Pink Pigeons

 The most celebrated eccentric of the 20^th century was undoubtedly Lord Berners. His quirkiness however, may have just been a wicked sense of humour.

Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson was born at Apley Hall in Shropshire in 1883. He inherited a title, the 14th Baron Berners on the death of an uncle in 1918. He also received property and money including Faringdon House in Oxfordshire. He claimed to have gained the title because “a whole row of Tyrwhitts fell off a bridge” or alternatively “they fell under a bus on the way to a family funeral”

At first Lord Berners’ mother and stepfather moved into the property. I wasn’t until after their deaths in 1931 that he moved to Oxfordshire with his lover Robert Heber-Percy who was just 20 years old and known as "mad boy".

As a small boy Gerald had a sense of mischief. Having been shut in a cupboard as a punishment, he retaliated by locking all of the lavatories and throwing the keys into a pond. He was sent to boarding school at the age of nine and it was here that he began to explore his sexuality, An involvement with an older pupil ended when Gerald vomited over him. His education was completed at Eton.

He twice failed the entrance examination for the diplomatic service but was sent nonetheless as an honourary attache first to Constantinople and later to Rome and Paris.

 He was highly accomplished as an artist, writer, and musician. Stravinski himself claimed that Berners was the only important English composer of that time. He was commissioned by Diaghilev to write the score for his ballet, “The Triumph of Neptune”. He composed many more works including ballet scores, operas and film scores.

Faringdon became the centre of a fashionable social circle. The guest list included Aldous Huxley, H G Wells, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Nancy Mitford, Cecil Beaton, and Evelyn Waugh.

It’s for his eccentricities that Lord Berners is remembered. As a boy he heard that a dog would quickly learn to swim if thrown into water. He tried throwing his mother’s dog out of the window, hoping that it would similarly learn to fly. The experiment was unsuccessful although the animal was unharmed. 

 At Faringdon there was a flock of pigeons. Every Easter Sunday these were freshly died, pink, blue and gold and dried in the linen cupboard before being set free to fly around the neighbourhood.

A colour theme was sometimes chosen for lunch and everything served would be of a particular hue. Stravinsky’s wife even sent a powder which would colour mayonnaise blue.

A giraffe was kept as a pet and might be invited indoors for tea.

                                            Tea with the Betjemens
 

Equine guests were not uncommon. When John Betjemen and his wife received an invitation to tea, it included their horse Moti which was photographed in the drawing room drinking tea from its mistresses saucer.Hearing that Penelope Chetwood and her arab stallion were inseparable, both were invited to tea. They both sat for a portrait afterwards.

Berners would often tease people especially those whom he disliked. Sybil Colefax was known as a social climber and was sent an enticing invitation which suggested that the only guests would be Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Toscanini and herself. The cruel twist lay in the indecipherable signature and address. The calling cards of his visitors were always saved. When his house in Rome was lent to some friends for a holiday, he selected the cards of the most notorious bores. His butler in Rome was instructed to present two of these cards each day. The unfortunate guests spent much of their holiday avoiding imaginary callers.

A favourite trick was to drive out wearing a pig’s mask in order to scare the locals. Berners only once attended the House of Lords. He never returned because he claimed “a bishop stole my umbrella”. A number of whippets were kept at Faringdon and they always wore pearl necklaces. If one should be lost, a replacement would simply be produced from the safe.

In 1935, a folly was built at Faringdon, a 140 foot tower to Berner’s own design. He explained that “the great point of the tower is that it will be entirely useless”. At the foot of the tower a notice warned: “Members of the public committing suicide from this tower do so at their own risk”. The folly was presented as a birthday gift to Robert Heber-Percy.

Other curious notices were to be found around the estate: “It is requested that all hats be removed”, “Dogs will be shot, cats will be whipped”, “mangling done here”.

                        Portraits of Robert Heber-Percy painted by Lord Berners

Heber-Percy himself was regarded as a fellow eccentric. He ran an undertakers business and enjoyed their annual conferences for their wealth of good stories. He surprised everybody when in 1942, he married Jennifer Fry. She was already pregnant and the daughter Victoria was born the following year. They continued to live at Faringdon but the marriage did not last.

Shortly before his death in 1950, Lord Berners wrote his will leaving the estate to Robert. He continued to live there until his death in 1987, maintaining and enhancing the house and grounds.

A diet of cold rice pudding

 

 Tatton Sykes was born in March 1826, the elder son of Sir Tatton Sykes, the 4^th Baronet of  Sledmore House in the East Riding.  His father, a colourful character, known as “Tat” was one of the greatest horse breeders in England. He was an amateur jockey and a bare knuckle fighter  who insisted on wearing 18^th century costume until his dying day. He farmed sheep on his 34,000 acre estate but the racing stable was his passion. He kept up to 200 animals and on one occasion paid as much as £3000 for a fine horse. To support his stables and hounds, he sold a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, priceless today.

