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Fall 2018 Royal Oak Calendar 9 Cartier Mansion Tour | the Current Season of Our Drue Heinz Lecture Series Began on September 24 with Nina New York, NY 5:15 P.M

Fall 2018 Royal Oak Calendar 9 Cartier Mansion Tour | the Current Season of Our Drue Heinz Lecture Series Began on September 24 with Nina New York, NY 5:15 P.M

Americans in Alliance with the of , Wales, and Northern Ireland

Focus on Celebrating Chippendale The Country House During British Foodways Over the Centuries

FALL/WINTER 2018 2 | From the Executive Director

THE ROYAL FOUNDATION 20 West 44th Street, Suite 606 New York, New York 10036-6603 Dear Members & Friends, 212.480.2889 | www.royal-oak.org

Anniversaries are about Oddy. They help to provide perspective BOARD OF DIRECTORS on some of the long-term institutional remembering, recognition Chairman and renewal. relationships, such as those with the Lynne L. Rickabaugh Attingham Summer School. A few Vice Chairman As Royal Oak moves into the final months former Board members have joined with Prof. Susan S. Samuelson of its 45th Anniversary year, we have lots some current Board members to help Treasurer to remember. It was actually in October form the 45th Anniversary benefit event Renee Nichols Tucei 1973, as a newly established Host Committee. This Secretary foundation waiting for its Thomas M. Kelly celebration is intended tax-exempt status, that the Directors to bring old and new National Trust provided Betsy Shack Barbanell friends together to for our first three years Michael A. Boyd congratulate each other of funding—they were Prof. Sir David Cannadine on what they have our angel investors—and Constance M. Cincotta accomplished on behalf allowed Royal Oak to John Southerton Clark communicate with the of the National Trust. Robert C. Daum 3,000 Trust members living Tracey A. Dedrick We have also renewed in the United States. From Anne Blackwell Ervin the commitment to those valuable acorns Pamela K. Hull our membership by Linda A. Kelly we have grown to nearly providing a new Hilary McGrady 14,000 members today. Eric J. Nilson We also recently presented website. We know Kristyn Noeth $1,525,000 to the National there are improvements to make and will Susan A. Ollila Trust in support of the Timothy Parker Churchill’s Chartwell project: so funds are do so in the coming months. You are encouraged to give us feedback on Robert Sackville-West, Lord Sackville flowing in the direction that Royal Oak Laura Trevelyan founders hoped for decades ago. content and services you want to see from this increasingly critical medium. STAFF Earlier this year we lost two very In addition, this fall’s program is important members of our Royal Oak our largest, in number of lectures and David Nathans | Executive Director & CEO [email protected] family. Lawrence Rich was the first tours, in four years. Member surveys tell Greg Joye | Director of Development National Trust employee to explore the us more programs are of interest in order [email protected] U.S. landscape, lecturing in 11 cities over to remain connected to the preservation Ian Murray | Chief Financial Officer two weeks. He returned to England and and conservation values represented in [email protected] then was sent back to organize a Board all of what the National Trust is doing. Winifred E. Cyrus of Directors, choose a name, and hire the We are also making efforts to diversify Director of Membership Services [email protected] first Executive Director in 1974. Rich later our offerings with events for families, became the Trust’s magazine editor: he Jan Lizza | Membership Services Associate for music lovers and for literary critics. [email protected] died this past summer. Drue Heinz (see Please see our Calendar (p. 14) or look on Jennie L. McCahey | Program Director opposite page) was patron of our lecture our website for an event happening near [email protected] series for 26 years and served as Honorary you. Christina de Gersdorff | Program Coordinator Chair until her death in April at 103. [email protected] Their contributions, as well as those of Thanks to all our members, donors and Kayla Smith hundreds of others in supporting our first friends. You are the thread that makes Program & Development Assistant 45 years, are gratefully recognized. Royal Oak a living and brilliant tapestry. [email protected] Branwynne Kennedy In this anniversary year we are renewing Development & Communications Associate Very best regards, [email protected] relationships with former Board members Jessie Walker | Foundation Volunteer and senior staff. Together they built this organization into a valued and respected June Price | Newsletter Designer one. It is personally very rewarding for The Royal Oak Newsletter is published me to have had great conversations with biannually and distributed to active members many of my predecessors, including David Nathans and contributors. ©ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Arete Warren, Damaris Horan and John Executive Director & CEO

212.480.2889 | www.royal-oak.org Cover Photo: The Pavilion, glowing in autumn sunshine at Montacute, .©National Trust Images/John Miller Community | 3

Royal Oak News

New Benefits Added for Members when Traveling We have added two new benefits this summer which we encourage you to take advantage of: You now will receive discounted membership at the Royal Over-Seas League Club and reduced prices at the Stafford, a premier hotel in with an interesting historical connection to America.

Samuel H. Kress A New Book on British Supports National Trust Country Houses Sculpture Project Royal Oak Launches This fall, we are proud to announce the a New Website Royal Oak is delighted to have recently publication of The Country House: Past, As many of you already know, Royal Oak received a grant of $20,000 to provide seed Present, Future: Great Houses of the British launched a new website and database in funding for the National Trust’s new four- Isles co-edited by scholars David Cannadine year Mapping Sculpture project. The goal of the final days of August. These upgrades and Jeremy Musson. The 432-page book, this project is to inspect all sculptures in the will allow us to better serve you and grow published by Rizzoli and cosponsored by Trust’s expansive collections, update records our membership. If you have not done so Royal Oak and the National Trust, features already, you will need to register for the new internally and online with high-quality many National Trust properties. The book website at www.Royal-Oak.org. We ask that photographs for each work, prioritize those you use the email you have used with us in sculptures most in need of conservation, explores changing perceptions of the rich the past as your username. You will find all and finally to publish the resulting records and complex heritage of the British country your member benefits in the section called on the National Trust Collections website as house both in highly visual photographic “Members’ Area,” including discounts on well as on website of Art U.K., a partner in essays and commentary by several leading travel and publications. the project. scholars and authors in the field.

