The Keeper's Random Ramblings - Bill Hayward's eleven cricket bats

Bill Hayward attended St Peter’s College in Adelaide following his older brother Ian to Adelaide’s English style school.  He did not have any outstanding academic achievements but excelled at several sports.  He was a rowing and tennis blue as well as playing for the first XI cricket team.  Sadly we do not have any of his race winning bathers or tennis rackets in the collection but there is every cricket bat that he owned.  In an ABC radio interview in 1979 he explained his last match for Saints was a disaster as he was out for a duck in both innings thus making a pair of spectacles of him!

Cricket historian Bernard Whimpress has been asked to examine the bats to tell us if any are of particular note in terms of their manufacture or brand.

The Keeper's Random Ramblings - Buckets of fun but also for safety

Amongst the quirkiest items to be found in the house are four leather buckets.  What on earth were they originally used for?  The Haywards used them as waste paper baskets and two of them are designed for this as they bear a modern leatherworker’s manufacturing label; so probably made for the purpose but modelled on an original. 

The two originals may well date from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century and were probably from an English country house where such receptacles were used as fire buckets.  They would be hung in rows in servants corridors filled with sand ready to dump on carpets or floorboards when the open fires spat sparks or candles tipped over causing small conflagrations.  Water would have caused too much damage although leather buckets and other receptacles made from this material were commonly used for carrying liquids in households long after the Middle Ages. After the industrial revolution metal buckets were more cheaply produced and became common. 

Carrick Hill has an interesting metal bucket, which is coated with black paint and bears a coat of arms on the outside. Quite whose they are we have not yet deciphered to date and it looks like the bucket was used for fuel for the fires. 

The whole of Carrick Hill house was heated with open fires mostly with wood grates.  The threat of fire was always great in any country house in Britain and the Haywards did not take any chances either. However; rather than rely on their bucket collection they had a beautiful copper fire extinguisher ready to do the job which is now a collection item reflecting the working side of the house’s history.

The Keeper's Random Ramblings - Faience dinner service

These are French made, slip cast tin glazed plates with lively hand painted designs of fruit and vegetables.  It is a charming service with a Mediterranean feel and probably used for informal lunches at the Haywards Port Willunga beach house

The Haywards Port Willunga beach house

Carrick Hill’s Hayward Bequest is what is called a closed collection and is not normally the subject of acquisition except under exceptional circumstances, as in this case.  The were three plates from the set in the ‘vault’ (the underground room where all the silver, china and ornaments surplus to use are stored) so imagine our delight when a call from Small &Whitfields Auctions informed us of 47 pieces were being sold from the private collection of one of Adelaide’s leading antique dealers who had recently died. 
The Friends of Carrick Hill agreed to finance the purchase of the missing ceramics and I successfully bid for the lot to bring home this wonderfully rustic dinner service.  Research is still being carried out into exactly who the French manufacturer is - their mark is clearly on the reverse of every piece.

Makers mark on the reverse of the recovered Faience dinner service.

The Keeper's Random Ramblings - What's in a name and a photo?

A couple of weeks ago I visited Brisbane to see our son and he suggested an excursion to Mount Tambourine.  It was a wonderful trip to a charming township with delicious rewards from the micro-brewery(Mt Tambourine) and local cheese company (Witches Chase) based there.  Sadly there was not time to travel on to visit the interestingly named town Beaudesert but as you can see from the photo – I got close to going there!

You may ask why I wanted to visit this French sounding place in the Queensland Hinterland beyond the ranges. The answer is that the 400 year old interior at Carrick Hill was purchased by Bill and Ursula Hayward from the demolition sale of BeaudesertHall in Staffordshire.  They were motoring the shires of England on their honeymoon in 1935 when they came across the this country seat of the Marquess of Angelesy that he could no longer afford to run ( he had a second house on the Isle of Angelsey ‘Neu Plas’ now owned by the National Trust).  The full story of what they acquired (it included a staircase, windows, doors, fireplaces and oak panelling) can be read in the recently published book: Carrick Hill: a portrait.