 The younger Tatton did not succeed to the baronetcy nor his father’s estate until 1863. He had however,  already inherited his eccentric behaviour. He believed that the body should be kept at a constant temperature. When ordering a new coat, he would have his tailor make eight versions, each slightly larger than the other. Of a morning he would wear them all, one on top of another. They would be discarded as time passed, left wherever he happened to be. The coats would always be returned by the local children thanks to a shilling a time reward.

 

                                             The 5th Baronet, Sir Tatton Sykes

 On inheriting Sledmore, he forbade the growing of flowers. He regarded them as nasty untidy things and told his tenants that if they wished to grow flowers, they should plant cauliflowers. If he encountered a bloom, he would thrash it to destruction with his stick.

 He forbade his tenants from using their front doors and when building new houses, would have a trompe l’oeil frontage painted and the entrance consigned to the rear.

 His father hadn’t married until the age of 50, and likewise, the younger Tatton was 48 before he took a wife, the 18 year old Jessie Cavendish-Bentinck, who became known as Lady Satin Tights.  It was not a happy marriage and numerous lovers, drinking and gambling nearly ruined the family finances. They eventually separated and Sir Tatton disowned his wife’s debts.

 The racehorse stud was sold and Sir Tatton invested the proceeds in building and restoring eighteen churches.

 The 5^th Baronet lived on a diet of little other than cold rice pudding. Even when travelling the world, he would be accompanied by his rice pudding chef.

 When, in 1911, Sledmore House caught fire, Sir Tatton was enjoying his repast which he insisted on finishing before escaping the flames. He then sat on a chair in the grounds for the next 18 hours whilst the fire burnt itself out.

 Sir Tatton Sykes died in May 1913, aged 87.  His son, Mark, succeeded to the baronetcy. A prominent politician,  Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes oversaw the restoration of Sledmore.

                                                         Sledmore House
 

A diet of roasted chicken

 

“I am Sir George Sitwell, baronet. I am four years old and the youngest Baronet in England.”. These were the words spoken to a stranger on a train.

Born in 1860, he inherited the title and the estates at Renishaw Hall in Derbyshire at the age of two on the death of his father,  Sir Sitwell Reresby Sitwell, the 3^rd Baronet.

Due to family debts, Renishaw was abandoned and George was raised in Scarborough by his mother, Lady Louisa.  Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he was later commissioned as a lieutenant in the West Yorkshire Yeoman Cavalry.  He stood for Parliament seven times and held the seat for Scarborough from 1885 to 1886 and between 1892 and 1895.

Renishaw Hall had been the family seat for 300 years and when coal was discovered on the estate, Lady Louisa was able to restore the family fortunes.

 

                                The Sitwell Family by John Singer Sargent 1900

George married at the age of 26. His bride was Lady Ida Denison the 17 year old daughter of Lord Londesborough.  Although a great beauty, she was extravagant and ill tempered and within a few days of their marriage, she ran home from her detested husband. Sent back to George Sitwell, she bore him a child after a further nine months but Edith Louisa was a disappointment to him for he had hoped for a male heir. For many years the child was made to wear a iron frame to straighten her back and a brace to straighten her nose. They were to have two further children, Osbert in 1892 and Sacheverell in 1897.

Having established a substantial income, Sir George was able to return to Renishaw Hall which he proceeded to restore. Travels in Europe had given him an interest in  Italy and the design of both the gardens and interior of the house reflected this. He collected a large quantity of unfashionable Italian art; a wise investment for it came to be of great value in later years. 

                                                                   Renishaw Hall

Sitwell had a number of eccentric traits. Visitors to the Hall were greeted by a sign which read “I must ask anyone entering the house never to contradict me in any way, as it interferes with the functioning of the gastric juices and prevents my sleeping at night.”.  He is remembered for his bizarre inventions such as a musical toothbrush which played “Annie Laurie”,  and a miniature pistol intended for shooting wasps!   He was author of a number of books including a biography of an ancestor, William Sacheverell and books on gardening. Less conventional works were “Acorns as an article of the medieval diet”, “The history of the fork”, “Pig keeping in the 13^th century” and “Leper’s squints”.  The vast collection of books and documents filled seven libraries at Renishaw.  

 Despite its restoration, Sir George refused to allow electricity at Renishaw; candles provided the only lighting. Out of touch with modern life, he was disappointed when a friend failed to send an item of jewellery, he had after all, promised to “give you a ring on Thursday. He would often attempt to pay his children’s school fees in pigs and potatoes. A large medicine cabinet accompanied him on his travels. Its contents were deliberately mislabelled to prevent anybody else form using them. He lived exclusively of a diet of roasted chicken.

