NEWSLETTERS
- No 89 November 2010
- Obituary : Sir Peter Wakefield
- No 90 February 2011
- No 91 April 2011
- No 92 July 2011
- No 93 November 2011
NEWSLETTER No 93 NOVEMBER 2011
Open Day 8th September 2011
This proved very successful. We had about 70 visitors and we gave them mini guided tours of a part of Marble Hill House. 17 new members joined as a result.
Book Sale 19th September 2011
This has now become a regular event. Liz Velluet worked very had to make this a success and raised £281. My thanks to Liz for managing this event and also to other members for helping.
AGM and Talk by Lucy Worsley 26th September 2011
The accounts showed an improved financial position with a net profit of £807.63 compared to the previous year’s figure of £131.83. We also welcomed Robert Prendergast as a new member of the committee. Jane Edwards left the committee at this AGM and I would thank her for all her work on the committee both as treasurer and also for her work on the catering committee.
After the AGM, Lucy Worsley, Senior Curator of Royal Palaces, gave a superb talk based on her new book, Courtiers the Secret History of Kensington Palace. She gave many interesting details of the court life and the rituals which had to be respected. She told us about Queen Caroline, the wife of George II whose importance in that period is sometimes underestimated. She also told us about Peter, the Wild Boy.
Talk by Tracy Borman 20th November 2011
This meeting was well attended in spite of the weather and those of us who came had a real treat in store. Tracy gave a witty, lively and enlightening talk on her latest book, Matilda, Queen of the Conqueror. She showed that Matilda, unusually for her time, was allowed to exercise real power by her husband, William, Duke of Normandy (and later William I), but how her misuse of power led to her political downfall.
Winter Party 22nd January 2012
This will be similar to the very successful Summer Party and the tickets will be £15 as before. Once again we are having players from Trinity College of Music. Emily Armour, who sang at the 2010 Summer Party will be singing again. Her accompanist will be Elizabeth Legroux. Emily is now building up a successful career and her website is www.emilyarmour.co.uk.
Talk by Bruce Gordon-Smith Sunday 11th March 2012
Bruce, who is a member of the committee, will give a talk on Melodramas, Sex, and Vegetables - the life and times of Covent Garden.
AGM and Talk by Sarah Gristwood Monday 1st October 2012
Sarah Gristwood, who has written a number of best-selling biographies, including Perdita and Elizabeth and Leicester, will give a talk after the AGM on Blood Sisters: The Women who Won the Wars of the Roses.
Talk by Julian Humphrys Sunday 18th November 2012
Julian Humphrys, a military historian and expert on the English Civil War and well-known speaker will give a talk within his special field.
Outing to Wallace Collection: Date tba
I am proposing to take members on a visit to the Wallace Collection and give them a brief talk about how the collection was created before we go in.
Changes at Marble Hill
As mentioned in the earlier Newsletters, the running of Marble Hill House has been seriously affected by the cuts which English Heritage has suffered. A long standing friend of Marble Hill, Cathy Power, has been made redundant. Cathy was the senior curator for the London area and the fact that Marble Hill has a large number of outstanding artworks is primarily due to Cathy. Two long standing members of the EH staff at Marble Hill, Graham and Pauline, have also been made redundant. Betty Miller very kindly hosted a small “retirement” party for them. Ricky Pound, who was house manager at Chiswick House, will have overall responsibility for Marble Hill and Chiswick. Having worked as a guide at Chiswick, I can say that Ricky has been an outstanding manager at Chiswick and I look forward to working closely with him at Marble Hill. Rheme Fordham will continue to be a manager at Marble Hill during the open season namely 1st April to 31st October.
Donations to English Heritage
We have made further twelve donations of books for the Marble Hill library. We are planning to pay for a book case and are awaiting proposals and an estimate from a furniture designer which should be to hand very shortly.
Marble Hill House collection and St. Martin’s Lane Academy
At Marble Hill the paintings include an important selection of works from St. Martin’s Lane Academy, which was the first art school in this country and founded in 1735 by William Hogarth. It was set up in St. Martin’s Lane near Hogarth’s own house near the present day Leicester Square. The school developed from a life drawing class run by his father-in-law, Sir James Thornhill, one time Serjeant Painter to King George I and who died in 1734. Among the teachers at the school were two Huguenots, Hubert Gravelot and Philip Mercier. Gravelot was better known as an engraver and one of his few surviving paintings is in the lobby to Henrietta Hotham’s bedchamber. It is known as either Le Lecteur or The Judicious Lover. There is also work by Philip Mercier called the Letter Writer in Henrietta Howard’s bedchamber. He was a close friend of Watteau. There is also a splendid Rococo work by James Hayman called Lady at the Spinning Wheel in the same room. He also taught at the St. Martin’s Lane Academy and is famous for decorating the supper boxes at Vauxhall Gardens. There is a portrait of Sir Robert Pye by Hogarth in the Dressing Room. Hogarth deliberately wished to break away from the formal Palladian style and which was probably why he championed the Rococo, which had come from France. Gainsborough was a pupil at this academy and there is a portrait by him in the Gallery. The school closed in 1765 when Hogarth died. However, three years later the Royal Academy Schools opened in 1768, the year the Royal Academy was founded, and is still going strong. Hogarth’s House (Hogarth’s country retreat) has recently been restored and is now open again.