Whilst on the Royal Collections Studies course last September  held at Windsor Castle, I learnt from Jonathan Marsden, the Director of the Queens Collections, that the Paget family who owned Beau Desert did not pronounce it with a French styling but as two words sounding like: bow desert (the dry sandy variety not a pudding).  This was quite upsetting to some of our guides when I told them as they had been told by visiting locals from Litchfield and Cannock Chase near Beau Desert that it was given a French sounding pronunciation.

I was also told by Jonathan that Tudor bricks from Beaudesert were used to repair WWII bombing damage to St James Palace in London.  So fancy Carrick Hill sharing a source of materials with a palace – a brush with a royal building?

The photo shown here is in the Carrick Hill collection but it's subject has long been a mystery.  That is until I was doing some research into the Beaudesert garden to see if Ursula had borrowed any ideas for her Adelaide garden as well as collecting an interior!  It was a vast house with extensive garden and grounds (99 employees to work the estate and run the house).  I discovered that the photo is taken from an unusual position which the great article in Country life book (also in the collection) did not use.  From the stamp on the reverse of the print we know the photograph was taken by The Times but what for? Was it to report the demolition of the great house and its forthcoming architectural salvage sale on 18 & 19 July, 1935?

The image presents a wild fore ground which enables us to imagine the forests that the Bishop of Lichfield hunted in when Beaudesert was their hunting lodge in the fifteenth century.  This was before the Paget’s had risen to prominence as Elizabethan lawyers and been given the property for services to ER I.  Then we see the back of the house in the distance with the oldest window range and formal gardens with banks and terraces.

A quiet word from the List Mistress - ‘Lancashire’ dining chairs

Three Carved oak ‘Lancashire’ dining chairs (from an unmatched set of 11), England, late 17^th century

Carrick Hill house is actually quite modest in size and visitors are often very surprised when they walk into the house to be confronted by the vision of a grand oak staircase, dark oak panelled walls and rooms filled with old English and European carved oak furniture.   This becomes even more remarkable when you hear the story of how in 1935 the Hayward’s, then on their honeymoon in England, purchased interior fittings and furniture from the  extensive demolition auction of a mid-16th century Staffordshire mansion named Beau Desert hall. 

It was around these purchases that the Haywoods  had shipped back to South Australia, that the local Adelaide architectural firm of Woods Bagot Laybourne -Smith and Irwin designed and had constructed the house they would then live in for the rest of their lives.  To complement the oak panelling in the west facing dining room the Haywards acquired a collection of so called ‘Lancashire’ carved oak chairs that date from the period 1680-1700.  There are eleven of these heavy and impressive chairs (six forming a set plus another five to complement)- they are also referred to in the furniture trade by the term ‘joined back-stool’.  Their distinctive style and carving make it possible to locate their construction specifically to the Lancashire district in England and to date them to the late 17^th century although similar chairs were made at the same time in the neighbouring area of Yorkshire.

Although each chair looks similar each has its own individual carved back panel which features a decorative design of bold stylized oak leaves with motifs such as acorns, thistles or the simple 4-5 petalled Tudor rose.  Two larger carved carver style armchairs make up the suite of chairs that surround the large, simple, oak refectory table.     

Photo: Mick Bradley

References:

Carrick Hill: A Portrait edited by Richard Heathcote, pub. Wakefield Press, Adelaide 2011

Oak Furniture; The British Tradition by Victor Chinnery, pub. Antique Collectors Club Ltd, 1986

A quiet word from the List Mistress - SURPRISE!

The Carrick Hill ceramics collection has many unexpected objects in it but this group of English mid-19^th century Frog mugs is definitely one of the more eccentric.   We don’t really know much about how this collection was assembled or even who collected them – were they just quirky items that Bill and Ursula Hayward found and brought back from their many trips to England or were they inherited from a parent or grandparent?

