“A Moose Aboot The Hoose” : Another Episode In The Life And Times Of Phoebe and Mags Worthington

 “A Moose Aboot The Hoose”

Above: Podger Ogilvy Innes III: known as  Podge

Two legged Characters in this tail

Dame Katrina Ogilvy, aka “Madam” : An opera singer with Caledonian Opera. Owner of  “The Mews”, Belgravia

 

Olga :  Cook at “The Mews”, Belgravia (thought to be one of the  few surviving members of the family of the last Tsar of Russia)

Effy Ogilvy :  Dame Katrina’s cousin and Mistress of Auld Murdie Hoose 

Ken Claymore: Chauffeur,  Security and Effy Ogilvy's "right hand man" at Auld Murdie Hoose. Sworn to protect Katrina, Phoebe, Mags & Olga 

Bella Grieve : Housekeeper & Cook  at Auld Murdie Hoose                                                                

Four legged Characters in this tail

Mags Worthington : Ward of Dame Katrina Ogilvy. Younger sister of Phoebe Worthington

Phoebe Worthington : Ward of Dame Katrina Ogilvy. Older sister of Mags Worthington

Podger (Podge) Ogilvy Innes III : A brave, defiant mouse

Montgomery Ogilvy: A fearless dragon who has lived in Lameside Loch for over 150 years ( pictured below).

 

Above :  Montgomery Ogilvy

On the second night of their short holiday to Scotland at Auld Murdie Hoose ( owned by Effy Ogilvy),  Phoebe and Mags Worthington settled down in the bedroom of their mistress, Dame Katrina Ogilvy, an opera singer and Effy's beloved cousin.

 Katrina and her  girls had been allocated the ancient Lennox Rooms.

The Lennox Rooms at Auld Murdie Hoose

The rooms were large, grandiose, full of sweet aromas of peat and heather, with an enormous four poster bed and a huge chest with the armorial crest of the Ogilvies. A dressing table of theatrical dimensions with many mirrors and an assortment of combs, brushes, and jewellery strewn on it. There were bookcases stuffed with the works of Katrina's favourite author, Caroline Du Barry

Family portraits of Dame Katrina’s late parents, Sir Hugh Marmaduke Possum Ogilvy, a diplomat, and Lady Lily Tiger Ogilvy, who had been a Macfarlane from the Island of Inchmurren, Loch Lomond. She was always known as Cuddles. And pictures of little Kats Ogilvy (‘Kats’ was Katrina’s nickname at school, too) from her childhood days.

From the Works of Barbara McClintock

The purr-fect works of the artist  Barbara McClintock also adorned the walls, and all sorts from a collection by Louis Wain that complemented others of feline wonder on display at “The Mews”, Belgravia, Dame Katrina’s London home.

Long heavy drapes with the most elaborate of linings hung at the windows looking out onto the dark Loch of Lameside.

Mags couldn’t sleep well. She was disturbed by a sharp scratching sound coming from under a tallboy.

A long black tail was detected.

Mags moved slowly towards it to explore, her cold nose eventually clipping the tip of a curly tail.

A mouse turned and squealed.

“Hey, that tickled.”

Mags immediately apologised.

The mouse saw that Mags was a cat and disappeared into a crack in the wall.

At “The Mews” Mags had a reputation as a relentless mooser. She could hear their antics in the deepest of places, in thick walls and voids. If there was a moose in the hoose, aloose, Mags would know it and track it down.

Mags heard further noises coming from the skirting boards but without drawing any firm conclusions as to who or what was making the blooming racket.

Mags knew instinctively that the tail that had disappeared into a crevice earlier in the evening had belonged to a wee sleekit cowrin tim’rous beastie .… a moose! Mags couldn’t settle until she had gathered more intelligence.

Phoebe, Mags’ sister, stretched out like a Viking longboat. She yawned and said she couldn’t be bothered with such nonsense, she was much too old a dog (well, a cat) to learn any new tricks and happily announced she was for 40 winks.

It was  a few hours into Mags’ mouse watch. She waited and waited and waited .… no sign or part of any tail re-appeared.

