Evacuees and New Age Mystics – Education at Attingham

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Attingham Park, Dining Room, photography, Shropshire, Sir George Trevelyan

An interesting and slightly different aspect of Attingham’s recent past is its links to education. These began with the start of the Second World War when staff and pupils from the Edgbaston Church of England Girls School were evacuated to Attingham from Birmingham. The girls are shown arriving at the front entrance to the house in 1940 in the photograph below.

Edgbaston Church of England Girls School At Attingham – 1940

News of the evacuation apparently reached the Germans as in one of his notorious Nazi propaganda broadcasts, Lord Haw Haw mentioned the Church of England evacuating to a House in Shropshire. The girls themselves appeared to enjoy their time at Attingham and are shown below in the stables area preparing for a ride on their ponies.

Edgbaston Girls School Pony Ride – 1940

Following the death of the 8^th Lord Berwick in 1947 much of the house was leased to Shropshire County Council as an adult education college. The warden was Sir George Trevelyan, renowned as an educational pioneer and seen by many as the father of the ‘New Age Movement’. Sir George is shown below at his desk in the Octagon Room.

Sir George Trevelyan In The Octagon Room

The college ran with some success through the 1950’s and ‘60’s featuring a number of pioneering and inspirational courses, many focusing on spiritual or mystical subjects or on theatre and the arts.  Sir George and the college were both popular among the students, some of whom are shown below on the front steps to the house in the 1950’s.

Adult Education College Students – 1950′s

Dancing featured prominently amongst the subjects taught and Sir George is shown below leading the way in a folk dancing class on the East Portico in the 1940’s.

Folk Dancing Class – 1940′s

Another photograph shows the students dancing on the front lawn in the 1960’s.

Dancing On The Front Lawn – 1960′s

The layouts and uses of many of Attingham’s rooms were changed while the college was in residence. The Dining Room for example was used as a lecture room and the photograph below shows the room in use for orchestral classes in the 1950’s.

Orchestral Class In The Dining Room – 1960′s

The college was eventually forced to close in the early 1970’s due to cuts in the County Council’s education budget. I would be fascinated to hear from anyone who came to Attingham either as an evacuee or who attended the Adult Education Collegeand remembers activities such as those shown above.

Attingham’s links to education continue through our support for The Attingham Trust and The Attingham Summer School which was founded in 1952 and offers unique art education courses for curators, conservators and architectural historians. There are also visits to the mansion by local schools on most days through the open season.

More photos from our archive will feature in our upcoming exhibition ‘Hidden Lives: Royalty, Glamour and War’ for which research is nearly complete. The exhibition begins on the 1^st June and further details of this and other upcoming jubilee related events can be found here.

Dancing, Sports and Babies – Attingham’s Historic Garden Shows

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Attingham Park, Berwick, Fete, Garden, Lady Berwick, Mansion

Throughout the year Attingham plays host to a number of special events and shows. The Walled Garden Spring fair has just taken place and the Frost Fair held at the start of December each year is always a favourite event for the local community.

These shows are just the latest in a long line of similar events that have been held at Attingham, notably during the time when the 8^th Lord and Lady Berwick were in residence at the mansion. Our archives contain a variety of material relating to these events and I have chosen some of the best examples to share with you.

In May 1924, a Garden Fete was held at Attingham and one of the highlights of the day was a display of Maypole dancing, held on a very crowded East Portico lawn as shown in the photograph below.

Maypole Dancing On The East Portico – 1924 Garden Fete

Lady Berwick was among those who had a stall at the fete and she is shown below at her bric- a-brac stall.

Lady Berwick At Her Stall – 1924 Garden Fete

Lord Berwick took time to browse the goods on offer and is shown below, wearing the white hat, with his friend Lady Leighton.

Lord Berwick At The 1924 Garden Gete

Crowds enjoying the event are shown below.

Crowds at The 1924 Garden Fete

Another Garden Fete was held at Attingham in July 1926 and we retain a copy of the programme for the afternoons events in our archive.

1926 Garden Fete Programme

A varied afternoon of sporting challenges included traditional events such as the Tug of War and Obstacle Race, but also the ‘Ladies Ankle Display’ and the ‘Men’s Tilting The Bucket’ contest. Stalls included ‘Lady Berwick’s Venetian Stall’ and there was an exhibition of dancing held in The Picture Gallery.

June 1933 saw a third fete held at Attingham and we again have a copy of the programme for the afternoon’s events.

Programme for 1933 Attingham Fete

Highlights on the entertainment programme that year included ‘Pillion Musical Chairs’ and ‘Wrestling On Horseback’ with the day concluding with dancing from 10PM – 2AM.