Frog mugs were also known as ‘Surprise’ or 'Toad’ mugs and they were originally designed as a rustic practical joke as the interior of the mug contains a full-size pottery frog or toad which is revealed to the drinker as the liquid is consumed.  The earliest examples of mugs containing frogs date from about 1775 but they continued to be produced throughout most of the 19^th century.  An unsuspecting guest would be startled as he drank from the mug to see a frog emerging from the beverage as it was consumed and the frog would appear to spit at the drinker through the hole in its mouth as the mug was tilted.

Frog mugs often feature transfer-printed designs with pictorial images and moralistic verses, sayings or patriotic inscriptions and some are inscribed with individual names, an indicator that the cup may have been given as a gift to mark a wedding or special event.  Some of these mugs feature hand-painted relief moulded designs, some have patriotic verses commemorating the Crimean War and the English and French victory over the Emperor Napoleon. Several of the larger cups were made in the style of a ‘loving cup’ with two or even three handles and two of the more unusual mugs are modelled with satyr face masks.  Some mugs contain more than one frog nestled at the base while a couple even include a lizard!

Frog mugs can be found in many museum collections in Australia and around the world.

http://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/collections/browse_collections/ceramics

Musings from the Backwater Blogger

It is becoming increasingly apparent as we work our way through the collections at Carrick Hill that the paintings are not just an eclectic gathering of modernist works collected by a discerning eye interested in modern thought, or an inheritance from a culturally aware upbringing. They also form a Hayward travelogue.

A fascination for me is to look at the works not just as the outstanding pieces that so many of them are, but as markers of Ursula and Bill’s frequent movement through the world and within Australia. Of course works by artists like Stanley Spencer and Jacob Epstein relate to regular visits to England. The provenance and history of much of the major modernist collection is recorded and most works were purchased from a London dealer or directly from the artists with whom the Hayward's had contact. But there are other works which have no such associated records and when this happens it is from the item itself that the story must be extracted.

One such work is a small painting titled in oil by the artist on its face Beche de mer lugger. There is absolutely nothing else on this work that would indicate who that artist might be, or where on earth (literally) the painting might have originated.   A lugger is a traditional style of shallow-draft fishing boat with a simple double masted rig, and beche de mer means sea cucumber, a creature that is considered a delicacy in many cultures. This painting shows one of these luggers moored in a tranquil bay. The crew sit in a relaxed group on the foredeck. The paint handling is fluid and the palette muted. Stylistically it fits loosely with the other modern works in the collection and the painting and its original frame probably date from the late 1930s or early 1940s.

Like a couple of other pieces in the collection, this painting seems almost like a souvenir. Did these ‘souvenirs’ work as reminders for the Hayward's of enjoyable stays? Were they gifts to each other or to them from other people? Beche de mer lugger has a price written in pencil on the back – £8-8-0 – is that around about the right price if it was purchased by Ursula or Bill during the war?  If it was acquired then, where might they have got it from? Ursula lived for a time in Brisbane (1942); perhaps she travelled further north to Cooktown where these luggers had at one time been in use? Bill served in Papua New Guinea, Borneo, Morotai and Labuan; perhaps he picked it up during that time? Did they ever visit Vanuatu, another sea cucumber fishing location?

So many questions unanswered and a mere nibble around the edges of knowledge concerning this charming painting. Maybe the archives will divulge something as the search continues.

My Most Interesting Thing: The wooden Monk

1.) What is it?
A small wooden monk - you will find it in the vault

2.) Why have you chosen it?
It is small enough to hold in your hand, and Sir Edward, after entertaining guests for dinner would pass it to someone at the table for an 'appriasal'.  When the guest held it the monk's habit drops down and his member pops up.

3.) When did it catch your eye?
I was given the task of displaying all of the exhibits in the vault by Alan Smith.  It was a thing that surprised me and made me laugh.  It shows that Sir Edward had a great sense of humour.