The mouse population at Auld Murdie Hoose had lived there for as long as the Ogilvies. There were three principal families of brown house mice: the Innies, the Minnies and the Moes. Inter-breeding in the case of the Minnies and Moes with a group of field mice called the Podgers had resulted in many of the castle dwellers moving out into the fields and loch and down by the local river.

The River Og flowed through the Ogilvy estates and its banks were home to a collection of animals from rodents to rabbits and every kind of bird, insect and waterfowl.

Auld Murdie Hoose once had rats. They nested for one season only, when the cooling system in the kitchens failed and the Ice House thawed out. Bella the Cook had spotted a single footprint on her kitchen floor. A local ratter named Scottie Muldoon (his father was Irish, his mother a local lassie) who was descended from a maternal family renowned for trapping Cumberland’s men in the ’45, located the nest and mercilessly destroyed them as ruthlessly as if they had been English redcoats. The mice were tolerated and they were very clever at preserving their continuance.

The scratching became more distant.

Mags detected that the quaint noises were coming from the Smoking Room, a place where only the gentlemen in the Ogilvy family and their male guests were ever allowed to enter.

At that time of night even the insomniacs in the household had gone to their repose.

Mags was determined to surprise the intruder, or intruders, in the Smoking Room. So she lunged straight for the door, past a noble chair or two, knocked over a clay pipe and hit her paw on a foot rest.

A little livid at her injury, Mags glimpsed ahead but couldn’t believe her eyes:

Above: Mags Worthington and Podge  

There in all his glory, with no fear of being apprehended, was Podger Ogilvy Innies III, a delinquent member of the hoose moose gang known for his prowess inside and outside of the Ogilvy homestead, a legend on the Riverbank along with his motley cousins Rag, Tag and Bobtail, Minnie and Pimlico Moe. Podger was a great progenitor, with numerous offspring across the county and beyond.

“Are you the brave lassie who tried to take on oor Montgomery the ither morning?” quizzed Podger.

“I’m Podger, but you can call me Podge.”

Mags was embarrassed and couldn’t speak. Instead she began to take up a defence position that usually warned off any mouse at “The Mews” and they rarely came back for more.

“Montgomery wants to see you again, he has a task for you” quipped Podge. “He needs you to serve him at the ploughing match and Caledonian Ball next Friday. You’ll be his spy.”

Mags gulped. “ A sp…?”

“Aye, this is a Hoose full of Spies” added Podge. “ All Hush! Hush! Tonight, several big bad spy men will be in the company, with Ken Claymore  handing out assignments to them as burdened as yours, my dear”.  

Podge spotted that Mags’ paws were moving and her sharp nail like claws growing and he belted off at the speed of light.

Mags regained her composure and returned to the Lennox Room.

Above: Mags Worthington

She smelled food cooking in the direction of the great kitchen. She was aware that Bella the Cook was to serve her breakfast in the annexe to the kitchen. Sure enough there were bountiful goodies laid out for her and Phoebe: meats, fish and savouries. Dame Katrina’s own personal chef, Cook (Olga), was also present and laid on some favourites from “The Mews”.

Mags began to eat. She had just finished drinking some milk when Phoebe arrived.

Above:  Phoebe Worthington

“Phoebe, darling, you gave me a turn there” squealed Mags.

“Sorry, Mags. I couldn’t sleep on.”

Phoebe yawned.

“Well, you sounded well gone to me” added Mags.

Phoebe asked about Mags’ watch.

“Did you catch any mice last night, then?”

Mags felt her reputation was at stake.

“I let them go, they were tiddlers.”

 “Is Madam awake?” asked Mags.

“ Yes, she’s stirring” said Phoebe, yawning again.

“Cook is preparing her breakfast, and Bella’s in a rage over being snubbed.”

“I’ve had my breakfast. It’s a lovely day, I’m going out exploring” announced Mags.

“Well, watch out for Montgomery” teased Phoebe, adding “ you know,  I think I can hear him splashing on the Loch.”

