Rachel Bushell

Rachel Bushell, Christopher’s widow, received his Victoria Cross from HM King George V at Buckingham Palace on 11 May 1919.

Following Christopher’s death Rachel left their house in London and moved to The Firs, 114 Lower Bridge Street, Wye, Kent. In 1919 Rachel left Wye and moved the short distance northwards to Hinderton, Church Lane, in the small village of Boughton Aluph. This large house, close to All Saints Church, is now known as Downs Court.

In 1931 Rachel again moved, this time to Hookers Green (named after Richard Hooker, one-time rector), Bishopsbourne, a rural and wooded village about 5 miles south-east of Canterbury in the Elham Valley. For 15 years Rachel was the churchwarden at St. Mary the Virgin, Bishopsbourne, and she became strongly involved in the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) to the extent that she was awarded an MBE in 1959 for services to that organisation.

Elizabeth, her daughter, married in 1938 and Rachel moved to Canterbury Cathedral Precincts where she died, aged 73, on 8 February 1965. Rachel was buried at St. Mary the Virgin, Bishopsbourne where, inside the church is a plaque that celebrates the lives of Rachel Bushell MBE and her husband Christopher.

The Christopher Bushell Prize

In 1923, the Christopher Bushell Prize of books, for Modern History undergraduates, was established at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he read Modern History from 1906-9.

Lilian Hope Bushell

Lilian Hope Bushell, Christopher’s sister, had married Douglas W. Hobson in Kensington in April / June 1911. They appear not to have had children.

Douglas, born in Douglas in the Isle of Man in 1875, was a Church of England clergyman and Chaplain Superintendent of the Mersey Mission to Seaman. It was he, as Christopher’s brother-in-law, who had married Christopher and Rachel at Wye in August 1915. Douglas died in Aldershot in late 1950 aged 75 andLilian died in the Midhurst district of Sussex in early 1964 aged 79.

Arthur Reginald Bushell

Arthur Reginald Bushell, Christopher’s brother, died in the Medway district of Kent in July / September 1926 aged 42. It is believed he was unmarried.

Elizabeth Hope Bushell

Elizabeth (‘Betsy’) Hope Bushell, Christopher’s only child, married Alexander MacLehose (born 20 December 1904) in Kent in early 1938. It is believed that Alexander was an author and book-publisher and that they lived at The Old Vicarage, Lockerley, Romsey. Alexander died September 1989 in Salisbury and Elizabeth died in Glamorgan in early 2002.

Next >