The Victorian Feminist Aristocrat Who Scandalised High Society | Historic Britain | Absolute History

this channel is part of the history hits Network [Music] on the shores of the strangford lock in counted down Northern Ireland lies one of the national trust's most intriguing houses nobility political leaders and even royalty have all flocked here for a sheer beauty of the setting and the grandness of its mansion and its elegant hostess with soaring ionic columns Sumptuous interiors and a world famous garden this is Mount Stuart it's been home to the Stuart Family for almost three centuries a potent political force the stewards also held the lofty title Marquis of Londonderry with their Majestic Mansion grown stuffy and dated it was ripe for a makeover when the seventh Marquis Charles Vane Tempest Stewart moved here with his charismatic wife Edith in 1921 and it's the alluring martians Lady Edith Londonderry whose imagination Flair and energy transformed Mount Stuart into what she described as the land of Hearts Delight by unlocking the secrets hidden behind closed doors so this this is her private bedroom and it has never been seen by the public before leafing through rarely red letters I think we're still writing across purposes getting the inside track on Edith's life from her very own granddaughter she never stopped and the house it was always full of people full of faulty dogs shrieking the calls and unraveling the mysteries of a secluded Cemetery we don't usually let people in you're very kind I'll reveal the story of a woman who brought glamor style politics and parties to mount Stuart [Music] don't I'm getting ideas about my station also Nino wadia exposes explosive revelations in the londonders archive she's one of a very small number of aristocratic suffragists her mother-in-law was disgusted and calls her daughter-in-law a young hind running Riot she didn't approve at all Alison Hammond is at a notorious stately home with a private guest list to rival that of Lady Edith hold on a minute Chaplin Charlie Chaplin stayed here Alex he stayed here and things hot up for Oz Clark as he digs through the secrets of Mount Stewart's potting shed sniff this off here now sorry about the smoke and the ice [Music] walking up to mount Stewarts through these beautiful gardens you immediately sense you're embarking on something rather special that's because after three years of restoration The National Trust has returned the estate to its best and you feel as though you're stepping back in time but the magnificence of the formal Gardens does make one wonder how the interior of this striking neoclassical Mansion could possibly compete well the wow factor as you enter the central Hall is enough to lay those worries to rest this is astonishing it could have been made yesterday absolutely beautiful yes been absolutely fantastic isn't it So Glamorous the national trust's Neil watt has offered to show me the secrets lying hidden here we've just completed our 8 million pound restoration on this house this was a house in danger then presumably it was it was I mean in fact look at the balcony above you the balcony I am told was about to fall down and apparently you know staff and family members used to sort of grip the wall around the instead of go around the side unless it should fall over there were pieces of the plaster falling down in fact whenever our past Scotland of the house Lady Mary lived here she was in bed under a bedroom of Corners fell from the ceiling so this was the stuff that even I didn't see but yes the house was falling down the trust took over the mansion in 1977 but by the early 2000s he it was in need of more than a little TLC ready-made inspiration came from the vivacious Lady Edith Londonderry who'd left her unique imprint on Mount Stewart almost 100 years earlier whenever Mount Stewart is talked about the one name which is mentioned is Lady Edith Londonderry tell me about her when she arrived here in 1921 there was only one Lou one bath and put in for the king and and the house was pretty much that's such a name job the king you know did I drop something but um she came here and she thought that mein Stewart was the darkest dampest house she had ever seen in her life however her opinion changed she saw the beautiful climate she saw strangford lock and she sort of fell in love how did Edith change the house well she changed it in probably every conceivable way other than architecturally it really wasn't her style you know you can imagine the picture Auntie macassar's parlor plants all about chintzy and all of it heavy Victoria heavy Victorian she liked the sort of new kind of glamorous damasks and bright colors and layers and she brought style she exactly she brought style to my Instagram you've got it in one did the place then become a magnet for the sort of fashionable Mount Stewart was a place to go to yes and I can do some name dropping for you again if you would like yeah go on will I um well King Alfonso of Spain Prince Ronnie of Monaco um Ramsay McDonald the royal family um they didn't drop them they clowned for Lady Edith the life of an aristocratic wife living in her country pile was never going to be enough famously charismatic she was known for her ability to charm her bedroom suite decked out as a Swanky Boudoir fizzies with her personality completely restored to its former glory it now looks exactly as it did when she was alive it's not open to the public yet but Niels invited me for an exclusive preview [Music] oh I do like an imposing bedroom it's pretty good isn't it so this is Lady this bedroom this is her private bedroom and it has never been seen by the public before and the doors out onto the staircase remain locked them to the public and and they still do and so this really is a little secret a little a little Nook hidden away what sort of state was it in the room wasn't a very poor estate the worst Factor was the light damage in the room believe it or not this bed had been bleached white why listen it was Crimson original Crimson originally it's a wonderfully extravagant renovation of none other pricey one I guess it was and actually we're very lucky that our current family member to live here lady Rose laurenson her husband Peter had a very generous family and they donated 500 000 American dollars um to mine Stewart to the National Trust so that we could restore these Suite of rooms restore Ada's most private space but it's wonderful the half million dollar bedroom suite absolutely yeah Lady Edith had flamboyant taste for the time combining unusual colors and styles but although unconventionally creative she was also dependably practical now you said when she comes to the house there's only one Lou yes I mean did she pay attention to that kind of thing as well she did so if you're impressed with this bedroom can I show you the bathroom because Edith loved her bathroom wow how imposing is that this is the bathroom here's the bath it's not a bath it's a boat absolutely it is an amazing room gilded mirror pictures all kinds of furniture beautiful Walnut linen press it's not in any way utilitarian is it it's not and that certainly was not Edith although determined to give Mount Stuart a modern makeover Edith had a delicately Victorian approach to the more functional parts of her bathroom but I can't see a loo yes well she did have a wonderful way of upcycling antique furniture she didn't want to be offended by the site of a lavatory in the room oh no no so if you look hard enough you can you could probably spot it oh you see a pipe yes keep going don't tell me this just oh go for it yeah foreign well it certainly puts a whole new slant on lifting the lid all of the Loos have a sort of Personality off their own everything is just so beautifully and uniquely done so there she is lying in the bath I mean I doubt she'd reach for her own towel there would have been made there yeah the towel and in fact that's why we've got two chairs in this room the wicker chair was to let her dry off in her robe this chair was where she moved to to have her stockings put on don't I'm getting ideas of my station but every single room has a glorious view of the gun with lovely soft Irish weather at the moment lovely lovely dark Irish weather but I guess that's why it's so important to have a glamorous interior here at mine Stewart because sometimes it's not always so bright outside foreign you're very much in her private space and and only her closest friends and family would have come in here and this then totally reflects her taste it does it does completely eclectic diverse random here's a picture of the room um in her day oh that's identical it is you're in her presence in a way aren't you really you are you really feel that you're you're with the woman herself what did Lady Edith use this room for well this was where sitting room and her study this was where she would come and and be at one with her thoughts I remember whenever I was little boy coming here with my parents and back then I remember saying dog claws um script on the paint I threw the windows she would have the windows up and dogs jumping in and of course over there she had steps just through that window so she could throw the window up and just go out in her garden there are lots of portraits in there but particularly portraits of a young girl I mean three there another one on the end yes and of course they're all the same young lady and this is this is Lady Mary her youngest child and Bloody Mary was born here in 1921 I mean bear in mind Mary was born 20 years after the birth of her first child so she was maybe a sort of happy accident I don't know and she became a sort of a symbol of of rebirth a symbol of a new opportunity and I think Mary was probably the reason why Edith fell in love with this house so much you know it became a family home it did it did become a family home baby Mari may have rooted the Martian s to mount Stuart but Lady Edith wasn't your average mother far from having eyes only for the newborn Edith was furiously firing off letters to Alden sundry and her private address book was anything but ordinary who would she write to oh gosh it would be easier to answer who didn't she write to we have correspondence from kings queens most of the royal family literary Giants she was patronized to musicians yeah so really everyone on Lovely intimate family correspondents as well a collection of Lady Edith's rarely seen letters is kept in the family archives and I'm getting to look to few rare examples I love reading letters with permission yes of course well you've got our whole permission today they're given intimate and very personal glimpse into her life well this is she's obviously writing to a supplier or a Craftsman dear sir I think we're still writing across purposes oh yes yes when I refer to having the door made in Ireland I was talking purely of the tool shed as I think it's not necessary to have this made as so ornate or important she wasn't a lady