The Website and Internet
Do look at the website of the Marble Hill Society. The website is www.marblehillsociety.org.uk.
If you are on the internet, please give your internet details to our membership secretary Elizabeth Velluet whose e-mail is elizabethvelluet@yahoo.co.uk. Sending the Newsletter by e-mail helps to keep costs of the running of the society down.
If you wish to bring a non-member friend to the Society’s talks, please do so, but please note we do charge non-members £3. The Marble Hill Society aims to bring together people with an interest both in the house and the park, to encourage wider knowledge of the site and to help English Heritage to preserve its history and enhance its amenities.
John Moses
Chairman
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THE MARBLE HILL SOCIETY
WINTER PARTY SUNDAY 22nd JANUARY 2012
If you wish to come to the Winter Party, please send off this form with a cheque for £15 for each person and SAE to The Membership Secretary, 9, Bridge Road, Twickenham, TW1 1RE
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Address……………………………………………………………………………………………
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Postcode…………………….
Number of tickets………………….
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NEWSLETTER No 92 JULY 2011
Volunteer Guides at Marble Hill House
(Report from Keith Hathaway the volunteer guides’ convenor)
The MHS Volunteer guides continue to provide support to the House staff by taking round a number of "paid" tour parties throughout the year and also providing hour-long tours twice on Sunday afternoons. In the past English Heritage asked for Sunday tours to be put on for just three months of the seven month season. This year however major changes have been made. To reduce costs English Heritage have restricted entry to the house. It can now only be visited by the public in a guided tour. In support of that change, MHS guides were asked if they could extend their commitment and provide Sunday tours for a full seven months of the year. It means the work of the MHS guides has become even more vital, to ensure the visitors get the most from their visit.
We have two new guides, Bruce Gordon-Smith and Robin Bywater, who have already led their first tours around the house. This brings the number of MHS guides to seven, including longstanding guides Mary Wackerbarth, Betty Miller, Vivienne Cove, Keith Hathaway and John Moses.
Recruiting Evening for New Members Thursday 8th September 2011
2012 will be the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Marble Hill Society. With this mind we are carrying out a major recruitment campaign to increase the membership. English Heritage have very kindly agreed to allow us to use Marble Hill as a venue for our recruiting evening. This will be held on Thursday 8th September 2011 in Marble Hill between 6 pm and 8 pm. We would like members of the society to act as volunteers on that evening, if they are free to do so. Please contact me on jm.moses@tsicali.co.uk if you are able to help. If you have any friends, who are not members, do tell them to come along. Light refreshments will be available. I would also ask members to tell their friends that details of membership can be found on our website.
New Treasurer and New Committee Members
We still need a new Treasurer. If anyone is willing to take on this position, please contact me. Some book keeping experience or accounting experience would be useful. We also have vacancies for three new committee members. If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact me. My e-mail is: jm.moses@tiscali.o.uk
Sunday 12th June 2011 Summer Party
We were honoured by the presence of our new Mayor, Clare Head, as our principal guest at the Summer party on Sunday 12th June 2011. Thanks to Denise Carr and to other members of the committee, who put in sterling work, I think that the Summer party can be regarded as a great success, in spite of all the difficulties with which we had been faced because of the new catering rules The evening began with wine or non-alcoholic drinks. There was then a concert with a flautist, Rosanna Ateberg and a cellist, Sophie Jagodzinska, (both from the Trinity College of Music). The programme consisted of pieces by J. S Bach, CPE Bach and Handel and a duet for flute and cello by Villa Lobos called the Jet Whistle, written in 1950. There was an excellent finger buffet. It was sad that there were fewer members attending the event than usual. However, those who did attend will no doubt confirm that it was an excellent evening.
Summer Outing – Chiswick House Friday 15th July 2011
I took a small group of members around Chiswick House on 15th July 2011. Chiswick House was completed in 1729 and is one of the most important examples of the English Palladian style and is one of the most unusual houses in Greater London. A contemporary Lord Hervey said “the House was too small to inhabit and too large to hang on one’s watch.” It also has one of the most elegant interiors. The architect was the owner, Richard Boyle, Third Earl of Burlington (1694-1753). At Chiswick, Burlington had designed a sequence of rooms using a variety of room shapes, which were entirely new to England. His protégé, William Kent (1685-1748) assisted him in designing the interior and was also responsible for introducing new original ideas for design of the gardens at Chiswick.
Book Fair 2011 : Sunday 18th September 2011
The Marble Hill Society will have their usual book fair on the Sunday 18th September 2011 (London Open Weekend). Please start saving your paper backs for the stall now. The Book Sale is an important fundraising event and last year raised £464. It coincides with London Open House Week-End and takes place just in front of Marble Hill House from 10 am to 4 pm.
