D'Auvergne Bane

D'Auvergne Bane (1885-1951), was born into a Royal Artillery family, and grew up in London. In our family he is delightfully known for having been a gentleman of good background who eloped with a servant girl. Her name was Mary Seagrove (1880-1961) and her father was a waterman on the River Thames. D'Auvergne loved Mary and that was what mattered. He brought so much fun into her life, taking her to the races in a hansom cab, to the theatre to see old time music hall performances, and nice restaurants where full orchestres would play.
D'Auvergne passed his exams to go to Cambridge, but the family then found themselves in financial difficulties and couldn't pay the fees. Instead they sent him to a solicitors office to study Law, but he disliked it and dropped out, saying he 'didn't want to lock up a man who would steal a cabby'.
D'Auvergne was an artistic and compassionate fellow, who was known for imparting little gems of wisdom, such as:
"We're all on this earth to help each other and if we can't do that we can't call ourselves Christians."
and,
"We're none of us perfect. There's good in the worst of us and bad in the best of us."
Often he would break out into song, singing popular songs like 'Come into the Garden Maude' and 'Slap a dab dab on the old paint brush'. His favourite music was the Cavaliero de Rusticano, and it is said that he was named after a French composer called D'Auvergne Banard.