to be trifled with clearly but its family letters left virtually untouched for a hundred years that are most revealing and then this one which is to the Marquis of London to her husbands are very personal yes my beloved dearest it's perfectly Divine here why do we ever live anywhere else I know I know well why would you formidable as she was in her Mount Stuart days Edith was probably at the Pika for influence in the few years before she moved here at a time when Britain was in turmoil this is a woman who was a political mover and Shaker yes and I think her her idea of aristocracy was one of inherent Duty and responsibility and responsibility and I think she took that that um that work very very seriously I think this manifested itself during the first world war because she formed her own army yes um with a good intent with a good intent not a store in Buckingham Palace but to help with the war effort and she called it her women's Legion a powerful lady who used her Powell yes Lady Edith was more than a lively hostess with a taste for eclectic Decor she was also a woman who used her influence for the greater good ISM inspired her to set up the women's Legion in London in 1915 but she didn't stop there Nino wadia is in Belfast where extraordinary archive material reveals that Edith didn't just Champion the troops she also took on a battle of her own women's suffrage this is the public record office of Northern Ireland it holds Irreplaceable photographs of Mount Stuart house its Gardens and Edith lady londonderry's then rather unconventional life hello I'm Diana urquhart historian Dr Diane urquhart has written a book on the Martian s of Londonderry so has had privileged access to this extensive archive there are almost 40 000 documents in the Londonderry collection including photos letters pamphlets and manuscripts they shine a light on the secrets of Lady Edith in every aspect of her life Society Hostess political activist and wartime leader here she's wearing a women's Legion uniform which she heads up as its commander-in-chief right it's uniformed it's cross-class it's non-denominational it's non-political and what it's aiming to do is to train women for a whole variety of jobs which man did and that would then allow men to sign up for active service this was a hugely important organization so it starts off training women to be military Cooks did she put women on the front line at all some women did serve on the front line particularly as drivers yes so some women were at the Western Front and she was a real Pioneer absolutely and she saw this as a Pioneer organization didn't really prove what women could do they could do men's jobs but in their own way that is incredible since the early 1900s Edith had been an active supporter of women's suffrage even writing and speaking about it on public platforms am I right in assuming that Lady Edith was a suffragette she was a suffragist and the distinction comes at suffragette so women who took to militant means breaking the law to draw attention to the campaign working to allow women not just to vote but also stand as parliamentary candidates right as a suffragist Edith shared the same goals as the suffragettes but she believed in peaceful campaigning it's unusual to see an aristocratic woman of her position yes so actively involved in the suffrage movement so her mother-in-law Teresa the sixth Martian s was disgusted and calls her daughter-in-law a young hind running Riot oh my she didn't approve at all it's hugely controversial so for Edith to step up she's one of a very small number of aristocratic esophagists Edith wrote about the importance of a vote for women and some of her workers survived here in the Londonderry archive did she write all these pamphlets she did she wrote two suffrage pamphlets the first was 1909 and here she is really presenting her stall about why women needed the vote surely it is woman's right as much as man's to exercise her influence whether in her political opinions or an ordinary life in a direct and straightforward manner that is I mean she she seemed to be so ahead of her time she was all the campaigning finally paid off exactly 100 years ago in 1918 property owning women over 30 got the vote but the struggle continued it's quite common at the time for those who are working for the vote to say well look it's not just for women of my class and in my position but the people who need it most are working women the vote will offer them some protection political yet playful Lady Edith threw weekly dinners in London during World War One they were her way of lifting the spirits of her Inner Circle the Gathering eventually developed into an exclusive group for the movers and shakers of the day known as The Ark club we can see here a number of documents relating to the ark it's quirky but it's hugely Elite everyone had a special name the members of the art Club may have included Britain's most powerful figures but it didn't stop Lady Edith giving them nicknames Admiral Sir David Beatty one of the most senior British naval officers of World War One became David the dolphin and former prime minister Arthur Balfour was known as both Arthur the albatross and Arthur the archeopteryx there are sketches of her husband Charlie the cheetah and others in the collection Lady Edith even put up concrete statues in her garden to celebrate the ark club and its A-list members this one's particularly interesting this is Winston Churchill at an early phase of his career and