Edith Pretty of Sutton Hoo - the true story

Oliver Gerrish explores and background and life of Edith May Pretty (nee Dempster), who found the Sutton Hoo treasure in 1939. She consequently presented it to the Nation - the largest ever gift during the donor's lifetime.
'The Dig' comes out on Netflix tomorrow. The film is quite loosely-based on the real story of Edith, Basil Brown and the treasure. As ever, the reality is often more theatrical than the fiction - so here it is.
I would like to thank the Dempster descendants for all their help with this.
N.B. The photographs here are either owned by me, my family or, in a few instances, the National Trust. They are privately owned and are not to be used without formal permission - thank you.

[@EmmaOnATangent]

No movie, no matter how well made, can ever compare to true family stories, genuinely told. I greatly enjoyed your presentation, and I thank you for it.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you very much

[@monicacall7532]

I just finished watching “The Dig”. What a marvelous story even with typical liberties that film makers make! Thank you for taking the time to tell us the story of the real Edith. She sounds like such a marvelous lady to have known. I was so concerned to find out what happened to her son. I’m glad that after losing both parents at such a young age that he was able to be loved and cared for by his aunt. I will definitely recommend this video to friends who see the film. Best wishes.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Many thanks for your kind comment

[@shelleyg1836]

i agree 100% I also just finished the dig on netflix and immediately set out to find some info on this story as I had never heard of it being canadian. what a marvelous story and life of priviledge edith had. a wonder to have a first child at the age of 47 so unlikely it was. very happy that robert was raised with love by elizabeth after tragically losing his parents so young. edith was a real inspiration giving away all the treasure when she could have kept some or all of it and increased her wealth. RIP Edith your memory lives on.

[@RealBonnieBlue]

Your lecture was meticulous and very gracious. Cheers to a Great Lady and also to you Sir for sharing her with us.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you so much for such a kind comment. Best wishes. Oli

[@paulaburnett5587]

Thank you for giving us more information about Edith Pretty and her family. I love history and have always enjoyed finding out more about people who do such great things for others. Edith Pretty was such a generous lady to gift all of the beautiful treasure that was found in the mound on her property. It is amazing that any of these articles survived to 1939 since grave robbers usually took all they could and would sell or worse, melt it down for the gold..how very blessed we are that they did not find it and that this gracious lady gifted it all to the nation so that all who came after her could see what wonderful and beautiful Treasure the Anglo Saxon people were capable of producing. The Sutton Hoo Hoard is a Priceless gift to ALL of the World and compares to the finds of Egypt. Who would have thought that this kind of workmanship was possible during this time. I am sure that with the end of the Pharaohs and Greek and Roman Eras the world was not thought capable of producing anything this fantastic. It is wonderful that the world was proven wrong.

[@davidfish591]

I got started on Time Team and now I have gone a bit mental on history. Thank you so much for a wonderful story about your family. Edith was the treasure, not the gold.

[@julieduva964]

I loved the movie "The Dig" And I really love that I can come here and learn a little about something and someone I had never heard of before. Thank you kindly

[@olivergerrish7680]

Many thanks for watching

[@yorkshireroots]

Absolutely fascinating There is nothing like hearing family history from one of the family. You did them all proud .Thank you so much

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you for your kind comment

[@juliestevens4891]

Thank you for sharing the real history of your family. I did enjoy the movie but it's very nice to know the real story.

[@jerrycasey5250]

@@juliestevens4891 @

[@jerrycasey5250]

This is a wonderful story of such a beautiful and very gracious family of very gracious

[@richardsmith2879]

Ralph Fiennes apparently went to huge lengths to get his Suffolk accent right. What a shame the film makers couldn’t have made a similar effort with the story. Anyway, I was brought up in Suffolk and spent many happy boyhood days cycling about Woodbridge, Ramsholt and Sutton. I often went with my mother to Footman’s, as it was colloquially known. I was aware that Mrs Pretty had been the benefactor to whom we owed so much. Oh, the department store was officially Footman and Pretty in those days I think. I made a nostalgic return to Ipswich twenty or so years ago and found my boyhood town to be more like Romford or Ilford than the slightly shabby but charming county town of my childhood. Never mind. Very interesting by the way, thank you.

[@jennitrevelyan3937]

Your lecture is very informative. Thank you for the providing the history of your family, of Edith's background and elaborating on the actual find and dig. Having seen The Dig it's nice to now know the true story vs some of the fictional events portrayed in the movie. I was in Aldburgh in Suffolk in 2019, where I had family, and wish I had visited Sutton Hoo and also seen the exhibit at the Brutish Museum. Fasciinating story!