Above: Auld Murdie Hoose and Lameside Loch from the Canal

 

Tails of Phoebe and Mags Worthington

Of  “The Mews”, Belgravia

Two Darn Cats

Invented  by  William  Cross, FSA Scot

With thanks to Louis Wain 

ENQUIRIES

 PLEASE E-MAIL WILLIAM CROSS

williecross@aol.com 

Tails of Phoebe and Mags Worthington Of “The Mews”, Belgravia

 Tails of Phoebe and Mags Worthington

Of

“The Mews”, Belgravia

Two Darn Cats Invented  by  William  Cross, FSA Scot

Daniel, The Telegram Messenger Boy :

 “The Mews”, Belgravia  c.1947

From the life and times of Phoebe and Mags Worthington

 

                                                                       Daniel

“Madam, Daniel is at the door with an urgent dispatch for you.”

“Find him a shilling, Cook dear, he is always so thin and wasted,” replied Madam.

Although Cook’s name was “Olga” her mistress Dame Katrina Ogilvy dared not use this name in case enemy aliens sussed out her true identity.

Dame Katrina’s ample hindquarters rose from the fur-lined settee like a buffalo that had just finished grazing on the American prairies. She uttered a long, deep, penetrating sigh. Madam’s ritual at weekends in the period before luncheon was to relax in the splendour of the morning room.

She had been reading but had dozed off in front of the open iron grate beside a blazing coal fire: she and the embers in the grate  glowing red and humming arias from Verdi.

Il Trovatore

 The script composition the great soprano was browsing was Il Trovatore for a concert being planned by her great friend, a Venetian expatriate, Alexander Biagi. The event was to mark an anniversary of the piece first being performed at the Tor di Nona in Rome in 1853.

As Dame Katrina rose, the loose copy of the finest Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, Verdi’s life-long friend and collaborator, came flying off her lap. The pages glided like paper aeroplanes across the room in several directions, accelerated by a measurable gust of wind created as Katrina got up in haste on hearing the news of a telegram.

Cook’s head and shoulders appeared from the hallway, poking through the door as if there was no actual body attached to them.

 “Very well Madam. I may even be able to find him some pirozhky; I have made an enormous tray of them this morning to be consumed later for our tea and supper. I’ll see to Daniel. It will give you time to compose a reply if I feed the boy.”

Cook thought to herself .… “He is looking so dreadfully undernourished again, just so much like I witnessed the peasants in the borders of the Ukraine when I was running away from the  deadly Bolshevists.”

Pirozhky

 “Oh Cook, Cook, your own wonderful pirozhky. I thought I could smell the magical aroma of apples and honey cooking together. Pirozhky: a marriage of tastes made in heaven. Just like my beloved Verdi and Piave.”

Daniel doffed his cap on seeing Madam arrive in the hallway. He followed this with a sort of mime of the word “Mam.” This was delivered as politely as the good public servant that he always was could muster, on duty or not. Daniel was tall, thin, and although pale he was handsome, with browny blond hair. His voice had an element of the local accent, more Pimlico than Belgravia, yet it was pleasant to the ear of the listener. He then uttered a more confident greeting.

“Good Morning, Mam.” And he bowed as if they were going to dance a Viennese waltz .

Madam acknowledged the boy’s courtesies and sincerity.

“Well, well, Daniel, Hallelujah!  I trust you bring us all glad tidings of great joy, this day and for ever more.”

Daniel had no idea that Madam was attempting a little joke. But once again he responded politely. He was used to Madam teasing him; she had once asked him to sing a musical note as he delivered his telegram in the hallway at “The Mews”. Madam had then commented:

 “Well, well! A singing telegram boy! You have a brave voice, young man, you are definitely musical.”

Madam had not finished her interrogations:

“Let me see your hands” she asked, like a request from a nurse.

Daniel did as he was told.

“You do not have the hands of a postal clerk, you must study, boy  .… I shall see to it.”

To Madam’s pleasant surprise Daniel revealed that he had learned to read music when he was aged 7, and he could play the violin and the piano.

“You should be trained, dear boy, or the gift will leave you, or you will be at best mediocre.” 