To ensure that a successful sale this year, we need:
(a) Paperbacks and childrens’ books
(b) Volunteers to work on the book stall on day itself (18th September)
We should like to start collecting in the second week in September and ask that over the next few weeks you put aside any unwanted paperbacks and children’s books which you are willing to donate – all donations are much appreciated. Liz Velluet has very kindly agreed to co-ordinate the collection and the rota. Please contact her on 020 8891 3825 or e-mail her at elizabethvelluet@yahoo.co.uk if you have any books to donate and /or wish to work on the stall.
AGM : Monday 26th September 2011
This will be 7.30pm for 8pm followed by a talk by Dr. Lucy Worsley, senior curator of Royal Palaces on her latest book, Courtiers.
Autumn Lecture : Sunday 20th November2011
This will be 11 am for 11.30 am. Tracy Borman, who as most of you know, wrote the excellent biography on Henrietta, King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant, will be giving a talk on her latest book, The Queen of the Conqueror.
Winter Party : Sunday 22nd January 2012
The Winter party will be on Sunday 22nd January 2012 at 12 noon for 12.30 pm
Spring Lecture : Sunday 11th March 2012
Bruce Gordon Smith will give a talk entitled “Melodramas, sex and vegetables” It will be about Covent Garden in the 18th Century. The talk will be at 11 am for 11.30 am on Sunday 11th March 2012
The Picture Collection in Marble Hill House
The architecture of Marble Hill, as many of us know, is one of the most important examples of the English Palladian style. However, what is sometimes overlooked is the importance of the Picture Collection. It is an excellent and comprehensive collection of English 18th century painting – the period which is sometimes known as “The Golden Age of English Painting”. I shall only discuss a selection of the works. Some of the most interesting works are in the room known as Henrietta Howard’s Bedchamber. There is Richard Wilson’s The Thames Near Marble Hill, Twickenham. The painting is very Italianate. Wilson spent many years in Italy. He is regarded as the father of English landscape painting and greatly influenced both Turner and Constable. In the same room there is a painting by Philip Mercier The Letter Writer. Mercier was one of the artists who introduced the genre known as the conversation piece, to England in the early 18th century. (This type was often used by Watteau.) Another artist, who used this genre, was Hubert Gravelot, whose painting known either as The Reader or the Judicious Lover, is in the lobby on the first floor at Marble Hill. Both Gravelot and Mercier taught art at St. Martin’s Academy, set up by Sir James Thornhill, (the Serjeant Painter to the King) and his son-in-law William Hogarth. This was the first art school in England and Thomas Gainsborough was a pupil there. Another teacher at this school was Francis Hayman whose painting Lady at a Spinning Wheel is also in Henrietta Howard’s Bedchamber. This painting is an important example of the Rococo style being used by an English artist.
In the Dressing Room there are two delightful pendants of Abraham Acworth and his wife Margaretta Acworth by Thomas Hudson, probably commissioned to commemorate their marriage. Sir Joshua Reynolds was one of Hudson’s pupils. In the same room there is an early portrait of Henrietta Howard by Charles Jervas. It had been commissioned by Alexander Pope. When Pope died, Henrietta Howard bought the painting and gave it to Horace Walpole. There are a number of interesting portraits by leading English 18th century artists such as Gainsborough, Ramsey, Cotes and Reynolds in the Gallery. Among the European paintings, there are five capricci, all of scenes in Rome, by Giovanni Panini which were originally in this house. The inventory drawn up in 1767, when Henrietta Howard died, refers to five Roman Landscapes in the Great Room. English Heritage have managed to recover them and they are now back in the Great Room. Capricci are real subjects, such as the Pantheon, in an imaginary landscape. Veduti are actual landscapes or townscapes such as Canaletto’s paintings.
The Website and Internet
Do look at the website of the Marble Hill Society. The website is www.marblehillsociety.org.uk.
If you are on the internet, please give your internet details to our membership secretary Elizabeth Velluet whose e-mail is elizabethvelluet@yahoo.co.uk. Sending the Newsletter by e-mail helps to keep costs of the running of the society down.
If you want to bring a non-member friend to the society’s talks, please do so, but please note we do charge non-members £3. The Marble Hill Society aims to bring together people with an interest both in the house and the park, to encourage wider knowledge of the site and to help English Heritage to preserve its history and enhance its amenities.
John Moses
Chairman
THE MARBLE HILL SOCIETY
Subscriptions for the year 2011/2012 were due on 1st April, 2011. To renew your membership, please send a cheque payable to The Marble Hill Society, with an SAE, to The Membership Secretary, 9, Bridge Road, Twickenham, TW1 1RE
Annual subscription: £8 (individual) £12 (double)
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Address……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Postcode…………………….
Email address………………………………………………………………………………………
(Please give your e-mail address, if you are on the internet.)