Marriage continued to be a trial. Violent fights between Ida and her husband and children were common and she developed a taste for  champagne and whiskey.  Profligate in her spending, her debts mounted up and in 1915, Sir George refused to settle them. She was prosecuted and imprisoned at Holloway for three months. 

When Sir George, impoverished by his wife's excesses, suffered a “nervous breakdown”, his doctor recommended a change. He took a trip to Italy accompanied by a manservant. In 1909, his car broke down in Tuscany and nearby was a ruined castle, abandoned apart from 300 peasants who were squatting on the premises.  Castello di Montegufoni was for sale and was quickly purchased. Sitwell took up residence and over the next 30 years completed its restoration. Decoration included massive murals by the artist Gino Severini. Letters to both  the Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the Exchequer explained that taxation had forced his exile. He remained in Tuscany until the outbreak of war when he moved to Locarno in Switzerland. He died in July 1943, at the age of 83. His wife had died, long forgotten in 1937.

 

Edith and Osbert Sitwell stand beneath the Sargent painting at Renishaw.Photograph  by Bill Brandt

Osbert now inherited the baronetcy and the three siblings continued to live at Renishaw as well as maintaining Montegufoni.  All three devoted their lives to literature and poetry. 

                                            Montegufoni, A castle in Tuscany

Renishaw Hall, near Chesterfield is still owned by the Sitwell family. The house and gardens are usually open to the public.

Toppy, The Dancing Marquess

 

Henry Cyril Paget, known to his friends as "Toppy" was extravagant to an unbelievable degree. Despite inheriting vast wealth at the age of 23, he was bankrupt six years later.

 

He was born in 1875, the son of Henry Paget, the 4^th Marquess of Anglesey and his second wife Blanche Mary Boyd Paget. His Great Grandfather, Field Marshall Henry William Paget was a hero of Waterloo. Under fire from the French, he was hit by a cannon ball. He announced to Wellington "By God sir, I've lost my leg" to which his commander replied "By God sir, so you have"

Henry’s true paternity was sometimes doubted, for on the death of his mother when he was two, he was fostered by the family of a French actor, his supposed father. At the age of eight, he was taken to the family home, Plas Newydd in Anglesey, one of the most splendidly sited of all stately homes.

Education at Eton, was followed by a commission with the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

He naturally spoke fluent French but was also accomplished in Russian and Welsh. Henry’s 21^st birthday celebrations lasted for a full week but he missed them due to ill health. Even a cold could see him take to his bed for weeks.

When the 4^th Marquess died in 1898, Henry inherited both the estate and title. Income from a family coal business amounted to £110,000 per annum, the equivalent of £14 million today. The estate was valued at £535,000 equal to £70 million in 2020.

Marrying his cousin, Lilian, in January 1898, he returned to Paris for an expensive honeymoon.  Passing a jewellery shop,  he purchased the entire window display in order that he might cover his wife’s entire body with gems. Although he would sit and admire her bejewelled body, their marriage was never consummated . After a few months she left him and the marriage was annulled two years later.

 

                                          The Gaiety Theatre at Plas Newydd

Plas Newydd  had its own chapel and this was converted by Paget into a luxurious 150 seat theatre which he called “The Gaiety”.  The theatre hosted theatrical performances attended by estate staff, friends and local people and the 5^th Marquess took the leading role. For a production of "Aladdin, a touring company which had been playing in Llandudno, was recruited. A pathway of flaming torches guided the audience to the theatre.  Paget and his company toured Britain and Europe and he proved to be a capable actor. A favourite performance was his “Butterfly Dance” a sinuous snake like dance wearing a robe which emulated wings. He became known as "The Dancing Marquess".

The costume for Aladdin had cost £10000 (£1.3 million at current prices) and was worth more than the house. When it was stolen, he simply had another made.

 

                                       The "Pullman" car, just delivered in 1903

Paget’s extravagance wasn’t limited to the theatre. He owned six cars, one of which was modelled internally on a luxurious pullman railway carriage with revolving armchairs and solid silver fittings. The exhaust was modified to emit rose scented perfume.  In order that a table tennis jacket might be coloured green, it was covered in emeralds. A sable overcoat cost 1000 guineas.  Underwear cost £3000 per annum. Poodles were paraded around London ; the owner bejewelled, the dogs adorned with ribbons. Profligacy and generosity made Henry popular both in London and at home in North Wales. His behaviour was frowned on by the aristocracy however.

The spending spree could not last and by 1904, the Marquess was deeply in debt. Trustees were put in charge of the estates and conducted 40days of auction sales. The sale of the various dogs took one full day as did 900 lots of  fur coats an suits. In all, 17,000 lots were auctioned including hundreds of pairs of shoes, hundreds of silk dressing gowns, jewel encrusted walking sticks, gold cigarette cases, boats and cars.

