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LEGACIES TO THE LEEDS ART COLLECTIONS FUND The LACF dePendsforitsincomeentirely on members and supporters. Please consider leaving the LAC F a legacy in your will: it is acharitable organization and all legacies to it are exempt from Capital Transfer Tax and aggregationwithout limit. Bequests can take the form of a lump sum or the residue or a fraction of your estate.Some members might prefer to consider leaving works of fine or decorative art but if youcontemplate doing this it would be helpful if you could please seek the advice of the Secretary whocan let you know if any item will fit into the permanent collection of the Leeds City Art Galleries.The following would be a suitable form of words to send to your solicitor for inclusion in your will:'I bequeath to the Leeds Art Collections Fund of Temple Newsam House, Leeds, a legacy of........................free of all

taxes'he

Hon Solicitor of the LAC F Is always very happy to advise potential benefactors.

THE z zeus Aar cot t acr tous r uuo is one of the oldest supporting bodies for the visual arts in Great Britain, a source ofregular funds for buying works of art for the Leeds collections. Why not identify yourself with the Art Gallery, Temple NewsamHouse and Lotherton Hall, receive your Arts Calendar free, receive invitations to all functions, private views and organized visitsto places of interest. Membership is open to everyone on payment of a minimum annual subscription of 6 to. There is also aconcessionary joint membership for Et I and life membership for Et Io per person or Ezzs joint. Corporate membership fororganizations is Ezs. If you would like to join simply complete the form and send it with your remittance to the Hon. Secretary,Leeds Art Collections Fund, Temple Newsam House, Leeds tsty oAR. Telephone 647Izt.

President Lord Martin Fitzalan Howard; Vice President The Rt Hon the Earl of Harewood t.Lo; Trustees E.M. Arnold, Mrs S.Gilchrist, J.S.Fox; Committee W. A. B.Brown (Chairman), E.M. Arnold (Vice-Chairman), Councillor B.P. Atha, Mrs M. Black,Mrs D. H. Boyle, P. R. P. Chadwick, Mrs M. Morris, Mrs B.Roberts, Mrs K.Wenban; Joint Hon Treasurers E.M. Arnold, J:S.Fox; Hon Secretary C.G. Gilbert; Hon Membership Secretary Dr R.B.Welch; Ron Legal Adviser T.A. Last; Hon ExcursionsSecretary Mrs Audrey Warburton; Events Committee Chairman Dr J.R. Sherwin, Mrs K.Wenban (Events Committee Assistant).

t ztsvRE szttvtcss coztMtrrEE The Lord Mayor; Chair Councillor B.P. Atha; Deputy Chair Councillor Mrs C.Myers;Councillor A. D. Atkinson, Councillor M.J.Bedford, Councillor I. Favell, Counmllor R. D. Feldman, Councillor J.G.B.Frankland, Councillor H.J. Gardiner, Councillor S.M. Gill, Councillor A. Groves, Councillor G. P. Kirkland, Councillor A. N. K.Lowe, Councillor Mrs R. Lund, Councillor J.B.W. Meade, Councillor A. Miller, Councillor G.Moakes, Councillor Mrs M.Monks, It, Councillor E.A. Nash, Councillor B.North, Councillor A. Ross.

sTAFF Director ofArt Ca()eries Christopher Gilbert MA rMA; Principal Keeper Anthony Wells Cole sta Astsu PrincipalKeeper (Art Ga((cry and Menry Moore Centre for the Study ofSculpture) Terry F. Friedman BA pHD; Keeper (Art Gallery)Alexander Robertson MA AMA; Keeper (Lotherton Hall) Daru Rooke uA; Keeper (Temp(e Nervsam) James Lomax ztA AsssuKeeper (Conservation) lan Fraser; Keeper (Education) Adam White sA MA; Senior Assistant Keeper (Education) post vacant;Senior Assistant Keeper (Art Gallery) Corinne E.Miller uA azta; Senior Assistant Keeper (Exhibitions) Nigel Walsh sA; ResearchAssistant (Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture) Benjamin Dhaliwal BA; Curatorial Assistant Samantha Flavin lsA;Keeper of Paint(ngs Conservation Jennifer Hack tsA, oipcons; Keeper of Technical Services John Berry aA; Technical AssistantDavid Hudson; Administrator Christine Stokes; Secretary Denise Lawson; Clerk Typist Valerie Jackson; Clerical Assistants SheelBharj, Jacqueline Howson.

NQTE Starting with the first tssue published in rs47, the entire Leeds Arts Calendar is now available on microfilm. Write forinformation or send orders direct to Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 4Sto6, usa.

FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATIONPortrait ofMrs Gascoigne and her son Alvary, by Arthur Hughes, I897.Given by Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne r 968.

LEEDS ARTS CALENDARNUMBER IO8 ~ I99IEditorial . 2,

Lotherton Hall Remembered DARU RQQKE 3

The Terrace Room at Temple Newsam ANTHoNv wELLs-coLE I3

i,

One of a pair of specimen marble tables, the marble tops by Giacomo Raffaelli and the gilt-pine frames byGuiseppe Leonardi, Rome, c. I Sso. Bought in Rome by Sir Clifford Constable (ISo6—89) of BurtonConstable, almost certainly on his honeymoon in r Say. Purchased r99o and r99r with grants from theNational Heritage Memorial Fund, the National Art Collections Fund, the Leeds Art Collections Fund,the Pilgrim Trust, J. Paul Getty Charitable Trust, Leche Trust, Esmee Fairbairn Trust, the Government,June Sellin and an anonymous benefactor; see page a

EDITORIAL

In z9g z, that is forty years ago, only the blink of aneye in the history of Temple Newsam, the DiningRoom, created by C. E.Kempe in z 888—89 for theHon. Mrs Meynell-Ingram, became the Director'soffice. At the time, Victorian interiors were littleappreciated and it was doubtless consideredexpendable. However, fashions change and todaythis splendidly romantic baronial room with itsheraldic display celebrating Lord Darnley, massivebuilt-in sideboard and the best seventeenth-centuryplasterwork in the house is likely to be very popularwhen, by early summer, it is once again included onthe public circuit. This will mean Temple Newsamhas thirty-three rooms open, a higher figure thanalmost any other country house apart fromHampton Court. Already, a fair number of visitorsfail to complete the full tour, but they can hardlycomplain they get poor value for the Ez admissioncharge. At present, we do not have a very appro-priate repertoire of furniture to put in the VictorianDining Room, but a set of eight tall-backedWilliam and Mary style chairs given by LordHalifax in z92,2,, together with a pair of sideboardtables, probably by Chippendale the Younger, anda large mid seventeenth-century Flemish armoire,both purchased by Leeds Corporation at the sale,will go on show. The Director has moved to the oldStill Room on the other side of the office suite—precisely at the centre of the building.Exciting changes are in train at Lotherton Hall.

