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File: 2023006-0385
At the junction of St Mary Street and Wharton Street, Cardiff (Caerdydd), Wales (Cymru), United Kingdom, on Saturday 17th of June 2023.
About the photograph.
This photo was taken at the junction of St Mary Street and Wharton Street, just outside the former James Howell & Co Ltd and House of Fraser building barely seen in the background, the one with the columns.
I have no idea if those women are actually solicitors, for all I know, they could simply be staff, like receptionists or clerks of the law firm they work for. Here, they are taking part in the parade in show of their support.
This was my second Pride photography, having done the Bristol Pride in 2022, and my fourth photojournalism starting photography. I was simply being an unpaid freelance photographer, taking the photos in order to build up experience and portfolio.
That day was a very hot sunny day, the parade was about one mile in length, and for those taking part in the parade, it would take them only about an hour to complete the journey. It took me about two hours, considering I often went back and forth along the parade looking for better shots.
At the end, I got myself a massive sunburn, but don’t worry, I learnt my lessons, on the next similar photography pursuits, I use sun cream.
About the event.
Pride Cymru was previously called Cardiff Mardi Gras when it was formed in September 1999. It held annual festival in Bute Park. It became a registered charity in 2010, and starting from 2012, they held a parade through the city centre.
In 2014, Cardiff Mardi Gras was renamed to Pride Cymru, and had operated under the new name ever since the change of name.
Pride Cymru is in reality a weekend event, often called Pride Cymru Big Weekend, and attracts up to 50,000 people over the three days, with Saturdays having the parade through the city centre.
The route for the parade is approximately about more or less one mile in length, and would take anyone approximately up to an hour to complete the route.
Because I was doing photojournalism, trying to find interesting shots, therefore I often sometimes walk back and forth, up and down the parade, so it would take me about a couple of hours to do the photo-shoot.
That day was a very hot and strong sunny day, and I some sunburn.
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Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however, we are south of the Thames in the middle-class London suburb of Putney in the front room of a red brick Edwardian villa in Hazelwood Road, where Lettice has come to see her childhood chum Gerald’s friend, Harriet Milford. The orphaned daughter of a solicitor with little formal education, Harriet has taken in theatrical lodgers to earn a living, but more importantly for Lettice, has taken up millinery semi-professionally to give her some pin money*. As Harriet made Lettice a fetching picture hat for her brother Leslie’s wedding in November, Lettice thought that Harriet might benefit as much from her patronage as Lettice herself will by commissioning a new millinery creation for the wedding of Lettice’s friend Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon** who is marrying the Duke of York*** in a few months.
As the taxi she has taken from Mayfair putters away down the street, Lettice pushes on the black painted wrought iron gate flanked by two capped red brick pillars. It protests shrilly with the squeal of hinges as she opens it. She sighs and walks up the garden path snaking across a well clipped lawn. Lettice can hear the notes of an oboe being played as she walks.
“Coo-ee, Lettice darling!” comes a bright, rather effeminate call from above as the oboe music abruptly stops. Shading her eyes from the sun as she looks up, and peers to the roofline where she can see Cyril, one of Harriet’s theatrical lodgers, leaning out of his open oriel bedroom window above, waving madly. “Hattie! Hattie, Lettice is here!” he calls down over his shoulder. As well as being Harriet’s tenant, it has also come to light in more recent times that he is Gerald’s younger lover, and Lettice worries about Cyril’s indiscretion at being a homosexual, in comparison to Gerald who is very appropriately circumspect about his inclinations.
Without replying, she smiles and waves weakly in an understated way, embarrassed at being called to from above like a butcher’s boy or some other domestic. She glances around to make sure no-one has seen the interaction, not that there would be anyone she would likely know or run into in her upper-class circles in middle-class Hazelwood Road, Putney.
She goes to depress the doorbell next to the front door, but as she does, it is flung open exuberantly by Harriet, her mousy brown hair framing her pretty face, her bright print frock covered by a white cotton pinny, looking rather like the maids Lettice is used to answering doors for her, rather than mistress of the house she is about to enter. “How do you do, Miss Chetwynd!” she says brightly.
“Miss Milford.” Lettice replies with a pinched smile and a curt not of her head.
“Lord love Cyril, eh?” Harriet beams, glancing up, wincing into the unusually sunny sky above. “Who needs a doorbell when you can have an oboist trumpet your arrival. Right, Miss Chetwynd?”
“Err, quite.” Lettice says awkwardly.
“Right this way Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet says with a genuine smile of pleasure at receiving Lettice. “Well, you know the way.” she adds, flinging open the first door on the left side of the hallway and indicating with an extended arm for Lettice to enter her parlour cum salon. “I’ve got the kettle on already, and you can be the first to sample my freshly made fruitcake.”
“The second, actually, Hattie.” a rather deep and drooping male voice annunciates clearly. From behind Harriet’s shoulder, a mature man with white hair and an impressive, expertly waxed handlebar moustache appears dressed in full evening attire with a top hat in his hand. “I just appropriated a slice from the kitchen table on my way out. Good of you to cut it for me in anticipation of my expedient departure.”
“Oh you cheeky boy!” Harriet slaps the older gentleman on the forearm playfully. “Without even so much as a by-your leave!”
Eyeing Lettice standing in the hallway dressed in her powder blue three quarter length coat and matching hat with a large arctic fox fur wrapped around her neck and draped down her front, the man asks, “And who have we here Hattie, my dear? An ingénue come to steal away the hearts of your bevvy of lead actors?”
“No lady will ever steal your heart away!” she scoffs.
“Never a truer word was spoken, my dear.” He puts a hand to his mouth. “But a great thespian can put on a convincing act.”
“Miss Chetwynd, may I present Mr. Charles Dunnage.” Harriet announces. “Charles, this is the Honourable Miss Lettice Chetwynd.”
“The honour,” Charles replies. “Is all mine, dear lady.” Taking up Lettice’s kid glove clad hand in his own white evening glove clad ones, he raises it dramatically to his lips and kisses it.
“Oh, get away with you, Charles!” Harriet laughs. “We don’t want Miss Chetwynd thinking she’s entered a home for retired theatrical lunatics.” She turns to Lettice. “Sorry, Miss Chetwynd. Charles is a Shakespearean actor at the Old Vic****. I…”
“How many times must I tell you, Hattie!” Charles huffs irritably, suddenly animating his shoulders, making them rise and fall with every syllable. “I’m a thespian,” He emphasises the word with reverence. “Not an actor.” He spits the last word out like an insult. “He’s an actor.” He points upwards with his cane to the plastered ceiling above, where the sound of Cyril’s oboe playing can be heard. “Only true thespians can perform the works of the Great Bard. Anyone can be an actor, and anyone is!” He arches his eyebrows, causing her brow to furrow in folds of pale white flesh.