he's named Winston the Warlock you can see here Nina how she describes him a warlock as all the world knows is a wizard and the arc door of open sesame was always a jar to him I love it yeah and people were fascinated by the ark some people were quite critical of it said it was too frivolous yes but they tended not to be in the invite list ah do you know I certainly had not heard of Lady Edith so I think she she needs to be celebrated a bit more absolutely foreign wasn't the only Posh politically minded woman of her day in the early 20th century American Nancy Astor made a stir in British High Society she too was a spirited Hostess and campaigner and became the first female MP to take a Siege in Parliament Alison Hammond is at Clifton house in buckinghamshire a place that still holds Clues to the hidden life of this formidable lady like Lady Edith but Matt Stewart Nancy Astor was a powerful female figure she passionately pursued politics and women's suffrage although Cleveland is an unusual hybrid of hotel and historical home it still has remnants of her time here [Music] William Waldorf Astor was one of the richest Americans of the 19th century he bought Clifton house in 1893. 13 years later his son Waldorf married Nancy and William gave them Clifton as a wedding present not a bad start to married life but the new Mrs Astor wasn't one to rest on her Laurels I'm meeting Clifton's curator una Kennedy to find out about the impressive Nancy Nancy Aster probably is one of the most famous women of her generation she was elected to Parliament on the 23rd of November 1919 so this was the first time that a woman had entered the House of Commons as as a member and it must have been quite frightening I think for Nancy entering the chamber with 600 men she would have met quite a frosty reception but I think the person who was probably most vocal about how he felt about the presence of Nancy was Winston Churchill really and it probably surprised him that you know this American female could match him in terms of insult trading I said she was feisty there's always that very famous One something had irritated her about Winston and so Nancy said um Winston if if you were my husband I'd poison your coffee and of course Winston then immediately came back and said Nancy if you were my wife I'd drink it when she wasn't ill Nancy spent time campaigning for the rights of women children and working people I hate all kinds of wars but I like fighting but I like fighting but I like fighting for justice Nancy got a bit of flat for seeming Posh and out of touch but she wasn't bothered for her being well connected meant she could use her influence to change things for the better and she wasn't shy about using her grand house to get her message across to her powerful Pals this is the Great Hall so this was a room where Nancy would receive her guests Natalie Livingston the latest Lady of the house has written about Nancy's time here Nancy turned Clifton into a political literary Salon which every single writer from George Banner Shaw to Rudyard Kipling uh to JM Barry would come and talk about ideas and it became very much a hotbed for ideas and discussion and debate she absolutely brought the houses of Westminster to Clifton I want to know just how high-powered Nancy's chinwags were so Natalie showed me clipton's visitors books that are not on show to the public it's absolutely incredible when you look on this page this is British royalty so we have Elizabeth who is now our Queen and we have Princess Margaret and on this page we have the Kennedys you stayed here we have hold on a Mini captain no Charlie Chaplin stayed here really Mahatma Gandhi stayed here Alison stayed here foreign along the Thames has left me with some of the best views of the house and it kind of makes me think about the guests approaching the house for the very first time what they would have thought of Nancy they probably would have thought you know what she's a classy bird first of all but also graceful yeah formidable can't help but admire her strength and determination when it came to women's rights [Music] both lady Astor and mount Stewart's own Lady Edith were extraordinary women ahead of their time who were determined to make a difference while Edith's activism and creativity will never be forgotten her most enduring Legacy is bound to be Mount Stewart's world-famous Garden packed with an unexpected variety of exotic flowers we'll get through these beautiful gardens you immediately sense that you're embarking on something very special the secret is the extraordinary microclimate here on the Arts Peninsula a narrow strip of land separating strangford lock from the rec it's damp and Mild making it ideal for growing an array of weird and wonderful plants an Autumn color just starting yeah it's looking good today head Gardener Neil porteous keeps watch over eight Acres of formal Garden but it first took root back in Edith's day was it all designed by Lady Edith is it her brainchild it is all all these sort of layout is hers she was pregnant in 1921 had morning sickness and this was her antidote to it was to design this Garden like a professional wonderful so where are we now watch this about the garden this is the Italian Garden and she loved sunsets and sunrises here as the waters reflected into the sky off strangford lock and that's what the color scheme is wonderful and she loved the idea that no two colors in nature could Clash so she put it to the test here where you cut colors