[@Teddietonbear23]

The Dig is one of my favourite films of all time. Brilliant film 🎥 ❤❤

[@neilmalcolm5992]

Excellent, thank you so much for this. My grandmother, Evelyn Malcolm (nee Harter), also knew Edith and visited Sutton Hoo at various times - I must do some more digging myself...

[@olivergerrish7680]

How fascinating! Would love to hear more

[@LunaMinags]

I love history and I have been always fascinated and intrigued by the stories and lives of the people who lived in the past. Thank you for sharing this information, it is so interesting and exciting to be able to trace back family's history. I have seen the Sutton Hoo treasure in British Museum last year, right before the lockdown started, there were few visitors, which to be honest was a bonus, allowing me to enjoy and admire the beautiful pieces at leisure. they are astonishing and may have been lost if Edith wouldn't have decided to excavate the mounds. I loved the movie, I watched it the day it was launched.

[@TheBestIsWorthTheWait]

Thank you and your family. Knowing more about the real people in this fantastic story is wonderful.

[@juanezaling2816]

Thank you so much for this talk. I have always been interested in Sutton Hoo and at this time of lockdown and Covid, have made it a project so all of this is most timely and fascinating

[@4Mr.Crowley2]

Dear Mr. Gerrish, the great Tolkien himself greatly admired Mrs. Pretty for her unbelievable contribution to the history of medieval England (and he loved her name - a true philologist!) I am an academic medievalist (I’m a yank but my family is English - a wealthy part of the raj in India - - and Scottish and arrived in the U.S. circa 1905), and her name is still absolutely legendary in our medievalist circles! I want to thank you for this beautiful and fascinating lecture! I do hope you are writing a book? I realize that in The Dig the lovely Miss Mulligan was portraying a fictionalized version of Mrs. Pretty but I found her elegant and restrained performance, and Ralph Fiennes’ beautiful portrayal of the inexcusably “forgotten” Basil Brown, to be so moving, and it made me admire her even more than I did already - knowing how her hunch about the land and what might be located therein changed our field. Also, her trust in Mr. Brown takes on a richness given the details in your beautiful talk - her family had a long and trusting history with working persons such as Mr. Brown - who of course wasn’t an academic archaeologist and was inexcusably left out of the accounts of Sutton Hoo. Thank you again for a wonderful presentation, and I do hope you complete a book!

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you very much for your kind and encouraging words. How amazing about Tolkien!! Yes - I felt Edith was very well-played. I think she was much more formal in real - life, but people just were I think! With very best wishes. Oli

[@joannejordan8684]

I just loved this! I happened upon the movie “The Dig” a few days ago and it’s very timely for to find this while looking for something else on KZbin. Thank you so much for creating and sharing this video!

[@josephinedavidson5968]

How wonderful that you should do this and fill in the background of such a wonderful human being , I loved the film and I also enjoyed the history of the family x Thankyou

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you for your kind comment

[@btlmania64]

Just watched the movie and it is very interesting to hear about the real Edith . Quite a lady .

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you for taking the time to watch

[@colinnaylor126]

Thank you for sharing this. This is a most remarkable find which was inspired by the great lady herself. Not forgetting the huge contribution made by Basil Brown. The film was amazing I thoroughly enjoyed it so much. If the Covid rules allow I intend to visit Sutton Hoo this year.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you for your kind comment.

[@janice1131]

Thank you and your family for sharing the real life details of the movie. It looks like you have amazing and generous folks. Be safe and well from Texas!

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you and best wishes

[@jo-annebotha9609]

I first read about Sutton Woo in a book by Bill Bryson and I find the history surrounding it fascinating. Thanks for this. What a very kind person she was.

[@Roslyngal]

Do you recall which Bryson book it was at all? Thanks

[@jo-annebotha9609]

@@Roslyngal I think it's "The road to Little Dribbling". But I've also read "Notes from a Small Island" and "At Home", so I'm not entirely sure, sorry. But you can actually read all his books, they are all excellent.

[@jilljackson3995]

Absolutely wonderful lecture on Edith Pretty of Sutton. A unique an intimate knowledge of your family's history.

[@deborahmolenda2112]

So enjoyed this documentary! Thank You!

[@qtmelly2012]

Thank you so much for sharing her story . Fascinating and poignant .

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you

[@RedcoatsReturn]

A superbly detailed documentary! Beautifully presented and read to us 😊👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍 Sobering that the recent film “The Dig“, entertaining as it was, had a number of basic inaccuracies. I despise Hollywood and other film makers who either make sloppy research or more disappointing change the facts just to sauce up the story without care about the truth.