Henry Paget was awarded £3000 per annum, a  generous £400,000 at current prices. He returned to France with a manservant. He headed to Monte Carlo intending to "break the bank" with a new gambling system of his own invention. Staying at the  Hotel Royale,   he contracted Tuberculosis and on 14^th March 1905 he died from pneumonia. His former wife Lilian was at his side. He was just 29.    

 

                                                           Wearing stage costume

“Toppy” was always assumed because of his flamboyant lifestyle, to have been homosexual. There was however, never any indication of relationships with either sex, not even his wife.

 Paget was buried at St. Edwen’s Church on his Anglesey estate. The title passed to his cousin, Charles Henry Alexander Paget who moved into Plas Newydd. The theatre was converted once again to a chapel and all of Henry’s papers were destroyed. 

 

                                       Plas Newydd overlooking the Menai Straits

 Plas Newydd dates from 1470 and has been managed by the NationalTrust since being handed over by the 7^th Marquess in 1976.  The artificial leg of the 1^st Marquess is an exhibit as are many photographs of “Toppy” in theatrical costume.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Princess Elizabeth

 On the occasion of her 21st birthday in 1947, Princess Elizabeth inspects the troops.

The Fame of the Egertons

 The Egertons are an aristocratic family who can trace their line back to the middle ages.  Their seat is Oulton Hall near Tarporley in Cheshire. Many titles, past and present include the Grey Egerton baronetcy, the Dukes of Bridgewater and the Earls of Bridgewater.

The best known family member was  Francis Egerton, the 3^rd Duke of Bridgewater (1736 – 1803).  An owner of coal mines at Worsley, he was responsible for the building of the Bridgewater Canal, the first true canal of the modern age. Engineered by James Brindley, the canal carried coal from beneath the ground at Worsley, to the centre of Manchester. He did not marry and the dukedom expired on his death.

 

                                     Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater

Famous  for another reason was a cousin, Francis Henry Egerton, the 8^th Earl of Bridgewater. Born in 1756, he was the son of John Egerton, the Bishop of Durham. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. He was to inherit the title, and a fortune on the death of his brother John William Egerton, the 7^th Earl on his death in 1823. Francis never married and the title ended with his death in 1829.

Francis took holy orders at All Soul’s Oxford in 1780 and became rector of Myddle in Shropshire, then in 1797, rector of Whitchurch. The family had owned Ashridge House in Hertfordshire since 1604 but he chose not to live there, moving in later years to Paris.

 

                             Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater

It was in Paris that Francis found fame for his eccentricities. He made his home in the former hotel at 335 Rue Saint-Honore which he renamed Hotel Egerton. Here he lived with numerous cats and dogs. Each dog had its own personal footman and would dress for dinner in handmade leather boots with linen napkins around their necks. They would join the Earl at dinner and were expected to behave as gentlemen and with decency and decorum. Their food was served on silver dishes. On one occasion, two of his favourites, Bijou and Biche, misbehaved. - ‘The blackguards have deceived me,’ thundered Egerton as he called for his tailor. ‘I have treated them like gentlemen and they have behaved like rascals. Take their measure, they shall wear for eight days the yellow coats and knee breeches of my valets and shall stay in the ante-room and be deprived of the honour of seeing me for a week.’

Each day, the dogs would be take for a walk in the Bois De Bologne. The accompanying footmen each carried an umbrella to protect the animal should the weather become inclement

 

Egerton’s own footwear was made by the same cobbler as that of his dogs. He wore a different pair each day of the year and a whole room was filled with discarded footwear. The boots were line up in rows in  date order and were not cleaned. By this method, Francis could recall the passing of his days and by the dirt on the footwear he could recall the weather.

The Earl kept a notable library which included his own works which numbered 20volumes.  On occasions though, he would borrow a book from a friend. It would be returned with great ceremony being placed on a cushion in the Earl’s carriage, drawn by four horses accompanied by four liveried footmen.

Egerton claimed never to have mastered the French language and whilst living in France,  insisted on speaking only in Latin.

 

Training An Otter To Catch Fish

 

James Hirst, known as “Jemmy" was born in 1738 to a farming family at Rawcliffe, near Goole in Yorkshire. 

Although  his parents had hopes of the priesthood,  expulsion from the grammar  school in Pontefract for his pranks, brought an untimely end to Jemmy’s education. An early fascination with animals saw him keeping a pet jackdaw and training a hedgehog to  follow him around.

Apprenticed to a tanner, James fell for his master’s daughter and they became engaged. When he rescued her from a flooded river, she contracted smallpox, from which she died. He took to his bed, suffering from "brain fever".