4.) If it was yours, what would you do with it?
Have as much fun as Sir Edward did!

5.) What stuff do you collect?
Small frogs from all of the countries I have visited overseas.  The sit on my kitchen windowsill and give me lovely thoughts as I do the washing up.  I would love Edwards collection of frog mugs.

Chosen by: Jill Argent, President of the Friends of Carrick Hill

What's on a Shoulder?

Found in a cupboard with a great story……

A humble plastic key purse and an old pair of epaulettes came to light as we searched for some equipment storage space in the Robe Room cupboards.  It just so happened that later that day a member of the Hayward family was visiting. I showed him the khaki uniform epaulettes which I thought were Sir Edward Hayward’s from his army uniform worn when he was a Rat of Tobruk in 1941.  I announced that they were a major’s rank with the single pip, but Mr Hayward pointed out that with the crown over the top they were a Lieutenant Colonel’s. This would place them in the time that Edward Hayward had been transferred to the pacific region to head up the catering services for that theatre of war against the Japanese.  It was here that he questioned why an American GI would trade a bottle of Scotch for two bottles of Coca Cola and later, after the war had ended, negotiated the first bottling franchise for Australia under the name of Southern Bottlers.  This soft drinks company became a leading force in Australian retailing after WW II and made Sir Edward considerable returns from his curiosity and efforts to define why the exchange was of equal value in the eyes of an American.

Edward Hayward  joined up with 2/43rd Battalion, 9^th Division, 2^nd AIF and held the rank of Captain.  He was referred to as ‘Uncle Billy’ and trained with his unit at Woodside camp between June and December 1940.

 Story from Margaret Burton nee Hayden:

‘“Uncle Billy” Hayward centre in dark uniform each photo.

My father Hack Hayden known in unit as “Old Jack” sepia back row 5^th from right b&w 3^rd from left 2^nd back row.

Note – the units men were all young except my father who was 34 and Cpt Hayward over 40 hence their nicknames.

 

Story goes that when the unit went on a  route march from Woodside camp. Uncle Billy would take them into the bar of the local hotel and shout them all a beer.  He would stay in the lounge.

I understand little saluting was done at any time.’

Such stories give us an insight into Edward Hayward's character and his abilities. He was a good businessman always ready to spot an opportunity but also had the talent to engender a strong team spirit. This drove John Martins reputation for customer service and also the loyalty of its staff who were valued and supported.

Musings from the Backwater Blogger - From the artist's window 1938

Stanley Spencer, Great Britain, 1891-1959

From the artist’s window 1938

 I can’t help it with Stanley Spencer’s work, I am intrigued. How could one not be? He was eccentric, intense, apparently had a wonderful sense of humour, and was obsessed until death by his first wife Hilda. He maintained contact with both his wives (he never consummated his second marriage to Patricia Preece) and loved his village, Cookham, were he was born and spent virtually all his life.

The Haywards purchased four flower paintings by Spencer in 1938. I am drawn to them all but the one that fascinates me the most is From the artist’s window, Cookham 1938.  It seems so fresh and celebratory that it is hard to believe that at the time he painted it Spencer was struggling with so many demons which were manifesting themselves into a series of erotic paintings. This painting engages more than just my visual sense. I can feel the clean spring breeze that makes the lace curtains move gently and I can imagine the heady perfume of the jonquils (when they flower in my garden their rich smell always make me sneeze). That smell is mixed with the delicious odour of linseed oil, turpentine and oil paint. The jonquils are simply plonked into the enamel basin with some water and the space at the window seems ambiguous and precarious. Are the flowers just dropped there because Spencer is busy on one of the other flower paintings that is in the Carrick Hill collection? Or have all these flower paintings provided some kind of creative relief from the intensity of working on the erotic pieces? Maybe, as I look out the window past the bowl of jonquils onto the charmingly ordered world of Cookham’s rooftops, there is one of these great works behind me –  open, raw, alarming, confronting – as hard to look at as this still-life is easy.