Daniel thought it unlikely he’d ever want to leave the Post Office and take up singing for a living. He was earning 25/- a week and Mr Raymond his supervisor said he could earn extras from tips.

“The sky is the limit for anyone who reaches the hallowed rank of being the area postmaster,” he told Daniel, as if to inspire him to reach that position.

Cook could see that Madam was beginning to hog Daniel’s attention. She pounced on the telegram boy and ushered him into her kitchen lair but he knew the way. He delivered upwards of two or three telegrams a week to the “The Big Lady Who Sings”.

“You know, Cook, you spoil that boy” said Dame Katrina. “Last week I swear I saw you sewing on one of his buttons on his jacket and mending a rip in his coat.” Madam was half grinning as she uttered these words.

Cook grinned back, but stood her ground.

“Well, they must be smart at all times, wearing as they do the uniform of the Tsar; they are under an obligation to conduct themselves in a manner which shall never bring that uniform into disrepute.”

“The King, you mean the King, Cook. Do be careful, my dear.” 

“But, besides that, Madam, Daniel has such a gentle smile. Boys of his age are always losing buttons from their garments, catching their coats on loose nails on doors and gates and of course they are ALWAYS ravenously hungry.”

  “ I know you feed his little pet  mutt too, but  do  be careful especially with the rationing,  dear Olga. We must  not draw attention to ourselves by giving the  boy  or  his  mongrel extra  food  supplies to take away.”

 “Some scraps of waste for ‘Little Nipper’ (pictured  above) Madam, we shall not miss or mind ” replied Olga.

 “But we cannot be too careful of the dreaded Ministry of Food men snooping around us, my dear” added Madam.

 Phoebe had witnessed the proceedings from a stairwell; she was another secret admirer of Daniel. But she was also worried and confided in her sister Mags.

 “Oh dear, Mags”, she whispered. “Not a telegram; who could have sent it?”  Mags slipped back into sleep.

 

Phoebe and Mags Worthington of " The Mews" Belgravia

ENQUIRIES

PLEASE E-MAIL

WILLIAM CROSS

williecross@aol.com

Tredegar House : Failure To Attract Visitors Targeted

 

Tredegar House

Failure To Attract Visitors Targeted

‘The Very  Worst of Times’

  By William Cross, FSA Scot

 

Author of books on The Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport, South Wales  

COVID 19 -Hit Tredegar House closed but the National Trust were staring at failure before the pandemic

 Newport has one of the highest number of COVID 19 infections in the whole of  Wales. This ghastly virus has taken many lives, it remains in free fall and a vaccine is still a far off  dream. The deadly spread and aftermath of the infection’s invisible power makes this a frightening era for all.  

 

Tredegar House, the old Morgan mansion, was closed for many months under the first Welsh government virus lockdown of March 2020,  and although there was a brief reopening in September-  early October 2020,  albeit with restrictions on the numbers of visitors, the house has closed again.  This closure  was  to  avoid  virus transmission to  National Trust staff and those members of the public who wished to go and see the Morgan’s old  homestead and enjoy it’s history, stories and relax or walk around the parklands,  lake and gardens.

 

Post-virus, it is going to be a slow recovery and a very costly one. In fact the world has changed so much by the affects of the virus that the good old joys of carefree days out and day in at places  of “Historic Interest or Natural Beauty” are on a slippery slope to oblivion and our thinking and actions may have to change in every form and have less expectation.

 

Organisations that aim to preserve the past (i.e. in Wales)  like the National Trust and CADW [i] are in deep financial peril too, with redundancies afoot,  and  they are perhaps doomed to ever bounce back or be able to offer the same pleasures or value for money. The heritage bodies will need to fall heavily upon virtual tours of sites. The staff and many volunteers at work in places like Tredegar House may never return in the same numbers or roles. The virus will be feared for years.  

 

Are Newport’s Payments to the National Trust  in 2022  moneys worth?

 

It is  an opportune time  to reflect on the 8 years of management of Tredegar House by the National Trust and ( looking ahead)  question the ‘money’s worth’ of  the National Trust pocketing (on 1 April 2022)   the further sum of £2,004,750 ( ie over 2 million pounds) from Newport City Council as a residual part of the 2012 transfer deal/lease.  