The costume rooms have been completely re-displayed and now look much friendlier with asupporting cast of pictures and furniture, whilethree cabinets of blue and white Chinese porcelainenliven the Oriental Gallery. Daru Rooke, theKeeper, has been using evidence from photographsand a very detailed l937 inventory to rearrange theGascoigne collection according to its disposition atthis date which was very much the heyday ofLotherton. This has involved putting the EastRoom back into commission as a Dining Room,furnishing the old Dining Room as an EdwardianLibrary, re-ordering most of the pictures in their?937 groupings and framing up numerous prints todouble-hang from wires in corridors which createsa pleasant country-house atmosphere. Fortunately

our stock of z977 guidebooks is just exhausted sothe new edition can refer to these importantchanges. We will now concentrate on improvingthe rather obtrusive z96os light fittings.The LAc F played a vital role in the publication of

Peter Walton's Creamware and Other EnglishPottery at Temple Newsam (t976), and the two-volumed catalogue Furniture at Temple NewsamHouse and Lotherton Hall (t978), both of whichhave helped to enhance the reputation of LeedsCity Art Galleries as a centre of excellence in thedecorative arts and brought many subtle benefitswhen it comes to attracting grants, gifts andbequests. Happily, these books now produce a veryuseful annual income from sales which flows backto the LAcF coffers. It is therefore splendid toreport that the catalogue of English Silver, whichJames Lomax has been preparing for the past sevenyears, is now ready for the press. It provides acomprehensive, lavishly illustrated survey of theentire collection which sets new standards ofscholarship in the subject. The volume will bepublished by the LAcF in partnership with W. S.Maney of Leeds next spring and we are profoundlygrateful to fifteen local benefactors whose generousdonations have made this project viable.There have been several recent staff changes

which members may like to know about. SamanthaFlavin, who joined us in November as CuratorialAssistant, will be largely responsible for compu-terizing our records. Judith Nesbitt, Senior Assis-tant Keeper, whose energy and flair has, sinceI986, transformed the schools service of the ArtGallery, left in May to become Curator of Exhibi-tions at the Tate in the North, Liverpool, and wewish her well in this brave new job. Jennifer Hack,from Leicester, succeeds Michael Sheppard's longspell as Keeper of Picture Conservation, and will bebased in the new stable court studio at TempleNewsam, while John Berry has been promoted toKeeper of Technical Services. Finally, the LAcFcontributed a welcome f'2,, goo towards purchasingthe second Burton Constable specimen marbletable in January for Ez9g,ooo: one table is illus-trated on the title-page.

LOTHERTON HALL REMEMBEREDDARU ROOKE

Since November l990work has been in progress tore-create and re-display several of the interiors atLotherton Hall in order to give visitors a fuller ideaof how the house functioned in its inter-warheyday. The work, which has included the re-creation of Colonel Gascoigne's New DiningRoom, the installation of historic picture hangingsin the Library and Drawing Room and the repaint-ing of the domestic corridor has been informed by arange of pictorial and documentary evidence. Earlyphotographs, inventories and paintscrapes have allplayed their part in shaping the restoration pro-gramme, but equally significant have been theshared recollections ofMiss Phyllis Braithwaite. Asboth tenant and employee of the Gascoigne family,Miss Braithwaite has seen many changes in thehouse and estate and has provided much valuable

information about Lotherton and the way in whichit operated as a family home.Miss Braithwaite's association with the

Gascoigne family began with her birth in z9og inone of the estate cottages in Chapel Lane, Barwick-in-Elmet. Her father, John William Braithwaite,had begun his career at Barwick acting as coach-man to the affluent Hicks family who had settled inthe village towards the end of the last

century.'riving

their coach and four, teaching theirchildren to ride and hunt and attending the familyon their month-long holidays on Lake Winder-mere, John Braithwaite must have been a respectedand valued servant. Unfortunately, financial crisesforced the Hicks family to sell up and John wasgiven a job as under-keeper on the nearbyParlington estate.

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2 Lotherton Hall c. x9o3

At the turn of the century Parlington Hall wasstill the main seat of the long-establishedGascoigne family. Built on land purchased fromSir Thomas Wentworth in the z g4os, the Hall itselfhad received architectural contributions duringeach period of ownership, leaving it a ramblingasymmetrical building set within a vast park,embellished by garden temples and sham ruins(Plate z).Its occupant was the 'Old Colonel', Frederick

Charles Trench-Gascoigne, nephew of the firstLord Ashtown and widower of Mary IsabellaOliver-Gascoigne who had inherited the familyestates jointly with her sister in x8y2,.~ Their sonFrederick Richard Gascoigne (soon known asColonel) was living nearby with his wife and familyin the more modest setting of Lotherton Hall intowhich they had moved in l 893 (Plate z).Colonel Gascoigne senior was known to have

been devoted to his wife. Following her death inx89'rs Gascoigne's room was preserved intact,her jewels still laid out on the dressing table as she

had left them. This provided romantic gossip forthe village.The Colonel's other affections included blood

sports and horse-racing, the former resulting inregular aristocratic shooting parties at the Hall, thelatter giving the Parlington Stables a continuedreputation amongst the racing fraternity.Known by the staff and tenants alike for his bluff

personality and iron constitution, a short illnessfollowed by his death in June x9og shook theAberford community by its suddenness. ColonelGascoigne junior, enjoying his annual visit to thefamily's Scottish estate, Craignishe Castle, wascalled back at once and, after his father's funeraland the long period of mourning, took possessionof the Parlington estates.Mr Braithwaite continued to work for the young

