cousin of the literary Sitwells - her paternal grandmother is Susan Alice Sitwell, also John Julius Norwich - her mother's 1st cousin Charles Paget married JJ's aunt Victoria Manners. A cousin of the notorious Henry Cyril Paget(subject of Seriol Davies How to win against History) and HIS cousin Bertha Francis Paget married the uncle of novelist Mary Farmar/Wesley (Camomile Lawn)...
Dr. Murray B. Woldman. I was a friend of Lady Betjeman and knew her in India and England in the 1960s.
01 October 2020, 14:05
Penelope lived at the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun, United Provinces, India while her father Field Marshal Baron Philip Chetwode, 7th Baronet, was the first Commandant there from 1932 to 1934.