The oboe playing stops. “I can hear you, you know, Charlie Boy!” Cyril calls down from above.
Charles shudders. “Like I was saying, my dears,” he pronounces loudly so that Cyril can hear. “Anyone can be an actor, however only some of us have the strength of character to be a thespian!” Looking at Lettice he continues conspiratorially in a more moderately toned voice. “My dear Miss Chetwynd, I suggest you flee this den of iniquity and retreat to the salubrious surrounds from whence you came, before you are swept into the maelstrom of actors that pass through this door.”
Stunned into silence by his dramatic and verbose statement, Lettice can only look the older man in the face with wide eyes and a closed mouth.
“Oh get on with you, Charles,” Harriet laughs good naturedly. “Or you’ll be late for rehearsals. You don’t want to miss your train. When shall I be expecting you?”
“I’ll be home around eleven, my dear, but don’t feel you have to wait up. I have my latch key.” He reached into his pocket and pulls out a key tied to a russet coloured ribbon which he dangles from his finger.
“Right you are then, Charles. See you later then.”
And with a bow, the older man dons his top hat and sweeps down the garden path, his black evening cape billowing behind him.
“You must really think I run a theatrical madhouse, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet says apologetically with a shake of her head as both women watch Charles slip out the gate. “Please do go in and make yourself comfortable. I’ll be back in a jiffy***** with tea and what cake is left that Charles hasn’t yet consumed.”
Stepping across the threshold of the room, Lettice’s critical eye again glances around the front parlour of the Putney villa, which doubles as Harriet’s sewing room and show room for her hats. She crinkles her nose in distaste. She finds the room’s middle-class chintzy décor an affront to her up-to-date interior design sensitivities, with its flouncy floral Edwardian sofa and roomy armchair by the fire, a pouffe hand embroidered by Harriet’s deceased mother and the busy Edwardian floral wallpaper covered with a mixture of cheap botanical prints and quaint English country scenes, all in gaudy gilded plaster frames. Yet what makes it even worse is that it seems that no attempt has been made to tidy the room in spite of Lettice and Gerald’s constant nagging of Harriet to present her hats in an orderly space. Harriet’s concertina sewing box on casters still stands cascaded open next to the armchair, threads, embroidery silks, buttons and ribbons pouring from its compartments like entrails. Hats in different stages of being made up and decorated lie about on furniture or on the floor in a haphazard way along with baskets of millinery provisions. The brightly patterned rug is littered with spools of cotton, scissors, ribbon, artificial flowers and dogeared copies of Weldon’s****** magazines. Lettice usually sits on the rather lumpy and sagging overstuffed sofa, but today that is an impossibility, with the seats covered in cardboard hat boxs spewing forth a froth of white tissue paper and hats stacked upon them. She sighs irritably and remains standing amidst the chaos of the room, unable to take a seat.
“I really am grateful that you’ve come back to see me again, Miss Chetwynd!” Harriet gushes as she steps across the threshold into the parlour carrying her wooden tray on which stand tea things for two and a silver platter with several slices of dark fruitcake on it. “You were true to your word, telling people at your brother’s wedding about who made your hat, and I’ve already had an order from a Mrs. Minchinbury and her sister, Miss Rentoul.”
Harriet unloads the teapot, milk jug and sugar bowl onto a small hexagonal Indian table, and whilst balancing the tray on the edge of her deceased father’s former chess table, she pushes aside cotton threads, ribbons, a tape measure and a pair of scissors in the shape of a stork with her elbow to make room for the teacups and the tray of fruitcake slices, which Lettice notices rest upon a pretty lace doily.
“Ahh yes, they are my second cousins on my mother’s side.” Lettice says.
“And a Miss Eglantine Chetwynd from Little Venice, who I believe is your aunt.”
“She is, Miss Milford.” Lettice smiles.
“Please do sit down, Miss Chetwynd,” Harriet says as she leans the tray against the flounced edge of the sofa. “There’s no need to stand on ceremony here.”
“I’d be happy to, if only I had a place to sit, Miss Milford.” Lettice remarks crisply.
“Oh!” Harriet’s eyes grow wide. “Sorry, Miss Chetwynd,” she mutters apologetically as she quickly whisks a tangle of ribbons off the salon chair she uses when at her sewing machine onto the floor and draws it up to the Indian and chess tables. “I know you and Gerry keep telling me, but, well as you can see, I still haven’t had an opportunity to tidy up in here yet. I just don’t seem to get the time.”
“It’s of no consequence, Miss Milford, so long as I can sit.” Lettice lies as she perches on the salon chair and hangs her crocodile skin handbag over its arm. “And I would imagine my Aunt Egg would have rather enjoyed the chaos of your theatrical household.”
“She did, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet admits with a shy smile and a nod.
“Shall I be mother******* then, Miss Milford?” Lettice asks poignantly staring at the teapot.
“Oh no, Miss Chetwynd,” Harriet springs from her own seat in the overstuffed armchair. “I’ll do it.”
Resuming her line of conversation whilst Harriet pours tea into the two pre-war Edwardian style cups, Lettice says, “Of course Aunt Egg would like this because she is an artist. However the likes of my cousins, or some of the finer people, even more exalted and refined, you may yet encounter doubtless wouldn’t approve,” She waves her hand around her. “Of all this.”
“Well, Gerry tells me that I should give this place up and move to your side of the river.”
“Gerald’s suggestion is quite a prudent one, Miss Milford.” Lettice replies, taking her teacup and saucer and placing them on the closed lid of the top layer of Harriet’s concertina sewing box.
“But I can’t afford that,” Harriet admits as she resumes her own seat. “At least not until I know my hat making can support me.”
“Then I strongly suggest that you take Gerald’s and my advice and make the time to tidy up in here.” Lettice takes a sip of tea. “Not to be unkind, Miss Milford, but it’s slovenly, and if you want to be taken seriously as a milliner, you need to present a professional front. Surely there is an equally light and spacious room upstairs you can use as a workroom.”
“You’re quite right, Miss Chetwynd. That wasn’t unkind at all. It’s the truth,” She looks guiltily at Lettice. “And I know it. I’ll do better. I promise.”
“I should hope so, Miss Milford, for I have a commission for you, and if you take it up, which I hope you will,” Lettice pauses for a moment for impact. “It could lead to many more commissions from much finer people than my second cousins.”
“I’ll be delighted to accept, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet says, moving forward slightly on her chair, her teacup and saucer perched on her knee, help in place by her hand. “What do you wish to commission?”
“Before I tell you, do I have your solemn promise of secrecy, at least for the time being?”
“Yes of course, Miss Chetwynd.” Harriet’s brow furrows with concern. “What on earth is it you want?”
“My friend, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, is going to marry the Duke of York in a few months.”
“But the papers say she is supposed to marry the Prince of Wales********.”
