DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22262#0096
Anthea Bickley
mmmgmm
The house itself was ąuite large, newly built in the Victorian Gothic style, then very
popular with the local wool barons, at least those who could still not ąuite stretch
to the real thing.
It is interesting to see how the party was fitted in. 'House dinner in servants hall,
22', down in the basement somewhere. 'Supper washed up glasses in both bath-
rooms', which seems to indicate that there were only two. 'Plates in housemaid's
pantry.' 'Danced in drawing room and library. Band in round hall......6 performances
- only just heard enough through blocked door into anteroom. With plant stage at
back. Dining room made a beautiful drawing room. Basement - ladies' cloakroom.
Long wardrobe for ladies' cloaks in passage. Refreshments in large hall. Library fur-
niture in staircase-hall. Back through swing door for gents cloaks and lavatory. Sup-
per in upper corridor. Tables for 35 at a time. Curtained off archways with library
red curtains. Moved china cabinet into billiard room. Put up arches covered with
ivy..... Porch carpet forgotten. Table cloths spoiled iron moulded with ice buckets.
... supper duplicated back end of corridor.'
And what of the later tale? The house burnt down a few years later, with no loss of
life or major injury but it was so badly damaged that the remains had to be demol-
ished. Its site now is just a grassy mound. Mrs Salt moved to Bath and died some
years later. Mary Isabel never married. She lived ąuietly but sociably with her eld-
est brother's two unmarried daughters, Sythe Margaret Isabella Salt and Nesta
Katharine Salt, and when the last of the trio died in 1978 their home and its con-
tents were sold, which is where Bradford Museums stepped in to buy.
This dress shows us how one single outfit, when its story is available alongside it,
can provide a vignette of wealthy middle-class life just over a century ago. A proud
mother, with a romantic streak, dresses up way out of character to provide her only
daughter with a memorable launch into adult life. We hope that the daughter and
her friends enjoyed it all, and that Mother did too, in spite of the headaches of or-
ganising it.
The garments all belong to Bradford Arts, Museums and Heritage Service, Bradford, West
Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
94
mmmgmm
The house itself was ąuite large, newly built in the Victorian Gothic style, then very
popular with the local wool barons, at least those who could still not ąuite stretch
to the real thing.
It is interesting to see how the party was fitted in. 'House dinner in servants hall,
22', down in the basement somewhere. 'Supper washed up glasses in both bath-
rooms', which seems to indicate that there were only two. 'Plates in housemaid's
pantry.' 'Danced in drawing room and library. Band in round hall......6 performances
- only just heard enough through blocked door into anteroom. With plant stage at
back. Dining room made a beautiful drawing room. Basement - ladies' cloakroom.
Long wardrobe for ladies' cloaks in passage. Refreshments in large hall. Library fur-
niture in staircase-hall. Back through swing door for gents cloaks and lavatory. Sup-
per in upper corridor. Tables for 35 at a time. Curtained off archways with library
red curtains. Moved china cabinet into billiard room. Put up arches covered with
ivy..... Porch carpet forgotten. Table cloths spoiled iron moulded with ice buckets.
... supper duplicated back end of corridor.'
And what of the later tale? The house burnt down a few years later, with no loss of
life or major injury but it was so badly damaged that the remains had to be demol-
ished. Its site now is just a grassy mound. Mrs Salt moved to Bath and died some
years later. Mary Isabel never married. She lived ąuietly but sociably with her eld-
est brother's two unmarried daughters, Sythe Margaret Isabella Salt and Nesta
Katharine Salt, and when the last of the trio died in 1978 their home and its con-
tents were sold, which is where Bradford Museums stepped in to buy.
This dress shows us how one single outfit, when its story is available alongside it,
can provide a vignette of wealthy middle-class life just over a century ago. A proud
mother, with a romantic streak, dresses up way out of character to provide her only
daughter with a memorable launch into adult life. We hope that the daughter and
her friends enjoyed it all, and that Mother did too, in spite of the headaches of or-
ganising it.
The garments all belong to Bradford Arts, Museums and Heritage Service, Bradford, West
Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
94