Colonel, moving after his daughter's birth toWakefield Lodge on the edge of Parlington Park(Plate 3). During this period many of the Hall'contents were sold, the Colonel preferring toremain at Lotherton which boasted electricity,

3 Wakefield Lodge, Parlingron Park

central heating, modern sanitation and a layoutmore convenient than that at Parlington.Although the gardens, park and stables were

maintained, the house remained empty, the largefront drawing room providing an occasional bad-weather campsite for the local scout troop. The oldhouse must have seemed very forlorn indeed andone of Miss Braithwaite's earliest memories iswalking with her father through the rank andovergrown conservatory which extended to theeast of the house.At Lotherton Hall, furnishings and paintings

from Parlington took their place alongside thosealready purchased by the Colonel. The recentlycompleted hall was used to accommodate theimpressive array of family portraits which stillremain in the house, the most important workbeing Pompeo Battoni's Grand Tour painting of SirThomas Gascoigne, the 8th Baronet.The collection already included Arthur

Hughes'ouble

portrait of Mrs Gwendolen Gascoigne and

her son Alvary against a heathery Scottish land-scape (Cover). The work was well remembered bythe Braithwaite family, for in z 897, when the piecewas commissioned, John Braithwaite's cousin wasemployed as Nanny to the Colonel's two children,Cynthia and Alvary. She remembered dressing 'theyoung master'n his velvet breeches and shantungsilk blouse for the portrait sittings.On completion the painting was installed in the

newly completed Dining Room. The event soexcited the young Alvary that for days he ran in andout of the servants hall shouting, 'Have you seenmy portrait? Have you seen my portrait?', to theamusement of all.Sometime after the Colonel's death Mr Braith-

waite and his family moved once more, this time tothe Huddleston estate. A further segment of theGascoigne estates, the Huddleston shooting rightswere first let to a number of Leeds businessmen andthen to the well-known Bates family of Sandal.Under their directions Mr Braithwaite stocked and

reared game and organized shoots in his role askeeper, but the Gascoigne family continued toprovide a source of interest for his small family.Around t9xt Miss Braithwaite remembers a

vast Christmas party held for the tenants'hildrenin the Lotherton Hall 'play room'. Demolished inthe x96os, the play room was a large, wood-boarded chamber which had been converted some-time before r9og from the old carriage sheds andstabling to the rear of the house. It provided arather distant play area for the Colonel's children;a fire bell situated on the east wall of the housesummoned them in to tea.For Miss Braithwaite, however, neither the chil-

drens'upper nor the Christmas tree could hold herattention in the same way as the array of antelopehorns and hunting trophies that lined the wallsfrom dado to ceiling. Souvenirs of the Colonel'days abroad, the heads were to be burned by LadyGascoigne in the t95os: she was an ardent sup-porter of animal rights.

In r93y Colonel Gascoigne died, leaving thehouse to his son Alvary. Mrs Gascoigne continued

to live at Lotherton whilst Alvary and his secondwife Lorna pursued a diplomatic career in Tangiers(Plate 4). During this period the house remainedmuch as it had done since the completion of theNew Dining Room around t9r8. Only the Draw-ing Room, the Colonel's favourite room, was fullydismantled. No longer required for entertain-ments, the buff Austrian blinds (one of which hasrecently come to light, Plate g) were removed andstored, and the green silk damask wall-coveringwas draped with protective case covers.4 With thefurniture gathered into the centre of the roomunder dustsheets and the shutters firmly closed, ittoo must have seemed very forlorn.At Aske Bridge Lodge Miss Braithwaite

remained with her parents, taking an active part invillage affairs and looking after her father follow-ing her mother's death. In t949 her father died,leaving her alone in the remote cottage at AskeBridge. Desiring to move into Aberford MissBraithwaite contacted Mr Birkbeck, theGascoignes'gent. With no property availablePhyllis seemed doomed to take a flat over a shop in

4 Lady Gascoigne, Tangier c. 1940

Crossgates, but at the last moment she received asecond call from Mr Birkbeck. Would she, heasked, care to take a flat in Lotherton Hall itself?Part of the old domestic wing was vacant andsomeone was needed to help take care of the fragileMrs Gascoigne when the Nurse and Lady's Maidwere out.Somewhat hesitantly Miss Braithwaite went

with the agent and viewed the empty derelictrooms, abandoned since the Artillery (who hadrequisitioned the block during the war) had gone.In many ways the flat was ideal. It was perfectlyself-contained and complete with its Edwardianbathroom originally intended for the housemaids.A staircase linked it to the old Nursery block whereSir Alvary and his sister Cynthia had had theirbedrooms and schoolroom. Phyllis was able to seethese areas, neglected but still intact, walls painteda rich dark green and the woodwork grained inimitation of mahogany.

A second staircase from the Nursery landing ledto 'Gibraltar'nd 'Malta'hich, like the otherrooms in the house were named after places visitedby the Colonel on his many foreign journeys.Gibraltar, with its small cast-iron chimneypiece(Plate 6) and tiny windows, was the Butler's roomwhilst Malta (also known as the Hot Roombecause of its position over the kitchen range flue)acted as a general store room.

From the Nursery landing access could also begained to the main stair and to the body of thehouse. It was by this route that Miss Braithwaitewas taken, soon after her arrival, to be presented toMrs Gascoigne. Mrs Gascoigne spent much of hertime in the sunny room where the Colonel had kepthis important collection ofmedals. Large sofas andlounge chairs, still visible in the r96os photo-graphs, together with tables covered in familymementos and ornaments filled the room whilst thewalls were hung with cases of medals and textilehangings (Plate p). It was here that the now infirmMrs Gascoigne received Phyllis.After stating the terms of residence Mrs

Gascoigne warned Miss Braithwaite to take care inher dealings with the aged Scottish Housekeeper, alady reputed to have thrown a loaf of bread at theButler in one of their more torrid altercations. 'Herbark is worse than her bite', Mrs Gascoigneannounced, dismissing Phyllis to her duties(Plate 8).Mrs Gascoigne died at Lotherton later in zyy9,

which resulted in domestic changes at the Hall. Atthis time Sir Alvary was British Political Represen-tative in Hungary, a post he held until z9g z.Consequently it was not necessary to keep a largehousehold staff. The elderly housemaid wasinstalled in the nearby Parlington Almshouses,built by the Gascoigne family in the z 8yos (Plate 9).