“It’s not been officially announced yet,” Lettice interrupts Harriet’s spurt of unfounded gossip. “But it will be very shortly, that she will marry the Duke of York.” Her eyes widen a she nods at Harriet, making her statement of fact clear. “And I need a hat for the occasion, Miss Milford, but not that one.” She points to a hat of straw decorated with garlands of lace ribbons and faux flowers around its wide brim sitting in a hat stand on Harriet’s appropriated work table. “Who on earth is that for? It looks like something the Miss Evanses would wear to one of my mother’s tombolas.”
“Well, I’m not sure who the Miss Evanses are, Miss Chetwynd, but this hat is meant for Mrs. Leonowens who lives down the street. Her granddaughter is getting married next Wednesday. She was very particular about what kind of hat she wanted, and its trimmings.” Looking critically at the hat she adds. “I suppose she is a little old fashioned in her taste,” She shrugs. “But that’s what she wanted.”
“Well, I’m very relieved to hear you say that your Mrs. Leonowens decided what was to go on that hat, and not you.” Lettice says with a sigh of relief. “After the beautiful creation you made for me for Leslie’s wedding, I consider you to have more than an ounce of good taste,” Looking again around her critically she adds. “In clothing and hats at any rate.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Miss Chetwynd,” Harriet says somewhat warily, yet with a smile. “I take it that Gerry is going to design your frock for the royal wedding?”
“He is, Miss Milford. Although even I am still a little unclear of the exact date, I believe the wedding will be in late April or early May at Westminster Abbey, so a spring wedding. Gerald thinks that as Lady Elizabeth is quite romantic, and loves pastel colours, that I should wear peach floral crêpe de chine, which I’ve agreed to. What do you propose, Miss Milford?”
“Well, Gerry and I can chat more about this when he visits Cyril later in the week,” Harriet pauses. “I take it I can talk to Gerry about this? I’m not sworn to secrecy from him, am I?”
“Oh no, Miss Milford! Gerald knows Lady Elizabeth too, so he knows her news and will doubtless be on the guest list too.”
“Oh, that’s a relief!”
“But not Cyril, even if he and Gerald are…”
“Friends, Miss Chetwynd?”
“Friends, Miss Milford, you mustn’t mention why you are making this hat for me, at last until after the official announcement of the engagement is made in the newspapers. I do not wish to be the source of more gossip. I know Lady Elizabeth is very irritated by the current rumours.”
“I doubt Cyril will care to ask why I’m making a hat for you, Miss Chetwynd, but if he asks, I shall make up an excuse. Now, if your friend Lady Elizabeth is romantic, and looking at her pictures in the papers, in keeping with your friend’s style and something that would suit you as well, I suggest a deeply crowned hat with a wide, poke style brim.” She gesticulates around her own head how wide the brim would be and how it would sit. “Stiffened of course.” she adds. She looks at Lettice’s expectant face. “Made of apricot felt, edged with the thinnest trim of white lace I think and ornamented with pink and orange taffeta roses. What do you think, Miss Chetwynd?”
“That sounds quite splendid, Miss Milford!” Lettice says, returning her cup to her saucer and sitting back in her chair. “Yes, do it!”
“Splendid, Miss Chetwynd! It will be subtle and yet striking as well.” Harriet remarks. “You might even outshine the bride.” She giggles girlishly.
“I do hope not, Miss Milford.” Lettice replies, albeit with a slight smile.
“But secretly, you wouldn’t mind it if you did.” Harriet responds with a knowing look. “A slice of cake, Miss Chetwynd?” She holds out the silver tray on which lay four slices of rich, dark fruitcake with a thin layer of white marzipan icing.
Lettice saves herself from having to reply by putting the piece of cake to her lips and taking a bite of it, allowing the moist sliver to fall apart in her mouth.
*Originating in Seventeenth Century England, the term pin money first meant “an allowance of money given by a husband to his wife for her personal expenditures. Married women, who typically lacked other sources of spending money, tended to view an allowance as something quite desirable. By the Twentieth Century, the term had come to mean a small sum of money, whether an allowance or earned, for spending on inessentials, separate and in addition to the housekeeping money a wife might have to spend.
**Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, as she was known at the beginning of 1923 when this story is set, went on to become Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions from 1936 to 1952 as the wife of King George VI. Whilst still Duke of York, Prince Albert initially proposed to Elizabeth in 1921, but she turned him down, being "afraid never, never again to be free to think, speak and act as I feel I really ought to". He proposed again in 1922 after Elizabeth was part of his sister, Mary the Princess Royal’s, wedding party, but she refused him again. On Saturday, January 13th, 1923, Prince Albert went for a walk with Elizabeth at the Bowes-Lyon home at St Paul’s, Walden Bury and proposed for a third and final time. This time she said yes. The wedding took place on April 26, 1923 at Westminster Abbey.
***Prince Albert, Duke of York, known by the diminutive “Bertie” to the family and close friends, was the second son of George V. Not only did Bertie propose to Elizabeth in 1921, but also in March 1922 after she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Albert’s sister, Princess Mary to Viscount Lascelles. Elizabeth refused him a second time, yet undaunted Bertie pursued the girl who had stolen his heart. Finally, in January 1923 she agreed to marry him in spite of her misgivings about royal life.
****The Old Vic theatre in the London borough of Lambeth was formerly the home of a theatre company that became the nucleus of the National Theatre. The company’s theatre building opened in 1818 as the Royal Coburg and produced mostly popular melodramas. In 1833 it was redecorated and renamed the Royal Victoria and became popularly known as the Old Vic. Between 1880 and 1912, under the management of Emma Cons, a social reformer, the Old Vic was transformed into a temperance amusement hall known as the Royal Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavern, where musical concerts and scenes from Shakespeare and opera were performed. Lilian Baylis, Emma Cons’s niece, assumed management of the theatre in 1912 and two years later presented the initial regular Shakespeare season. By 1918 the Old Vic was established as the only permanent Shakespearean theatre in London, and by 1923 all of Shakespeare’s plays had been performed there. The Old Vic grew in stature during the 1920s and ’30s under directors such as Andrew Leigh, Harcourt Williams, and Tyrone Guthrie.
*****The expression in a jiffy was in use as early as 1780. It is a colloquial English expression for “in a short amount of time.” The origins of jiffy are unknown, though there are theories. One suggestion is that it comes from British thieves’ slang for “lightning,” hence very fast. An early instance appears in 1780 edition of Town and Country Magazine: “Most of the limbs of the law do every thing in a jiffy”.
******Created by British industrial chemist and journalist Walter Weldon Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was the first ‘home weeklies’ magazine which supplied dressmaking patterns. Weldon’s Ladies’ Journal was first published in 1875 and continued until 1954 when it ceased publication.
