Duchess of Welsham

In the novel Cat Among the Pigeons, the Duchess of Welsham is an influential woman whose daughters had attended Meadowbank School. On the third weekend after the opening of the new term, she had invited Miss Bulstrode and Henry Banks to her home at Welsington Abbey. For someone as influential as the duchess, such an invitation was more by way of a command. Nonetheless Miss Bulstrode was equally as eager to accept the invitation despite her normal practice of not going away from the school during term time. She was keen to put across her version of events surrounding the recent death of Grace Springer. Miss Bulstrode also thought that the duchess and Banks would want to discuss her retirement which she had hinted at. This was a good time to press the claims of her chosen successor Eleanor Vansittart. However the invitation also meant that Miss Bulstrode was away from the school during the crucial events surrounding the disappearance of Princess Shaista.