Teaching & youth drama
Ruth was back acting with the Howard and Wyndham Company in Scotland When the twins were aged about one so they attended a day nursery and it was from there that her parents-in-law, concerned about the upbringing of their granddaughters, planned an abduction which Ruth thwarted. Ruth later decided to educate the girls at home. It meant she had to have a timetable and be inspected every term. She always taught in French on inspection day but her great love was history. The twins obtained some GCE's but never really had much of an opportunity to mix socially with their peers except through Ruth’s drama school.
Ruth was involved in the West Riding Youth Drama Group, where she fostered the acting careers of Patrick Stewart and Brian Blessed – they remained life-long friends - amongst others. She also lectured in drama and English at Lady Mabel College. She had a temporary contract which the college wanted to replace by a permanent contract but she failed the medical due to her very high blood pressure. When illness subsequently forced her to leave the stage she again taught drama at youth clubs and also at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
I was told that in the war Ian was a member of the group guarding the king in case of invasion and that as an anti-tank officer he went in with the first wave on D-Day and was one of the few to survive when an air bomb fell on officers being briefed, though he was injured. The 1939 Register shows Ian, "Salesman at Statutory Coal Sales Agency", living with his parents at Skiers Spring Lodge, Hoylake, Yorkshire; it appears that he became the Assistant Coal Supply Officer for S Yorks. Meanwhile, Ruth was living in the North Wing of Trafalgar House, Wiltshire, with the Pettiward family, consisting of Daniel and Stella Pettiward, a stage manager, and their mother Eliza. Stella would become a life-long friend and permanent member of Ruth's household. I understand that her family had taken the name of Pettiward by Royal Licence when her late father, Charles Terry, had inherited Finborough Hall, Stowmarket, Suffolk, the former seat of the Pettiward family. This was one of the periods when Ruth put on considerable weight but she could lose weight very easily and she was normally very slim and attractive. Like her brother she was also very short.