*******The meaning of the very British term “shall I be mother” is “shall I pour the tea?”
********In early January 1923 a newspaper ran a gossip item that Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was soon to be engaged to Prince Albert the Duke of York’s elder brother, the Prince of Wales – a story that reportedly annoyed her. Rumour has it that part of Elizabeth’s hesitance to marry Albert was due to her being in love with David – the loftier “catch” – however, these stories are highly unlikely and probably have more to do with trying to explain her later hatred for Wallis Simpson. More likely, she knew that the story meant more pressure for her to make up her mind about Albert and she knew the rumour would wound him.
This rather cluttered and chaotic scene of a drawing room cum workroom may look real to you, but believe it or not, it is made up entirely with pieces from my 1:12 miniatures collection, including pieces from my childhood.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
1:12 size miniature hats made to such exacting standards of quality and realism such as these are often far more expensive than real hats are. When you think that it would sit comfortably on the tip of your index finger, yet it could cost in excess of $150.00 or £100.00, it is an extravagance. American artists seem to have the monopoly on this skill and some of the hats that I have seen or acquired over the years are remarkable. The natural straw hat with white lace ribbon trim and faux flower garlands on the table was made by an unknown artisan in the United Kingdom and was sold through Doreen Jeffrey’s Small Wonders miniatures shop.
The concertina sewing box on casters which you can see spilling forth its contents is an artisan miniature made by an unknown artist in England. It comes from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the in the United Kingdom. All the box’s contents including spools of ribbons, threads scissors and buttons on cards came with the work box. The box can completely expand or contract, just like its life-sized equivalent.
The black japanned fire screen in the background, the black metal fire tools and the potted plants and their stands all come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop.
Harriet’s family photos seen cluttering the mantlepiece in the background are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each.
The porcelain clock on the mantlepiece is made by M.W. Reutter Porzellanfabrik in Germany, who specialise in making high quality porcelain miniatures. The pot of yellow and blue petunias and the ornamental swan figurine on the mantlepiece have been hand made and painted by 1:12 miniature ceramicist Ann Dalton.
The tilt chess table I bought from Mick and Marie’s Miniatures in the United Kingdom, whilst the Indian hexagonal table comes from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the United Kingdom.
The Edwardian tea set and plate of fruit cake slices on its surface come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop, as do the spools of threads, the silver sewing scissors in the shape of a stork and the spool of ribbon. The skeins of pink and blue thread I have had since I was a teenager, when I acquired the from a high street doll house miniature specialist shop.
The sewing basket that you can see on the floor just behind the chess table I bought from a high street shop that specialised in dolls and doll house furnishings. It is an artisan miniature and contains pieces of embroidery and embroidery threads.
The floral chintz chair is made by J.B.M. miniatures who specialise in well made pieces of miniature furniture made to exacting standards.
The Chinese carpet beneath the furniture is hand made by Mackay and Gerrish in Sydney, Australia.
The Edwardian mantlepiece is made of moulded plaster and was acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House Shop in the United Kingdom.
The paintings and prints on the walls all come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House in the United Kingdom.
The Calder and Hebble Navigation, a canal in Halifax, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the Aire and Calder Navigation had made the River Calder navigable as far upstream as Wakefield. The aim of the Calder and Hebble Navigation was to extend navigation west (upstream) from Wakefield to Sowerby Bridge near Halifax.
Construction started in 1759, with Smeaton acting as engineer. By 1764, the navigation was open as far as Brighouse, some 16 miles (26 km) from Wakefield. Having borrowed £56,000, factions arose within the Commissioners, with some wanting to stop at Brooksmouth, where the Rivers Hebble and Calder meet, and others wanting to raise more money and complete the scheme. The second option gained most support, and a new committee was set up, who asked James Brindley to take over from Smeaton in 1765.
The Commissioners felt unable to borrow more money, and so a second Act of Parliament was obtained on 21 April 1769, which formally created the Company of Proprietors of the Calder and Hebble Navigation. This consisted of all the 81 people who had loaned money to the original scheme, and these loans were converted into £100 shares. Additional shares could be issued, and the Company could borrow up to £20,000, with the future tolls used as security.
The Navigation prospered, with dividends rising steadily from 5 per cent in 1771 to 13 per cent in 1792. Under the terms of the Act of Parliament, tolls were reduced when the dividend exceeded 10 per cent, and the first such reduction occurred in 1791.
The Manchester and Leeds Railway company, which had approached the Calder and Hebble in 1836, but had been rebuffed, opened their line between 1839 and 1841. It followed the line of the canal and that of the Rochdale Canal. A year later, with canal shares having lost 66 per cent of their value, the canal company approached the railway, who agreed to lease the canal for £40,000 per year for 14 years, commencing on 25 March 1843.
The Aire and Calder Navigation objected to the lease, and in 1847, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General ruled that it was illegal and must cease. Soon afterwards, the Aire and Calder offered to lease the canal itself, and the agreement started in September. After the Aire and Calder's lease expired in 1885, the Navigation Company again took charge, rebuilt many of the bridges, and established the Calder Carrying Company. Shareholders continued to receive dividends until the canal was nationalized in 1948, and the canal was used by commercial traffic until 1981.
Information Source:
The townsfolk of Gort are concerned about the new motorway that's going to bypass the town. A solicitor has asked me to paint the beautiful shopfronts, which feature some classic Irish architecture of a certain period. This is my first.
The Calder and Hebble Navigation, a canal in Halifax, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the Aire and Calder Navigation had made the River Calder navigable as far upstream as Wakefield. The aim of the Calder and Hebble Navigation was to extend navigation west (upstream) from Wakefield to Sowerby Bridge near Halifax.
Construction started in 1759, with Smeaton acting as engineer. By 1764, the navigation was open as far as Brighouse, some 16 miles (26 km) from Wakefield. Having borrowed £56,000, factions arose within the Commissioners, with some wanting to stop at Brooksmouth, where the Rivers Hebble and Calder meet, and others wanting to raise more money and complete the scheme. The second option gained most support, and a new committee was set up, who asked James Brindley to take over from Smeaton in 1765.
The Commissioners felt unable to borrow more money, and so a second Act of Parliament was obtained on 21 April 1769, which formally created the Company of Proprietors of the Calder and Hebble Navigation. This consisted of all the 81 people who had loaned money to the original scheme, and these loans were converted into £100 shares. Additional shares could be issued, and the Company could borrow up to £20,000, with the future tolls used as security.
The Navigation prospered, with dividends rising steadily from 5 per cent in 1771 to 13 per cent in 1792. Under the terms of the Act of Parliament, tolls were reduced when the dividend exceeded 10 per cent, and the first such reduction occurred in 1791.
The Manchester and Leeds Railway company, which had approached the Calder and Hebble in 1836, but had been rebuffed, opened their line between 1839 and 1841. It followed the line of the canal and that of the Rochdale Canal. A year later, with canal shares having lost 66 per cent of their value, the canal company approached the railway, who agreed to lease the canal for £40,000 per year for 14 years, commencing on 25 March 1843.