On recovery, he returned to his father’s farm and there he trained a bull called Jupiter in order that he might ride it like a horse. Jupiter would also haul Jemmy’s home made carriage, an affair of wicker with oversized wheels resembling an upturned lampshade. A homemade device was attached which would ring a bell after each mile travelled. When Jupiter found the going hard, a sail was fitted to the conveyance. This had an embarrassing outcome when it crashed into a shop window in nearby Pontefract. He was thereafter banned from the town. Jupiter was still a favourite mount and was ridden in the local hunt, not accompanied by hounds but by pigs!

 

 On the death of his father, he inherited about £800 which enabled him to buy a premises for a corn and produce dealership. The business prospered and Jemmy was able to retire in his mid-forties.

 Hirst’s attire was nothing if not eccentric, He wore a red coat with blue sleeves and harlequin breeches. The waistcoat was of duck feathers and his head was protected by a lambskin hat of a nine foot circumference.  On a Sunday he would summon the elderly and the poor to tea, served from his favourite coffin. This was equipped with glass doors and a bell to call for help.

 Jemmy was something of an inventor. Besides his carriage, he built a threshing machine and a flying machine. He issued banknotes which he had engraved and printed in Hull. These had a face value of £5 but were worth only two or three pence. Some still exist, preserved in the village.

 James Hirst eventually married his housekeeper. For the ceremony which was conducted in sign language, he wore a toga.

 Jemmy’s fame reached London and intrigued King George III who invited him to visit. He responded with an apology; he was busy training otters to fish but would come later. He travelled in his carriage wearing his outlandish costume and was feted in the Capital for a week. He found the Monarch “a plain looking fellow” and issued him with an invitation to visit  Rawcliffe to enjoy a good brandy. The King declined but did present some bottles from the palace wine cellar.

Hirst died in 1829, aged 91.  Eccentric to the last, his will provided £12 for twelve old maids to follow his cortege accompanied by a fiddler and a piper.   His lawyer, John Bingley was left a rope to hang himself !  "I give to John Bingley attorney at law now at Rawcliffe, a small rope which we call a            falce line such like things are used with unfortunate people at the gallows at York and         other places, when he likes to call for it, his roguish and rascally villainous and scandalous deceiving behaviour to me for carrying on a lawsuit against my mind and orders which cost me two hundred and fifty pounds he said it should cost me nothing he would do it at his own expense. I hope this will be a caution to some others to keep away from the above place of torment. I also wish and desire a copy of this to be put up in some public place on Rawcliffe Feast Monday in August every year as long as the said John Bingley shall live. I promised I would leave him something on my death and I always had a great liking to be as good as my word."

Mad Jack, A Regency Rake

 

 John “Mad Jack" Mytton was born in Shropshire in September 1796. His family were local squires with a history of more than 500 years. Two years later, his father died, aged 30 and his estate including Halston Hall near Oswestry, passed to his son.  It was valued at £60,000 and provided an annual income of £10,000.

 John Mytton started his education at Westminster School but was expelled after fighting with a master. A short period at Harrow was also followed by expulsion after which he was educated at home. A number of private tutors suffered his practical jokes including leaving a horse in the teacher’s bedroom.  He did not fare too well at Cambridge University having equipped himself with 2000 bottles of port. He left college without taking his degree.

 A brief military career followed and included a period in France following the defeat of Napoleon. Much of his time was spent drinking and gambling.

 Coming into his full inheritance at the age of 21, he decided to stand for Parliament as  the Tory MP for Shrewsbury. He secured his seat by spending £10,000 in bribes of £10 each. His attendance at the House of Commons in June 1819, lasted just 30 minutes; he found the proceedings boring. He stood for Parliament once more in 1831 as a Whig candidate but only received 376 votes.

 Mytton spent much of his life following field sports, drinking and gambling. He kept many animals including a large stable of horses and more than 2000 dogs. A favourite horse was “Baronet" which had a free run of Halston Hall and would lay down with Mytton in front of the fire. The favourite dogs would receive a diet of steak and champagne and would be dressed in livery or costume.  A pet bear was once ridden into the drawing room by Mytton in full hunting dress on the occasion of  a dinner party. Its rider was bitten in the leg when he used his spurs on the animal. Pursuit of the fox would take place all year round, even in the depths of winter when he would ride naked.

 “Mad Jack’s" exploits were often recorded such as the occasion when a wager led him to ride a horse into the Bedford Hotel in Leamington. He climbed the grand staircase and still mounted, jumped from the balcony, over the diners below and out through the window onto the street.   Another stunt saw him attempt to leap a tollgate when driving two horses and a carriage.  Friends might be victims of his practical jokes such as the occasion when two were held up by Mytton dressed as a highwayman and armed with pistols.

  Mytton’s extravagance extended to banknotes being secreted around the grounds of his home. Visitors were expected to pocket the money on its discovery.  He would amuse local children by giving them as much as half a guinea to roll down a hill. His excessive wardrobe included 150 pairs of breeches, 700 pairs of boots, 1000 hats and 3000 shirts. His behaviour was often fuelled by alcohol; a consumption of eight bottles of port a day and a generous quantity of brandy.

