But her sharpest memory was of Sputnik going over in 1957 – evidence of her wide horizons. Descended from Colonial Office Arthurs on her father’s side and Foreign Office Spring-Rices on her mother’s, she was certainly well-travelled by the time she reached Oxford. Born in London in 1937, she had spent her infancy in Cyprus, escaped to South Africa in the War with her beloved Spring-Rice grandmother and younger brother Tom, and then made a highly dangerous journey back to Britain. After the War, she returned to Cyprus for an idyllic childhood, roaming freely and skiing down Mount Olympus.  

While she was at Somerville her father was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. She spent her summers there with her parents, reappearing with amusing stories and Fats Waller records. Her family base in London was the roomy house known as the Ricery (from the Spring-Rice family), with open door for her friends.  

After graduating, Caroline spent a memorable year in the Bahamas and then five years at Glyndebourne, working front of house. There she met the musician Courtney Kenny, who was on the music staff, and they married in 1972. Their house in London was a busy centre of music teaching and performance – keyboard and voice. After training at Goldsmiths Caroline taught music with great enjoyment and success at Michael Faraday School in South London. As an imaginative, kind, and yet formidable person she knew how to bring out the best in the children, putting on shows, taking them to concerts and even on camping trips.  

The birth of her son Francis transformed her life, and from then on, her special qualities were needed at home. After a year in Ireland looking after Courtney’s mother, the Kenny’s moved to Sussex, to the top floor of the family house at Burwash occupied by Caroline’s brother. After thirteen years there Caroline, Courtney, and Francis (always a trio) bought their own house, further along the beautiful sunny valley. They finally had central heating, and a sweep of fruit, vegetables, and flowers – Caroline, like her father, was a dedicated gardener.  

Caroline and Courtney filled their house with books and music. They had an unusually wide circle of cousins and friends, and all were welcome for delicious meals, conviviality, and laughter. They were also, with Francis, key figures in local Sussex life, at Etchingham church, at Christmas plays, at village suppers, at concerts and choir rehearsals in their house. 

Caroline was often on the move – to visit family in Scotland and Ireland, to the Mediterranean, and North America. Even after Courtney became dependent on a wheelchair the indomitable trio managed to travel as energetically as ever, up, and down to London by train, to Ohio and Wexford for opera festivals (anything but Wagner for Caroline) and always to Glyndebourne. There was one last trip for Caroline, when she was invited to Ottawa to give the address at the opening of the memorial to her very distinguished grandfather Cecil Spring-Rice, ambassador, and poet. He is now best known as the author of ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’, and Caroline had been kept very busy correcting fanciful theories about its meaning.  

Caroline, asthmatic from childhood, eventually developed emphysema. It took her in and out of hospital for the last couple years before she died, lucid to the end. Her funeral was held in the fantastically historic Etchingham church: ancient, freezing cold and bright with December sunshine. Just as she would have wished, it was crammed with family and friends. 

Written by Frances Walsh 

Photo caption Caroline Arthur is top left, Lower Five H in Summer 1952