 

This huge payment  in 2022 from Newport’s coffers is no April fool.

 

Would  that money or any part of it be better spent on Newport  itself?   In these  chilling times should Newport Council not first  and foremost support the City’s present and future, the colossal needs, pre-virus vaccine and  in treating the  wounds of a post-virus world?

 

Is it time to try to negotiate, defer or cancel  this  payment to the National Trust, due in 2022,  especially as Newport’s citizens are in the throws of a desperate situation,  with many people condemned to years of uncertainty, recession, unemployment, ill health and misery.

 

It must be  right  to say ( albeit I say it  with sadness  as a  local historian and devotee of the Morgan family)  that  the  City’s  own people, infrastructures, services, and needs over the next few years must be sorted first, even if  at the expense of maintaining the area’s historic heritage,  legacies and  monuments. The same applies to funds earmarked for our  historical icons the Museums,  Newport Castle, the Transporter Bridge etc, people’s welfare surely must come first.

 

But can the Lease Agreement between Newport Council and the National Trust be revisited?

 

The Freedom of Information Act  Will Out

 

It is a curious fact that although the National Trust was set up by statute from 1907 onwards  and has powers to make by- laws , the Freedom of Information Act, 2000, (FOI)  exempts them from scrutiny or of requiring them to make any  public disclosures about their workings and decisions.  However in the case of Tredegar House’s lease some secrets   can be culled as Newport Council does come under the FOI legislation.

 

Visitor Numbers to Tredegar House

 

When the National Trust  took over the running of Tredegar House in 2012, one of their primary gaols was to build up the annual number of visitors to a target of over 120,000.

 

Using the FOI,  Newport Council has revealed to the Author the previously well guarded figures of actual attendance at Tredegar House for the past 7 years. [ii]

 

2013/14   57,280

2014/15   78,984

2015/16   90,285

2016/17   94,850

2017/18   88,309

2018/19   81,377

2019/20   89,234

 

As disclosed by the Author in 2017, [iii]  the 2012  Lease Agreement between the Council and National Trust ( with some £10m being payable between 2012 and 2062)  provided additionally  for the sum of  £150,000 per annum to be paid  to the National Trust as a “ Revenue Subsidy” for as  long as   visitor numbers at Tredegar House  fell below  120,000 per annum.

 

As the figures here show the National Trust started well but on the face of it have failed to pursue an agenda with a sufficiently successful mix of attractions, or prove the worth of  their house management decisions at winning increased support in public attendance.  There is  a repeated failure to capture a clear increase in the number of visitors in ANY of the last 3 years compared with the best year, over 4 years ago.

 

The rot was there long before the current pandemic. The National Trust  management have not fulfilled their  strategic goal over visitor numbers. They will perhaps  say in defence that in these past years conservation projects, as with  the fixing  a new roof, came first.  But the fact is they  reached  a plateau for visitor attendance in 2016/17 and this was far below the strategic figure planned of 120,000.

 

It is interesting that given the question above about the 2012 Lease Agreement being revisited or  changed that  it does look like that this can be done  and it  has already been re-negotiated.

 

According to the FOI Officer’s reply at the conclusion of the 2019/20 season,  Newport Council and National Trust agreed a settlement figure to fully discharge the obligation of the £150,000 per annum ‘Revenue Subsidy’  regarding visitor numbers.

 

The FOI reply adds “ The arrangement was due to expire in 2025 in any case and the stabilisation of visitor numbers at a sub 100k level meant it was unlikely that the 120k target would be reached before the payment arrangement terminated.”

 

So what was the settlement figure – Who benefits?

 

The FOI response was as follows “  The Council was obligated to 5 more years of payments of £150k per year (£750k) while visitor numbers remained below 120k.  The Council and National Trust agreed a settlement of the outstanding payments with a discount of 1 year's payment (£600k).” [iv]

 

This substantial cost to Newport Council appears to be is a very nice gift for the National Trust  to pocket when the country was on the verge of a further national lockdown.  That such a large sum should be removed from Newport coffers cannot benefit  Newport citizens when Tredegar House’s future stands out as being  uncertain as  are other  Welsh  visitor  attractions in the pre-vaccine era.  