  It took fifteen years to spend the inheritance and in 1831, the estate was sold. He fled to Calais to escape his creditors and lived in France for two years. It was in Calais that he suffered from a bout of hiccups. His  response was to frighten away the malady which he did by setting fire to his shirt. His servant managed to extinguish the flames and Jack retired naked to bed, triumphant that his cure had worked.

 Mytton returned to England in 1833 and ended his days in the King’s Bench debtor's prison in Southwark. His death was attributed to "delirium tremens" a "round-shouldered, tottering, old-young man bloated by drink, worn out by too much foolishness, too much wretchedness and too much brandy"

A Family of Misers

 John Elwes came from a family of misers and was said to have been Charles Dicken’s inspiration for his character, Ebenezer Scrooge.

 He was born John Meggot in 1714, his father, Robert, being a successful London brewer. His mother, Amy, was descended from the aristocratic Hervey family which later held the title Marquess of Bristol.  His grandmother, Lady Isabella Hervey was celebrated in Jacobean society as a miser in her own right.

 Robert Meggot died when John was just four years of age and he came into his first inheritance. His mother was also left £100,000 in the will but being too parsimonious to spend it, she starved to death.   The remainder of the estate passed to John including Marcham Park in Berkshire.

 

 John  was close to his uncle Sir Hervey Elwes, the MP for Sudbury in Suffolk.  The miserly baronet prided himself on living on a meagre £110 per annum.   They would often spend evenings together criticising the extravagancies of others whilst sharing a single glass of wine.  John changed his name to Elwes in 1751 in order that he might inherit his uncle’s estate.  When Sir Hervey died in 1763, a fortune of £250,000 passed to his nephew.  Succeeding to the family estate at Stoke in Suffolk,  Sir Hervey had lived almost alone for sixty years, scrimping and scraping to accumulate wealth. He received few visitors, had no luxuries and had no books. He spent his days  studying old deeds and in the pursuit of usury. He dressed eccentrically in a huge velvet cap, a worn out suit of dress clothes and stockings which reached over the knees. These garments he had found discarded in an old chest left by his father Sir Jarvas Elwas. No fires were lit at Stoke unless a visitor called on business when a single stick might burn in the grate. Sir Hervey would sometimes join his wealthy neighbours, Sir Cordwell Firebras and Sir John Barnardiston for a game of whist. At the end of the evening, the winnings would be meticulously reckoned up and it would amuse observers to see three baronets, each worth a million, arguing about a measly farthing!

 Large sums of money were kept at Stoke and a notorious band of thieves, the Thackstead Gang planned a robbery. They tied and gagged the two servants and threatened Sir Hervey with pistols.  Discovering the hiding place, the gang carried off two thousand, seven hundred guineas.  When the robbers were eventually caught, their victim was asked to go to Chelmsford to identify them. He refused, saying “No, no! I have lost my money, and now you want me to lose my time also”. 

 John Elwes became an MP in 1772 for the Berkshire constituency. His election expenses amounted to just eighteen pence. He would sit with either the Whigs or the Tories according to his whim. It was said that, having only one suit, he could never be described as a turncoat.  He would journey to Westminster on a poor, lean horse, travelling by a circuitous route in order to avoid the expense of the various tollbars.  He carried a hard boiled egg in his pocket to avoid the cost of buying a meal en route. He held the seat unopposed until 1784 when he stood down rather than face the cost of standing for re-election.

 There are numerous tales of John Elwes’ frugality, some no doubt are mere legends exaggerated over the years but he was clearly an incredibly parsimonious man.

 Winter evenings would see him retire at nightfall, rather than waste a candle. Even on his deathbed, he refused to have a candle lit in order that his barrister might write his will.  He would dine without a fire or would sometimes join his servants in the kitchen in order to keep warm.

 His clothes were ragged and were seldom changed; he would usually sleep in them including his boots. His appearance was so decrepit that he would be mistaken for a beggar and would sometimes be handed money in the street.  Although his house was full of expensive furniture, it was never maintained, neither was the building which eventually became uninhabitable. Guests were known to have moved their beds to avoid the rainwater falling through the ceilings.

 Elwes owned a farm in Essex and would complain of birds stealing grain. He would not allow hay to be provided for his visitor’s horses.  He owned a number of properties in London and in later years spent his time in whichever house might be vacant, accompanied by an elderly housekeeper and living with a frugal minimum of furniture. There were never any fires and sometimes no glass in the windows.

 Towards the end of his life, Elwes suffered from delusions, often imagining that he was being robbed.  He kept small hoards of money in many places which he would regularly visit in order to count and ensure their safety.