The Aire and Calder Navigation objected to the lease, and in 1847, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General ruled that it was illegal and must cease. Soon afterwards, the Aire and Calder offered to lease the canal itself, and the agreement started in September. After the Aire and Calder's lease expired in 1885, the Navigation Company again took charge, rebuilt many of the bridges, and established the Calder Carrying Company. Shareholders continued to receive dividends until the canal was nationalized in 1948, and the canal was used by commercial traffic until 1981.
Information Source:
The Calder and Hebble Navigation, a canal in Halifax, Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
By the beginning of the 18th century, the Aire and Calder Navigation had made the River Calder navigable as far upstream as Wakefield. The aim of the Calder and Hebble Navigation was to extend navigation west (upstream) from Wakefield to Sowerby Bridge near Halifax.
Construction started in 1759, with Smeaton acting as engineer. By 1764, the navigation was open as far as Brighouse, some 16 miles (26 km) from Wakefield. Having borrowed £56,000, factions arose within the Commissioners, with some wanting to stop at Brooksmouth, where the Rivers Hebble and Calder meet, and others wanting to raise more money and complete the scheme. The second option gained most support, and a new committee was set up, who asked James Brindley to take over from Smeaton in 1765.
The Commissioners felt unable to borrow more money, and so a second Act of Parliament was obtained on 21 April 1769, which formally created the Company of Proprietors of the Calder and Hebble Navigation. This consisted of all the 81 people who had loaned money to the original scheme, and these loans were converted into £100 shares. Additional shares could be issued, and the Company could borrow up to £20,000, with the future tolls used as security.
The Navigation prospered, with dividends rising steadily from 5 per cent in 1771 to 13 per cent in 1792. Under the terms of the Act of Parliament, tolls were reduced when the dividend exceeded 10 per cent, and the first such reduction occurred in 1791.
The Manchester and Leeds Railway company, which had approached the Calder and Hebble in 1836, but had been rebuffed, opened their line between 1839 and 1841. It followed the line of the canal and that of the Rochdale Canal. A year later, with canal shares having lost 66 per cent of their value, the canal company approached the railway, who agreed to lease the canal for £40,000 per year for 14 years, commencing on 25 March 1843.
The Aire and Calder Navigation objected to the lease, and in 1847, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General ruled that it was illegal and must cease. Soon afterwards, the Aire and Calder offered to lease the canal itself, and the agreement started in September. After the Aire and Calder's lease expired in 1885, the Navigation Company again took charge, rebuilt many of the bridges, and established the Calder Carrying Company. Shareholders continued to receive dividends until the canal was nationalized in 1948, and the canal was used by commercial traffic until 1981.
Information Source:
In 1909 Buxton Manor was built for F. J. Fisher a solicitor, of Pine Hill, Mt Lofty. Buxton Manor was designed by F. W. Danker.
In 1922 it became the residence of Sir Josiah Henry Symon, a prominent lawyer who was articled to the firm of Sir Samuel Way and he later became a Supreme Court Judge in South Australia.
Sir Josiah Symons previously owned Fitzroy House which was built in 1880s. He was a member of the House of Assembly and he was appointed as Attorney General. Symonds was a strong advocate of Federation and he was elected to the Senate in the first Commonwealth parliament in 1901.
Completed in 1798, Stafford's Shire Hall was home to the County Assizes, or criminal courts until 1991. The current building is at least the third of Stafford's Shire Halls: a building is first mentioned in records as early as the 1280s. Little is known about this structure although it is thought to have stood at the corner of Market Square and Greengate Street.
As the most important official building in the town in the Middle Ages, the Shire Hall was home to the county court, to the county's Justices of the Peace, and to judges on tour from Westminster.
In Court One, there is a marble bust of Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, who collapsed and died while addressing the Grand Jury in March 1854.
I sat in my 'control tower' at the end of a hard week at work. It had been busy through out but by yesterday morning the stress was mounting.
I had had a letter from my doctor's surgery (not that I know who my Doctor is) saying that I could no longer order my Repeat Prescription for a mild dose of stress relief tablets from my local pharmacy. I would have to organise them through my Doctor's Medical Centre. It said I could do them online. "Great!" So I got online. And it said I needed to register and get a password. "Damn". I rang the medical centre to ask how I registered and got a password. "Well, you have to come down here with ID and we then issue you with a Password, which takes a couple of days." "Aaargh! Don't you realise I have a job 20 miles away and I can't just float in and out of work when I feel like it? I'm not ill. I'm not off work". So I diverted through the morning rush hour traffic to go to the doctor's surgery before work and walked in with ID in the form of Passport and Driving Licence. "I'm sorry", said the receptionist," but we need a utilty bill as well, showing your address"......."Aaaarghhhh!" I can feel my blood pressure going up! "What was wrong with the old system?" She explained, "Too many people are ordering tablets and not using them, and it's a waste". But I said, " I get tablets because I know they are good for me. I'm not a hoarder. Why am I treated like a hoarder.... a waster?"
I'm stressed. Work is busy and pressurised. And I've just bought a house for my son and his wife and kids to live in until they can afford their own. And then my daughter bought a house at the same time and I thought it fair to give her the deposit for it. When asked about funds my daughter explained her Dad was giving her the deposit. So the solicitor asked if it was a loan or a gift. I said it was a loan because my daughter wanted to prove she was financially independent and would pay it back. "Ok" said the solicitor" I need confirmation it is an informal, inter family arrangement and that you will have no interest in the property. The mortgage company will need to know no other party has a financial claim on the property" Aw hell, I thought. "OK it is a gift" I reluctantly said, knowing that I have to keep a record of these things for tax reasons. "Right!" said the solicitor I need to know where that money is coming from, for money laundering reasons". Jeez, I thought, I'm already beginning to regret being generous. She's my daughter. I just gave it to her like I used to give her pocket money to buy sweets. No one ever asked me to prove she wasn't buying sweets on the back of money laundering. I explained I'm just in the process of buying another house too, so here's a copy of a statement showing that I have access to funds to cover all these amounts. Well, blow me down that was acceptable! Until they said they now needed proof of my ID. Aaaaaaarrrgh! You want me to come to your office in Crewe after 9.30 when you open to show my face and a Passport, at a time when I need to be in work at Manchester Airport? I refused. " No problem, " said the solicitor but I will have to charge you £ 1.80 to do an ID check online and £ 5.40 for an AML search. "Whaaaaaat? You even charge such petty amounts?" I couldn't believe it. Now the solicitor has emailed to ask me to send a copy of my Driving Licence, and as an afterthought has asked for my date of birth too, and I'm seriously beginning to think this is a wind up or the solicitor is bent and is aiming to hack my bank accounts. She says it is all required under Anti-Money Laundering Laws. But it's gone crazy. I'm not a thief, or a criminal. I'm not a drug dealer or a pimp. Why do Doctors and Solicitors assume I am a low-life until I can prove I am not? I'm just an ordinary, honest hard working tax payer. I must be in the minority. And therefore a mug.