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NEWSLETTER No 91 APRIL 2011
Effect of Government cuts on Marble Hill House
Because of a cut in the government grant of one third, English Heritage had to reduce their staff by a third and this would have an extensive knock-on effect. At Marble Hill House, the permanent staff would be reduced from five to three. In future, the house would continue to be open on Saturday morning and all day Sunday during the season, but anyone wishing to visit Marble Hill would have to go round in a guided tour. The house will no longer be open to visitors in the ordinary way.
I mentioned (at a meeting with English Heritage on 14th March 2011) that one of the privileges of belonging to the Marble Hill Society was free access to the house for members. The House Manager, Rheme Fordham, has agreed that she would be willing to allow members to go round the house at a mutually convenient time. It hoped that our members (when they come to the house on special visits) will be able bring a guest with them who is not a member of English Heritage. They can come during the week when the house is not open to the public, but they can not just turn up without first making an appointment. They will have to contact the house manager by phone to arrange when they would like to come. (Tel: 020 892 5115.)
It is not possible to consider training and taking on volunteer house stewards at the moment, because it would mean employment of volunteer staff doing what paid English Heritage staff were doing before being made redundant, which would be in breach of Employment Law.
Volunteer Guides at Marble Hill House
Because English Heritage will need more help from the volunteer guides, from 1st April this year, we have agreed to supply volunteer guides for six months rather than three months which we had done in the past. The guided tours will be organised as follows. There would be two guided tours on Saturday mornings led by English Heritage staff members and four tours on Sunday, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The two in the morning will be led by English Heritage staff, but the two in the afternoon will be led by volunteer guides from the Marble Hill Society. The Marble Hill Society already has five guides. There are three new guides being trained.
Recruiting New Members
The Marble Hill Society will be asked to help English Heritage more and more because of the effects of government cuts. I would ask members to do their utmost to recruit new members from among their friends. Details of joining the society can be found on our website.
The committee will be doing the following to increase membership:
(a) I shall be approaching local societies to ask them to use one of their meetings as a platform to recruit new members starting with Richmond Local History Society at their AGM on Monday 16th May.
(b) With the kind permission of English Heritage we propose to have a recruiting evening on Thursday 8th September 2011 in Marble Hill between 6 pm and 8 pm. We would like a few members of the society to act as volunteers on that evening.
(c) We hope to have a stall either in or near the Marble Hill House on Sunday 18th September 2011, London Open Weekend., when we shall also have our usual book fair.
New Treasurer
We need a new Treasurer. If anyone is willing to take on this position, please contact me by e-mail: jm.moses@tiscali.o.uk. Some book keeping experience or accounting experience would be useful.
Saturday 26th February 2011 Visit to Orleans House Gallery
Orleans House Galley had very kindly invited us to visit the gallery to see a selection of the Borough’s art collection. Though only eleven members were able to come, this proved a very enjoyable and informative outing. Miranda Stearn of Orleans House gallery gave us an excellent tour of the collection in the store
Sunday 20th March 2011 Talk
Douglas Reynolds, former chairman of the Friends of Richmond Park gave us a very informative anecdotal talk on Richmond Park with interesting slides.
Sunday 12th June 2011 Summer Party
This will be in the evening, 7.30 for 8 pm. There will be an entertainment, followed by a finger buffet afterwards. A flautist, Rosanna Ateberg and a cellist, Sophie Jagodzinska, (both from the Trinity College of Music) will give the concert at the summer party. Rosanna has sent me an outline of the programme to include works by J. S Bach, CPE Bach and Handel and a duet for flute and cello by Villa Lobos called the Jet Whistle, written in 1950. Cost will be £15. The booking leaflet is attached to the Newsletter
Friday 15th July 2011 Summer Outing – Chiswick House
I have agreed with the committee to take a party to visit Chiswick House on Friday 15th July. We shall meet at the house at 11 am. Chiswick was completed in 1729 and is one of the most important examples of the English Palladian style and is one of the most unusual houses in Greater London. A contemporary Lord Hervey said “the House was too small to inhabit and too large to hang on one’s watch.” It also has one of the most elegant interiors. The architect was the owner, Richard Boyle, Third Earl of Burlington (1694-1753). At Chiswick, Burlington had designed a sequence of rooms using a variety of room shapes, which were entirely new to England. His protégé, William Kent (1685-1648) assisted him in designing the interior and was also responsible for introducing new original ideas for design of the gardens at Chiswick. The price is £5.50. The booking leaflet is attached to the Newsletter.
Book Fair 2011
The Marble Hill Society will have their usual book fair on the Sunday 18th September 2011 (London Open Weekend). Please start saving your paperbacks for the stall now.
AGM Monday 26th September 2011
This will be 7.30 pm for 8 pm followed by a talk by Dr. Lucy Worsley, senior curator of Royal Palaces on her latest book, Courtiers.
Sunday 20th November 2011
This will be 11 am for 11.30 am. Tracy Borman, who as most of you know, wrote the excellent biography on Henrietta, King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant, will be giving a talk on her latest book, The Queen of the Conqueror.