Remembering Drue Heinz

Royal Oak mourns the passing of Drue Heinz, a long-time benefactor and our Honorary Chairman. A great patron of the literary arts and a philanthropist, Mrs. Heinz was born in Norfolk, England and was devoted to British arts and literature. One of the many institutions she supported was the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Her relationship with Royal Oak led to the establishment of the Drue Heinz Lecture Series, which the Drue Heinz Trust underwrote for 26 years. This enabled the Royal Oak Foundation to bring hundreds of scholars and authors to cities across the country. Royal Oak sincerely appreciates her generosity. She and her stewardship will be deeply missed.

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Soldiers and nurses at Great Dixter, East Sussex, 1918. The Country House at War Many country houses and grand estates were turned into hospitals and training grounds as part of the war effort by Jeremy Musson

The war of 1914-18 had a devastating effect the first year of the war, around one in seven landowners’ unchanging world at the center on every aspect of British life. Today, it fell. Many landowning families lost more of their landed estates. Stourhead, its lakeside is rare to visit a village green or country than one son. Lord and Lady Desborough views studded with exquisite temples, had church without coming across a list of lost their two eldest sons in May and June been home to the Hoare family for 200 years those who died in that terrible conflict. 1915 respectively, a tragedy from which when their beloved and only son Harry Of the six million men who served in the Lady Desborough never recovered. With a joined up in 1915. He died in December British army, over 720,000 never returned third son dying in an accident after the war, 1917 from wounds received leading a charge to the cities, towns and villages that they her family home, Panshanger House, was on Mughar Ridge in Palestine. called home. left without an heir and demolished after her death. Newly wealthy men of commerce were still in The impact affected the country houses the early 1900s building new country houses of Britain and Ireland in many ways— Lady Desborough’s eldest son, Julian Grenfell, and creating new estates and dreamed not least the small, interconnected and was awarded the DSO (Distinguished of their sons inheriting, thus founding a interdependent world of the landed estate. Service Order) medal and is commemorated landed dynasty to rival the best old country Landowners and their sons, household at ’s Poets’ Corner. His families. Julius Drewe, founder of Home and servants and estate workers, went off to most famous poem, Into Battle, was first Colonial stores, was building Castle Drogo, ‘do their bit’, often enlisting in the same published just the day after his death. One in regiment. Ten men from the estate and five men from serving families of the titled in Devon, designed by Edwin Lutyens, when house of Brodsworth Hall in nobility was killed in the war, and their loss war broke out. His eldest son died at Ypres in travelled to the front during the first two cast a long shadow over surviving parents, 1917, and a memorial room has been kept at years of the war: four of them were killed. wives, siblings and children. Castle Drogo since the family finally moved out in 1928 (the war was one of the main The life expectancy of younger officers at Set in Arcadian landscapes, country houses causes of the enormous delay in the building the front was also devastatingly short—in projected the serene confidence of the project which began in 1911). Photo: Artist: Nathaniel Lloyd Artist: Nathaniel Photo:

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Even when there was a sibling, cousin or ran a military hospital for wounded soldiers up in Edwardian Britain as the young son nephew to inherit, as at Castle Drogo, the at Woburn, in Bedfordshire—but only of a gamekeeper, and noted that: ‘in those loss of an expected heir caused shockwaves after her attempts to serve the country in days when the rich were taxed very little, I that fundamentally unsettled the prospects other ways, were rebuffed, as she told one reckon every county had thirty or forty big of an estate’s survival. Country estates had journalist: “As soon as war was proclaimed houses with a staff of thirty or forty. Who suffered from an agricultural depression I wondered what help I could render: I would have dreamed that in my lifetime all that set in during the 1870s, reducing the offered my yacht as a patrol boat and all that would pass away? We thought it would value of rents paid to landowners by their the crew volunteered; as I go yearly to Fair last forever.’ tenants by two-thirds. Land reform under Island away between Orkney and Shetland, Liberal governments was followed by the we know the Northern coasts and waters Jeremy Musson is co-editor, with Prof. David dramatic reduction of the long established very well. My offer was refused, I suppose Cannadine, of The Country House: Past, powers of that bastion of the landed elite, because I am a woman!” Present, Future, published by Rizzoli, and the House of Lords, in 1911. In 1894, the cosponsored by the Royal Oak Foundation and The National Trust recently commemorated Liberals also introduced new taxation on the National Trust, which explores changing inherited capital beginning at eight percent one example of a World War I hopital perceptions of the rich and complex heritage of on estates over 1 million pounds in value, with an installation at Dunham Massey in the British country house both in highly visual rising to forty percent on estates over £2 . This was offered to the Red Cross picture essays and commentary by several million in 1919 (and to sixty-five percent in 1917 by Lady Stamford. Lady Stamford leading scholars and authors in the field. in 1940). (like the Duchess of Bedford) herself took on the role of the hospital’s commandant, It was this economic shake-up through leaving the day-to-day running of the wards and beyond the interwar period that led to an experienced nursing sister Catherine to many houses being sold or demolished, Bennett. Lady Stamford’s daughter, Lady Whipsnade Cathedral because of the dramatic reduction in the Jane Grey, also underwent training to work value of their estates (and also led to the as a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) establishment of the country house scheme nurse there. The Elger family also offered The Country House at War of the National Trust promoted by Lord their home, Clayton Court, in , Lothian, who bequeathed Blickling Hall to as a military hospital. In 1918, The Red Many country houses and grand estates were turned into the National Trust). There was often simply Cross Journal recorded the sad death of their not enough cash in the bank to employ the daughter Cicely, who had been working as a hospitals and training grounds as part of the war effort large numbers of resident staff who made volunteer nurse and succumbed to influenza the running of such houses possible. during the massive epidemic that followed by Jeremy Musson the war’s end. When war broke out in 1914, there were only 7,000 hospital beds in Britain. As the World War I shook the seemingly war progressed, hundreds of country houses impregnable world of the landed elite to were volunteered by their owners for use as its core, but the more radical change came auxiliary military hospitals or convalescence during and after World War II. Bob Sharpe, homes. The Duchess of Bedford set up and a retired butler, wrote a memoir of growing When Edmond Blyth returned home after serving in the infantry in World War I, he mourned the deaths of some of his closest friends from Sandhurst who had died in battle. After a visit to nearly 20 years later, he came upon the idea of planting a cathedral of trees to commemorate his fallen comrades. The result was Whipsnade Tree Cathedral in Bedfordshire. Grassy paths and towering trees take the place of a stone nave, transepts, chancel, and walls. The Cathedral was given to the National Trust in 1960, though religious services continue to be organized to this day through an independent body. To learn more about the site, visit: www.royal-oak.org/TreeCathedral The traveling case used by Capt. Tommy Agar-Robartes during his time with the Coldstream Guards in World War I, in his bedroom at Lanhydrock, . He was killed in battle on September 30, 1915. Photo: ©National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel von Images/Andreas Trust ©National Photo:

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Murderous Millinery The British women who took on the plume trade by Tessa Boase

The small envelope was cream, luxurious These women kick-started an animal rights Alexandra of Denmark was the Princess to the touch and marked with a royal crest. revolution, prompting ordinary people to fall of her day, a global pin-up Rather than being slit at the top with a letter in love with birds. Where they led in 1889, with exquisite dress sense. Wife to the knife (as one might have expected, of the with their campaign against ‘murderous philandering King Edward VII, ‘Alix’ was a Duchess of Portland), it had been ripped millinery’, other nations followed. The new Queen in search of a role. Where she open in a fumbling hurry. What was inside? Massachusetts Audubon Society, founded led, many millions of women would follow. by Minna Hall and Harriet Hemenway in The RSPB began courting her, delicately, For two days I’d been sitting in the archives 1896, owed a debt to their British Victorian from the beginning of the Edwardian age in of the Royal Society for the Protection of sisters when they asked lady members to 1901. Would she put her name to their bird Birds (RSPB), in a Victorian lodge hidden in protection movement? Bedfordshire woodland. I was trying to piece sign a pledge to wear no feathers, the ostrich together the intriguing story of the Society’s plume excepted. Just when they had given up hope, a letter birth. I knew that a handful of brave women was hand-delivered from the to their That cream envelope with its royal crest were involved: Emily Williamson, Eliza president Winifred, Duchess of Portland, Phillips and Etta Lemon—women who have marked a key moment in the British bird on March 18, 1906. From inside that ripped not been remembered by history. I knew protection campaign. ‘If the Queen came to envelope, I drew out a stiff, watermarked that their long campaign against feathered show the way,’ wrote a Bishop to the RSPB sheet. hats had enraged the masculine plumage ladies in 1903, ‘feather wearing would soon trade, earning them insults like ‘feather be discarded. To make it vulgar would be the ‘The Queen desires me to say in answer to faddists’ and ‘fluffy fanatics’. best way to stop it.’ your letter that she gives you, as President,

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full permission to use her name in any way store doorways, screening out the offending you think best to conduce to the protection images with their parasols. of the Birds,’ wrote Charlotte Knollys, Lady of the Bedchamber. ‘You know well how The Countess Fabbricotti’s kind and humane the Queen is to all living boutique creatures—and I am desired to add that HM Who was buying the ‘osprey’? I found, in never wears Osprey feathers herself, and will one archive collection, an intriguing set certainly do all in her power to discourage of order books belonging to an exclusive the cruelty practiced on these beautiful birds.’ milliner operating from 5 South Molton Street, , 1905-1909. She went by the This royal letter was not just a decree that name of the Countess Fabbricotti, and (as I would sway the fashion houses of London, discovered) her story was one of tremendous Paris and New York; it was a passport to real self-fabrication. influence in Parliament. It would open the path to powerful legislation to protect the Born plain Anna Kingsley, raised in Chicago birds. to Irish parents, she had fled to London in the wake of a scandalous divorce. Her What was the ‘osprey’? scheme for reinvention was successful, for Dubbed ‘the badge of cruelty’ by the RSPB, Fabbricotti’s order books read like a Who’s the ‘osprey’ became the emblem of the bird Who for racy Edwardian A-listers. protection campaign. This was not a fish eagle, but the millinery trade name for a Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland, spray of fine, white feathers ripped from the Lady Beatrice Pole-Carew, Countess of back of a breeding American snowy egret. Kilmorey, Maud Cunard, Lady Sassoon… By 1903, when one ounce of ‘osprey’ was These were women on whom all eyes were trained; women required to refresh their worth twice its weight in gold, every woman Portrait of Winifred Anna Cavendish-Bentinck, aspired to own one. But for every ounce, look at every outing. None, apparently, 6th Duchess of Portland by de Lazlo. four adult egrets were killed, their chicks left cared a rap about the birds. The order to starve to death. books reveal the guilty parties. One Friday in June, 1905, Daisy Cornwallis the Cape ostrich to the Australian lyre bird, from the Borneo hummingbird to New In 1911, a desperate stunt was staged by the West, Princess of Pless—England’s ‘most Guinea birds-of-paradise. The industry was RSPB; a stunt worthy of the suffragettes. Ten beautiful woman’—entered the boutique worth £20 million a year at its pre-war peak men bearing graphic billboards were hired and purchased a pale pink osprey for 12s (around $270 million in today’s money)— to march through the West End during 6d (around $260 today). too valuable to give up lightly. the summer sales, displaying photographs A cast-iron law for the birds of the life (and death) of the snowy egret. America’s campaigners were first to claim As the parade walked slowly past the The RSPB’s goal was bird protection victory for the birds. The Migratory Bird seductive of Regent and Bond legislation. But again and again, their bill Treaty Act, passed in 1918, made it a Street, shopping women in white lace and was squashed in the House of Commons crime to deal in feathers: milliners and pastel chiffon wheeled round, intrigued. by trade interests. Britain’s imperial trade ‘feather foundries’ were ordered to burn Others ducked haughtily into department routes fairly heaved with feathers—from their plumage stocks or face a fine. Whole warehouses went up in smoke. The British Bill, finally pushed through in 1921 after Birds of the National Trust a 30-year campaign, was disappointingly weak. Feathers could no longer be imported, Some iconic birds of the British Isles have seen their but they could be worn with impunity. populations drop precipitously in the past few decades. The Duchess of Portland, now 59, closed the As Britain’s largest landowner, the National Trust plays a 1922 AGM on a trenchant note. ‘In America,’ critical role in protecting Britain’s ecological heritage and has laid out ambitious plans to restore the natural environment at she said, ‘they do some things better than we their properties. do here. When a lady wears an osprey they tear it off her head, hat and all.’ Royal Oak members have helped to safeguard wildlife habitats by contributing to funds like the Coastline Campaign and the Peak District Moorland Restoration project, amongst others. Tessa Boase is author of Mrs Pankhurst’s Purple Feather: Fashion, Fury and Feminism To learn more about the National Trust’s plans to help bird populations and to learn about – Women’s Fight for Change (Quarto). the best bird-watching places in the U.K., visit our blog at www.royal-oak.org/ForTheBirds Available as hardback, e-book and from

