Full Description
What happens when a remarkable house meets an extraordinary family during some of the most eventful years in history?
With newly uncovered pictures and information for this substantially-enlarged second edition, this book pieces together this fascinating period of British history as lived by one family - and one very special house.
Rare and impressive, Chastleton House, has witnessed 400 years of history, but few of its days would have been as richly exciting as those during the Richardson family's tenancy. Its unspoilt Jacobean appearance would serve as the majestic background for several generations' joys and sorrows.
With their predecessors having made their name and fortune in the silver trade, the Richardsons moved in at the end of the Victorian age and spent the opulent Edwardian era enjoying and improving their surroundings.
From the waning Victorian era, the opulent Edwardian era and throughout the trials of the First World War and into the exciting but turbulent 1920s, the Richardsons demonstrated a love for Chastleton above and beyond normal tenants.
This book charts the life and times of the Richardsons during their time living at Chastleton. With the help of the family, volunteers and staff at Chastleton, the author brings together this fascinating period of British history as lived by one family..
Contents
Part 1 The early Richardson years. An uneventful history?. Affluent tenants. Before the storm: Pre-war Chastleton. Cheshire silversmiths and lead miners.. Charles Taswell Richardson and tea planting. The East India Company. Connections with the Bryans family. Charles Richardson and Brunel. Richard Taswell Richardson and the Wimbledon. Championships.
Part 2. The Great War, 1914-1918. Changes at Chastleton. Richard Francis Richardson and the Battle of Loos. Walter Seymour Carson and mini-submarines. Edward Carson, Asquith and Northern Ireland. Rosemary Taswell Richardson and the Women's Royal. Air Force. Portmeadow Aerodrome.
Part 3. The end of an era?. Mysterious death at sea. On the home front. The daily routine. Jeff Alexander and the Viceroy of India. Arthur Taylor and the founding of Lloyds Bank. Reflections. Annex 1: Chastleton House room layout. Annex 2: Life below stairs. Annex 3: Kitebrook VAD Hospital. Annex 4: Rosemary Richardson grapples with intruder. Notes and References. .