Austrian blind fabric from the Drawing Room c. t 903

6 Chimneypiece in'Gibraltar', the Butler'bedroom; probably

l supplied by Teale 5c Co.of Leeds

7 The Medal Room in the r96os: Mrs Gascoigne's chair is still seen to the right of the chimneypiece

The remainder of the household staff were retainedon board wages.Little by little the house began to close up, Miss

Braithwaite assisting in the complicated pro-gramme of packing and storing that took place. Italso gave her ample opportunity to see the housestill much as it had been at the time of the Colonel'death in z93y.At this date the domestic quarters, now the

Oriental Gallery, remained largely intact. On theground floor of the 1903 wing, used by the Artilleryin the z9yos, were the derelict game and meatlarders, a large badly lit servants'all and, mostimportantly, the Housekeeper, Mrs Lees'oom.Miss Braithwaite remembers this room well.Painted in dark green and brown, its windows

faced west onto the back of the Chapel and let invery little light. Consequently, the electric lampshad to be kept burning all day. As well as an ironchimneypiece the walls were lined with cupboardsintended to hold china and table glass. Here, withan overstuffed chaise-longue under the windowand an armchair by the fire, Mrs Lees kept court.Next to the Housekeeper's room was the Still

Room, now used as the Video Room at Lotherton.This was where the best china and glass was

brought to be washed in the long lead sinks whichran along the walls. The room also held a scrubbeddeal table where the china was placed after dryingand before its return to the Housekeeper's roomand the Butler's pantry.The kitchens had had an Aga stove installed by

this date but had no sink, water being laid on to theadjoining scullery instead. Here vegetables werewashed in the stone sink, a slotted board raisingone from the damp flagstones.From the kitchen a short flight of stairs led to a

swing door giving access to the back corridor andButler's pantry. Food would be set out on a table inthis area before being carried from the pantry toDining Room.The main apartments of the house itself were

also largely intact with many of their originaltextiles, like the rose damask curtains, in theirchosen positions. The boudoir (or Morning Roomas it was always known by the family) retained itsdark brown painted walls and cream dado.s Keptshuttered, it had housed Mrs Gascoigne's com-mode towards the end of her life.At this date the Library still held the Colonel'

large collection of books in cases brought fromParlington Hall sometime after t9og. Beyond, the

8 Mrs Gascoigne photographed in z9yx

IO

9 The Almshouses, Aberford, built by the Misses Gascoigne in t gyp —yp

East Room, with its spectacular views of thegarden, was still set out as the family Dining Room,a duty it had served since the First World War.Piece by piece Phyllis, aided by the

Gascoignes'ecretary

Miss Routledge, put the house to bed,gathering furniture into the centre of the rooms,taking down curtains and carefully wrapping anddusting the vast array of books. Slowly the housebegan to run down.In x 9g x Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne returned

for a brief visit before leaving for Russia where SirAlvary stayed as Ambassador until z953.Throughout this period the house remained empty,serviced by the dwindling body of staff, one of thefew interruptions being the wedding of Sir Alvary'sdaughter, Yvonne, in the Chapel at Lotherton in195': the Hall was temporarily re-carpeted andfires were lit to welcome the guests.In z953 Sir Alvary and Lady Gascoigne re-

turned. Lady Gascoigne's first act was to gothrough the house and identify items to be sold.The sale which took place in a Leeds auction roomwas soon followed by another from the Hall itself.

This included furniture from Lady Gascoigne'sown family home, Wentbridge House, nearDarrington. Furnished by her father, ErnestLeatham, in the z 88os, their taste had been for finereproduction furniture, much of it by the firm ofEdwards and Roberts of London.In part the sales allowed the accommodation of

cherished Leatham pieces at Lotherton —like thegrand Sheraton-style bedroom suites. In part theythinned down the somewhat crowded interiors tomake them more consistent with contemporarycountry-house taste. This point is made by photo-graphs of the Hall at this date.Lady Gascoigne also repainted corridors and

bedrooms in creamy white, so consistent that hersister-in-law, Lady Sandys, remarked that it'looked like a hospital'. Floral Brussels carpets laidby the Colonel on stairs and corridors throughoutthe house were replaced by a fawn floorcoveringfrom Harrods which still survives.As for the rooms themselves —following the sale

of the Colonel's medals, the Medal Room becamethe main family sitting room. The library beyond

had the fine Gillows dining table set up there, alongwith the Chippendale-style dining chairs fromWentbridge and, as in z 89', the room became thedining area once more. Like the Drawing Room,the New Dining Room to the east was left empty.With the paintings leaning against the walls and thecarpets removed, Miss Braithwaite remembers it asa dismal unheated room, the grand portrait ofMrsGascoigne becoming mildewed in the dank atmos-phere. Finally, Mr Watson, the head gardener,requisitioned the room as a dahlia store and thewreck was complete.Throughout the remainder of the house new

curtains were installed, many of them made by theelderly Mrs Saywood. Once Lady's Maid to LadyGascoigne's mother, she continued to live in theSwiss Cottage, a charming lodge on theWentbridge estate. One sample of her work, thecurtains in the Morning Room, still exhibit hercareful and economical use of materials in a truejust-post-war spirit.Miss Braithwaite attended Sir Alvary and Lady

Gascoigne until their deaths in z97o and r9y9respectively. Both adjusted well to the conversionof the house into a museum in the z96os, continu-ing to live on in a modest flat on the first floor of thebuilding. Their gift had been prompted by a desirethat Lotherton, so typical of many country houses

of the Edwardian period, should be seen andenjoyed by many generations to come, a pointreinforced by Miss Braithwaite who still lives onthe Lotherton estate.

