The Witley Court Statuary at Harlaxton Manor
Following the disastrous fire in September 1937, the remaining contents of Witley Court were dispersed across the globe in a flurry of sales and auctions both before and after World War Two. Several pieces of statuary ended up at Harlaxton Manor near Grantham, Lincolnshire, when they were acquired by the then owner of the property, Mrs. Violet Van der Elst (nee Dodge), a socialist business woman who had amassed a considerable fortune and who was married to a Belgian painter, Jean Van der Elst. Violet was particularly fond of lions and therefore she purchased two pairs of stone figures and one pair of brass from Witley Court. The Witley statuary can still be seen to this day at Harlaxton, despite changes in ownership of the house and the fact that it is only very rarely open to view to the general public.
Harlaxton Manor, Grantham, Lincolnshire – A Brief History
Harlaxton Manor, built in around 1837, is a manor house in Harlaxton, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. Its architecture, which combines elements of Jacobean and Elizabethan styles with symmetrical Baroque massing, renders the mansion unique among surviving Jacobethan manors. The manor is a popular location for filming. Exterior and interior shots have been featured in the films The Ruling Class, The Last Days of Patton, The Lady and the Highwayman, The Haunting, and The Young Visiters. More recently, the building was used as a site in the reality television series Australian Princess. The manor currently serves as home to the University of Evansville's British campus.
The current mansion is the second Harlaxton Manor. The first was built on a different site during the 14th century and was used as a hunting lodge by John of Gaunt. By 1475, the de Ligne family had purchased the manor. The original house was deserted after 1780; it was inherited by Gregory Gregory, who had it torn down in 1857.
The current house was built by Gregory from 1837 to 1845 and helped usher in a renaissance of Elizabethan architecture. The original architect, Anthony Salvin, was replaced by William Burn, who is responsible for its interior detailing. Upon Gregory's death, the manor passed to his cousin George Gregory and then in 1860 to a distant relative, John Sherwin-Gregory. Upon the death of Sherwin's wife in 1892, it passed to his godson Thomas Pearson-Gregory, who allowed it to fall into disrepair.
The manor passed through several sets of disparate hands in the twentieth century. Abandoned by 1935, it was purchased two years later by Violet Van der Elst, a businesswoman and inventor, who made her money from developing the first brushless shaving cream and made her name by campaigning against capital punishment. She restored the house and arranged for it to be wired for electricity. During World War II it was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force as the officers' mess for RAF Harlaxton and later to house a company of the 1st Airborne Division. In 1948, Harlaxton was purchased by The Society of Jesus, who used it as a novitiate. They in turn sold the manor, while retaining rights to some of the lands, to Stanford University in 1965. The University of Evansville began using the property in 1971 as its British campus, but it was owned by William Ridgway, a trustee of the university, until 1986. Immediately after the purchase, the University of Evansville began renovating the entire facility.
Presently, Harlaxton Manor is known as "The British Campus of the University of Evansville." It is an American owned and operated college which is home to a wide array of students and professors seeking a global education at a pre-eminent college each academic semester. During the summer, the site is often used for various meetings as well as social gatherings such as international conferences and private functions such as weddings. One of the oldest international programmes, Harlaxton was begun by Stanford University before the University of Evansville took control in 1971.
All students and visiting instructors live in either the manor house or its accompanying carriage house, while teaching classes or studying abroad for a semester or longer. Classes and offices are held in many of the gilded and ornate rooms throughout building. It is not uncommon to hold lectures in the ornate dining room for example, or to have offices in former bedrooms. Most rooms in the Manor are decorated in the baroque or rococo style. Some of the most famous artisans created masterpieces in the decoration of the Manor, including Gibbons, Salvin and Wyattville.
During the summer the manor is home to the Harlaxton International Chamber Music Festival, which draws music students and faculty from throughout the world.
Since 1984, Harlaxton Manor has also been the site of the annual Harlaxton Symposium, an interdisciplinary symposium on medieval art, literature, and architecture.
Mrs. Violet Van der Elst
Violet Van der Elst (1882-1966) was born Violet Dodge, in Surrey, England. The daughter of a coal porter and a washerwoman, she herself worked as a scullery maid. She became a successful businesswoman by developing Shavex, the first brush-less shaving cream. In the 1930s she married Jean Van der Elst, a Belgian painter. Having amassed a huge personal fortune she purchased Harlaxton Manor, in Lincolnshire, England.
She gained publicity from her vocal campaigns against capital punishment, and stood three times, unsuccessfully, as a Labour Party candidate to be an M.P. She wrote the book “On the Gallows” in 1937 as part of her efforts to eradicate the death penalty. In the same year she published a collection of 13 ghost stories,” The Torture Chamber and Other Stories”.
Her campaigning, her behaviour, and unsuccessful political career reduced her fortune, forcing her to sell her house and move to a flat in Knightsbridge, London, in 1959. She died in 1966, penniless and largely forgotten, the year after capital punishment for murder was abolished in Britain.
In the 2005 film “Pierrepoint”, she is played by Ann Bell.