[@KarenSwainBlissfulBeings]

I did enjoy your presentation and the family history. It was fascinating to find out more after watching The Dig. THANK YOU SO Much Oliver and Mary. 🌱💚

[@olivergerrish7680]

Many thanks!

[@QualicumBeachApothecary]

Thank you, Edith Pretty was such an amazing person. Was truly enjoyable to watch.

[@bobbyk2891]

Wonderful! Thank you for sharing your family’s story with us.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you for watching.

[@leahnewyork]

So glad to have found this; was wanting to learn about the actual woman prior to watching the Netflix film. Fascinating and (agreeing with orher commenters) IMO extremely well prepared and presented! Thank you so much.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you so much for kind words.

[@MimiYouyu]

Well done , thank you for sharing, and thank you Mary Hopkirk.🙏

[@KettleRiseRanch]

Thank you for talking about your family. Just watched the movie. It was a good movie but a bit melodramatic. Your presentation here really drives the story home for me. All the best to you and your family.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Many thanks for your kind comment.

[@we4r119]

I enjoyed watching the Dig movie last night (30/01/2021) and felt compelled to look up what happened to Robert, Edith's son. I was deeply saddened to learn how relatively young they all were when they died. Edith's husband, just 56, Edith 59 and her son Robert 57. I am so grateful you have filled in some of their family history. Edith's family story (and yours) seems to me to have perfectly enough adventure, without the screen writer adding a wholly unnecessary love interest at the last minute with a fictitious nephew. Still it is a Netflix production and they can't seem to make a movie without an element of 'wokeness' by incorporating an homosexual element. The find itself and excavation during the onset of the Second World War is more than enough. As for the Pretty/Demster families - what an amazing legacy to leave to the nation. Thankyou!

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you for your comment.

[@Roslyngal]

I assumed the Netflix decisions to mess with history were due to the Government edict that every British film production must include an angst-ridden character played by Lily James, no?

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you for watching and for your comments. Please be reminded that the images on this lecture are private and not to be copied. Thank you

[@olivergerrish7680]

@Katherine Parsons please don't worry about sharing the talk in its entirety.Someone else actually copied the images from it, which are not public property. Best wishes, Oliver

[@kathleendematteo8641]

Thank you for sharing the story and photos of your family. What a great lady Mrs. Pretty was. My feelings for your story and the movie are warm ones as they bring back memories of teaching "Beowulf" and the marvels of Sutton Hoo to high school students.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you for watching it

[@stevemarshall5197]

Brilliant really enjoyed this fly on the wall view of your relatives, 👍👍👍

[@zaker721]

Oh thank you so much for this! It's lovely to get the real backstory. I thoroughly enjoyed the Netflix movie, and this video may inspire me to go back and view it a second time in light of your new information. Thank you, again.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Absolute pleasure - thank you

[@marycahill546]

Greetings from Canada. The Sutton Hoo hoard is so wonderful, and has been such a lynchpin in the developing knowledge of ancient Anglo-Saxons. The British people owe Edith Pretty a deep debt of gratitude.

[@Philinganes]

Well done Oliver. If only we had made contact before 'From Socialite to Sutton Hoo' you could have added some fascinating detail to the early days.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Dear Chris. Your book is a must read. Best wishes. Oli

[@peterrees6346]

Why don’t historical movies ever reflect the lives of the real people? It’s lazy to create drama from fictional love stories and rivalries rather than working to create drama from sometimes awkward but always more extraordinary and compelling truths.

[@KarenHaight]

I agree. There is so much interesting about Mrs. Pretty and her path to the Sutton Hoo discoveries that is excluded or misrepresented in THE DIG. Mrs. Pretty's role is so very much more important and her experience including her childhood/young adulthood with travels to ancient sites abroad, her father's archeological pursuits, her long devotion as a daughter, delaying her marriage, her late motherhood, her too-early widowhood, her later-life spiritual quest --- all of it -- so much more interesting than how she is portrayed in THE DIG film. Plus... the film's wrong-isms -- so dispiriting to me as somebody who'd like to see credit and attention given to women as and when it's due. Films too often cast woman out, or only portray them on the side, or vis-a-vis some sexual association. And they give short shrift to the interesting interiority of women's lives. I read that on the actual site, the photographers were women. Of course, not so in the film and I guess (didn't read it) not in the book. OK, the book is not history but rather historical fiction -- and historical fiction that deals a lot with the author's relative, Peggy, who was on the actual historic dig. Sigh. Anyway. I do think THE DIG film is a great treat for those wanting to see what the site probably looked a lot like in real life, in color. And I thought Fiennes's acting was fantastic.