Using her experiences and the evidence of thehouse itself it is hoped that Lotherton will onceagain present the way of life lived here in theinter-war heyday of the Gascoignes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Miss Phyllis Braithwaite, who has givenendless time and shown great patience in answering myquestions.

NOTES

The Hicks family were wine and spirit merchants with largepremises in Leeds.

a Unfortunately little evidence survives about the appearance ofthe interiors and layout of the house itself.For a fuller account of the Gascoigne history see Leeds ArtsCalendar No. 6y (r969h pp. q—S.

a In recent refurbishment the nails used to suspend case-coversover the silk wallhangings were found intact, running atfour-inch intervals along the back of the Drawing Roompicture rail.

S Traces of the original scheme remain intact beneath LadyGascoigne's later repainting of the room in pale green.

6 The floral Brussels carpets are listed in the r93y inventory ofLotherton Hall preserved in the Temple Newsam archive.

THE TERRACE ROOM ATTEMPLE NEWSAMANTHONY WELLS-COLE

The Terrace Room is the smallish late eighteenth-century room opening off the west end of the GreatHall, an elegant interior transformed into amemorable one by Lady Hertford in the Regencyperiod, then marred by insensitive alterations in theI94os.Its restoration presented entirely different prob-

lems from those of the Great Hall: no photographappears to have been taken in the room beforeI945 when what remained of its historic decora-tion had just been destroyed, and although themain features of this scheme can be visualized theycannot yet be reinstated. So the room today is acompromise, though only a temporary one and onethat has much basis in history.

For nearly three hundred years from aroundI 5 zo when Temple Newsam was built, the TerraceRoom was the position of the main staircase. Thisfact was almost forgotten in our time but theevidence is clear enough. The Kip/Knyff engravingof Iyoz gives an oblique view of the Jacobeansouth wing and shows a door (with windows ontwo levels above it) leading out on to the terrace,between the bay windows that lit the Parlour andthe dais in the Hall, just at the point where theprisors of all the inventories of Temple Newsam upto and including I74o were able to circulate fromone level to another. In the very detailed bills forpainting work done by Henry Long in I688 andWilliam Addinell in Iprg—I9, the staircase was

Io Capability Brown's r 767 plan for altering the south (not the West) wing, showing the mainstaircase still on the site of what became the Terrace Room. Leeds Archives Department

—y.z t The Terrace Room during alterationsbehind the wall-boarding

in November r94g, showing evidence of the early staircase

always mentioned immediately before or after theHall. And this is where it is shown on two projectdrawings by Lancelot Brown and Robert Adam inthe zy6os and typos. Brown would apparentlyhave left it relatively untouched (Plate zo), whereasAdam would have ripped out the newel-typestaircase and replaced it with classical stone stairsrising in a central flight then dividing to return tofirst-floor level.'inally, Philip Hendy recordedseeing the marks of the long-removed newel postsand handrail on the west wall of the Terrace Roomwhen he stripped a section of the wall-boarding inz94 5 (Plate T z); and the continuation of these werefound in the early z98os on the plaster walls of thevoid above the ceiling. The existence of the mainstaircase in this space cannot now be doubted.What did this staircase look like? Curiously

enough, the t g6g inventory does not mention the

staircase by name but 'THENTRE To YE cREATEcHAM BR may be the upper landing of the stairs inthe south wing. It contained:Thre peces of grene saye xs, eight olde pewdre candle-stickes viijs, one cupborde and forme viijd, two mat-tresses vjs. Suma xxiiijs viijd.In any case, the staircase was probably altered bySir Arthur Ingram after he bought Temple Newsamin z6>2. (for he reportedly found the north andsouth wings virtually ruinous and had to rebuildthem) and the newel staircase whose traces havebeen recorded recently is of an early seventeenth-century type. Its furnishings no more than twenty-five years after his death are recorded in theinventory of z 666:upon the Stare Case s dTwenty pictures gc two guilded candlesticks to oo ooA Large Organ Io 00 00

I4

Rather more idea of its appearance can be gatheredfrom the highly detailed account presented by theLondon painter, Henry Long, for work 'ending attMartinmass t 688'

dFor go Shields upon figures for the stair-caseatt 2.s a piece when finished amounts to— o5 oo ooFor Statues Hall door —6s Two Statuesmending 5c 8s 00 I4 00

Note the reference to the Hall door, which was atthe foot of these stairs. The staircase was againpainted exactly thirty year later, WilliamAddinell's bill, dated t 8 December r yt 9, being forwork done the previous year:

f s dIn ye Starecase once over at 3d pr. yard2.66:tg pt 6 6...To 4y Cotes 5c Crests in ye Stairecaseat t8d pr 5c z at 8 Shillgs E[ach] 6 6

The inventory taken of the contents of TempleNewsam in tyzt, after the death of Rich, the SthViscount, shows that the number of paintings hunghere had increased from the twenty of t666 to nofewer than fifty-five.

During the next thirty or forty years, many of therooms in the west and north wings of the housewere modernized but the south wing was nottouched until late in the eighteenth century. Planshad been initiated, as we have seen, in the ry6os-five daughters born from tyg9 would need bed-rooms, while the early seventeenth-century stair-case, the Great Chamber above the Hall, not tomention the kitchens built out from the east end ofthe wing, must have seemed impossibly old-fashioned. Two architects, Brown and Adam,would have left the stairs where they were. Weknow nothing of the proposals of a third, JohnCarr, whose accounts make it certain that he wasconsulted about the staircase from r y6p onwards.A fourth, James Wyatt, was paid X3oo on 8 Marchr pyy, as the records of Drummond's Bank show,although there is no evidence that this was forremoving the staircase to its present position, orindeed for work at Temple Newsam. In the end, themajor alterations were postponed until the t79os.If the staircase was really moved to its new locationin the r yyos the space then vacated was eithertransformed into the Terrace Room straight away,or was left unfinished for the next twenty years—surprising, but not impossible.The construction and ornament of the Terrace

