Around Ealing Winter 2014-15 | Page 51

LOOKING BACK WITH DR JONATHAN OATES r lends Film sta historic name to eatre : local th er Click h e Gunnersbury’s past glories W last properly marked with headstones and their work can be seen and admired in numerous locations. Over the decades, pieces of Martinware have been donated to Southall Library and Pitzhanger Manor by collectors such as Professor John Hull Grundy. The new Southall Library at the Dominion Centre boasts a room (named after local historian George Twyman) in which to view parts of the council’s collection, as well as newly researched illustrated panels. The archives of Sidney Greenslade, friend to the Martins and collector of their work, can be viewed at Ealing Library. e reported in the last edition of Around Ealing about the restoration project for Gunnersbury Park and its listed buildings. They have had an illustrious past. In 1663, Serjeant Maynard, a well-known lawyer, bought the estate. He led the prosecution in the 1640s against some of Charles I’s major supporters and his career prospered, not just under Cromwell, but also during the reigns of Charles I’s two sons, Charles II and James II. He was knighted for his services. The mansion’s next famous resident was Princess Amelia. She was the unmarried daughter of the late George II. She used the house as her summer retreat from London. Courtiers and politicians, including novelist and man of letters Horace Walpole, could often be found here. Nathan Rothschild, head of one of the richest banking families in the country, bought the estate in the 1830s, and though he never lived there, his son, Lionel, did. Once again, Gunnersbury became a centre of hospitality for the rich and famous. Among these included Benjamin Disraeli, Queen Victoria’s favourite prime minister. In the early 20th Century, Edward VII and later, his son, George V, visited. In 1917, Winston Churchill was also a guest. However, following deaths in the family, the Rothschilds decided to sell the estate and the surrounding land in the 1920s. Happily, the two mansions and estate were bought by the local councils and preserved for local people to enjoy – with the park opening in 1926. The large mansion was turned into a museum and its first honorary curator was Susan Smee, Acton’s first female councillor, first female mayor and first female magistrate. Dr Jonathan THE WAR YEARS Oates will be giving a Click here for blog posts detailing local talk on Mrs Smee in events during each year of the war, starting 2015. Keep an eye on with 1914. the What’s On pages. around ealing Winter 2014/15 51