In March 1917,
John Glessner received an invitation to help fund the restoration and
preservation of Sulgrave Manor, the ancestral home of George Washington in
Sulgrave, Northhamptonshire, England.
Although there is no evidence that Glessner did make the requested
donation, other members of his family later did. In this article, we will explore the history
of the site, the efforts to preserve it in the first decades of the 20th
century, and its status today.
EARLY HISTORY
Sulgrave Manor
was constructed in 1540 by Lawrence Washington, the five times
great-grandfather of George Washington.
The entrance porch was completed soon after Queen Elizabeth I ascended
to the throne in 1558, and her coat of arms and initials were fashioned in
plaster work upon its gable.
Just above the
door is the Washington family’s coat of arms carved in stone. Known as the “mullets and bars” with three
stars over two stripes, it is widely believed to have served as the inspiration
for the American flag.
The house,
constructed of a local limestone, was occupied by Lawrence Washington, his
wife, and their eleven children. As was
typical for Tudor houses, the center of the house was the Great Hall, which
still looks much as it did in its day, furnished with authentic furnishings of
the Tudor period. The complex included
courtyards, walled gardens, grass paddocks, and various outbuildings including
a barn, brew house, buttery, and shop.
Descendants of
Lawrence Washington continued to occupy the house until 1659, when they
immigrated to America. By 1700, when
John Hodges added a north wing, the western portion of the house (to the left
of the entrance porch) had already been destroyed.
THE HOUSE IS
SAVED AND FUNDRAISING BEGINS
In 1914, the
manor was acquired by the British American Peace Committee, which had been
formed to celebrate the centennial of the end of the War of 1812, finalized
with the 1814 Treaty of Ghent. An
article in the Chicago Tribune
entitled “Rejoice in 100 Years of Peace” recounted details of the presentation
of the house to the committee on July 25, 1914:
“The first formal ceremony in honor of
the one hundred years of peace between the English speaking nations occurred
here today when Sulgrave Manor, the home of the family of George Washington,
purchased for $42,500 subscribed in Great Britain, was handed over to members
of the centenary committee as a gift to the American people.
“This quaint village was in holiday
attire in honor of the occasion. The
visiting party consisted of the American ambassador, Walter Hines Page, the
Duke of Teck, Lord Shaw, Shirley Benn, member of the house of commons; H. S.
Perris, secretary of the committee; Harry Brittain, secretary of the Pilgrims’
society, and Arthur Branscombe, author of the history of the Washington family. They were greeted by the mayor and other
officials of the municipality, in their official robes, after which school
children sang the national anthems of both the United States and Great Britain.
“The party then proceeded in motor cars
to the manor, where, at the ancient doorway, the Duke of Teck handed the keys
to Ambassador Page, and thence to the ancient church, where Washington’s
ancestors are buried.”
The timing of
the ceremony is of note, in particular because it was commemorating a long
period of peace. Just ten days later,
Great Britain declared war on Germany, and the country was thrust into the
horrors of World War I. This necessarily
delayed the planned restoration of the house, but by 1917, invitations were
sent out soliciting donations of $250 each from 200 individuals to complete the
needed work.
The committee included
such prominent individuals as statesman Robert Bacon, historian and Senator Henry
Cabot Lodge, philanthropist William K. Vanderbilt, and Charles W. Eliot. Eliot has served as the president of Harvard
University from 1869 until 1909, and was a close friend of the Glessners. Presumably John Glessner received his
invitation because of this connection.
The fundraising
effort was put on hold when the United States entered World War I on April 6,
1917. A second solicitation letter was
sent out in December 1919, this time with an added appeal from King George V
and the Prince of Wales inserted. The
request had been altered to asking 50 individuals for $1,000 each.
RESTORATION AND
OPENING
Once the funds
were secured, the house and grounds were restored under the supervision of the
imminent English architect and landscape designer Sir Reginald Blomfield. Work included the rebuilding of the west
wing, which had been destroyed in the 17th century; the new wing
included the Director’s quarters, and restored the symmetrical appearance of
the façade. (One can’t help but notice
that the symmetrical façade, set beneath a broad sloping roof, bears a
similarity in overall massing to Glessner House; see image below). The house was officially opened to the public
in 1921, with the flags of Great Britain and the United States both displayed.
In 1924, the
National Society of the Colonial Dames of America raised $112,000 from 35,000 subscribers
to endow the Manor and grounds in perpetuity.
It is highly likely that Frances Glessner was among the subscribers, as
she became a member of the Dames in 1921.
Funds for further restoration were raised between 1926 and 1931, and
Alice Hamlin Glessner, the Glessners’ daughter-in-law and an active member of
the New Hampshire Society of the Dames, was among the funders for that project.
SULGRAVE MANOR
TODAY
The property is
administered presently by the Sulgrave Manor Trust. By the early 2000s however, the property had
fallen into disrepair. In 2014, Sulgrave
Manor was listed on the World Monuments Fund Watch List “to call attention to
the need for increased resources and to promote the development of creative
management strategies to ensure the long-term survival of the property.”
The bicentennial
of the Treaty of Ghent was celebrated at the site in 2014, and a comprehensive strategic
plan was funded by the Estate of Paul Mellon.
Recent restoration projects have been funded by the Colonial Dames and
the Daughters of the American Revolution.
To read more about the site today visit:
World Monuments Fund
Sulgrave Manor
Modern images of Sulgrave Manor courtesy of the World Monuments Fund.
World Monuments Fund
Sulgrave Manor
Modern images of Sulgrave Manor courtesy of the World Monuments Fund.