Room are consistent with those of the 'Best Dining

Room'now the Chinese Drawing Room) whichwas perhaps decorated as late as t8o4—in both,the door architraves are carried not on separateblocks but on the skirting board itself —and theTerrace Room was described as the 'New terraceroom'n the inventory of t 8o8. So it is much morelikely that the south wing was remodelled alltogether from the ty9os onwards. The discovery offragments of two wallpapers on the chimney-breast, the earlier compatible with a date c. r goo,gives added weight to this suggestion.So too does the letter which Frances, Lady Irwin,

wrote to Lady Stafford on r4 June ry9g:I know little of the world having been so long secludedfrom it, but I amuse myself prodigiously, for I haveattacked a huge Wing of Temple Newsam, have pulleddown Walls as thick as the Tower for the sole pleasure ofbuilding them up again, 5c here I am now in the midst ofDesolation created by my own nonsensical self...In order to convert the staircase well into a sittingroom a six-foot-wide passage was partitioned-offto the north leaving a room almost square in shape,with doors at the window end of the east and westwalls giving access to the Hall and Dining Room,and forming a proper enfilade with those of theother rooms. The chimneypiece was placed againstthe new brick partition wall with a jib door to itsleft, leading to the passage beyond. The walls wereapplied with battens, roughly plastered in theinterstices, with horizontal boards rebated into thebattens; canvas was then stretched over this liningas a foundation for wallpaper. The elaborateplaster cornice, the door and window architraves,dado and skirting, all have elegant neo-classicalmouldings.The inventory of t 8o8 describes a room that was

very fully furnished:

z printed cotton window curtains lined with calico to runas iron rods and full gathered valens fringed and to fastenback with lines and tassels and moulding cornices to dittofinished in burnished Gold 2. white Holland rollingblinds z mahogany backstools stuffed in linen andprinted cotton cases to ditto lined with calico 4 mahog-any lounging chairs in fine linen and printed cotton casesto ditto lined with calico 2, mahogany sofas stuffed inlinen with g seat and y back cushions bordered and sets ofprinted cotton cases to ditto lined with calico a brusselscarpet to fit the floor a hearth rug a set of dejeunetables 6 mahogany chairs with cane backs and seats amahogany oval claw with yellow bands a mahoganywork table with canted corners a smaller ditto amahogany pembroke table with a drawer and whitestrings a book backgammon table with boxes men and

IS

dice with two sets of Ivory Chessmen z mahogany polescreens covered with india paper z, glass candlesticks alarge mahogany leaved screen the panels covered withgreen paper a pier glass with a head plate in a carvedand burnishgold frame a satin wood table under dittocross banded and statuary marble stock on ditto achimney glass with a head plate in a carved and burnishgold frame a neat carved alabaster vase and pedes-tal a polished steel grate and fender a fire guard ashovel tongs and poker a polished frame and cheeks aregister round ditto t Bell pullThe fact that the inventory does not mention fabricwall-hangings confirms that the room was papered—this is true throughout the house —althoughthere is apparently little to suggest what its pre-dominant colour was. However, almost all thewallpapers from the other south-facing rooms inthe south wing were either blue or green, and one ofthe papers found in x98'as printed in green on agreen ground. Additionally, although the furniturein z 8oS had printed cotton case covers of unspeci-fied colour, there was a 'large mahogany leavedscreen the pannels covered with green paper'—perhaps the same paper as hung on the walls.So the room seems to have come into existence in

the zy9os with the green-ground paper on thewalls. Between r So8 and x Szy this was replaced bya pink-ground paper printed in grey and white.Then in tSzp the room was completely redecor-ated by Isabella, Lady Hertford, the eldest daugh-ter of Viscountess Irwin. As usual, the evidence isthe diary entry of Elizabeth Allen on g May r 8zS:...they are now furnishing and painting the house, thegallery and lower rooms were done last year and are veryhandsome and comfortable.

The first three rooms on the ground floor of thehouse —the Great Hall, the Chinese DrawingRoom and the former Red Drawing Room—werecertainly redecorated then, so there is no reason todoubt that work was done in the Terrace Room,too.Tapestries are mentioned here in the nineteenth

century, and Mrs Meynell Ingram's Will, datedr 898, describes them in some detail:z large pieces of Gobelins tapestry panelled in wallsTerrace Room representing the finding of Moses fkAaron 5c Hur supporting Moses Arms during the battlebetween the Israelites and Amalikites

In fact, a chance reference to the tapestries, con-tained in S.A. Byles's article on Temple Newsam inThe Magazine ofArt in z 893 gives what must bethe clue to the whole purpose of Lady Hertford's

remodelling of these ground-floor rooms in thesouth wing. Byles writes, on pages zt t and ztz:The widowed Lady Irwin kept up the state of the oldhouse with wonderful spirit. On September r8th, t8o6,she entertained the Prince of Wales afterwardsGeorge IV., after he and the Duke ofClarence had been atthe Doncaster races. The curious Chinese paper whichstill adorns the blue drawing room, and which is inexcellent preservation, was a gift from him to testify hisgratitude. The two fine tapestries, from the Gobelinsworks, in the Terrace Room, 'The Finding ofMoses'nd'The Battle of the Amalekites,'ere also the gift of royalhands ...Suddenly all becomes clear. Lady Hertford, who

finally moved in to Temple Newsam sometimeafter her husband's death in rgr9, began toredecorate the house in the later t.gzos. When shecame to the south wing she decided to convert theGreat Hall into a romantic Jacobean-revivalinterior, and to use the rooms either side to deploythe royal treasures given by the Prince of Wales,ostensibly out of gratitude for Lady Irwin's hospi-tality at the time of the Doncaster races, but nodoubt covertly out of admiration for her handsomeand characterful daughter. So Lady Hertfordcreated a drawing room at either end of the GreatHall, one hung with the Prince's Chinese paper, theother with his tapestries —a touching memorial toan attachment which had meant so much to hersome years before.How the tapestries were integrated into the

