Drybridge House is situated just beyond the ancient Monnow Bridge in the centre of Monmouth and it was originally a manor house. In 1867, Charles Henry Crompton-Roberts, an MP for a constituency in Kent, acquired the house. One of his sons, Charles Montague Crompton-Roberts, joined the Monmouthshire Regiment, serving throughout late Victorian and Edwardian times, eventually becoming an Hon. Lieutenant Colonel. He may be one of the gentlemen pictured here.

A wealthy family and local benefactors, they had their own cricket ground, where W. G. Grace once played . One of the daughters defied the family by marrying her young music teacher, Edward Elgar, who later became a world-famous composer.