Black Diamonds (78 page)
Authors: Catherine Bailey
Tags: #History, #England/Great Britain, #Nonfiction, #Royalty, #Politics & Government, #18th Century, #19th Century, #20th Century
‘When travelling …’: deposition of George Fitzwilliam, 1930, ibid., Box 343.
p. 444 ‘
simple, straight-forward
…’: ibid., 19 March, Day 20, ibid., Box 344.
‘She was the most …’: testimony of Alice Williams Wynn, Day 5, ibid., Box 345.
p. 445 ‘
Can you
…’: ibid., Day 4, Box 345.
‘We had two …’: ibid.
p. 446 ‘
She [Evie]
…’: ibid.
‘When you left …’: ibid.
p. 447 ‘
Your Lordship
…’: ibid., Day 18, Box 344.
‘I have …’: 6th Earl Fitzwilliam to George Fitzwilliam, ibid., Box 343.
p. 448 ‘
It is perfectly
…’: ibid., 19 March 1951, Day 20, Box 344.
‘George and Evie …’: ibid., Day 17.
p. 451 ‘
Its closure
…’: Simon Jenkins,
England’s Thousand Best Houses
, Penguin, 2003, p. 920.
‘It should be …’: author’s interview with Geoffrey Steer, August 2005.
Acknowledgements
I owe a debt of gratitude to the former household and Estate staff employed at Wentworth – and their descendants – who shared their memories of life at the house, and in the villages owned by the Fitzwilliam family in the inter-war years, especially to May Bailey, the late Godfrey Broadhead, Peter Diggle, the late Bert May, Geoffrey Steer and Joyce Smith. Similarly, I am indebted to all those former miners employed at Elsecar and New Stubbin collieries – the mines owned by the Fitzwilliams prior to the nationalization of the coal industry – who spoke to me about their experiences and who, in many instances, related stories their fathers and grandfathers had told them. In particular, I would like to thank Charles Booth, the late Ralph Boreham, Jim McGuinness and Walt Hammond. I am grateful also to Roy Young, whose meticulous research into the history of Wentworth House and its community has been an invaluable source of material.
I would like to thank Lady Juliet Tadgell, Sir Philip Naylor-Leyland, Griffith Philipps, Philip Doyne and the late Charles Doyne – descendants of the Earls Fitzwilliam – for their help and for the opportunity to research their collections of family archive. Further, I am indebted to Lady Barbara Ricardo, the granddaughter of the 7th Earl Fitzwilliam, for her memories of Wentworth in the mid-twentieth century, and to Michael Shaw Bond, the great-grandson of William, Viscount Milton, for his discoveries, published in his book
Way Out West: On the Trail of an Errant Ancestor
.
I am grateful to the staff of the following libraries and archives for their assistance: the British Library, the Borthwick Institute for Historical Research at the University of York, the London Library, the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections at Nottingham University Library, the Wellcome Library of Medical History, the Newspaper Library at Colindale, Lambeth Palace Library, the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, Elsecar Heritage Centre, the National Coal Mining Museum for England, the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, the Imperial War Museum, the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la Sécurité de l’Aviation Civile in Paris, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, the National Trust, the John F. Kennedy Library, the Public Record Office, the Sheffield Archives, the Doncaster Archives, the Northamptonshire Record Office, the Doncaster Local Studies Library, the West Yorkshire Archive Service, and the Archives and Local Studies section at Rotherham Library.
I have drawn on the research and writings of many authors and, although their contribution is evident in the Notes, I should like to thank several individually for permission to quote from their work. They include Lynne McTaggart for
Kathleen Kennedy, Her Life and Times
, Garden City, NY, Dial Press, 1983; Laurence Leamer for
The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family
, New York, Villard Books, 1994, and Georges Borchardt Inc. on behalf of the authors Peter Collier and David Horowitz for permission to quote extracts from their work
The Kennedys: An American Drama
, New York, Summit Books, 1984. I am grateful also to A. M. Heath Ltd for permission to quote from George Orwell’s
The Road to Wigan Pier
.
Additionally, I would like to thank Dr Quentin Outram at Leeds University Business School for showing me the records of the Mineral Owners Association of Great Britain; Brian Elliott, Geoffrey Howse and Mel and Joan Jones for their knowledge of the former mining communities of South Yorkshire; the pupils of the Lady Mabel College of Physical Education for their recollections of their time at Wentworth; Marilyn Farnell for her research at the John F. Kennedy Library; Amanda Smith for her formidable research among the papers of Joseph P. Kennedy, published in her collection of his letters,
Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy
, Viking/Penguin, 2001; Jill Dempsey for permission to quote from Matilda Kingdon’s diary; Eddie Pearcy for his assistance in tracking down the motor gunboat crew members of Operation Bridford; William Sieghart, Hugh Dehn and the late Anthony Sampson for their help in overcoming hurdles; Theo Caveman for his inspiration; and the miners of the Lady Windsor Colliery at Ynysybwl, who, many years before this book was conceived, allowed me the unforgettable experience of spending a day underground with them.
Throughout, I have been buoyed by the encouragement of my literary agent, David Godwin, and my editor at Viking, Eleo Gordon. I am tremendously indebted to both of them. I would also like to thank Susan Cole, Rowan Cope, Joanna Waller, Christopher Kemp, Jasper McMahon and Hywel Williams for their comments on the manuscript, and Helen Campbell for her painstaking copy-editing.
Lastly, I would like to thank those without whom the completion of the book would not have seemed possible: my mother, Carol Bailey, and the rest of my family, Dorothy Cory-Wright, Sara Tibbetts, Martyn and Christine Johnson, and Jody Tresidder.
A note on Wentworth House. Its full name is Wentworth Woodhouse. However, it has always been known locally – and by members of the Fitzwilliam family, who lived in it – as Wentworth House, and is referred to thus throughout the book.
A note on prices. Contemporary values for the figures quoted have been calculated on the basis of a comparison of the Retail Price Index for a given year, unless otherwise stated. The figures have been sourced from economichistory.net, compiled by Professor Lawrence Officer at the University of Illinois.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © Catherine Bailey, 2007
The moral right of the author has been asserted
All rights reserved.
First published 2007
VIKING
Published by the Penguin Group
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ISBN: 978-0141906003
CHAPTER 1
*
Over £6 million at today’s values.
CHAPTER 6
*
Approximately £4.5 million to £17 million at today’s values.
CHAPTER 7
*
£14,468,000 at today’s values.
CHAPTER 9
*
£101 at today’s values.
CHAPTER 10
*
£33 at today’s values.
CHAPTER 12
*
£89 at today’s values.
CHAPTER 14
*
At today’s values 5 shillings is approximately £16 and 1 shilling, £3.
CHAPTER 18
*
£2 million at today’s values.
*
£1.2 million at today’s values.
*
£3 million at today’s values.
CHAPTER 19
*
£520,000 at today’s values.
CHAPTER 22
*
£58 at today’s values.
CHAPTER 24
*
From £32 to £18 at today’s values.
CHAPTER 25
*
Approximately £4 million at today’s values.
*
£46.4 million at today’s values.
CHAPTER 28
*
£72 at today’s values.
CHAPTER 36
*
Approximately £2,000 at today’s values.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37