The final programme that we have in our archive is for the 1937 Atiingham Fete. That year saw a Baby Show being held in The Orangry and the intriguingly named ‘Ladies and Mens Freak Push Bike Races.’ If anyone can enlighten me as to what these events were then I would be most interested to know.  Lady Berwick gave out the prizes for the day at 9PM and this was again followed by the Gala Dance held at the Atcham Malt House from 10PM – 2AM.

Another special event that was held three times at Attingham will feature in our upcoming exhibition that I mentioned in my last post. The event occurred in 1925, 1930 and 1935 and was closely connected to Lord Berwick. An image from the event in 1930 is shown below and more will be included in the exhibition. Can you guess what this event was?

Special Event At Attingham – 1930

For another clue, something worn by Lady Berwick in the earlier picture from the 1924 Garden Fete will also feature in the exhibition. I will let you know more in my future posts.

Pictures and Words – Two Sides Of The Same Story

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Archive, Attingham Park, Berwick, Family, Mansion, photography

One of the great uses of our photo archive is that it enables us to show the historic context of Attingham’s collection, its various residents and the mansion itself and I have shown you examples of this in some of my previous posts.

I am also trying to link our photos to other archive material that we have, particularly letters and diaries held here at Attingham or material held or published by other parties. Written and visual archive material are of course each valuable resources in their own right. But if the two can be linked together, one effect can be to bring out the significance of an event that can otherwise be missed if only one source of material is available.

An example of this occurred recently at Attingham, where the discovery of some new information in our correspondence archive led me to revisit some photographs from Volume 2 of Teresa Hultons’s albums which I had catalogued some weeks ago. The photos were both taken in 1903 and include a 13 year old Teresa.

The first photo, taken in April 1903 shows Teresa with the long hair typical of her appearance for much of her childhood:

Teresa Hulton - April 1903

The second photo taken in August of the same year shows Teresa with a significantly different look. The long hair is gone and is replaced by a severe close cropped style:

Teresa Hulton - August 1903

Recently discovered correspondence from 1903 makes reference to Teresa suffering from a severe bout of typhoid in that year, an event of which we were previously unaware and as a result of which she apparently lost a considerable amount of her hair.

Looking at the photos again with the advantage of this additional information I am now reasonably certain that the latter image was probably taken following this bout of sickness and actually shows the effects of Teresa’s hair loss from the typhoid rather than her adoption of the latest Italian teenage hair fashion.

Linking photos to written material is also useful in really bringing words to life and an example of this involves some diary entries made by Brada Hulton, an elder cousin of Teresa, during a trip that she made to see the Hulton family in Venice in 1894.

Her diary records some of her activities on that trip:

 ‘there were concerts, music lessons and bathing at the Lido. The days passed happily with long walks, picnics and some rock climbing with guides’.

We have images of some of these events in our collection and I have shown these below, firstly Brada on the beach at Lido:

Brada Hulton At The Lido - 1894

And secondly Brada (sitting at the extreme left) and other members of the Hulton clan out walking in the Dolomites:

The Hulton Family In The Dolomites - 1894

The diary entries on their own provide useful information but I believe that reading them alongside the photos enhances their impact, reinforcing the fact that the words are describing actual events and real people.

Georgina mentioned in her last post, that next month there will be an exhibition at Attingham that will provide further evidence of how we use material from our photographic and correspondence archives to bring to life events in which the 8^th Lord and Lady Berwick were directly involved and to highlight key elements of their differing characters.

The exhibition will also feature a number of items from our collection including some that are rarely seen as they are generally kept in our stores. Georgina showed you a glimpse of one such collection item at the end of her last post, wondering if you could guess what it might be.

I can provide you with some other clues that may help you. At our exhibition we will be featuring the object in use at a major historical event and we know that in the days leading up to that event there was a bus strike in London – no change there then!  This information comes from a letter written by the 8^th Lord Berwick to Teresa’s mother, Costanza Hulton, part of which is shown below:

Extract Of Letter From 8th Lord Berwick

Oh and while the exhibition will include photographs of the mystery object at the event in question, there is already a photograph of it in one of the rooms at Attingham, so see if you can spot it next time you are here.

Look out for more information on the upcoming exhibition in future posts from both Georgina and me on this blog and also on the Attingham website.

Storerooms and Costume

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Archive, Attingham Park, collection, conservation, Coronation, Costume, National Trust

As I’ve mentioned before, there are roughly 9000 objects in the collection here at Attingham and not all are on display. So, where do we keep them?