 

[i] Cadw is the historic environment service of the Welsh Government and part of the Tourism and Culture group. Cadw works to protect the historic buildings and structures, the landscapes and heritage sites of Wales, so that the public can visit them, enjoy them and understand their significance.

 

[ii] REQ08381 - Newport Council Payments to the National Trust at Tredegar House, Newport.

 

[iii] See “Sketches of Evan, Viscount Tredegar: ‘Lord of the Lies’”. Book Midden Publishing (2017).

 

[iv] Reply to Freedom of Information Request REQ08448.  NB Newport Council later advised: “The final settlement payment was confirmed as received by National Trust on 9th of April 2020.  Please note that the attached letter refers to a final payment of 750k which included the payment due 1st of  March 2020.  This had already been processed therefore the final payment received by the National Trust in April was £600k.”   FOI REQ08496. Letter referred to held by the Author. Copy available on request.

 

" Visitor Attendance at Tredegar House 2012-2020."

“More Sketches of Evan, Viscount Tredegar ‘Lord of the Lies’ As seen by friends, foes and lovers ” A new book about Evan Morgan, the last Viscount Tredegar was published on 9 November 2020.

https://morgan-myths.blogspot.com/2020/11/more-sketches-of-evan-viscount-tredegar.html

Review of the Book on Tredegar House Weekend Parties: A Monument of Depravity

Review of the Book on "Tredegar House Weekend Parties Frolics and Fun" 

House  Guests 1934-1938" by William Cross, FSA Scot

A Monument of Depravity

Book review from  Michael Keyton  : Author of " The Gift"

I think the camera has been a great leveller. A case in point is the interwar years, the thirties especially. Whereas in earlier centuries anyone with money could accord great artists to immortalise them on canvas, the 1930’s saw kings and princes, politicians and minor nobility recorded by amateurs on camera.  They make for a great and evocative record, but it’s the working classes that really shine in this medium. The aristocracy come across as slightly sinister, wooden puppets with their grave expressions, plus fours and tweeds—the women especially, many of them dour and looking like elderly men in drag.

This why Will Cross’s latest book  is such a joy to read for any obsessed with this period.

The cover has a childlike simplicity. It hides, though, a myriad of sins. The book is awash with vintage photographs of the great and the good, pictures that force the eye to linger—especially with the waspish comments that accompany them, which is partly the value of the book.

How many of us have cardboard boxes filled with old black and whites of long dead relatives about whom we know nothing? Will Cross breathes life into these pictures. In some cases, unless you have a strong stomach, you almost wish he hadn’t.

In its heyday, the interwar years, the country house weekend was a ritual of frivolity and class privilege in a grey and socially deprived world. Looking back it brings to mind the butterfly as winter approaches—in this case world war, death duties and a working class with expanding horizons. By examining the notorious parties of Tredegar House, Will Cross has focused on a small but fascinating niche in local history.

The death of Courtney Morgan, Evan Morgan leapt from his father’s oppressive shadow into a world of sunshine and excess, and in doing so helped bankrupt an ancient and vastly wealthy estate. His house parties were legendary, attracting Russian princesses, Greek royalty, and . . . H G Wells, lecherous and unashamedly parasitic. Guests mingled amongst rent boys and spies—which makes for wonderful gossip—and there is plenty of that in the book.

What gives this slim volume its heft is the meticulous research gleaned from what records there are of actual guests, their names and significance and, most importantly, when they attended. It’s a historical record, meaningless to many, but fascinating to the historian.

Amongst the names that crop up were two I found of particular interest: Evan Morgan’s factotum, Captain Henry (Harry) Ware, and the Marchesa Luisa Casati.