[@bonusfishfox1]

Following watching the film , “The Dig” this was a very interesting insight into a very interesting family and story . Indeed generous in gifting the British Museum the treasure. my only regret in this story is that Edith’s efforts to shed some sunlight on the brilliance of Brown the excavator was somewhat thwarted by the snobish fellows and archeologists of the national museum as depicted in the film. Thoroughly interesting and hard to believe the treasure stayed more or less intact through history after being discovered from the 1600s also in 1840 described as being Roman barrows. Thank you for sharing.

[@jonolaity234]

I watched the dig just yesterday. I took a lot of it with a pinch of salt and decided to see what real facts were out there. For me the gold and the treasure is always nice, but its the lives of the people that really count. I really enjoyed the video you posted. Thanks ever so much for posting this, as it saved me a lot of time trying to google not so real facts and stories. That was some gift Edith made.

[@sophiaako7663]

wow, I'm not sure why I just watched this entire video about someone else's family history but it was very interesting and the photos are fascinating and beautifully descriptive narration!

[@helenritchey4337]

So interesting! Thank you for sharing.

[@andreawilliams141]

A really interesting history of the family. I loved the film The Dig, but I like to look up the real background to the story. Thank you for this, you are pronouncing Penmaenmawr correctly by the way. I’ve been interested in archaeology since I was a small child, and have been lucky enough to visit Egypt, and experience its wonders, which was amazing! 👍🏻 Andrea

[@janetjohn3539]

Thank you so much for sharing this history.

[@BoninBrighton]

Loved the film The Dig which naturally led me to searching for the real story which you’ve been generous to share here. How unusual to have a first child at age 47! What a joy that little boy must have been to Edith after losing her husband. Very interesting to see family photos and hear family stories. How did Robert spend his life I wonder, do you know? I feel a Part two is needed...🙂

[@trecker59]

Great vid Oliver.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you

[@laylavladi]

Oohhh! This is wonderful ♡

[@im_0893]

Beautiful film

[@testopatia106]

Hi Thank you for the background update a great lady to the end.

[@hstteacher]

Thank you. Wonderful story of a remarkable woman.

[@MultiMaggs]

Thank you, it is wonderful to find out more about this remarkable lady.

[@maryscott1122]

Thank you so very much, for this outstanding, descriptive and wonderful story of Edith and her family. I enjoyed the movie, “ The Dig “ on Netflix. I have ordered the book which I look forward to reading.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you so much for watching it

[@carolwilliams2356]

So glad to watch this video. I wanted to know what happened to her son. Good to have a close family when a parent dies too soon.

[@chrislomas7820]

So lovely …thank you for sharing …

[@anavictoriamercader9546]

Netflix brought me here. So amazed by the movie

[@grimmmunro2279]

Very,very interesting..thank you.

[@barbarastrand5742]

I just watched The Dig - very good !

[@Bjowolf2]

Brilliant, thank you 🤗 Greetings from DK 😉

[@david6532]

this was amazing thank you

[@victorpearson1418]

Wonderful tribute to a remarkable woman .

[@pauldirac808]

That was surprisingly interesting. Thank you

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you - I am glad your were pleasantly surprised!

[@pauldirac808]

Sorry I came across as patronising. Your talk was bloody interesting. I love the Victorian history and I’m from Newton Heath .

[@Celtic2Realms]

Very good and thanks for a most interesting talk

[@Marian-pb7fd]

Thank you so much for this post. I watched the Dig the other night and really enjoyed it. Do you know if there is any posting like this of Basil Brown? Thank you again for giving us more insight into Edith, what an amazing women, not just for her time but for all time.

[@neilpiper9889]

Wonderful. Thank you so much.

[@olivergerrish7680]

Many thanks

[@charliechew2404]

what an incredible person

[@dianastanton2545]

Loved this video 😊

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you very much

[@jeanniemesserschmidtz1954]

What a wonderful video. I watched the “Dig”, but wanted to know more about the main characters and the actual dig. May I ask for suggestions on books please? Thank you ever so. If I ever return to England, I must visit the British Museum. Again thank you.

[@davidiascardoso1]

Quem está aqui pelo filme " Escavação " 17/03/2021 em plena pandemia , dória está acabando com SP ! deixe seu like

[@trimley]

Very interesting account - I’m particularly interested in tranmere house information as I was part of the construction team who oversaw its renovation 20 years ago for the National Trust including the construction of the visitor centre

[@olivergerrish7680]

what a great thing to have been part of - Tranmer House is now so much more part of the story!