They are kept in several storerooms in the mansion. The environment within these rooms is carefully controlled so that objects will not start to deteriorate. In particular, the temperature and relative humidity are kept controlled at a constant level. If the relative humidity is over 65%, the damp atmosphere will cause mould, encourage insect attack and can shrink tightly woven textiles. If under 45%, the dry environment can cause wood to crack and glues to desiccate.

A minimum temperature of 5°C and a maximum temperature limit of 22°C is required. Too hot, and insects are encouraged; too cold and staff freeze!

The storeroom at the top of the mansion contains some really interesting objects, and I could happily spend the afternoon hunting through the boxes.

One of the storerooms.

One of the storerooms.

The blue boxes depicted contain the textile and costume collection. The boxes are acid-free and the textiles are packed and wrapped in acid-free tissue paper. An exhibition running from the beginning of June will showcase the costume in relation to Andy’s photograph project and the archives.

To give you a hint of what the exhibition will showcase, here is the briefest glimpse of some items that will be on display…

Costume soon to be on display.

Can you guess what any of the items in the box are?

Grand Tours, Diplomacy and Cronkhill House – Attingham’s Italian Connections

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Attingham Park, conservation, Cronkhill, Drawing Room, gilding, Lady Berwick, National Trust

Italy is a country that features prominently in the history of Attingham with the house and the country being connected in a variety of ways.

Thomas, the 2^nd Lord Berwick was especially fascinated by Italy and its architecture and paintings, visiting the country as part of his Grand Tour when he purchased numerous paintings, sculptures and other souvenirs. He eventually returned to Italy to live following his bankruptcy and died there in 1832.

His brother William, the 3^rd Lord Berwick, also had a great love of Italy developed when he lived and worked there as a diplomat. William accumulated collections of Italian furniture and art, many of which he bought back to Attingham where the interiors of several rooms continue to reflect his tastes. Included in the items be bought back from Italy are the collection of white and gilded Italian furniture that came from the Palazzo Belvedere, once the home of Napoleon’s sister, Caroline Murat, a portrait of whom hangs at Attingham.

Further details on the Italian furniture at Attingham can be found here and on the Caroline Murat portrait, here.

Another connection is the beautiful Italianate style villa at Cronkhill designed and built by the architect John Nash for the 2^nd Lord Berwick in the early 1800’s. It is located less than 2 miles from Attingham and stands on a hillside offering stunning views across the Attingham Estate. A picture of the house from 1919 is shown below and the view is virtually unchanged today.

Cronkhill House In 1919

The 5^th Lord Berwick chose to live at Cronkhill in preference to Attingham and it was also frequently used by the 7^th Lord to host shooting parties. The photo below shows the 7^th Lord and Lady and others relaxing at one such event.

7th Lord and Lady Berwick At Cronkhill Shooting Party

Teresa Hulton, the 8^th Lady Berwick was of course born in Italy and lived there until marrying Thomas Noel Hill, the 8^th Lord in Venice in 1919, after which they returned to England and initially lived at Cronkhill. The picture below shows the welcome from estate workers that greeted the newlyweds on their arrival.

Welcome For 8th Lord and Lady Berwick On Arrival At Cronkhill 1919

Three other photos of various interior views of Cronkhill are shown below. These were all taken in the period 1919 – 1920 when the 8^th Lord and Lady were in residence at the house. The first photo shows a view of the Staircase Hall.

Staircase Hall At Cronkhill In The 1920's

The second photo shows a view of the Drawing Room.

The Drawing Room At Cronkhill In The 1920's

The final photo shows the 8th Lord Berwick sitting at the table in the Dining Room in 1920.

8th Lord Berwick In The Dining Room At Cronkhill In 1920

In the photo of the 8^th Lord, two items can be seen behind him (a mahogany knife box and a French ormolu table centrepiece) which can now be seen in one of the show rooms at Attingham, so look out for these when you are next here.

The 8^th Lord and Lady eventually moved to Attingham in the 1920’s and Cronkhill is now a tenanted property but is open to the public on six days of the year, the first two of which are this coming Friday and Sunday, the 27^th and 29^th April. If you are coming to Attingham on either of those dates then I would encourage you to make some time to look at Cronkhill as it is really well worth a visit.

Further information on Cronkhill including its opening dates for the year can be found here.

Glorious Gilding

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Attingham Park, conservation, Drawing Room, dusting, Georgian, gilding, National Trust, paintings

For the past two weeks, the house team has been focusing on (i.e. dusting!) gilding in the mansion. Gilding is the application of thin layers of metal, most commonly gold, onto a surface. It is often used as decoration for picture frames and furniture, and can be found all around the mansion. The Georgian Era was all about flaunting wealth – gilding was expensive and designed to impress. In a time with no electricity, gilding also reflected candle light, adding to the splendour of a room.