English Heritage
(a) Donations for Marble Hill House
The committee have agreed to purchase draught excluders and five books, to be displayed in the Dining Parlour at Marble Hill. The books are there for the beginning of the new season.
(b) Future Donations
(i) Some more books for the Dining parlour
(ii) A bookcase to put the books in.
How the Nation almost lost Marble Hill
Most of you, and possibly all of you, know that Marble Hill was saved as part of the well-orchestrated campaign to save the view from Richmond Hill leading to the passing of the Richmond, Petersham and Ham Open Spaces Act 1902. However, going through some documents recently, I realised just how close Marble Hill was to being demolished with the view to the building of a housing estate in Marble Hill Park. In 1888 the Cunard family had bought this estate with a view to developing it. The “crunch” came in 1901. On 4th July a journalist on The Saturday Review, wrote: “I was knocked out of sleep this morning by the crash of a tree felled on the grounds of Marble Hill. Down went, while we are discussing their preservation, another of those green cathedrals that it has taken near two hundred years to build. . . . The roads and drainage are being rapidly completed, the ground is plotted for villas, and the builders have not the slightest intention of waiting on the leisure of Town and County councils . . . . “
In a letter dated 13th July 1901, under the title “View from Richmond Hill – Is it too late?” a firm of solicitors Markby, Stewart and co (presumably acting for the owner) wrote to the Richmond Herald “The owner of the Marble Hill Estate declares that he cannot delay the work and in a few weeks the property will be offered for sale by auction for building purposes. The price required is £70,000 and the owner will only stay his hand on a condition that a deposit of 10% (say £7,000) will be paid. . . . “
Fortunately a conference of the interested parties was held in July 1901. As a result the London, Surrey and Middlesex County Councils, the Richmond Corporation and Twickenham Urban District Council together with some local charities and individuals agreed jointly to purchase the Marble Hill estate for £72,000. The estate was formally conveyed to the London County Council, the principal contributor, on 1st August 1902. The park was opened to the public on 30th May 1903. The property was transferred to the GLC in 1965 and to English Heritage in 1986.
The Website and Internet
Do look at the website of the Marble Hill Society. The website is www.marblehillsociety.org.uk.
If you are on the internet, please give your internet details to our membership secretary Elizabeth Velluet whose e-mail is elizabethvelluet@yahoo.co.uk. Sending the Newsletter by e-mail helps to keep costs of the running of the society down.
If you want to bring a non-member friend to the society’s talks, please do so, but please note we do charge non-members £3. The Marble Hill Society aims to bring together people with an interest both in the house and the park, to encourage wider knowledge of the site and to help English Heritage to preserve its history and enhance its amenities.
John Moses
Chairman
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Subscriptions for the year 2011/2012 are due on 1st April, 2011. To renew your membership, please send a cheque payable to The Marble Hill Society, with an SAE, to The Membership Secretary, 9, Bridge Road, Twickenham, TW1 1RE
Annual subscription: £8 (individual) £12 (double)
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Address……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Postcode…………………….
Email address………………………………………………………………………………………
(Please give your e-mail address, if you are on the internet.)
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THE MARBLE HILL SOCIETY
SUMMER PARTY SUNDAY 12TH JUNE 2011
If you would like to come to the Summer Party, please send a cheque for £15 per member, payable to The Marble Hill Society, with an SAE, to The Membership Secretary, 9, Bridge Road, Twickenham, TW1 1RE
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Address……………………………………………………………………………………………
Postcode…………………….
Number of tickets……………
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THE MARBLE HILL SOCIETY
VISIT TO CHISWICK HOUSE FRIDAY 15TH JULY 2011
If you wish to come, please send off this form with a cheque for £5.50 for each person and SAE to The Membership Secretary, 9, Bridge Road, Twickenham, TW1 1RE
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Address……………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………… Postcode…… Number of tickets……………………………
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NEWSLETTER No 90 FEBRUARY 2011
Sir Peter Wakefield
Sir Peter Wakefield died at his home in Spain on Wednesday 1st December 2010. He was aged 88. There will be a Memorial Service for Sir Peter Wakefield on Thursday 24th February at 3.00 p.m. at All Souls, Langham Place, W1.
Sir Peter was closely involved with the setting up of the Marble Hill Society from its inception in February 1987 and continued to take a close interest in the society for the rest of his life. He nearly always attended the Annual General Meetings of the society and was at the last AGM, which was on 27th September 2010. He acted as Chairman from 1989 to 1990 and became the President of the society from 1994 to 2007.
