born victoria lily hegan kennard, the daughter of colonel edmund hegan kennard, she was also known by the name "ria". lady sysonby said that she took no particular interest in cookery until she got married, on 17 may 1899, to frederick ponsonby, 1st baron sysonby, the private secretary to queen victoria and later to edward vii. she decided, she said, to study cookery "in a practical way", helped by a collection of recipes inherited from her great-grandmother, her grandmother and mother. her recipe collection was first published in 1935, the year of her husband's death. despite their position in the higher echelons of british society, the family were "never particularly well" off, according to "the oxford dictionary of national biography", and at one point had to withdraw their daughter from boarding school because they could not pay the fees. unlike other upper-class food writers of the interwar years, such as agnes jekyll, ria sysonby needed the money that her cookbook brought her. but her love of food was wholly genuine, recalled her friend lord esher after her death, in a letter to "the times". he remembered her "exquisite cookery", her "original and charming personality" and that she demanded "quality in everything around her".