Like so many works at Carrick Hill, the Stanley Spencer paintings hold a personal connection to the Haywards. The flower pieces link to Ursula’s garden, glimpsed from the windows of her home, and the blooms that regularly filled the house with their scent or rose up in a blaze of seasonal colour in the grounds around the house. Spencer was one of a number of British artists patronised by the Haywards, and Carrick Hill holds nine of his works - eight paintings and a lithograph. He is the most represented British painter in their collection, one of the largest groups of Spencer’s works outside Great Britain.  At the time that the Haywards collected these works (and at one time they also had at least one other) it would have been among the most significant private collections of this major artist’s oeuvre. How astonishingly forward-thinking they were.

Jane Hylton the Backwater Blogger



A quiet word from the List Mistress - Ivory Figures

The Carrick Hill volunteer guides regularly undertake personal research into specific objects or parts of the collection and this information is then shared with our visitors when they take a guided tour around the house.  This information is then routinely filed away and is usually only retrieved when individual researchers need.   Recently one of our guides, Wendy Laver, presented her research paper on a pair of small, highly detailed,  17^th century carved ivory figures.   The story behind the acquisition of these figures by Sir Edward and Lady Ursula Haywood is typical of the many unexpected objects that were acquired by them for their personal collection.

This pair of ivory figures were originally part of a vast art collection assembled by the Scottish engineer Robert Napier  (1791-1876) who made his fortune in shipbuilding.  Napier built himself a grand mansion named West Shandon, Dumbartonshire in the West central lowlands of Scotland.  The house was complete with a purpose built gallery to house paintings by English and European masters such as Rembrandt, Rubens and Rafael as well as his fine collections of bronzes and marble statues, carvings in wood and ivory, silver and decorative gold plate.  This collection became known as the Shandon Collection and in an 1865 catalogue these two figures were described as:

No. 1076

STATUETTE, in carved Ivory of a mendicant with a wooden leg fupporting himself on crutches;  on an ivory and ebony pedeftal.  Dutch 17^th or early 18^th century work.

No. 1077

COMPANION STATUETTE, of an old beggar woman.  Dutch 17^th or early 18^th century work

Height of each, including the pedeftals, 8¼in.

In 1877, the Shandon Collection of 3,541 lots was sold off at auction in London by Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods at their Great Rooms, 8, King Street, St James Square, London, these two figures (Lots 1643 & 1644) were sold together for 27 guineas or £28.70.0.  Details of the purchaser are brief  but it is possible that they were bought on behalf of Ursula Hawyard’s grandparents Robert and Johanna Barr Smith.  

Ursula’s maternal  family had strong links to Scotland and this clever piece of detective work has given these two small objects a new provenance that enhances their story and their place in the Carrick Hill house collection.  Full details of this research will be added to the collection database.

The Keeper's random ramblings - Collecting Klee & Cloves

I am currently working on an exhibition of Jeffrey Smart’s paintings (1940-51) as part of the Master of Stillness joint exhibition with Samstag Museum this coming October. It’s the first Adelaide generated retrospective of this South Australian trained artist curated by Barry Pearce. Research always heightens your senses whether you are searching generally or specifically; so imagine my delight as I cleaned out a cupboard at Carrick Hill and found a Smart related artifact – sadly there are no works of his in the collection.

In a clutch of art booklets my eye alighted on The Faber Gallery monograph on Klee, with an introduction and notes by Herbert Read.  Inscribed on the inside cover, in Smart’s hand, was a dedication to Bill and Ursula Hayward (see illustration). 

This was given as a gift by Jacqueline Hick and Jeffrey Smart probably in recognition of the hospitality, support and encouragement the Haywards had provided for the young Australian artists who were living a fairly down and out life style in post war London ( see Smart’s autobiography Not Quite Straight – pp190-200).  The book cost six shillings which would have been a fair old whack for the two artists at the time but more than this, it was a gift worthy of their generous patrons.