Photos: (top) ©The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo. (bottom) ©National Trust Images/Derek Hatton Images/Derek Trust ©National (bottom) Photo. Stock Art Collection / Alamy Picture ©The (top) Photos: Audible. www.tessaboase.com

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Claydon, set in an idyllic landscape, is famed for its eighteenth-century interiors. Codebreakers and Grand Chateaux A convenient trip from London, Buckinghamshire is filled with historic properties to visit by James McDonaugh

Buckinghamshire is a ‘Home County’, which Buckinghamshire stretches from the River who made the Vale of Aylesbury their means an area of England that borders Thames opposite Windsor to north of the own and built Waddesdon Manor and London. It is more commonly known as large town of Milton Keynes, which is often Ascott. Waddesdon is almost entirely ‘Bucks’. There are at least six home counties regarded as the ultimate ‘suburban town’ of French and there is nowhere else like it in depending on how you define ‘border’. England, full of company headquarters. Yet England. Ferdinand de Rothschild wanted a They are often regarded as having been the county also boasts two of the prettiest French chateau in the English subsumed by London and can be negatively stretches of countryside in southern countryside with interiors in the style of characterized as being too full of second England: the Chiltern hills to the south, Louis XIV. In 1874 he bought a plot of land homes with large cars sitting in driveways or now designated ‘An Area of Outstanding from the of Marlborough and so began as being densely populated ‘commuter belts’ Natural beauty’ and the pretty rolling his dream. He filled the house with one of countryside of the Vale of Aylesbury to the with people commuting to work in London the finest private art collections in England: north. Dotted all over the county are its through endless traffic jams. Home counties Boulle furniture, Boucher tapestries, great houses: Waddesdon Manor, Ascott, such as Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire Riesener furniture and grand Sèvres table Stowe, , Claydon, and have indeed lost much of their settings, along with a superb collection of and Hughenden to name a few. And let’s not green landscape to the sprawling growth forget Pinewood Studios where they made Dutch masters and fine English portraits. of the city. However, it is all too easy to James Bond, Star Wars and Harry Potter The house and collection were bequeathed characterize them in negative terms and films, and the car racing circuit, to the National Trust in 1957 and it is now miss the obvious: the countryside is well home of the British Grand Prix. leased by the 4th Lord Rothschild. Ascott protected (due to very strict planning laws) could not be more different: a Neo-Tudor and there are a host of grand houses still The most famous family associated with house where there is little grandeur other

surrounded by their gardens and parkland. Buckinghamshire are the Rothschilds, than the terraced gardens. There is, however, Miller Images/John Trust ©National Photo:

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a substantial art collection, the highlight never saw it completed because he was fired being the fine Chinese porcelain collected by Verney after an argument about the by Anthony de Rothschild. cost. The staircase here is so precious that nobody is allowed to walk up it. For the student of English landscape design there can be no more important subject than The delights of and the Stowe Park. The grounds were laid out by were brought to Buckinghamshire by the for Lord Cobham, later Dashwood family, in particular Sir Francis followed by and Capability Dashwood who traveled widely in Italy, Brown, the latter starting his career as head Greece and Asia. He built West Wycombe gardener here in 1741. Over the years twenty- Park in 1735 and was still working on it five buildings were created in the landscape, in the 1770s. It is a filled with largely the work of Sir John Vanbrugh and references to his travels, from ceilings , two of England’s greatest 18th inspired by the great Italian painters in century architects. became Rome such as Raphael, Reni and Carracci a leading private school in the 1920s and to those influenced by ancient Roman the National Trust now looks after the vast architecture in the east such as in grounds. The Gothic Temple stands out Syria. Dashwood even imported an Italian from the other classical buildings and you painter, Giuseppe Borgnis, in 1752 to carry can book your next holiday here thanks to out the works. Sir Francis was a ‘character’, the who have squeezed founding the whose motto The Gothic Temple, west front, at Stowe, bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms into the was ‘Do what thou wilt’. He enjoyed playing taken in the early evening. A startingly original turrets. practical jokes, and even pretended in St triangular building, designed by James Gibbs Petersburg to be the dead body of Charles in 1741, completed in 1748. contains some of the most XII of Sweden. During World War II, the beautiful interiors in England with grand house had some famous lodgers including with gothic additions and is Georgian decoration. It was built Nancy Mitford, and the filled with political mementoes from his to rival Stowe by Ralph, Earl Verney. Like was housed here to save it from Hitler’s illustrious career. Better known is Chequers, Stowe, it also bankrupted its owner and bombs. which has been the official country house both ended up living abroad to escape their residence of the Prime Minister since 1921. creditors. The original house was three times There are three houses of political note in It is a 16th-century manor house and was the size of the present wing which is now Buckinghamshire. The least well known given to the nation by Lord and Lady Lee looked after by the National Trust. The North is Hughenden, which was bought for of Fareham ‘as a thank-offering for her Hall is a masterpiece of Rococo carving by in 1848, one of England’s [England’s] deliverance in the great war of Luke Lightfoot, who carried out the work in finest 19th century Prime Ministers and 1914–1918 as a place of rest and recreation his London studio but painted it in situ. He favorite of Queen . It is a Georgian for her Prime Ministers for ever.’ But perhaps the most interesting is Bletchley Park, whose very existence was kept secret for decades after WWII. It was here that the vital work was done breaking German Enigma codes, which helped turn the tide against Hitler. The work done here by the mathematician Alan Turing would form the basis of modern computer science, and has been celebrated in the recent Hollywood movie ‘The Imitation Game’.