Born in 1922, he was educated at Cranleigh School and Corpus Christi, Oxford. He served in the Royal Artillery during the war, reaching the rank of captain. After the Second World War, Sir Peter entered the diplomatic service in 1949. He was sent to study at the Middle East centre for Arabic studies in Lebanon, where he met his wife Felicity. He was serving in Cairo during the Suez crisis in 1956. He later became our ambassador to Lebanon from 1975 to 1978 and was there during the start of the civil war. Notwithstanding that the shells were landing close by the ambassador’s residence, he refused to close the embassy. He then became ambassador to Belgium from 1979 to 1982. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1982 and became Director of the NACF (The Art Fund) until 1992. It is highly possible that his influence as Director of the NACF enabled him to obtain the Lazenby Bequest for Marble Hill House. After leaving the NACF he founded and then became chairman of Asia House from 1993 to 2003. He continued as a Trustee of Asia House thereafter.
When Sir Peter retired from being President in 2007, John Anderson, the then chairman, wrote in a previous Newsletter,”(His) wide knowledge of and contacts in the London arts scene, which combined with his diplomatic skills, made him a great asset to The Marble Hill Society. Perhaps though his most valuable contribution has been his undoubted love of Marble Hill itself and his wish to help the Society do the best for it". He leaves his wife Felicity and five children. He will be sadly missed.
Sunday 28th November 2010 Talk by Kate Williams
Dr. Kate Williams, a distinguished historian, gave a fascinating talk to the Marble Hill Society on Sunday 28th November 2010. Her talk was on Emma Hamilton, on which she wrote her first book England’s Mistress, Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton. She told the story of Emma Hamilton, who rose from rags to riches and then back to rags again. Emma was born Amy Lyon in 1765. Her natural beauty put her on the road to success and wealth. She eventually became the mistress of Charles Greville, who had made an arrangement with a well known portrait painter George Romney whereby Romney could use her as a model and in return Greville and Romney would share the profits. She also had to change her name to Emma Hart. As a result there are many famous paintings with Emma as the model in various public galleries such as Emma as the Spinstress at Kenwood House.
However, Greville became bored with Emma and manage to persuade his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, recently widowed, to take Emma on. Sir William was the English ambassador to the Court of Naples as well as a distinguished antiquarian. She eventually persuaded Sir William to marry her in 1791. She was painted by one of the most important portrait painters of the day, Elizabeth Vigée le Brun. She was also received by the King and Queen of Naples and became a close friend of the Queen of Naples.
In 1798 Admiral Nelson destroyed Napoleon’s fleet in the battle of the Nile and Nelson instantly became a national hero. Emma “threw her hat at Nelson”, who was returning to England via Naples, by writing him a very flowery letter. She then became Nelson’s mistress and yet remained the wife of Sir William Hamilton thus creating an extraordinary ménage-a-trois. They returned to England and Nelson bought a house at Merton, where they lived. She bore Nelson a daughter, Horatia. Sir William died in 1803, but Nelson could not marry Emma as he still had a wife of his own. (There was no divorce then) In 1805 Nelson died at the battle of Trafalgar. Emma was left with no financial provision and after moving to Calais died in poverty in 1815.
Sunday 16th January 2011 Winter Party
This was a great success. Before the finger buffet lunch, two instrumentalists from the Trinity College of Music, Emily Askey and Emma Williams, gave a concert of Renaissance music with particular emphasis on English music of this period. The players gave a useful and interesting introduction to the music and the instruments they were playing, before playing each piece. The buffet lunch was organised by Jane Edwards and her team and it was generally agreed that the food was of a very high standard. We are very grateful to the catering sub-committee for all the hard work they did in preparing the buffet lunch.
Saturday 26th February 2011 Visit to Orleans House Gallery
Orleans House Galley has very kindly invited members of the society to visit the gallery to see a selection of the Borough’s art collection on Saturday 26th February 2011 at 2 pm. The collection is not often on show. There is a café at the gallery, which members can use. The maximum number will be 20 and tickets will be issued on a first come first served basis, but there are still tickets available. There will be a charge of £5 each.
Sunday 20th March 2011 Talk
There will be a talk by Douglas Reynolds on Richmond Park. This will be 11 am for 11.30 am. Richmond Park has an interesting history from its beginnings. Charles I created the park to satisfy his passion for hunting. In order to create the park, he needed to buy out the local farmers and landowners. It was an early example of compulsory purchase. Douglas Reynolds is a leading member of the Friends of Richmond Park and his talk should be fascinating.
Sunday 12th June 2011 Summer Party
This will be in the evening, 7.30 for 8 pm. There will be an entertainment, followed by a finger buffet afterwards. We are planning to have an entertainment put on by players from the Trinity College of Music. There will be more details in the next Newsletter.
Summer Outing – Chiswick House Friday 15th July 2011
I have agreed with the committee to take a party to visit Chiswick House on Friday 15th July. We shall meet at the house at 11 am. Chiswick was built by Lord Burlington and completed in 1729 and is one of the most important example of the English Palladian style. More details will be given in the next Newsletter.
AGM Monday 26th September 2011
This will be 7.30 for 8 followed by a talk by Dr. Lucy Worsley, senior curator of Royal Palaces on her latest book, Courtiers.