Gilding in the Sultana Room

Gilded picture frame in the Picture Gallery

Gilding is extremely delicate and fragile, so to take the best care of it we only dust gilded objects occasionally, and with a specialist conservation brush. We only move gilded objects when absolutely necessary, and we wear gloves at all times. By touching a gilded object with bare hands, fingerprints will permanently etch onto the surface of the object. These fingerprints marks are extremely difficult and expensive to remove.

Dusting the gilding on the day bed in the Drawing Room.

What’s with all the dusting?

While dust can look unsightly, it is actually one of the ‘agents of decay’ that also includes pests and light (radiation), and can cause damage if not removed. If left on the surface of an object, dust can sometimes cause a chemical reaction and cement to surfaces. Dust can also absorb pollutants and moisture and act as food for pests, all of which can cause damage to objects in the long run.

Rediscovering Our Collection Highlights

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Archive, Attingham Park, Berwick, Boudoir, First World War, history, Lady Berwick, Medal, National Trust, photography, Red Cross, Sir Gerald Kelly

I have occasionally provided links to the National Trust Collections website (www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk) during my previous posts on this blog to enable you to find out further information on specific objects that have featured in some of the photos I have presented. The website includes records for all of the collection objects held at the various properties belonging to The National Trust.

Each property has a selection of collection highlights on the website and Attingham’s can be found by clicking here. These are objects that we think will be of interest to our visitors and which reflect the broad themes of the entire Attingham collection. For this weeks post I have presented a number of photographs from our archive that bring these objects to life.

The fist object I have chosen is the Red Cross armband worn by Teresa Hulton during her service on the Italian Front in the First World War. She served in the Red Cross from 1915 until the end of the war in 1918 and if you look carefully at the photo below taken in 1915, you will see her proudly wearing the armband on her left arm. The second photo, also taken in 1915, shows her treating a soldier at the hospital at Camerata in Italy. 

Teresa Hulton In Red Cross Uniform - 1915

 

Teresa Hulton At Camerata Hospital 1915

At the end of the war, Teresa was rewarded for her service with the Italian Croce di Guerra (Cross of War). This award is still kept at Attngham and further details can be found here.

The second object is the Fortuny gown, worn by Lady Berwick when she sat for her portrait by Sir Gerald Kelly which still hangs at Attingham. The picture below, taken in the early 1920’s shows Kelly at work during the sittings for the portrait which took place in the Boudoir at Attingham.

Sir Gerald Kelly Painting The 8th Lady Berwick In The Boudoir

My third object is the striking ‘Tiger Hunt’ wallpaper that is now situated in the passageway linking the ‘female’ and ‘male’ sides of the house. The wallpaper was part of a scheme that originally hung in the 8^th Lady Berwick’s bathroom and the photograph below shows another section of the wallpaper ‘in situ’ in its original location.

Tiger Hunt Wallpaper In Lady Berwick's Bathroom

The last object that I have chosen is the marble mosaic that incorporates the coat of arms of the 8^th Lord Berwick. The mosaic was installed in 1966 by students of the Shropshire Adult Education College, run by Sir George Trevelyan, which operated at Attingham between 1946 and 1975. The photos below show the mosaic being prepared for its installation.

Marble Mosaic Being Prepared For Installation

Our highlights offer only a glimpse of over 9000 collection objects that we have at Attingham. I’d strongly encourage you to investigate the National Trust Collections website further to find out more about the historic objects that we keep, whatever property you are planning on visiting in the future, but especially if you are coming to Attingham.

 

 

The Return Of The Night Table

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Attingham Park, Bonhams, Fine art, Georgian, history, Lady Berwick, National Trust

This lovely little table was recently added to the Attingham collection. I say added, but there is an interesting back story. The table is thought to have once belonged to the 8^th Lady Berwick, and is likely to have been housed in her bedroom at Attingham Park. It is a mahogany tray top night table, made during the reign of George III, and would have originally been used to contain a chamber pot.

The recently accquired George III tray top night table.

The National Trust head office keeps an eye out for items cropping up at auctions that once belonged to NT houses, and spotted this piece being sold through Bonhams.

Yesterday, I was given the task of cleaning the table in front of the public, enabling visitors to view the latest addition and hear more about it. I gave the table a dust with a cotton cloth and a hogs-hair brush, and then polished it with Harrell’s antique furniture wax.

Polishing the table

Whilst I was cleaning the table, I noticed a paper label on the underside. It read, ‘LADY BERWICK, ATT PK’, and in the cupboard was a 1939 programme from the Season of International Opera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden! While we cannot be completely certain that the table did belong to Lady Berwick, there is strong evidence to say so!

