Aberford, W Yorkshire - Lotherton Hall (Leeds Art Gallery) - postcard c.1970s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  Lotherton Hall, Aberford formerly home of Gascoigne Family now one of the Leeds Art Galleries
• Publisher: Leed Art Galleries? / printed by Lund Humphreys
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Lotherton Hall is a country house near Aberford, West Yorkshire, England. It lies a short distance from the A1(M) motorway, 200 miles (320 km) equidistant between London and Edinburgh. It is one of nine sites in the Leeds Museums & Galleries group.

There has been a manor house on the site of the current Hall from at least 1775, where it appears on Thomas Jeffery's map of Yorkshire.[1] The house at this time was owned by Thomas Maude, who had brought it from George Rhodes in 1753 for £4,115. Ownership then passed to Wollen and then to John Raper.[2] In 1824 John Raper died and his son and heir, John Lamplugh Raper, sold the property to Richard Oliver Gascoigne in 1825. Following Richard Oliver Gascoigne's death in 1842, Lotherton was inherited by his then unmarried daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Isabella.[1] Richard Trench Gascoigne took up ownership of the house following the death of his aunt Elizabeth, wife of Lord Ashtown, in 1893. It became the main residence of the Gascoigne family after the death of Richard's father Frederick at Parlington Hall in 1905. Between 1914 and 1918, the Hall was used as a V.A.D. hospital.[3] There is a twelfth century Norman chapel in the grounds which was in use until 1830 and renovated between 1913 and 1917 and was also used as part of the V.A.D. hospital.[4]

The Hall is sited on part of the Gascoigne estate, and was presented to the City of Leeds in 1968 by Sir Alvary Gascoigne and his wife, last of the Gascoigne family, whose roots were at Parlington Hall.[5] The Hall and parkland were opened for public access by its new owners on 6 August 1969,[6] exactly 25 years after Sir Alvary Gascoigne's only son and heir, Douglas Gascoigne, was killed in a tank battle in Normandy.[7] The estate is home to an extensive collection of endangered bird species and a herd of red deer. There is a large expanse of grassland in front of the bird garden, typically used during the summer months for ball games and picnics. A further field is often used to host shows, such as an annual motorcycle show.

The Hall, which was extensively rebuilt during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, holds an impressive art collection. This includes the Gascoigne Gift, given to the City of Leeds along with the Hall, which sits alongside Designated collections of fine art and decorative arts added to Hall since becoming a museum in 1968.[8]

The Hall is licensed to hold wedding and civil partnership ceremonies[9][10][11]

The Gascoignes and Lotherton Hall

Lotherton Hall first came into the possession of the Gascoigne family when it was purchased in 1825 by Richard Oliver Gascoigne.[1] He would have assumed he had secured a male heir, as he had raised two adult sons, Richard Silver Oliver[12] and Thomas Gascoigne;[13] the latter he expected to inherit.[14] However in 1842 both of Richard Oliver Gascoigne's sons passed away leaving the Gascoigne estate to be inherited by his daughters, Mary Isabella Gascoigne (1810-1891)[15] and Elizabeth Gascoigne (1812–1893).[16] They inherited the following year in 1843, when Richard Oliver Gascoigne died.[17] The sisters divided the Yorkshire estates between them, Mary Isabella took Parlington Hall, whilst Elizabeth took Lotherton Hall.[18] During Elizabeth Gascoigne's ownership, she and her husband Fredrick Mason Trench, the 2nd Baron of Ashtown, who she married in 1852,[19] mostly let Lotherton to tenants,[1] preferring Castle Oliver in Ireland, along with Woodlawn, Lord Ashtown's own family residence in County Galway, Ireland.[14] Lord and Lady Ashtown did however seem to use Lotherton as their Yorkshire seat for a time in the 1850s.[20] On Elizabeth's death in 1893, Lotherton was inherited by her nephew, Colonel Fredrick Richard Thomas Trench Gascoigne who was a noted soldier and traveller.[21]

Census returns during the period that Lotherton Hall was let (1842–93) show that Elizabeth and Mary Isabella Gascoigne’s cousin, R.S. (Richard Silver) Oliver (1812–89), grandson of the Rt. Hon. Silver Oliver (1736–98) and son of Robert Oliver (c.1774–1834), was living at Lotherton Hall as head of household in 1851.[22] The widowed Ann Hornby was head of household at the 1861 census.[23] Richard F. Shawe, recorded as living ‘from investment’, was head of household at the 1871 census,[24] with Shawe’s widow, Anna Shawe, a ‘landed proprietor’, being head of household in 1881.[25] Lotherton Hall was unoccupied at the 1891 census.[26]

Colonel Gascoigne's wife, Gwendolen, was the daughter of noted engineer Sir Douglas Galton, and also the second cousin and god daughter to Florence Nightingale.[27] Colonel Gascoigne preferred Lotherton Hall to his family home of Parlington, moving many of the furnishings from Parlington to Lotherton. Parlington was later demolished in 1950s. Between 1896 and 1931 the Gascoignes remodeled Lotherton to accommodate their growing family, adding a new dining room, entrance hall, drawing room and servant's wing. In addition to this Mrs Gascoigne designed and built the Edwardian style gardens along the south front. Colonel and Mrs Gascoigne had three children together, Alvary, Oliver (who died as an infant) and Cynthia.

Sir Alvary Gascoigne was the British ambassador to Japan and Moscow. He inherited Lotherton on 1937 and lived there with his second wife, Lorna Priscilla Gascoigne. While at Lotherton he enriched the house with oriental works of art he had acquired as an ambassador. He and his first wife, Sylvia Wilder, has a son together, Douglas Wilder Gascoigne, who was killed in action during the Second World War. With no heir left to inherit Lotherton Sir Alvary presented the Hall to the City of Leeds in 1968 as a gift to be open to the public. He also gave an endowment fund to buy works of art to further the collection. He died in 1970.[28]

Lotherton Hall Hospital and the First World War

The Gascoignes were a very patriotic family and felt as though it was their duty to help the war effort during the First World War. In November 1914, Lotherton hall had been transformed into a Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D) hospital for wounded soldiers. The hospital was mainly ran by Mrs Gascoigne (Laura Gwendolyn Gascoigne née Galton), with help of VAD volunteer nurses and her daughter Cynthia Gascoigne. Initially the hospital started off with only eighteen beds at the start of the war but would increase to thirty five by the end of the war. Between 21 November 1914 to 28 March 1919, 655 soldiers were treated at the hospital. The Gascoignes funded the hospital using their own money and refused government grants or aid. Colonel Gascoigne volunteered as an ambulance driver on the western front, with their son Alvary served in the army.[29] Due to this their effort in the war was greatly appreciated by the local community and by St Johns Ambulance Service that in 1918 Mrs Gascoigne was awarded a CBE.[30]

The collections

Lotherton Hall contains around 3,000 objects that come from five collections.[1] The Gascoigne gift, less than a third of the collection, was given in stages between 1955 and 1979 and comprises paintings, sculpture, furniture, silver, jewelry, porcelain, prints, drawings and textiles. The Costume Collection is made up of historic and modern clothes and accessories. The Eastern pottery and porcelain collection was in the most part given by Frank Savery in 1966. The collection of modern craft includes ceramics, furniture, jewelry and metalwork by leading British artists. The Cooper Collection, on loan from a private owner, includes Victorian and early 20th century furniture and ceramics.[1]