Sunday 20th November 2011
This will be 11 am for 11.30 am. Tracy Borman, who as most of you know, wrote the excellent biography on Henrietta, King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant, will be giving a talk on her latest book, The Wife of the Conqueror.
English Heritage
(a) The damp problem
Many members have been rightly concerned about the problem of rising damp at Marble Hill House. The committee raised this issue with English Heritage at a meeting on Monday 18th October 2010. I set out the reply, which I received from the Senior Manager, Tim Beale: “Just to give the wider picture, at present we have no regional Estates team who are responsible for carrying out repair work and small projects. As such we have one chap who is based in York helping out until we are in a position to recruit. I had hoped to able to give more info. on this one but many projects have been put on hold due to the news that EH will be facing a 32% cut in funding. What I can safely say at this stage is that the repair work is too large to be carried out as a simple repair but will go forward as a small project. As such we will have to bid for Conservation Project money. It is therefore unlikely to happen this financial year.”
(b) Donations for Marble Hill House
The committee have agreed to purchase draught excluders and five books, to be displayed in the Dining Parlour at Marble Hill. The books should be there for the beginning of the new season.
Correspondence
I think that it is important that members should have the opportunity to raise issues in the Newsletter. As space in the Newsletter is limited, I shall probable be only able to publish about three or four letters in each issue. However I would invite members to write to me on issues relevant to the Marble Hill Society, Marble Hill House and the Park
The Internet
If you are on the internet, please, please, give your internet details to our membership secretary Elizabeth Velluet whose e-mail is elizabethvelluet@yahoo.co.uk. Sending the Newsletter by e-mail helps to keep costs of the running of the society down. Those, who are not on the internet, please be assured that you will continue to receive the Newsletter etc. by post as before.
Website
Do watch the website of the Marble Hill Society. If you would like to something to go on the website please contact Mervyn Bryn-Jones or Keith Hathaway. The website is at www.marblehillsociety.org.uk
If you want to bring a non-member friend to the society’s talks, please do so, but please note we do charge non-members £3. The Marble Hill Society aims to bring together people with an interest both in the house and the park, to encourage wider knowledge of the site and to help English Heritage to preserve its history and enhance its amenities.
John Moses
Chairman
THE MARBLE HILL SOCIETY
VISIT TO ORLEANS HOUSE GALLERY SATURDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2011
If you wish to come, please send off this form with a cheque for £5 for each person and SAE to The Membership Secretary, 9, Bridge Road, Twickenham, TW1 1RE
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Address……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Postcode……
Number of tickets……………………………
OBITUARY : Sir Peter Wakefield
Sir Peter Wakefield died suddenly at his home in Spain on Wednesday 1st December 2010. He was aged 88
Sir Peter was closely involved with the setting up of the Marble Hill Society from its inception in February 1987 and continued to take a close interest in the society for the rest of his life. He nearly always attended the Annual General Meetings of the Society. He attended the last AGM which was on 27th September 2010. He acted as Chairman from 1989 to 1990 and became the President of the Society from 1994 to 2007.
After serving in the army in the Second World War, Sir Peter entered the diplomatic service in 1949. He had a distinguished career and was our ambassador first in Lebanon from 1975 to 1978 and then in Belgium from 1979 to 1982. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1982 and became Director of the NACF (The Art Fund) until 1992. It is highly possible that his influence as director of the NACF enabled him to obtain the Lazenby Bequest for Marble Hill House. After leaving the NACF he became chairman of Asia House from 1993 to 2003. He continued as a Trustee of Asia house thereafter.
I would like to repeat what John Anderson, the then chairman, wrote in the Newsletter, when Sir Peter retired from being President in 2007.”(His) wide knowledge of and contacts in the London arts scene, which combined with his diplomatic skills, made him a great asset to The Marble Hill Society. Perhaps though his most valuable contribution has been his undoubted love of Marble Hill itself and his wish to help the Society do the best for it"
He leaves his wife Felicity and five children. He will be very much missed.
John Moses
Chairman
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NEWSLETTER No 89 November 2010
Book Sale Sunday 19th September 2010
This was held as usual on the second day of London Open Weekend. Thanks to Clare Lesser and her helpers the Book Sale was a great success. The sale raised £465.
Annual General Meeting
On 27th September 2010, the Marble Hill Society held its Annual General Meeting at Marble Hill House by kind permission of English Heritage. The meeting was chaired by John Moses, who became chairman on 1st April 2010. A presentation was made to Janet Clarke, the retiring chairman. Tim Beale of English Heritage gave a brief resumé about the challenges facing English Heritage.