These are just a few of the more famous houses in Buckinghamshire and there are many more worth seeing. ‘Bucks’ is well worth the ‘commute’ out of London.

James McDonaugh studied Art and Architectural History at The Courtauld Institute of Art and is the Founder of Art Tours Ltd, a tour operator designing bespoke trips around Europe. He lectures on English

Photos: (top) ©National Trust Images/Andrew Butler. (bottom) ©National Trust Images/Ian Shaw Images/Ian Trust ©National (bottom) Butler. Images/Andrew Trust ©National (top) Photos: The Blenheim Pavilion at Cliveden built by , possibly about 1727, for Lord Orkney. Country Houses.

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The Kitchen at Cragside, Northumberland. The house, one of the finest examples of Arts and Crafts workmanship in Britain, was the first in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. Of Kitchens and Cookbooks The British table over the centuries by Carl Raymond

Among the contributions Britain has much of that time, cooking remained an on- surprising ingredients including olive made to world cuisine, several of the most going battle to escape the soot and smoke oil and a range of spices such as ginger, notable include a certain genius with fruit, and still manage to prepare a meal. cinnamon and cardamom reflecting a particularly in pies and preserves, a definite flourishing international trade, they were affinity for all things dairy and of course, Generally regarded as the first cookbook in imprecise in their explanation of method. the masterful subtleties found in the great English, “The Forme of Cury” was written They were written for other professional English roast. Culinary technique was slow as a manuscript on a scroll by cooks in cooks employed in aristocratic kitchens who to evolve in the British Isles as compared the kitchen of Richard II. The name, not would have simply known what came next. with the continent and yet a dramatic referring to the savory Indian dish, was evolution took place on British tables from given to the collection of recipes much It was during the Tudor and Elizabethan the time of the spice-laden dishes of the later in the 18th century and was derived periods that the truly great kitchens evolved. medieval feasts to the often rather bland, from the French, “cuire,” to cook. While During the reigns of Henry VIII and

overcooked fare of a Victorian dinner. For early recipe collections did include some , kitchens in the massive Dobson Images/James Trust ©National Photo:

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were dominated by the enormous hearths of fire and to prevent any unwanted cooking filled with frightening rods, racks and spits smells from ruining an elegant dinner more often resembling instruments of torture gathering, was becoming a common feature Kitchens of the than tools of cookery. Roasting and boiling of large country homes. were the main methods of preparation of National Trust the main food stuff which was meat. The Recipe writing and cookbook publishing wealthier you were, the more meat you ate: moved forward yet again with the work of the Wondering what life was like below stairs? great Hannah Glasse in the mid-1700s. Her Today you can get a taste of life downstairs boar, beef, venison, pork, duck, geese, heron from the Tudor hearths to the highly classic, The Art of Cookery, and swan all found their organized operations of the late Victorian way onto the spits and were written to help her earn and Edwardian households so familiar roasted before the open fires her own income, included to devotees of by visiting or boiled in steaming pots. recipes written for those National Trust homes. One of the key jobs in the less familiar with culinary preparation and included Many of the historic homes owned by the Tudor kitchen was that of National Trust have sculleries, butteries, turnspit—often young boys precise measurements, kitchens, dairies, butlers’ pantries, servants’ of poorer families chosen cooking times and a great bedrooms and other ‘downstairs’ rooms that for their strength whose deal of advice to the cook. you can explore. job it was to turn the heavy Marmite gained in Glasse’s strong disdain for Some homes even hold demonstrations of meat laden spits to insure popularity after being the increasing influence of rationed to WWI soldiers. past cooking methods. (And might give you French cuisine is abundantly even roasting. A dangerous a bite!) and unpleasant job, turnspits often labored clear and she stood firm on the merits of a doused with water or behind bales of wet good English cook. To learn more about which homes have hay to protect them from the flames, sparks such areas open to the public, visit www. and heat. Likely the most famous of all cookbook royal-oak.org/ACooksLife writers pre-20th century was the The Elizabethan period saw the emergence controversial yet extraordinarily popular of private recipe collections now written Isabella Beeton. Her Beeton’s Book of by ladies of the large country estates Household Management, published in book detailing their favorite preparations of form in 1861, combined recipes and further food often including medicinal treatments advice on managing a household aimed at and notes for managing households. One the rapidly growing middle class mistress particularly charming collection to have who was now faced with managing servants survived is Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book, and who likely knew little about either food written in 1604 which includes recipes for or domestic operations. Beeton died only a bread, fritters, and preparations for the few years after her book was first published abundant fruit grown at Appleton Manor, at only 29 years old. The image of a sage, the Fettiplace estate in . The wizened, older Beeton who dispensed solid, manuscript, as were many of the time, was if arguably unoriginal household knowledge intended to be passed down to daughters was a popular myth, yet her influence has Country Cooking, “Some sensible person and grand-daughters as the fascinating remained strong for many even today who once remarked that you spend the whole of notes scrawled in the margins attest. remember their first cooking experiences your life either in your bed or in your shoes. under the direction of their mother’s copy of Having done the best you can by shoes and A hundred or so years later, in the Georgian “Mrs. Beeton”. bed, devote all the time and resources at period and even more so during the your disposal to the building up of a fine Regency era, revolutions in equipment The publication of cookbooks stagnated in kitchen. It will be, as it should be, the most allowed a decidedly French influence to the early to mid-20th century and focused appear on the upper class British table. on the use of improved domestic ovens and comforting and comfortable room in the Cooks found themselves involved in the refrigerators. Due largely to the wars which h ou s e .” complex execution of sauces as well as drastically reduced the availability of food elaborate cakes and pastries. Dining became as well as the money to buy it for many Carl Raymond is a food historian, writer, a theatrical experience with dazzling sugar Britons, cookbooks and recipes focused on educator and culinary consultant. He sculptures, ice creams molds and mountains economy and thrift. It was the passion and graduated from the Institute of Culinary of fowl artfully piled on silver platters determination of the great Elizabeth David Education and completed further studies decorating the table. All of this required in the 1950’s that re-introduced the love at the French Culinary Institute. He speaks space to produce and kept the multiple of cooking and pleasures of the table to a burners, double-oven heavy classic cast-iron hungry British public. Whether one is a regularly on food history at a variety of ranges working overtime. At the same time, novice or an experienced cook, it is the love cultural and historic institutions. Carl will the dining room, located as far away from of a good kitchen that can be said to center be speaking to Royal Oak audiences this the kitchen as possible to reduce the hazard a home. As David herself notes in French November. See the calendar for dates.