At least back in my own little world of freight forwarding I can control things. I was surprised to answer the phone and find myself speaking to a lady who last called me nine months ago. She had told me she had a chronic intestinal illness that means she has to couple up to bags of a special fluid every day just to survive. Her son was getting married in Australia and she was desperate to fly out there for the occasion. But that meant taking a large amount of fluid with her at a cost of over £ 5500 just for the excess baggage one way. And if it didn't arrive within a day of her arriving she would die.
It turned out the supplier of these fluids is a worldwide company and they suggested they could make up her prescription in Australia so they could have a supply waiting there for her.
But when she rang me out of the blue yesterday it was to say she had been badly let down. She was flying to Australia on Monday morning and they just rang her to say they couldn't supply this fluid which is so critical to her living just another day.
And so began a day of working to provide a logistical solution for her. In reality it wasn't so complicated, but just more a matter of making sure every aspect was watertight. I must admit I got a huge amount of job satisfaction from helping her in her hour of need and she was generous with her thanks, but I said a photo of her enjoying her son's wedding was all the thanks we could possibly want. A picture really would be worth a thousand words.
I like our industry. I don't have to take any crap from any body. And in our business there really are people who can be trusted to go the extra mile to help someone without insisting on charging £ 1.80 for petty costs.
But the story with the solicitor didn't end there.
It gets better or worse. The Solicitor has now conducted "Bankruptcy" checks on me. Me, who bought a second house with cash and gave a cash gift to my daughter for her house deposit. (I'm sure the first sign of a Bankrupt is that they have significant sums of cash to hand)The check has found someone with the same name as me living in Newcastle upon Tyne, some 200 miles away who filed for bankruptcy in 2012. I now have to certify that that person is not me. Where will it end? I have now penned the following to my daughter's solicitor:
Dear Ms XXXX
I don't wish to sound rude so I am sending the toned down version.
I hate the expression, but are you sure you aren't having a laugh? I can't believe the cr@p I'm having to go through just because I gave my daughter a modest gift. I bought her a car many years ago that cost more than the gift I have given this time. Where was the Serious Fraud investigation into how I paid for the car? I just bought a second house with funds from the same source but I don't even remember having to prove my identity or where the money came from. With all these requests for proof of this and that I suspect my identity and background would have been less scrutinised if I had actually been convicted and sent to prison for stealing the money. I'm just glad you haven't demanded a strip search yet.
So you want written proof I'm not a bankrupt, to give to the mortgage lender, even though I have no involvement in the ownership of the property so that they can be sure that the money I gave as a gift to my daughter, and which you have already received, is available to be paid to them? But you also require proof I am not a bankrupt who magically found enough money to buy another house with cash and to make sure I am not a drug dealer, thief or pimp?
I don't even know who you are and that now you have received all this info on me, how do I know you are not planning to hack my accounts? Of course, I don't mean that, but surely you get my point. Is your company as careful to check that payments to your firm don't come from laundered monies?
And by the way that 'gift' to my daughter was also from my wife, with whom I share joint accounts. How do you know she isn't a stay at home 'Mom' who makes cakes and sells them to little children without declaring it to the tax man and then launders the cash by buying sausages and toilet rolls at Tesco? I note you haven't asked her to prove who she is. Is that an oversight, and now you will demand the same of her?
Come on, will this ever end? I've more important things to do than to regret helping my daughter out.
I'm not that bad! But you are driving me mad.
Best regards
MMM
This large brick building was constructed in 1888 for prominent Brisbane solicitor Phillip Hardgrave and the South Brisbane Public Hall Company.
Its construction was an entrepreneurial venture responding to the needs of a rapidly expanding South Brisbane, East Brisbane, Woolloongabba, and Thompson Estate population. It provided the newly created Borough of South Brisbane with a central public hall which could be hired for public meetings, lectures, balls, theatrical and musical performances and other public functions.
In 1887 Hardgrave acquired the Boggo Road (later Annerley Road) site, set up the subscription company, and commissioned Brisbane architect John B Nicholson to design the hall. It was erected the following year by builder Blair Cunningham, for a contract price of £5,220.
In the early years, the privately funded hall was known variously as the South Brisbane Public Hall (1888 - 1891) and the Boggo Road Theatre (1892 - 1893).
In 1893 Hardgrave sold the property to his father, John Hardgrave, a former mayor of Brisbane. Renamed the Princess Theatre, the building was used during the 1890s for sporadic productions of live performances and vaudeville, but did not emerge as a major theatrical venue in Brisbane.
Brisbane draper Thomas Finney acquired the property in 1899 and used the theatre as a clothing factory, although the stage was still hired for occasional performances.
With a change of ownership in 1912 the building was rented to clothing manufacturers and Wests Olympia, and from 1914 to 1942 it was leased mainly as a movie-house and performance space for amateur theatre. In the 1930s Brisbane's fledgling amateur theatre companies - Brisbane Repertory Theatre (now La Boite), Brisbane Arts Theatre and the Twelfth Night Theatre Company (later TN! Theatre Co.) - all performed at the Princess.
From 1942 to 1945 the theatre served as the administrative and rehearsal centre for the United States Entertainment Unit. In the years immediately following the war, it was hired to a variety of community groups such as ballet schools, college revues, and scout troops.
From 1949 to 1985 the building lost all association with the performing arts, and was rented to various small businesses, including a paper wholesaler, an engineering firm, a rag merchant, a secondhand dealer and a used appliance retailer. The stage area was leased separately to a printing firm for over thirty years from 1948 to 1979.
In 1985 the property was acquired by REMM Group Ltd, who carried out external restoration, and offered TN! Theatre Company a ten year lease from 1986. Internal restoration and refitting was carried out by TN!.
Source: Queensland Heritage Register.
Now settling in to our new home in Derbyshire, I've already managed to fit some modelling in alongside the inevitable redecoration and other tasks.
The test build of this year's free Christmas download kit comprising solicitors and estate agents is seen here. Ironically enough the first commissioned model I have been asked to build is of the local convenience store that stands just round the corner from our old house in Grays, Essex.
AGENCY:
Office of the Solicitor General
Operator: Office of the Solicitor General - Shuttle Service
Fleet No.: Lorenzo M. Tañada
ENGINE
Maker: Hino Motor Co.
Model: J08E-UG
CHASSIS
Maker: Hino Motor Co.
Model: FG1J
COACH
Coachbuilder: Pilipinas Hino Inc.