interior became plain during preparations for theredecoration in lpga when the room was strippedfor the second time in forty years. They occupiedthe east and west walls from the dado rail virtuallyto the ceiling, centred on the space between thedoors and the corners; smaller panels occupied thespace over the two main doors and the recesseseither side of the chimney-breast, the jib door beingsacrificed for the sake of unity (Plate r r). Minutefragments of fabric were discovered at the edge ofthese subsidiary panels and showed that they wereoriginally covered in an elegant pink moire silk. Allthe panels had frames, probably of oak embellishedwith leaf and guilloche ornament in composition.After the z9y S alterations, lengths of this mouldingwere used to frame the large painting of thePantheon in Oxford Street (given by Lord Halifaxin tying) and a panel of Louis XVI carving whichhad been in the chimney-glass or the pier-glass inthis room in zgo8 (Plate Iz). The moulding wouldhave been a perfect foil for the really remarkablefeature of the Regency scheme: between the framed

r6

xz Panel of Louis XVIcarving from the chimney-glass or the pier-glass in theTerrace Room in x8o8,framed in moulding perhapsused for the tapestries

=—~~~ I I i~1K~K ~ Nxev~ ~ +—

tapestries, the walls were entirely grained to simu-late oak. The pale colour matched the Regencygraining of the Chinese Drawing Room and GreatHall, and it was this that gave these three inter-connecting rooms their unity at that time.The room was probably also hung with the same

pictures listed there in x9oz:Portrait of Lady Godolphin oval x/<

Portrait of Lady Sunderland oval '/,Portrait of George IIIPortrait of George IV companionSmall portrait of Duke of YorkSpeech of HRH the Duke of York. In carved gilt frame

Still at Temple Newsam are the portraits ofGeorge III and IV, together with that of the Duke ofYork and his framed speech, printed in gold onvellum, with fleurons and other printer's orna-ments and a coloured miniature portrait of theDuke at the top.z With looking-glasses over thechimneypiece and in the pier between the windows,and tapestries taking up much of the remainingwall space, it is likely that the portraits were hungin two tiers in the recesses either side of thefireplace, with the small portrait of the Duke ofYork and his framed speech hung in the panels ofsilk over the doors.During Mrs Meynell Ingram's ownership of the

house between x87x and x904 the windows of theTerrace Room were glazed with leaded lights inplace of the larger panes put in a hundred yearsearlier. Inside, typical Victorian chaos reigned, asdescribed in her own manuscript inventory ofx88o:s

Six Dresden figures representing musicians given by LordAmherst to Lady Irwin Two ditto ditto with baskets(Shepherd 5c Shepherdess) One Dresden centrepiecewith raised flowers z cupids about x ft high with top-Two ditto ditto candlesticks with dogs. One do vase forlighters Two blue, white 5c gold Worcester saucers andcups with handles 5c saucer lids Two blue, white andgold Oriental sugar basins saucers 5c lids [bothdamaged] Two x blue 5c white Oriental bowls 5csaucers Two perforated Oriental bowls (flat). Onecovered Oriental bowl 5c cover with saucer. Two spillpots with cupids (Red Drawing Room) One dishperforated, with raised cherries (Great Hall [later] Gal-lery) much broken One scarlet lobster —/Dresden/./Great Hall/Gallery On tops of bookcase Two largeewers with raised flowers, birds 5c beasts. FourModern Dresden groups [obj ects on bookcase annotatedBlue Drawing Room] Two very good Oriental cabinetswith mounts 5c marble tops —One smaller do—Onelarge French clock. One tall armchair with ebony 5civory handles —[Missing] Two large pieces of Gobelintapestry (History ofMoses) —A pair of two light motherof pearl 5c gilt candlesticks [amended blue drawingroom] Two bronze candelabra boys Pairlight[s] Two bronze horses z Girandoles (Pair Lights)on Chimney Glass [not here]

The tapestries were notably absent from the lots inthe Terrace Room in Robinson, Fisher andHarding's x9zz sale catalogue, in which the roomwas called the Tapestry Room:[Lot] x x 37 a 4 ft. 4 in. brass Fender with scroll-patternmount and steel standardsx x g 8 A crimson and black Axminster Hearthrug,6 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 6 in.x x g9 A pair ofmahogany pole Fire Screens, on triangu-lar bases, the banners in octagonal frames

x7

Ityo A mahogany oval z-flap Table, of Adam design,the frieze with flutings and carved medallions, on shapedlegs and castorsI Iyt Two deerskin Hearthrugs, on blue clothIryz Two dittoI Iy3 One dittoIty5 Three Deerskins, unmounted

The panels where the Moses tapestries had beenwere subsequently occupied by two which neithermatched nor fitted, as the inventory of the roomcontents, drawn up by Hollis R Webb onI9 September I9zz shows:Mantel glass in carved gilt frame surmounted by carvedpanel.Pier glass in two divisions, carved gilt frame.Large tapestry panel 'Classical Scene'ditto 'The Horse

Breakers'ilpainting'Portrait of George III'. HolmesA ditto 'Portrait of George IV'ditto 'Portrait of the Duke of York' x Iz'/,

Illuminated Speech of the Duke of York, framed.A pair of Japanese Chests, carved fronts and gilded.A zy'/~" bronze statuette 'Queen

Victoria'ereft

of the tapestries which were its raisond'tre the Terrace Room struggled for survivaluntil the large exhibition of Pictures and Furniturecompiled by Philip Hendy and John Hulton inI938. This is how the catalogue described theroom:Decorated probably at the same time as the Blue[Chinese] Drawing Room. The large panels weredesigned to take Beauvais tapestries. The carved and giltpine in the panel over the fireplace is French, of theLouis XVI period

(typal

—89)Then, in I9$5, the room was altered as part of

the programme of 'brightening up'he inside of thehouse which had already spoiled the historicdecorative schemes in the Chinese Room and theGreat Hall. Philip Hendy recalled what he did:October I, I9y5The statement in the Kitson-Pawson Guide that thisroom was as it was left in Iy96 was quite incorrect.Probably in Lady Hertford's day it had been panelled outin oak and composition to take, according to LordHalifax, a series of Beauvais tapestries. These were

r3 The Terrace Room in the r95os

I8

z4 The Terrace Room stripped for redecoration in x988. The jib door can be seen on the left, and therecently-purchased chimneypiece on the right

removed at the time of the sale. The smaller panel hasbeen filled with modern damask, and the larger with twotapestries which did not fit. One of these is now over themantel-piece in the Great Hall. The mantel-piece was aplain white marble one, presumably of z y96. The presentmantel-piece was bought at Pratts for the purpose. Thedoor leading into the Director's office, immediatelyopposite the door from the Great Hall, was blocked up inr9yg. Under the present wall-covering is the matchboarding of zy96, except in a patch on the West wallwhere this was broken away to get at the flue [of theDining Room beyond].