If I were to rewrite ‘The Gift’ I’d incorporate Captain Ware as the satanic familiar acceding to his master’s lubricious desires—for a price. Ware was Evan Morgan’s procurer-in-chief, haunting docksides and pubs for rent-boys that his master went through like  tissues Evan Morgan’s infatuations were brutally brief, usually ending with cash or a present and a warning to disappear—or else. And with Captain Ware the warning was real. Several disappeared never to be seen again.

Of another guest the Marchesa Luisa Casati, who was neither dour or dowdy. The Marchesa brought much more joy to the world—unless you shared Evan Morgan’s proclivities. She gate-crashed several of his house parties, and as one prone to ‘parading with a pair of leashed cheetahs and wearing live snakes as jewellery,’ she invariably made her presence known.. Not for the prudish perhaps, one contemporary referring to her as ‘that international monument of depravity.’ 

Rent boys or an ‘international monument of depravity’ A choice I’ve yet to encounter and perhaps never will—certainly not in Tredegar House, currently owned by the National Trust.

MICHAEL KEYTON

Enquiries : Please Contact the Author William Cross  by e-mail

williecross@aol.com

21 December 2019

Evan Morgan's House Parties and Weekends at Tredegar House 1934-1938

 TREDEGAR HOUSE :WEEKEND PARTIES, FROLICS AND FUN

EVAN MORGAN’S HOUSE GUESTS 1934-1938

A celebration from William Cross, FSA Scot

Author of several books on the  Morgans of Tredegar House

In the years 1934 - 1949 Evan Morgan Viscount Tredegar held court at his Welsh mansion, Tredegar House, an impressive 17th century red brick building set in 100 acres of parkland near Newport. Invitations to Evan's country house weekends were highly prized. But how many house guests passed through the gates of Tredegar House in the Evan years? Who actually stayed there and when? What of the legends of Evan's séances, outrageous parlour game of charades, riotous drinking and orgies to compare with Caligula's Rome? What is the truth, and what are the myths about these crazy weekends? In this book William Cross, author of previous Morgan books reveals the identity of the scores of people who were Evan's guests. Here are the good, bad and the downright disgraceful whom Evan brought together under one roof. The historical icons of the era, male prostitutes, spivs, spies, and traitors as well as a sizable collection of stage and literary figures, politicians, Catholic luminaries and Evan's relatives including his Royal cousins. Evan was a generous host, an excessive party giver, a man whose wealth in theory could support his foibles for pleasure seeking, for indulging in a complex homosexual life style, having footmen wear powdered wigs, and running a large zoo in the Estate grounds comprising wild and exotic birds and animals. But beneath the surface of fun, folly and farce it was a dynasty in decay, the Morgan coffers were crumbling fast under the burden of death duties, heavy taxation and the changing attitude in Society to service and employment on the landed estates. Evan was also a sick man crippled with poor health, moreover he ploughed a dangerous furrow especially during the war years and was subject to surveillance from on high.”

Essential reading for those interested in Newport’s most famous family and their history  and those who want to know the truth about Evan’s hospitality and who he invited to stay under his 500 year old roof during his early years as the lord of the Manor.

The book is 150 pages long, over 55,000 words with over 400 End Notes. The main text  contains  over  100 images. There is also a  directory of over 300 guests whom Evan entertained, with biographical details, and dates when they visited Tredegar House,  some entries have photographs ”. Enquiries William Cross 58 Sutton Newport, Newport, NP 19 7JF 

e-mail

 williecross@aol.com

“Evan Morgan, Lord Tredegar's House Guests 1934-1938. “  Compiled by  William Cross. ISBN 9781905914531.  ( 2019) Copies of the book can be obtained direct from the Author.   Contact him by e-mail.

 Last Copies may still be available on  e-bay  / Amazon

NB SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY

Contact William Cross directly ( by e-mail )  for latest book offers.


An illustrated  talk is also available about the book from William Cross. 

SIGNED COPIES AND ILLUSTRATED TALK ON EVAN MORGAN'S HOUSE PARTIES 

NEWPORT U3A  Shaftsbury Church, Newport : BOOK LAUNCH

7 November 2019

http://lecturelist.org/content/view_lecture/16498




UPDATED 21 December 2019