Fall/Winter 2018 12 | Impact Chippendale Revealed by Wolf Burchard

Thomas Chippendale is arguably the most famous and influential offer a rare insight into the workings of Chippendale’s firm. While furniture designer in the English-speaking world. He is the sole Chippendale had high hopes of the relationship with Sir Rowland, representative of his profession to be honored by a statue (1906) the latter’s prickliness and Chippendale’s occasional failure to deliver on the façade of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, even if on time meant that they were never on affable terms. The commission the likeness is imaginary as no portrait of him survives. This year was, however, a valuable one, with Chippendale supplying the full marks the tercentenary of his baptism on June 5, range of domestic goods and services. 1718 in , West Yorkshire. To celebrate this milestone, the Chippendale Society and City Sir Rowland and Lady Winn were so proud of Museum mounted a national exhibition entitled their new surroundings at Nostell Priory that they Thomas Chippendale, 1718-1779: A Celebration of commissioned a double portrait painted in 1767 Craftsmanship and Design, bringing together for the by the Irish artist, Hugh Douglas Hamilton. In this first time pieces of furniture from all over Britain painting, the desk and the pedestal for the to illustrate the quality, variety and supreme after the de’ Medici have a distinctive craftsmanship of Chippendale’s workshop. reddish tint, although today the desk is a In New York, the Metropolitan Museum of polished brown. That this reddish color was Art’s exhibition on Chippendale’s ground- Chippendale’s original treatment is proved breaking publication, The Gentleman and by the fact that it survives on his remarkable Cabinet Maker’s Director (first published medal cabinet in the corner of the Library, in 1754), emphasizes the Yorkshireman’s which is hidden behind a door, covered extraordinary impact on American with false book spines (equally supplied by furniture design. Finally, the Furniture Chippendale). The exquisite medal cabinet is History Society is about to publish a scholarly compendium summarizing all surmounted by a wreathed urn within a shell the latest findings on Chippendale. niche. On August 13, 1767, Chippendale sent ‘the bottle of red stain for the meddal Some 700 pieces of documented [sic] Case’, instructing Sir Rowland: ‘Please Chippendale furniture are known. The to let the man scrape the Oil of the place National Trust’s principal collection is at to be stain’d very clean and then lay on Nostell Priory in Yorkshire, with other the stain if not dark enough at first repeat furniture at Saltram House, Devon; it twice or three times’. This is probably a Petworth House, West Sussex; and unique survival of the original coloring of Thomas Chippendale, Library armchair, , , Cambridgeshire. This 1768, Nostell Priory, Yorkshire. Chippendale’s mahogany furniture. spring, the Trust launched its first ever online exhibition, Chippendale Revealed, Many other British country houses took this curated by Cataloguer, Dr. Megan Wheeler. It allows its virtual year’s opportunity to highlight their Chippendale collections with visitors to step behind the scenes and examine the construction of special displays and new interpretations, all of which are listed on the several pieces of Chippendale’s furniture, ranging from the modest website Chippendale300.co.uk: Burton Constable, Dumfries House, to the most elaborate: http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/ Firle Place, Harewood House, Newby Hall and Paxton. Of course, article/chippendale-revealed. The Trust’s Furniture Research and one of Chippendale’s most complete commissions remains in situ Cataloging Team, which greatly benefited from the Royal Oak at Dumfries in Ayrshire. The collection was under imminent threat Foundation’s 2015 Appeal and has since updated more than 16,000 of sale and dispersal, when the Prince of Wales succeeded in saving online records, embarked upon this project to reveal some of the it for the nation in 2007. It is entirely fitting that in Chippendale’s lesser known treasures at Nostell, commissioning new photography tercentenary year, all these houses should celebrate this greatest of to record hidden aspects of this remarkable collection. British furniture designers, whose influence reached far beyond the shores of the , to the rest of Europe, North and Nostell Priory is a veritable place of pilgrimage for those who wish to South America, and East Asia. see Chippendale at his very best in the setting for which his furniture was originally designed. Chippendale’s patron, Sir Rowland Winn, 5th (1739-85), succeeded his father in 1765 and dismissed Dr. Wolf Burchard is the Furniture Research Curator at the National the latter’s architect, , to employ , who Trust and was Curatorial Assistant at the Royal Collection, derived his supremely fashionable architectural style from the study Palace from 2009 to 2014. He serves on the Board of of Ancient Roman interior decoration. It was probably Adam who Trustees of the Georgian Group and the Furniture History Society, as recommended Chippendale to Winn. The correspondence between well as the vetting committees of TEFAF Maastricht and New York, Chippendale and Winn reveal much about the characters of both and and Masterpiece Art Fair, London. Photo: © National Trust Images/Norman Taylor. Images/Norman Trust © National Photo:

212.480.2889 | www.royal-oak.org Community | 13

Heritage Circle members visiting West Wycombe, on Study Day, September 2018. The Heritage Circle in our 45th Year

Royal Oak has been increasing its offerings for our Heritage Circle (HC) members who support the Foundation with annual dues ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. We have established a Leadership Committee whose goal is to enhance HC activities and benefits and increase membership and participation. The committee works with our Executive Director and Director of Development on new ideas for special, private gatherings that give members first-hand access both in the U.K. and U.S. Such offerings include curated trips led by historians and custodians of properties, and dinners or receptions featuring distinguished speakers. In an effort to further customize benefits, Royal Oak conducted a survey of HC members this spring to gather feedback about their interests which will serve to inform our future programming.

Special Access in the U.K. Our annual HC Study Day on September first is furniture from the estate of Elizabeth and U.S. 7 featured two legendary properties in Stafford (a meaningful occasion as she This past year, Buckinghamshire has been Buckinghamshire: West Wycombe Estate was a longtime Royal Oak friend and HC an important part of Royal Oak’s life, and and Park and Hughenden Manor. The member); the second features select works for this reason the region is featured in current Premier Baronet of Great Britain is from the estate of noted collector Eugene V. our newsletter (see pp. 8-9). The article Sir Edward Dashwood, 12th Baronet, and Thaw; and the last is a first-day preview of he personally led the house tour. He resides was written by James McDonough who The Collector: English and European 18th- with his family in the privately-owned curates our HC tours in the U.K., two of and 19th-Century Furniture, Ceramics, house. however which centered around Buckinghamshire Silver & Works of Art. The Metropolitan is a National Trust property. The group properties this year. The region is also Museum has arranged a curator-led visit of home to Stowe landscape gardens which enjoyed a private lunch at West Wycombe the exhibition, Chippendale’s Director: The will benefit from our 2018 National Trust before traveling on to visit the National appeal. In addition to their membership, Trust’s Hughenden House and gardens. Designs and Legacy of a Furniture Maker, many HC members have made generous Hughenden is renowned as the former which was timed with his tercentenary (see contributions to our objective to raise weekend residence of ’s p. 12). The MET finale is a behind-the- $200,000 for restorations at Stowe. favorite Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. scenes preview of the British decorative arts and sculpture galleries which are closed This year’s annual HC spring tour, “Great In the U.S., Royal Oak Board member and undergoing a two-year renovation. Houses & Gardens of Middle England,” took Eric Nilson welcomed HC members to place on May 30-June 3. Hambleton Hall Cleveland this past May for a memorable If you are not a Heritage Circle member, was the hotel hub for our group who enjoyed art and architecture tour. we encourage you to become part of this special excursions to both private and National group. For additional details on membership Trust properties including Drayton House, Other HC activities are planned in benefits, including trips, please visit our website Burghley House, Deene Park, Boughton, conjunction with our October 18th New at www.royal-oak.org/join. You may also contact Cottesbrooke Hall, Kedleston Hall, Belton York fall benefit event. Christie’s specialists our Development Department at (212) 480- House and Rushton Hall. will lead visits of three sale exhibitions: the 2889, ext. 212 or [email protected].

Fall/Winter 2018 14 | Community

ROYAL OAK MEMBER TOURS

OCTOBER 26 A History of Magic Revealed Tour New York, NY | 11:00 a.m. 30 It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200 New York, NY | 4:00 p.m.

NOVEMBER Virginia Woolf’s bedroom at Monk’s House, East Sussex 6 An Evening with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra New York, NY | 6:30 p.m. Fall 2018 Royal Oak Calendar 9 Cartier Mansion Tour | The current season of our Drue Heinz Lecture Series began on September 24 with Nina New York, NY 5:15 p.m. Campbell speaking to Royal Oak members and friends at the General Society Library in 16 Fashioning the New England Family | New York City, followed by The Hon. Nino Strachey's lectures on Bloomsbury in various Boston, MA 11:00 a.m. cities. You may find more information about these events on our website. Please see 27 Chippendale Celebration with below for the remainder of our lecture season. Hyde Park Antiques New York, NY | 5:15 p.m. 30 Celebrating the Season MEMBER AND PUBLIC LECTURES New York, NY | 5:30 p.m.

OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER 1 Harry Potter: A History of Magic 22 Jeremy Musson 1 Carl Raymond – Child-Focused Family Tour New York, NY | 6:15 p.m. Boston, MA | 6:00 p.m. New York, NY | 1:45 p.m. 22 Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, 5 William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington TBD The Federal Reserve Bank of New York Tour Earl of Shaftesbury Philadelphia, PA | 6:30 p.m. | | New York, NY TBD New Orleans, LA 6:00 p.m. 6 William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington 23 Jeremy Musson Chicago, IL | 6:30 p.m. | Chicago, IL 6:30 p.m. 7 William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington 23 Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, New York, NY | 6:15 p.m. Earl of Shaftesbury 15 Mary Miers | Atlanta, GA 6:30 p.m. Boston, MA | 6:00 p.m. 25 Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, 19 Mary Miers Earl of Shaftesbury New York, NY | 6:15 p.m. San Francisco, CA | 6:30 p.m. 20 Mary Miers 26 Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, Washington, DC | 7:00 p.m. Earl of Shaftesbury Los Angeles, CA | 12:45 p.m. 26 Carl Raymond Philadelphia, PA | 6:30 p.m. 29 Phil Reed, OBE Philadelphia, PA | 6:30 p.m. 28 Brock Jobe New York, NY | 6:15 p.m. Cartier Mansion 30 Phil Reed, OBE Washington, D.C. | 6:45 p.m. DECEMBER 31 Phil Reed, OBE For more Lecture and Tour information and New York, NY | 6:15 p.m. 3 Brock Jobe to register: royal-oak.org/lectures or call Charleston, SC | 6:30 p.m. 212.480.2889 ext. 201. Photo: (top) ©National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel von Images/Andreas Trust ©National (top) Photo:

SPEAKERS & THEIR LECTURES

The Rebirth of an English Country Lismore Castle: ‘Built by King John, Highland Retreats: From Dickens to Downton: House: St. Giles House plumbed by Adele Astaire’ The Architecture and Interiors Victorian and Edwardian Food NICHOLAS ASHLEY-COOPER, WILLIAM CAVENDISH, of Scotland’s Romantic North CARL RAYMOND 12TH EARL OF SHAFTESBURY EARL OF BURLINGTON MARY MIERS Churchill and the Chippendale: The Country House Past, Present, Cabinet War Rooms The Man and the Myth Future: Great British Houses PHIL REED, OBE BROCK JOBE JEREMY MUSSON

212.480.2889 | www.royal-oak.org Community | 15

Churchill War Room Annually Renewable Memberships

BASIC ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS SUPPORTING ANNUAL HERITAGE CIRCLE (100% tax-deductible) MEMBERSHIPS MEMBERSHIPS (100% tax-deductible) (valid for two people) Individual $80 CONSERVATOR $200 • Free entry for one at National Trust (NT) Benefactor $1,000 ($850 tax-deductible) sites in England, Wales & Northern Ireland ART & DESIGN $250 All the benefits of SUPPORTING • 50% off entry to London Heritage Partners SPONSOR $500 membership, plus: • Reciprocal free entry to NT for Scotland sites • Members-only short trips and events • NT Magazines and Royal Oak Newsletters All the benefits of DUAL membership, plus: • Priority registration for all Royal Oak lectures • NT annual Handbook and Parking Pass • Each member card admits TWO persons to NT and programs and complimentary admission • Priority registration and discounts to U.S. properties in the U.K. • Annual Gift book and magazine programs, including lectures & day tours • Special Supporting-level members-only day • Arts, Buildings & Collections quarterly • Discounts on travel packages, magazine tours and programs in the U.S. • Special recognition in our Annual Report subscriptions and on select hotels in the U.K. • Priority registration for all Royal Oak • Invitation to annual Study Day in the fall lectures and programs in the U.S. • Discounted membership to the Royal • Access to annual Spring Garden & House Tour Over-Seas League clubs • Access to the NT’s Special Visits, Tours and Lectures calendar of events Steward $2,500 ($2,230 tax-deductible) Dual $125 All benefits of BENEFACTOR membership, All the benefits of INDIVIDUAL plus: membership, plus: • Gift membership to offer a Student/Young • Second member card (for entry to NT sites) Professional for one additional person living at same address • Additional lecture tickets & friend passes

Family $150 Guardian $5,000 ($4,730 tax-deductible) All the benefits of INDIVIDUAL All benefits of STEWARD membership, plus: membership, plus: • Invitation to the Guardian and Patron Dinner the evening before U.K. Study Day • Two member cards for two adults living at same address; each card also admits any • Invitations to any NT bespoke, invite-only children or grandchildren under the age of 21 events in the U.K. • Invitation to a dinner with a Royal Oak Student/Young Professional (SYP) $40 lecturer in the U.S. (per availability) (For ages 13 to 29; date of birth and email required at time of purchase) Patron $10,000 ($9,730 tax-deductible) All the benefits of INDIVIDUAL All benefits of GUARDIAN membership, plus: membership, with the following adjustments: • VIP personalized tour of NT properties (upon request and 3 months’ advance notice) • Access to all publications in electronic format ONLY Royal Oak members on a private tour of Kedleston Hall in 2018. • 30% discount on member’s admission price at lectures for member and one guest (limited availability) Join Royal Oak today and become part of a community that both supports and enjoys the shared cultural heritage between Britain and the United States. Visit www.royal-oak.org for more information about the Royal Oak Foundation and membership levels, or call Jan Lizza at 212.480.2889, ext. 205. Photo: Photo: By permission of The Imperial War Museums War Imperial The of permission By Photo: Photo:

Fall/Winter 2018 Detail of carved heron at bottom corner of wall niche in the North Hall at Claydon House. Photo: ©National Trust Images/Andreas von Einsiedel

The Royal Oak Foundation seeks to raise awareness and advance the work of the National Trust of England, The Royal Oak Foundation Wales, and Northern Ireland by inspiring support from 20 West 44th Street, Suite 606 New York, New York 10036-6603 the United States for the Trust’s efforts to preserve and 212.480.2889; 800.913.6565 www.royal-oak.org protect historic places and spaces – for ever, for everyone.

The Royal Oak Foundation is an American not-for-profit charity 501(c)3 incorporated in the State of New York. Royal Oak’s latest annual report may be obtained, upon request, from Royal Oak or from the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

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