Talk by Dr. Celia Fisher 27th September 2010
After the Annual General Meeting we were very fortunate to have an excellent talk by a well-known NADFAS lecture, Dr. Celia Fisher. She first outlined the tulip’s history. From its wild origins in central Asia, it was traded along the Silk Road and reached Europe via Turkey and Venice in the 16th Century. She thought that it was the Austrian Habsburg ambassador to the Ottoman court, who might have introduced the tulip to Northern Europe in the 16th century. There were tulips being grown in botanic gardens in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. By the 17th century a mixture of varieties were featuring in European scientific botanical descriptions, with the white/red ‘rose’ tulips and the yellow/red ‘bizarre’ tulips predominating. New varieties, some of them breathtakingly lovely, arose naturally through the operation of a virus which causes streaking of contrasting colours to appear. These varieties became so prized in Holland they began to be feverishly traded for ever increasing prices, “Tulipmania” set in, affecting all social classes. Fortunes were gambled in buying and selling rights to bulbs that had yet to flower. At the height of Tulipmania, in 1634 one single very rare Semper Augustus bulb sold for 5000 guilders, at a time when a cow cost 80 guilders. However, in 1637, the bubble burst and prices crashed spreading financial ruin in Holland.
Using her splendid collection of slides, Celia introduced us to the still life flower painting genre so popular in 17th and 18th centuries but which continued into the 19th. She gave us insights into the shift in styles over time; the symbolism of the flowers, their beauty counterpoised with insects suggesting the transience of life. She finished with recent photographs of tulips in Kew Gardens. In her wide ranging talk Celia even included tales of the black tulip and the great question of whether someone really could mistake a priceless tulip for an onion! Tulipmania was an excellent topic to explore in the colourful surroundings of the 18th century Great Room. Celia’s talk was deservedly very well received by the society members.
Sunday 28th November 2010 Talk by Kate Williams
Kate will be giving a fully illustrated talk on the ever romantic Emma Hamilton, whose portrait was painted by many leading artists. She had risen from very humble beginnings and had married the connoisseur, Sir William Hamilton, who was the ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples. However, she became the mistress of Admiral Lord Nelson after the Battle of the Nile. For a time Emma Hamilton lived in Richmond. Kate’s book on Emma Hamilton will be on sale after the talk. The house will open at 11 am for coffee and the talk will start at 11.30 am.
Sunday 16th January 2011 Winter Party
This will be at 12 noon. There will be an entertainment and a “finger buffet”, which will of course be different from previous years, but under the skilful management of the catering committee, it will still be of same high standard as before. The entertainment will be young players from the Trinity College of Music.
Saturday 26th February 2011 Visit to Orleans House Gallery
Orleans House Galley has very kindly invited members of the society to visit the gallery to see a selection of the Borough’s art collection on Saturday 26th February 2011 at 2 pm. There is a café at the gallery, which members can use. The maximum number will be 20 and tickets will be issued on a first come first served basis. There will be a charge of £5 each.
Sunday 20th March 2011 Talk
There will be a talk by Douglas Reynolds on Richmond Park. More details will in the next Newsletter
Sunday 12th June 2011 Summer Party
This will be in the evening with an entertainment and a finger buffet afterwards. More details will be given in the next Newsletter
Richmondlife TV
We have been approached by a local TV company Richmondlife TV who cover events and activities in the area and would like to interview members of the Marble Hill Society. This should help us raise the profile of the society. Dr. Tracy Borman, a member of our committee, has agreed to be interviewed on behalf of the society, which will take place on 26th November 2010.
English Heritage
Many members have been rightly concerned about the problem of rising damp at Marble Hill House. This issue was raised by the committee of the Marble Hill Society with English Heritage at a meeting on Monday 18th October 2010. Time Beale promised to let the society have a report about what steps English Heritage were taking to eradicate the damp. When this is to hand, it will be circulated.
The Grotto
The rangers have started work on the grotto and the committee have given £150 to English Heritage to pay for this work.
The Internet
If you are on the internet, please, please, give your internet details to our membership secretary Elizabeth Velluet whose e-mail is elizabethvelluet@yahoo.co.uk. Sending the Newsletter by e-mail helps to keep costs of the running of the society down. Those, who are not on the internet, please be assured that you will continue to receive the Newsletter etc. by post as before.
Website
Do watch the website of the Marble Hill Society. If you would like to something to go on the website please contact Mervyn Bryn-Jones or Keith Hathaway. The website is at www.marblehillsociety.org.uk
If you want to bring a non-member friend to the society’s talks, please do so, but please note we do charge non-members £3. The Marble Hill Society aims to bring together people with an interest both in the house and the park, to encourage wider knowledge of the site and to help English Heritage to preserve its history and enhance its amenities.
John Moses
Chairman
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THE MARBLE HILL SOCIETY
WINTER PARTY SUNDAY 16TH JANUARY 2011
If you wish to come to the Winter Party, please send off this form with a cheque for £12 for each person and SAE to The Membership Secretary, 9, Bridge Road, Twickenham, TW1 1RE
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Address……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Postcode…………………….
Number of tickets………………….
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THE MARBLE HILL SOCIETY
VISIT TO ORLEANS HOUSE GALLERY SATURDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2011
If you wish to come, please send off this form with a cheque for £5 for each person and SAE to The Membership Secretary, 9, Bridge Road, Twickenham, TW1 1RE
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Address……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Postcode……
Number of tickets……………………………
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