just contrasted against each other but really we can follow what she actually had in mind because she wrote it down in an article so we can have a look at it oh right lovely Mount Stuart has just made it into the list of top 10 Gardens in the world but as her rarely seen writings reveal it may not have come as a massive surprise to greenfingered Edith this is the rhs journal that Edith wrote in December 1935 and she talks about Mount Stewarts on the Arts Peninsula counted down is situated on a narrow neck of land facing almost Due South on the shores of strangford lock it is to all the intents and purposes as favorably situated climatically as if it were on an island so just lovely and that explains she was clearly aware of the kind of microclimate she'd got when it came to flowers Not much got past Lady Edith but scrapbooks that have been hidden for decades show how far she was prepared to go to get her garden just right Manchester 1937 so this is her notebook and save clippings it's one of eight that we've got wonderful oh and a letter from a legend Frank Kingdom Ward one of the greatest plant collectors of all time Daredevil botanist Kingdom Ward spent almost 50 years Gathering rare species in Asia his adventures often sponsored by the London trees on his travels he fell off a cliff was impaled on a bamboo Spike and even got lost in the Wilds but he survived the lot to bring back exotic plants to Britain and to Lady Edith went out 26 times looking for our plants and this one's from Sam tocla in 1949. I've been closing some seed of a rhododendron unknown that we collected in East Manipur last winter I suppose we shall come home this year next year sometime we never know far in advance he was out there all the time in Nepal Burma Himalaya all that kind of area this is a wonderful volume how helpful is that to you in looking after the garden well this is just lists of plants that have been tried here and also things that she was looking for the things she loved or scented flowers so in the same way that in the house they're being true to her spirit you can do the same in the garden in a way and keep bringing here plants that you know she would want it and not just that you know every year between a thousand one and a half thousand new plants discovered worldwide so what would she do if she was alive today she'd be going absolutely mad and planting everything she could get to Amazon that she'd never seen before these days a team of around a dozen gardeners and up to 80 volunteers are busy keeping Edith's Legacy alive and just as she would have wanted they continue to expand the number of rare and exotic species grown here it's a job that throws up plenty of challenges writer and presenter Oz Clarks got a backstage pass to discover the top secret tricks of the mount Stuart potting shed it would be fair to say that The Gardens of Mount Stuart are not normal it's as though Nature has just thrown everything together without any human intervention but nothing could be further from the truth keeping the gardens looking this good takes hard draft and real skill the team here is managing to retain an astounding number of exotic plant species that face Extinction in their native habitats and they do it by carefully creating new plants from seeds or cuttings hi I'm Oz hello hello lovely to meet you so as you who's been making all this smell yeah yeah we're assimilating a forest fire in South Africa how about that that's exactly what I thought Gardner Alan Ryder is a man who knows the secrets of growing flowers from foreign lands today he's cultivating the seeds of South Africa's national Bloom protea so those are proteases in the wild it will not grow unless there has been a brush fire that's the whole secret I see the plant needs the fire to to break open got it so basically I'll just put those seed in on top of the tin thread it out a little bit just like that put the lid on with bark in there which smolders the smoke comes up into this tin here and we leave that for about five minutes Brittanya is just one of about four thousand plant species at Mount Stewart like botanists in days gone by the team travels all over the world collecting new plants right now species from around 50 countries are thriving here let's lift this off here now yeah let's Let the Smoke Clear a little bit and as you can see you see the way it's all opened out sorry about the smoke in the eyes yeah almost like different hedgehogs now and that's that's the germinating scene yes absolutely so that's now ready to solve let's do it yeah having mimicked the native conditions needed to germinate the seeds Alan then plants them in specially prepared sandy soil with added grit designed to simulate the South African Earth in which protea grows so did Edith's gardeners go through this whole process all the time absolutely all of these processes are reinventions of what would have happened 80 100 years ago unless I've been ahead 24 hours a day well absolutely yeah that's cool yeah I'm okay ah much warmer yeah it's nice and warm in here isn't it yeah lovely the proteas will spend about a year in the mount Stewart propagating unit before being planted outside in the unit temperature light and moisture are kept constant giving plants the very best chance of survival so we've put all this effort into just a single little pot when you look at the enormous expanse of this Garden if you're going to do it like lady Londonderry did it that's an amazing commitment of man hours