DLA097-0149  Transcription

The Sketch, 18 [August]^[1] 1926

And now for some news from nearer home. Any amount of people have gone to Scotland, headed, of course, by our Royal family, though the round of shooting visits is now a delight reserved only for the few, in these days of shooting syndicates and American-tenanted moors and forests. Among those who intend to spend the next six weeks or so in the north are Sir Robert and Lady Hudson, who have gone to North Berwick. October will find them back again at their delightful place, Hill Hall, near Epping. It is not much more than a year since Sir Robert bought this fine old Elizabethan mansion from the family of Bowyer-Smijth, who have owned it since their ancestor built it in 1560. A great many of the family portraits of the original owners still hang in the music-room, and in many parts of the house they dominate their old home in effigy. For instance, there is a striking bust of the first Bowyer-Smijth which forms part of the stone mantel in the great hall. The latter is a finely proportioned room, and has a series of pillars round it in similar marble. These pillars, by the way, are very special examples of what the Americans would call “near marble,” as one of them was painted by Sargent, and another owes its marbled pattern to the brush of Augustus John, both these famous men being induced to try their hand at marble making by Mrs. Charles Hunter, the famous hostess of the nineties, who once tenanted the house. Hill Hall boasts three staircases, one being a lovely specimen of the William and Mary style.

Laszlo’s portrait of Lady Hudson [4496] hangs in the library. It was done when she was Lady Northcliffe—possibly in the days when she was simply Mrs. Alfred Harmsworth, judging from the size of the hat she is wearing in the picture. The house contains endless interesting objets d’art and treasures of various kinds, dating from the Tudor and Jacobean times. These include the bed-room once occupied by Queen Elizabeth, which still boasts the bed and hangings and the furniture placed there to honour the great Gloriana; while another room contains a hand-painted wall-paper said to be the earliest known work of the kind.

MD

31/01/2010