LOOKING BACK WITH DR JONATHAN OATES
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Gunnersbury’s
past glories
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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
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