 Despite his miserliness, Elwes loaned vast sums of money which were seldom repaid. He believed that it was unmannerly to ask for settlement.  He invested in property development and constructed many of the notable Georgian buildings of central London.

 John Elwes was found dead one morning in November 1789. He was in his bed wearing a torn hat, ragged shoes and in his hand an old stick.  He was buried in Suffolk.  Having lived on just £50 per year, he left a fortune of £800,000 to his two illegitimate sons, George and John and to his nephew. His children were uneducated for he believed that "putting things into people's heads is the sure way to take money out of their pockets".

 George Elwes had just one daughter, Amelia  Maria Frances, known as Emily. She was heiress to his inherited fortune which  included Marcham Park. Emily’s suitor was Thomas Duffield of Lincolnshire. Although Oxford educated, he was considered to have insufficient income to support her and was barred from the house.  In 1810, a conspiracy was hatched and  a chaise and four drew up at the door.  Telling her father that she was merely joining her mother who had gone on a shopping expedition. She was not dressed to travel and aroused no suspicions yet her lover was waiting inside the carriage. Her father learned of her elopement but gave up pursuit at St.Alban’s whilst the couple travelled north to Gretna. They paid the famous old parson, Joseph Paisley £50 to perform the ceremony at the Blacksmith’s shop.  It was said of

 Parson Joseph that “he drinks nothing but brandy, and has neither been sick nor sober these forty years”.  On their return to London, her father became reconciled to the marriage  and arranged for a second ceremony to ensure the legality of the union.  Thomas went on to become MP for Abingdon. Emily bore nine children but died in 1835 at the age of 43

Image courtesy British Museum under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

 

Sir Harvey and John Elwes image: Credit: A man discovered lying in bed; a man holding another's leg; a man on horse-back being chased by another; a man in a nightcap pours water on the fire. Coloured etching. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

The Last Days of Capel Celyn - Dyddiau olaf Capel Celyn

  In 1962, the villagers of Capel Celyn left their houses for the last time.

  Despite much opposition, this tiny village near Bala was demolished and abandoned to make way for the waters of the Tryweryn Reservoir. Capel Celyn was home to 67 people, Welsh speaking with its chapel and school and a village shop and post office. 

              A photograph of Capel Celyn showing the Post Office and village school.

 In the 1950s, Liverpool was in need of additional water supplies and looked to the Tryweryn Valley as a site for a new reservoir. Having no jurisdiction in the County of Merionethshire, their plans faced much local opposition. In 1957, Liverpool City Council sought an Act of Parliament permitting creation of the reservoir and over-riding any local objections. Despite most of the Welsh MPs voting against the bill it was approved by the House of Commons. The long campaign that followed saw villagers marching through the streets of Liverpool and attending council meetings. The protestors suffered abuse in the street and were pelted with rotten tomatoes and spat upon. Welsh nationalists gave their support with a programme of civil disobedience. Equipment at the site was damaged and even a bomb was planted causing serious damage. The efforts were to no avail and in 1962, construction began, culminating with the flooding of the valley in 1965. Following eviction of the residents, the buildings were all demolished and the road diverted to skirt around the northern side of the reservoir. 

 The Chapel - Y Capel

The Calvinistic Methodist chapel was built in 1821. It was reconstructed in 1893 to the design of local architect, Robert Lloyd Jones in a simple gothic style. Upon closure and demolition, a number of the adjacent graves were re-located. The remainder were capped with concrete.The final service on 28th September 1963attracted a large congregation with many supporters visiting Capel Celyn for the last time. The final wedding had taken place two weeks before.

The School - Yr Ysgol

 When Capel Celyn School closed in June 1963, there were just ten pupils remaining. All but two, were named Jones. It was said that the pupils could trace their ancestry through the past registers. The teacher was Mrs Martha Roberts. The primary school had opened in 1881 and consisted of just one schoolroom.

 

  Teacher, Martha Roberts supervises her class in 1962, shortly before closure of the school.

 Hafod Fadog and The Quaker Cemetery - Mynwent y Crynwyr

 One of the lost farmhouses was Hafod Fadog. This, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had been a Quaker meeting place. and nearby was a small burial ground. On the hillside above was an area encirled with a stone wall where larger, open air meetings took place. Many early Quakers came to the valley before emigrating to Pennsylvania, driven from their homes by persecution. 

 The Railway Station - Yr Orsaf Reilffordd

Although the railway between Bala Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog had opened in 1882, Capel Celyn did not have a station until December 1930. Just four trains a day called at Capel Celyn Halt in each direction. The station was never very busy; in 1935 it was used by an average of 40 passengers each week. Facilities consisted of a small corrugated iron waiting shelter and a single oil lamp. The station was reached by a footpath which led from the village chapel, a kilometre away. The last train called in January 1960 after which goods trains continued to pass for another year. Part of the line was submerged beneath the lake. 