A photograph taken at this time (Plate z z) showsthe newly-blocked door on the left, and the timberlining of the walls (with the traces of theseventeenth-century staircase behind); the doorarchitrave was later re-used on the half-landing

above first-floor level on the north-west stairs. Thedado and skirting mouldings were continuedacross the new portion of wall by robbing sectionsfrom the alcove to the right of the chimneypieceand replacing them with plain, unornamentedmouldings, which were presumably then hiddenbehind a piece of furniture. The jib door was againcanvased across, as it had probably been fromRegency times. Photographs show that the roomwas painted rather than papered (Plate z3).The scheme survived until r96o when a Cole's

reprint of a nineteenth-century neoclassical-revivalpaper, called Large Adams, was hung. This wasreplaced in the mid-z9yos by the first reprint of theOak Garland paper which had been discoveredbeneath the Chinese paper in the Drawing Room atthe other end of the Hall, perhaps hung there by

r5 The Terrace Room in z989

2.0

Thomas Chippendale the younger in Igoy whenthe room was the Best Dining Room.4

The recent restoration of the Terrace Roominvolved reopening the west door, into what was inI8o8 the Breakfast Parlour (from the I8zos, theDining Room), and the jib door into the passage.Original mouldings were put back wherever poss-ible, and replacements made where necessary. Thechimneypiece which Philip Hendy had substitutedfor the 'original plain white marble one, probablyof Iy96'as a distressing amalgam of bits ofdifferent dates. An appropriately simple whitemarble chimneypiece originally from a house in

Bath, with mouldings matching those of theChinese Drawing Room chimneypiece, was pur-chased from Nigel Bartlett in London and made tofit the hearth exactly. The room was redecorated byHesp gc Jones of Beningbrough with the Zoffanyreprint of the Oak Garland paper and its border(Plate Ig). Printed in gold, this paper has theappearance of the finest silk hangings.s Blue dyedcalico window curtains are being made up by theTemple Newsam textile volunteers for the blackand gilt 'spear cornice'ought for the room inI989.For the foreseeable future, this restoration is the

most acceptable compromise. But the unity of the

k'~j

alii

I6 Brussels tapestry, The Finding ofMoses. The Earl of Halifax

2. I

ry The Battle of the Amalekites. The Earl of Halifax

Regency scheme in these interconnecting ground-floor rooms, which survived the Victorian periodand the creation of the Library out of what hadbeen the Red Drawing Room in z9r 2,, depends onthe tapestries which graced the Terrace Room(Plates z6 and zpj.It is now certain that they were woven in Brussels

in the early eighteenth century as part of a set ofsix. Further research has revealed something oftheir subsequent history. They were not included inthe t92,2. sale but were retained by The Hon.Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, who laterbecame Lord Halifax. An eye-witness account of alater episode in their life was published in London'sEvening Standard on tg March z9yy:

I was looking today at two tapestries belonging to LordHalifax. Each measures fourteen feet by ten. One repre-sents Peace, the other War; they were made in Brusselsabout

taboo.

Both Peace and War used to hang in the corridors ofthe Foreign Office when Lord Halifax was ForeignSecretary. When he came over from Washington lastAugust he asked an expert to look at them.The expert found they needed some attention, and

after the work was done he stored them in his air raidshelter for safety. Peace was placed deep in the shelter.War was higher up.

After a raid Peace was buried deep in debris: War wasfound at the top.However, both have been rescued with little or no

damage.

They had actually been stored at Frank Partridge ftcSons in King Street, St James's, London. After theirordeal, they were taken to America where theywere exhibited in the autumn of r 944 at the NewYork branch of the firm. They were apparently soldon behalf of Lord Halifax in March of the follow-ing year for the sum of $ z z, goo, less to% commis-sion paid to the architect and a further to% toPartridge's, producing a total of $9,2,oo. Thetapestries seem to have remained in stock betweenr945 and z96z, when they were sent for sale atSotheby's in London on y July z96z (lots g8and

g9).'nfortunately, no attempt was made then to buythem back for Temple Newsam and efforts are stillbeing made to trace them. If these are successful,the Terrace Room will be returned to its Regencyappearance so that, when the Victorian DiningRoom beyond —for forty years the office of theDirector of the Art Galleries —is opened to thepublic, the suite of five ground-floor receptionrooms will once more have the handsome and

evocative decorative character they had during thelast years of private ownership.

NOTESt Adam's proposal was illustrated in the Leeds Arts Calendar,no. ro6 (t99oh Pl. S.

2 He supported a petition against allowing Roman Catholicsthe plebiscite in his speech delivered in the House of Lords on25 Aprti I825.In the Borthwick Institute in York.

4 It looks French and so does its border, which was later foundto have been hung below the cornice and above the dadoperhaps fifteen years later.

s Without the drawback, when the original hung in the diningroom, of retaining the smell of food.

6 Complete sets from the same cartoons are in Vienna andLiechtenstein, and individual tapestries survive in both publicand private collections. I am most grateful to Wendy Heffordof the Victoria and Albert Museum for identifying thetapestries, and to Angela Cottam, Secretary to Lord Halifax,for information drawn from the archives at Garrowby Park.

y In the Sotheby's catalogue they were described as earlyeighteenth-century Brussels, in the manner of Leyniers, repre-senting the Finding ofMoses and the Battle With Joshua andArnalek.

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