[@bernardmcmahon5377]

Interesting, thanks

[@stever2583]

Thank You!

[@ThaMaskRapper]

I just saw tha movie it was good .

[@LA-cw6rc]

The dig brought me here 😄

[@olivergerrish7680]

so hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for watching

[@LA-cw6rc]

Loved the film and loved your video. What an amazing story and wonderful woman she was ✨

[@AngusPT78]

Thank you

[@964cuplove]

Thx a lot for the profound family history….. starting short after Adam and Eve leaving the paradise :-)

[@Fees-Shed]

May I ask a few questions please Had to listen a couple of time to the part about your Grandfather (?) buying a place in Scotland and building a golf course. Did you say Drimsynie? Did you say Lochgoilhead? Was your GF surname Dempsey? Do you know the dates he was there? I have an interest in Lochgoilhead, as my maternal side of the family are from there and still are Thanks and regards Fee 💜

[@olivergerrish7680]

Hello. He leased Drimsynie House from about 1900. He made a golf course below the house and moored his yacht on the loch below that. His name was John Dempster - and he was Edith’s uncle. He was my g g grandfather. Lochgoilhead

[@Fees-Shed]

@@olivergerrish7680 thanks, that’s great info 👍🏻

[@beana666]

You pronounced the Welsh name correctly but got the English name 'Southowram' wrong! The emphasis comes on the 'ow' part. SouthOWram. A smashing film about a very interesting woman. Thank you. :)

[@olivergerrish7680]

Many thanks - that is useful to know. I am amazed I got the Welsh name right!!

[@fraserhogg3729]

Do you have a connection to Methven castle outside of Perth?

[@olivergerrish7680]

yes - my g g grandparents lived there for a few years early in the last century

[@Wally-pu2hh]

I wish I were around back then to help them out . I love digging , archeology, ... I would also have given Pretty a good time before she expired , no one should die alone like that

[@maryloumawson6006]

Did Edith's son Robert Pretty ever marry? Have children?

[@olivergerrish7680]

He did indeed.

[@maryloumawson6006]

@@olivergerrish7680 Thank you for replying. I was worried about him ;)

[@susanbellefeuille]

Why do these filmmakers feel it is their right to take liberties with the facts and embellish the story. Silly film makers.

[@olivergerrish7680]

For entertainment I suppose

[@orlando098]

I thought it was a shame that in the film they ignored the fact she was a Spiritualist but rather showed her thinking that nothing of us goes on after death. They also didn't mention how she had that dream that seemed a kind of premonition of the find. I wonder how well-attested that is and exactly what she said she saw in it?

[@olivergerrish7680]

In our side of the family we heard that the dream was about a ghostly group going to or from the mound.

[@orlando098]

@@olivergerrish7680 Thanks, I've heard it described as ancient warriors carrying treasure or something, but maybe that is an embellishment?

[@livrowland171]

Interesting but bit heavy on the early family history.. It's 15 minutes in until Edith is born!

[@olivergerrish7680]

Thank you. It is useful, I find, to find out about the background - as it really is the setting for the person's character and experience. The actual find etc can be read about far more easily.

[@livrowland171]

@@olivergerrish7680 That's true; I've watched the film and several other videos about her and the dig and you certain gave more background detail which wasn't elsewhere and does set it all in a wider context.

[@txm100]

39 of 45 minutes about the family and ancestors until the part about the actual excavation starts. I guess that is typical of British aristocracy, now and then :D But thanks anyway for the presentation!

[@olivergerrish7680]

My pleasure. Thank you for the comment. This was done to fill in a little about the woman herself - as information on the excavation is readily available in print and online.

[@paulettepaulette1613]

I agree with former comment. It is academically wrong and negates integrity of all those who approve and profit from smudging the archeological truth

[@olivergerrish7680]

This is just a family view of someone who was so much a part of things during my grandmother's childhood. The archeological side of things is certainly not my speciality - but there is a lot of info out there about it. I wanted to get a little more out there about her background, as The Dig was purely fiction in many ways. Best wishes

[@mickydee3819]

Top hole,

[@lisabancroft3349]

A vain-glorious eulogy to male wealth...Not a biography biography of Edith Pretty

[@olivergerrish7680]

I think it was wealth that was generated by a team - an industrious husband and his supportive and formidable wife. Glad you enjoyed it.