Model:
----
Location: Pacita 1 Satellite Office, Barangay San Vicente, San Pedro City, Laguna
Parliament Street in Hull City Centre, The Home of the many Solicitors that Practice in that Street,
A Poole group shot of a Judge and the other players in a court including a fine looking young Garda outside a courthouse somewhere.
With thanks to today's contributors, in particular Niall McAuley, beachcomberaustralia, O Mac, and John Spooner, we have corroboration of date, location and subject. In short, the image was very likely taken at Waterford Courthouse, in 1944, possibly around the retirement of Judge James Sealy (1876-1949). Judge Sealy had a long legal career (and some amateur sporting experience), with his time on the bench marked by some periods of levity (and otherwise) - as per the various snippets and newspaper accounts offered in the comments below....
Photographer: A. H. Poole
Collection: Poole Photographic Studio
Date: ca. 13 November 1944
NLI Ref: POOLEWP 4473a
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
1-5 St Swithins Square in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
A row of town houses Dating from 1759 which in 1929 were converted into solicitors’ offices by W Withers. Over the years they have been used by solicitors under combinations of Andrew, Race, Midgeley, Hill and Mason.
Information Source:
Photos Taken by Edwin Ladd - Mr Ladd Media The Official Photographer for Birmingham Law Society - Newly Qualified Solicitor & Barrister Celebration 2020 / 21. This event took place on the 11th November 2021 at St Philips Chambers
Sponsors:
▪️Tula Medical Experts
▪️Cornwall Street Barristers.
www.birminghamlawsociety.co.uk
Want Edwin Ladd - Mr Ladd Media at your next event?
Contact: Edwin
Mob:07828 475 591
Email: info@mrladd.co.uk
#MrLaddMedia
Getting away from matters bovine and agriculture, to the finished product and consumption thereof for today! A nice Poole shot of a café and bakery in Waterford. Cafés then and now have changed enormously with the range on offer changing even more so!
Per today's mapping contributions from B-59 and Niall McAuley, this café premises changed entirely - to a retail business. Although it's incredible to note that Walsh's pub a few doors down remained largely unchanged until relatively recently (as per first-hand accounts from JohnCoffey).....
Photographer: A. H. Poole
Collection: Poole Photographic Studio, Waterford
Date: c.9 March 1935
NLI Ref: POOLEWP 4075
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Give me a Honda Accord any day. Someone had a bad experience with the Bolton branch of Fieldings Porter Solicitors and cleverly obtained the domain www.fieldingsportersolicitors.com (take a look) to publicise their dissatisfaction with the company. They then tagged the site with " solicitors, lawyers, law firm, conveyancing, divorce, family law, wills, trusts, probate, Greater Manchester, Accident, Claim, Charities, The North West, Company, Commercial, Conveyancing, Civil Litigation, Housing, Landlord, Independent Financial Advice, Tenant, Licensing, Mental Health, Personal Injury, Professional Negligence, Probate, Wills, Expert Advice, Assistance, Legal, Lancashire, , UK, General, Practice, Areas, Law, Individual, Business, Committed, Providing, Unrivalled, Service, Clients, Competitive, Private, Rates, Aid, Solicitors Bolton Westhoughton Lawyers, Commercial Litigation, Crime, Divorce, Employment, Family, Financial Advice " to ensure as many people got the message as possible". Dear, dear.
Three Solicitors stepping into new positions at their firm. Photos needed for regional and trade press publications. Nice and simple, one 580ex about four feet above camera on monopod at 1/4 power fired by skyport,
held by PR person as we walked down a narrow Old Town lane.
...at Beamish Museum in County Durham.
Ravensworth Terrace originally stood on Bensham Bank, in Gateshead, and was built for professional people and tradesmen between 1830 and 1845. Beamish Museum saved six of the houses from demolition during the Seventies, and rebuilt them between 1980 and 1985.
Located at Number Five is a solicitor's office based upon that of Robert Spence Watson of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who became a national figure in politics, education, and industrial negotiation. This is a shot of the partner's, or principal's, office at the front of the house. It has a Dickensian feel typical of the era, which I have tried to enhance with split-toning.
Robert Little, Crown Solicitor for Moreton Bay, and later, the Colony of Queensland, bought almost fourteen acres here in April 1875. Almost immediately he commissioned this large brick double-storey residence on a site with commanding views. In October Little married for a second time. His new wife Eliza Bramston, was the sister of State Attorney-General, Sir John Bramston.
Whytecliffe was designed prominent architect Francis Drummond Greville Stanley in 1875 - 1876. Scottish trained Stanley migrated to Queensland in 1861, and in 1863 was appointed Clerk of Works to the Colonial Architect Charles Tiffin. By 1873 Stanley had been appointed Colonial Architect, already responsible for a body of work incorporating significant public buildings as well as numerous design competition wins. As early as 1869 Stanley's success in winning competition and private commission was causing a deal of resentment in the private sector. Eventually, in April 1876, in response to complaints from architects James Cowlishaw, John Hall and Richard Gailey, Stanley was directed to limit his private work to competition entries only. He had a number of private commissions underway at the time as he sought permission to complete his private work at hand. These jobs included Whytecliffe, as well as the Fortitude Valley Holy Trinity Church, Toowoomba School of Arts and the Bowen Park Exhibition Building. Despite the problems caused by his mixing private commissions with his public employment, Stanley was highly esteemed by his professional peers, and is the best known of Queensland's architects due to the quality, diversity and extent of his work.
Whytecliffe was constructed by builder John Petrie. Given the proximity of Petrie's brickyards just to the south, it seems likely that the bricks for the house were locally made. Petrie excavated large water tanks to supply the house and stables, and also blasted cellars into the solid rock under the kitchen wing.
The successful completion of the Ipswich-Brisbane rail line in 1876 encouraged those desiring a rail link to Sandgate to press their claims. After consideration of several alternative routes, the government in 1880 approved a line running from Roma Street, through Albion, and northeast terminating at Sandgate. The contract was awarded to George Bashford & Co. and the line was formally opened on the 10th of May 1882. Regular services began the next day.
During the 1880s mass migration brought about a massive increase in Brisbane's population. The northern commuter rail line between Roma Street and Sandgate was at least partly responsible for the increase in popularity of inner northern suburbs such as Albion. During the 1890s the number of people travelling to the city from Albion, Mayne, Wooloowin, Eagle Junction, Clayfiel, and Hendra more than doubled. By the turn of the century tram services linked Albion with Clayfield and the City (via Breakfast Creek and Newstead).
By the time Robert Little died in 1890 Albion and surroundings were well-populated, residential suburbs. However, the Whytecliffe Estate, stretching down to Frodsham Street (then called Alice Street) remained intact for another two decades. Little's widow moved out of Whytecliffe and the house was then let to a succession of tenants. The Brisbane High School for Girls (later Somerville House) used the house as a boarder's residence from around 1899 until 1903; and in 1906 the house was converted into a boarding house by lessee Mrs Genevera Hartley Rosendorf.