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden programme

The rooms at the top of the house will be worked on in forthcoming years, and it is hoped that the night table will be displayed in one of these rooms.

All The World’s A Stage – The Theatrical Lord and Lady Berwick

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Archive, Attingham Park, Berwick, conservation, history, Lady Berwick, National Trust, photography

One of the more interesting themes running through our historic photographs collection is the love of both the 8^th Lord and Lady Berwick for fancy dress and costume drama, an interest that predated their marriage but which continued after they moved to Attingham as husband and wife. I believe that these photographs give a hint of a more informal and fun loving couple than some of the other photographs in our archive and thought I would share some of them with you.

In the case of Teresa, the 8^th Lady Berwick, evidence suggests that her interest began at an early age. My blog post of 14^th March 2012 included a photo of her aged 12 in fancy dress and below is another from around the same time. Taken in Munich in 1905 when Teresa was 15 it again shows her in fancy dress costume, this time before a party to be held at ‘the Taylor’s’ who are assumed to have been neighbours or acquaintances of the Hulton’s.

Teresa Hulton In Fancy Dress - Munich 1905

Considering the artistic influence of both her mother and father, Teresa’s love of fancy dress is perhaps unsurprising. But what of Tom the 8^th Lord Berwick? Below is a photo taken in 1910 at a ball held at The Royal Albert Hall with Tom in full Russian costume accompanied by The Honourable Mrs Diana Broughton. The photo is among my personal favourites in our collection, providing a completely different impression of the 8^th Lord from that which we normally see.

Lord Berwick In Russian Costume - London 1910

Tom’s Russian costume remains part of our collection and is kept in store at Attingham. Further details of can be found here on our new National Trust Collections website.

Married life marked a move into fully fledged costume drama for Tom and Teresa. In May 1925 they appeared together in a revue performance entitled ‘Patchwork’ which played at the Royal County Theatre Shrewsbury. They even achieved some small national recognition for their performance as shown below. This is a photo of another item from our archive, an original press cutting taken from the Daily Mail dated May 16^th 1925.

Daily Mail Press Cutting - May 1925

Teresa’s love of fancy dress continued and at Christmas 1929 she attended the Shrewsbury Women’s Institute party in the costume shown in the photo below, a picture that I think captures Teresa’s sense of fun and enjoyment of life.

Lady Berwick At Shropshire W.I. Party - Christmas 1929

In 1934, the couple returned to the stage, Tom as a Bishop and Teresa as Queen Ellinor in the open air Ludlow Pageant production. My final photo below shows Tom in costume during his performance which was reviewed in the June 30^th 1934 edition of the Daily Mirror a copy of which is retained in our archive.

Lord Berwick As The Bishop - 1934 Ludlow Pageant

Sadly this is the last evidence we have in our photographic collection of a part of Tom and Teresa’s life that was clearly important to them and from which they gained enjoyment. I hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing the couple in a slightly different light from that which you would normally expect. 

Inventory Marking

Tags

Attingham Park, collection, conservation, Drawing Room, Inventory Marking, National Trust, Picture Gallery

The past week the house team have been checking the inventory marks on several pieces of furniture. Every single object in the house has a specific number, known as an inventory number, and these are kept recorded so that we know where every object is located. We do this for a number of reasons. One is that as an accredited museum, we are under obligation to know where every item is located. There are roughly 9000 objects in the collection, and by giving each one a specific number it is easier to keep track of them! This is also for security reasons, as well as alerting the conservation team to possible preservation needs of any objects.  

Some of the chairs and stools in the Picture Gallery and Drawing Room had incorrect inventory marks, and so we spent the last few days correcting them.

Inventory marking stools in the Picture Gallery

This is more complicated than it seems; firstly, a thin base coat of acetone has to be carefully painted onto a discreet area of the furniture. This then has to be left to dry overnight. Next, using an extremely steady hand, the correct inventory number has to be painted on (we used white paint) in the neatest and smallest hand writing you can do!

The new inventory number carefully written on one of the stools

Once this is dry, a coat of acetone (slightly different to the base coat) is placed on top. We use the different coats so that if a mistake is made, or the inventory number ever needs to be removed, the number (and the coats) can be completely wiped off.

Not to be forgotten is painting a thin line of black paint through the incorrect inventory number.

Drawing a line through the incorrect inventory number

These original inventory numbers were painted directly on to the furniture so cannot be removed, the best we can do is to place a line through them. Although, on the other hand, the marks now represent part of the furniture’s history in its life at Attingham.