absolutely it's a huge investment in time you cannot just open a catalog and say I'll have one of those please because we're dealing with such a rare collection of plants well I have to say lady Londonderry would be delighted well I hope she would approve yeah absolutely but the story of Mount Stuart didn't end with Edith Londonderry her granddaughter lady Rose lauritzen grew up here with her sister and still lives in a private wing of the house and she's asked me over for a chat about the old days when Mount Stuart was in its roaring pump what a place to grow up yeah I feel very lucky it was always full of people full of 14 dogs in the house shrieking the calls and my grandmother had a tiny little miniature parrot that flew loose in her sitting room and used to sort of perch on the chandelier which early the next morning the maids had to get up on a lad and do a little bit cleaning in the drawing room there was always music we had a great great family friend who played the piano we had to sing all dolls so it was chaotic full of people and life and alive and light and flowers and plants and no it was really it was the most amazing happy happy house oh yes I mean I was actually born in London in a blitz but I came over with a nanny a week later and then grew up here I'm rarely brought up by my grandmother as well as my mother but um probably more by my grandmother and she was a huge influence what sort of Personality well she was the most alive person I've ever met and the energy you know it really makes me feel rather tired thinking about her energy she never stopped because she was doing all her good works doing her garden she did work like the head gardening as she was pruning digging planting then she wrote three or four books she never stopped she had genuine genuine old-fashioned charm she'd charm anyone and that's how she got what she wanted there are lots of pictures of your mother Lady Mary yeah a bit of a late arrival yes no total surprise my grandmother she just said I feel immensely seed and went to the doctor and he said you're having a baby so my mother appeared and she was really the favorite absolutely both my grandparents he absolutely adored her lady Rose has been a real help to the National Trust during their restoration of Mount Stewart she's revealed private details about the house that no other living person could know and that means that everyone can enjoy the estate exactly as it was in Edith's day it very much speaks of your grandmother her personality shines yes it does yes everything I've done I've tried to redo as though it was her taste so I feel I've saved it in a way from something horrible if somebody said to you what's so special about Mount Stuart how would you sum it up that's the atmosphere the combination of strangford lock which is my favorite the garden which I simply love with the passion and the house is just home Mount Stuart's house and Gardens were lady Edith's crowning achievement and after almost four happy decades she died here in April 1959 she was laid to rest beside her husband Charles in the family burial ground tucked away out of sight it's never been open to the public but the national trusts Neil porteous has agreed to show me this most private of places that was a fair climb well this is um the land the ever young the family burial ground so we don't usually let people in but literally you're very kind she's much bigger bigger than it looks from outside it's lovely isn't it so why land of the Forever Young well in Irish and Scottish mythology when you die your soul is taken by the white stag up to tyrano the land of the every Young a statue of the mythical white stag stands watch over the cemetery along with sculptures of the Saints of County Down they give a hint of just how much Lady Edith loved this corner of Ireland so these are the sarcophagi so that's Edith and this is Charles what's nice is it shows something about their personalities look you've got the garden with the bay trees their dogs their books the McCoy Edward and Roses scented flowers is this the traditional family burial ground yes Charlie was the first and then it's just been grandchildren and brothers sisters they've all gone in they're all in here it's a wonderfully spiritual place and in that letter I remember I read in the house it said who would want to live anywhere else and it's rather lovely to think which he never has [Music] Mount Stuart in Northern Ireland is a magical place brought to life by its of the worldly setting its microclimate and by the charismatic Lady Edith seventh martians of Londonderry she turned the house into a stylish mansion and made the gardens world class it was the place to see and be seen and there's no doubt she absolutely loved it and now thanks to the restoration not only can we enjoy the grand house and garden as it was then but we can also see it continue to evolve in the true Spirit of Edith laid in Londonderry foreign

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 63,094

Keywords: 20th century women, Absolute History, British culture, British history, Marchioness of Londonderry, Victorian feminist, female leaders, feminist activists, feminist role models, feminist trailblazers, gender stereotypes, historical gardens, progressive women's rights, scandalous figure, social history, transformation, women's history, women's leadership, women's voting rights

Id: PLuffYXxJEM

Length: 37min 46sec (2266 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 11 2022