Her mother-in-law, a predecessor as Countess Gravina, was the daughter of the celebrated conductor Hans von Bülow and his wife Cosima (later the mistress, then the wife, of the composer Richard Wagner). Their son Christopher, now Count Gravina, was born in 1934 in Buckingham (Volume(s) 3a, p 1793).
She was a mountain climber, described as a "charismatic adventurer". There were two more sons of the marriage. Her husband, Gilbert Graf Gravina was born 17.10.1890 in Palermo, Italy.
Gilbert went to school in Bayreuth and studied mechanics at Dresden and Leipzig.
At the same time he practised his musical talents. During the First World War he served in the Italian army.
After that war he returned to Germany and worked as an orchestra-conductor. He spent the Second World War at his house in Meran.
Later he lived in Bayreuth and worked as a musical assistant for the Richard-Wagner-Festival.
Graf Gravina was a very popular man in Bayreuth. He died there on 23 November 1972. Briggsy became very much involved with the Girl Guide Movement.
Briggsy started climbing when she was only 4 years old, on the roof of her home in Yorkshire.
In the 1920s she travelled in South and East Africa, and was possibly the first woman to climb Kilimanjaro. In 1959, aged 55, Briggsy took command of an expedition up 26,867-foot Mount Cho Oyu after its leader, Madame
Claude Kogan of France, another climber, Mlle. Claudine van der Straten-Ponthoz, and two Sherpa porters had perished in an avalanche at 23,000 feet.
Their attempt to scale the sixth highest mountain in the world was the first time in history that an expedition composed entirely of women (excepting guides and porters) had ever challenged such a peak.
In about 1968, Briggsy went to South Africa and climbed there. She travelled on to Kenya, and climbed Mount Kenya. She eventually reached Egypt, and much to her disappointment had to fly to Italy, where she hitch-hiked up the spine in a fish-lorry that picked her up at 6 in the morning.
More to follow.
