 Hilary Spurling, biographer of Ivy Compton-Burnett, who was friend of Ernest Thesiger through Jourdain, suggests that Thesiger and Janette wed largely out of their mutual adoration of William, who shaved his head when he learned of the engagement.Ernest Thesiger does not mention Janette in his memoir, "Practically True", even if they had a public life together, and Richard Thesiger, Ernest's nephew, said to Spurling that Janette Thesiger told him the marriage had never been consummated.In the 1920s, Ranken was President of the West London Branch of the Theosophical Society.