My second encounter with serendipitous research results came from a bottle of Hall’s Cloves Flavoured Cordial (locally manufactured by George Hall & Son Ltd, Norwood, SA) recently donated as part of the education/display collection at Carrick Hill. 

I had travelled to Port Willunga to interview Judith Anne Barraclough (nee Ingoldby) who had been Smart’s student and girlfriend when he was teaching in Adelaide around 1946-47.  She provided a wealth of detail and talked colourfully about what was going on in Adelaide at the time.  When I asked her what Jeffrey and she would drink when they visited hotels she replied that Jeff drank a hideous mixture – Rum and cloves!

A quiet word from the List Mistress - the beginning of the collection

The Library, Carrick Hill, Adelaide, photo Mick Bradley

Documentation of the Carrick Hill collection has finally entered the 21^st century with the recent installation of the MOSAIC Collection Management System that will allow us to electronically catalogue and digitise the collection.  On the 31 January 3837 records were uploaded into the database, these records currently contain minimal information but they give us base records that will be improved with information from the old hand-written catalogue worksheets and research files.  At this stage, the project is being run by just one person on a part-time basis but in the first month two weeks over 800 records have been edited and in a few months, a group of trained volunteers will be ready to assist project by entering enhanced research information and digitised images.  Our goal is to have a 100 of our most significant objects fully documented and added to the Carrick Hill website by early 2013.

For the first time the large personal library of books that were owned by Sir Edward and Lady Ursula Hayward will be included in the new centralised database.  This will allow us to directly link the books to the paintings and sculptures that form the core of the Carrick Hill collection.  These books provide a window into the private life of the Hayward’s and include a range of first editions and popular novels; there are the expected gardening, farming, sporting and business books plus a significant number of art, design and architecture reference books that informed the Hayward’s interests and collecting tastes.    

Two of the eight Jacob Epstein bronzes from the collection with some of the many art books owned by Lady Ursula Hayward.  Collection Carrick Hill Trust, Adelaide, Hayward Bequest

The 'List Mistress' Caroline Berlyn

My Most Interesting Item - Order of the Thistle

My most interesting item: Richard Heathcote 'The Keeper'

Order of the Thistle – carved in wood

This coat of arms carved in wood and painted black, hangs over the doorway at the end of the servants passage.  The Order of the Thistle is the highest Scottish honour usually awarded to heads of state and appointed solely at the prerogative of the reigning monarch.  Only one Australian has ever received it and that was Bob Menzies, Australia’s longest serving Prime minister from 1949-1966.

Why on earth is this large object hanging at Carrick Hill?  It is somewhat of a mystery which is I suppose why I like it.  Its motto Nemo-me Impune Lacessit (Latin for ‘No one provokes me with impunity’) is another reason why I like.  It says: don’t pick a fight with me or you’ll pay for it.

Both Ursula Hayward’s (nee Barr Smith) father and Scottish grandfather were offered knighthoods and declined them.  Her father said he had done nothing to earn it and therefore it was against his principles to accept the honour.  On the other hand Bill Hayward, Ursula’s husband, accepted an English honour of Knight Batchelor (CBE) in 1961 for his philanthropic work (St John’s Ambulance Service & creating the Christmas Pageant for the enjoyment of Adelaide families).  Ursula when asked how it felt to be Lady Hayward said it was: ‘worse than having the measles!’

The item is a consummate piece of carving but more importantly for me it represents the two attitudes in one house towards honours and rewards for service etc.  However; both Ursula and Bill were united by their patriotism and support for the British monarchy. Such facts are what I find interesting about the arms of the Thistle with its two rampant unicorns standing on top of the plant symbol for Scotland which is at the same time a weed in our gardens!  It is my most interesting object in the house and a symbol that most visitors would barely give a glance towards as they walk along the servant’s corridor to the café .