 

                                       The last train calls at Capel Celyn Halt.

Widespread opposition to the reservoir led to increasing support for Welsh nationalism and for Plaid Cymru and for devolution. A direct result was the creation of the Welsh Office and a Secretary of State for Wales. 

 Capel Celyn has not been forgotten. A small memorial chapel has been built at the end of the reservoir and there are various other memorials around North Wales. A fragment of wall sprayed with graffiti : Cofiwch Dryweryn - Remember Tryweryn stands near Aberystwyth. It is regarded as a national landmark and has been preserved and maintained. The village has often featured in films, music and documentaries.

                                 A final delivery of bread to one of the villagers

 

                                      Postmaster and shopkeeper, Jones Parry

 
 

Rillington Place

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place on 2nd June 1953. It was celebrated throughout the country with street parties such as this one in Rillington Place in London. The parties were for the entertainment of the children although whole communities joined in, often wearing fancy dress. Many foods were still rationed, eight years after the end of World War II, so the neighbourhoods saved up their coupons in order to provide a generous spread. Bunting decorated the street, together with Union flags and those of Wales, Australia and New Zealand. The stage at the end of the street suggests that entertainment is planned.

When this photograph is studied, the roadside kerbs will be seen painted in black and white, a remnant of the wartime blackout when this aided night-time visibility. There is just one street light, suspended from an overhead cable.

Notting Hill was developed in the mid 19th century on the Ladbrook Estate, as a fashionable suburb. Rillington Place in the north of the area was built in the 1869s as poor quality speculative housing. This was formerly farm land and before the 1850s only two buildings were to be seen; Portobello Farm and Notting Barns Farm. It was a cul-de-sac with a row of ten houses on each side, and at the end, the Western Iron Works. Here was the foundry of James Bartle, a business which produced manhole covers, lamp posts and railings. Other specialities were gasholders and cast iron canal bridges. Bartle had 75 employees and members of his family lived at 3 Rillington Place. Sold in 1910 to C. S. Windsor, the company went on to manufacture in the 1920s, the Windsor light car. The company went into liquidation in 1927 after the death of its owner and the buildings became the Department of Works for the Borough of Kensington.  On one side of Rillington Place, the houses backed on to the newly opened Hammersmith and City Railway. The properties deteriorated and by 1953 some were in appalling condition. Many were divided into flats, one on each floor. They had no bathrooms and shared the outside toilet. 



The last house on the left, number 10, is empty, its last occupant in jail awaiting trial for murder. John Reginald Halliday Christie had killed at least eight women including his wife, and their bodies were concealed around the house and in the garden. Christie, originally from Halifax already had a criminal record and had spent four terms in prison. Ironically, he served as a reserve policeman during the War, his record unchecked.

Timothy Evans and his wife, Beryl, and their daughter Geraldine, moved into the top floor of number 10 in 1948. A year later, Evans reported to the police that his wife and daughter were dead. After a search, the bodies were discovered together with a 16 week foetus in an out house, they had been strangled. Evans, illiterate and with a low IQ was forced in to confessing to the murders. He was found guilty and on 9th March 1950, was hanged at Pentonville Prison in London. The police investigation was seriously faulted and neglectful. It should have been clear that Evans was innocent.

Christie moved out of the ground floor flat on 20th March 1953 and another tenant of the building, when using the kitchen, discovered the remains of three women. Christie was arrested on 31st March and as the interrogation progressed, he admitted murder. His trial began on 22nd June and having been found guilty of killing his wife, Ethel, he was hanged at Pentonville Prison on 15th July.

Eventually, in 1966, Evans was posthumously pardoned. In 2003 his sisters were awarded a payment in compensation.

Both Evans and Christie were executed by Albert Pierrepoint. He was a Yorkshireman, who, in his 25 year career, hanged up to 600 people including 200 war criminals. Pierrepoint was also a publican, firstly at the “Help The Poor Struggler” at Hollinwood, Oldham and later at the “Rose and Crown”, Much Hoole, near Preston. Whilst still at Hollinwood, one of Albert’s regular customers, James Corbitt was found guilty of the murder of his mistress, Eliza Woods. Pierrepoint had the duty of hanging him at Strangeways in November 1950.
 
Many North Western towns chose a Rose Queen as part of their annual Carnival festivities and usually, she would be crowned by a minor local worthy. In 1950, Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire, gave that honour to none other than the official hangman. Pierrepoint was no stranger to Whaley Bridge and would often be seen visiting the town’s hostelries.

Rillington Place was renamed Runton Close in 1954 to try to remove some of its unfortunate associations. The street was demolished in 1970 and redeveloped. Today, modern housing occupies the site and the value of the properties reflect Notting Hill’s fashionable status.

 The map of 1895