In 1911 Little's son, Robert Vincent Boyle Little, began to subdivide the large land holding, over the next seven years selling off almost forty blocks ranging in size from sixteen perches up to almost half an acre. Mrs Rosendorf subsequently added several cottages and garages to the grounds. The house continued to offer accommodation until the outbreak of the Second World War.
Post-war, the house continued as a boarding house, as well as offering reception and catering services. In 1959 Archbishop Duhig bought Whytecliffe and made a personal gift of the house to the Christian Brothers. The house was then renovated to be used as a monastery for the Brothers.
At the end of 1996 the Albion campus of St. Columban’s was closed, the school reopening at Caboolture in 1997. Forest Place Ltd acquired the entire school site in 1999 for development of a retirement village. School buildings erected by the College during the three decades following the Second World War were removed, O’Driscoll Hall adapted for use as a community facility in 2001 and several new buildings constructed.
Source: Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.
Robert Little, Crown Solicitor for Moreton Bay, and later, the Colony of Queensland, bought almost fourteen acres here in April 1875. Almost immediately he commissioned this large brick double-storey residence on a site with commanding views. In October Little married for a second time. His new wife Eliza Bramston, was the sister of State Attorney-General, Sir John Bramston.
Whytecliffe was designed prominent architect Francis Drummond Greville Stanley in 1875 - 1876. Scottish trained Stanley migrated to Queensland in 1861, and in 1863 was appointed Clerk of Works to the Colonial Architect Charles Tiffin. By 1873 Stanley had been appointed Colonial Architect, already responsible for a body of work incorporating significant public buildings as well as numerous design competition wins. As early as 1869 Stanley's success in winning competition and private commission was causing a deal of resentment in the private sector. Eventually, in April 1876, in response to complaints from architects James Cowlishaw, John Hall and Richard Gailey, Stanley was directed to limit his private work to competition entries only. He had a number of private commissions underway at the time as he sought permission to complete his private work at hand. These jobs included Whytecliffe, as well as the Fortitude Valley Holy Trinity Church, Toowoomba School of Arts and the Bowen Park Exhibition Building. Despite the problems caused by his mixing private commissions with his public employment, Stanley was highly esteemed by his professional peers, and is the best known of Queensland's architects due to the quality, diversity and extent of his work.
Whytecliffe was constructed by builder John Petrie. Given the proximity of Petrie's brickyards just to the south, it seems likely that the bricks for the house were locally made. Petrie excavated large water tanks to supply the house and stables, and also blasted cellars into the solid rock under the kitchen wing.
The successful completion of the Ipswich-Brisbane rail line in 1876 encouraged those desiring a rail link to Sandgate to press their claims. After consideration of several alternative routes, the government in 1880 approved a line running from Roma Street, through Albion, and northeast terminating at Sandgate. The contract was awarded to George Bashford & Co. and the line was formally opened on the 10th of May 1882. Regular services began the next day.
During the 1880s mass migration brought about a massive increase in Brisbane's population. The northern commuter rail line between Roma Street and Sandgate was at least partly responsible for the increase in popularity of inner northern suburbs such as Albion. During the 1890s the number of people travelling to the city from Albion, Mayne, Wooloowin, Eagle Junction, Clayfiel, and Hendra more than doubled. By the turn of the century tram services linked Albion with Clayfield and the City (via Breakfast Creek and Newstead).
By the time Robert Little died in 1890 Albion and surroundings were well-populated, residential suburbs. However, the Whytecliffe Estate, stretching down to Frodsham Street (then called Alice Street) remained intact for another two decades. Little's widow moved out of Whytecliffe and the house was then let to a succession of tenants. The Brisbane High School for Girls (later Somerville House) used the house as a boarder's residence from around 1899 until 1903; and in 1906 the house was converted into a boarding house by lessee Mrs Genevera Hartley Rosendorf.
In 1911 Little's son, Robert Vincent Boyle Little, began to subdivide the large land holding, over the next seven years selling off almost forty blocks ranging in size from sixteen perches up to almost half an acre. Mrs Rosendorf subsequently added several cottages and garages to the grounds. The house continued to offer accommodation until the outbreak of the Second World War.
Post-war, the house continued as a boarding house, as well as offering reception and catering services. In 1959 Archbishop Duhig bought Whytecliffe and made a personal gift of the house to the Christian Brothers. The house was then renovated to be used as a monastery for the Brothers.
At the end of 1996 the Albion campus of St. Columban’s was closed, the school reopening at Caboolture in 1997. Forest Place Ltd acquired the entire school site in 1999 for development of a retirement village. School buildings erected by the College during the three decades following the Second World War were removed, O’Driscoll Hall adapted for use as a community facility in 2001 and several new buildings constructed.
Source: Brisbane City Council Heritage Register.
I guess this explains the lack of folks coming door-to-door in our neighborhood selling magazines, vacuum cleaners, and encyclopedias.
Edward Bretherton, a devout Roman Catholic, was a solicitor and Commisioner of Birkenhead. Edward along with the Reverend Canon Chapman helped dispel the riots of 1859* when it was found that there would not be a Roman Catholic section at Flaybrick Cemetery.
A Roman Catholic section was eventually included in the design, with the first interment on 7th July 1864.
Link to inscription relating to the son's death in Isandula Zululand in 1879.
www.flickr.com/photos/151534002@N06/51096910975/in/photos...
* From Wiki Wirral:
"1859 - Thousands of dock navvies armed with spades, shovels and sticks brought terror and mayhem to Birkenhead as violence flared over the issue of Catholic burial grounds.
The town’s Catholics wanted a proposed new cemetery at Flaybrick Hill to be run by a burial board, believing it would ensure they had their own dedicated religious section. But the Birkenhead commissioners, led by John Laird, wanted control of the project – and won a vote on the issue.
The result of the vote was declared at midnight and by 2am, thousands of rioters were rampaging down Church Street, where they attacked the Laird’s shipyard and its workers. Five navvies were arrested and taken by police to the lock-up at the town hall in Hamilton Street. But, reinforced by more armed insurgents, the mob followed, intent on freeing the prisoners.
Fearing that the rioters were likely to demolish the town hall and lives were in danger, a magistrate agreed to release the five navvies after the intervention of a local priest, who promised they would turn up for their trial. Lesser disturbances continued over the next two days and soldiers were stationed in the town hall to resist any further attacks."
Don't have much time at present but I took this image some time ago. Pity about the chewing gum.
There's a photo here but this isn't it. An invite to anyone in Southampton to show me (when we get some more sun) The steps outside Paris Smith solicitors.
The shadows caused by the railings fascinate me but I can't quite grasp what I'm trying to achieve.
Better on Black