Introduction

This history of the building and fitting out of Wrest Park House was written by the owner Earl de Grey. Born in 1781, he was the eldest son of Thomas Robinson, second Baron Grantham of Grantham by Mary, younger daughter of Philip Yorke Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima Marchioness Grey, and he succeeded his father as third baron in 1786. He became the sixth baronet Robinson of Newby in 1792 on the death of his second cousin, Sir Norton Robinson, from whom he inherited Newby Park and property near York. In the same year also a distant relative William Weddell of nearby Newby Hall died, and this property too passed to him.

He was colonel-commandant of the Yorkshire Hussar Regiment of Cavalry for over forty years and was appointed yeomanry aide-de-camp to William IV and held a similar position under Queen Victoria.

Nominated as Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire in 1818, an office he held until his death, he succeeded to the estates of his aunt, Amabel Hume Campbell, Countess de Grey of Wrest Park on 4th May 1833, and became second Earl de Grey and Baron Lucas of Crudwell, Wiltshire.

In Sir Robert Peel's first administration he held office as first Lord of the Admiralty from 22nd December 1834 to 25th April 1835 and was made Privy Councillor on his appointment. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 3rd September 1841 to 26th July 1844. A contemporary article in the ■Illustrated London News reported “he fills [the post] to the satisfaction of moderate men at least, of both parties, although the number of these in Ireland is not legion”. The Dictionary of National Biography says “He discharged the functions of his viceregal position impartially and with credit, and his retirement was much regretted by the people of Dublin. His hospitality was very generously exercised and the Countess gave much encouragement to native manufactures”. On the founding of the Insti tute of British Architects in 1834 he was invited to become its president because of his great interest in the arts, and to give the Institute the benefit of his social and political influence. He presided at their first meeting on June 3rd 1835 and frequently at subsequent meetings, remaining their distinguished president until his death. The Institute was given its Royal Charter in 1837.

Until now the career of Elise Hall (1853–1924), the world's first female orchestral saxophonist and altruistic patroness of the arts, has been regarded as a twentieth-century affair. Between 1900 and 1920, she appeared in select performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Orchestral Club, and Longy Club, and was heard on Parisian programs of La Société nationale de musique and Salon des musiciens français. Most famously, she was the sole financial benefactor of the Boston Orchestral Club and commissioned twenty-two works by prominent French composers (Debussy, d’Indy, Loeffler, Schmitt, and others), many of which she premiered. During this time, Hall also presented several self-produced concerts on both sides of the Atlantic and participated in countless private musicales. By all measures, hers was a monumental and enduring achievement, especially in view of the resistance that women of her generation encountered with regard to performing in public and, in her case, playing the saxophone. Although recognition was slow in coming, Elise Hall is now celebrated for her pioneering efforts.

Paradoxically, these twentieth-century triumphs in the East have long been regarded as having less than exceptional nineteenth-century antecedents out West. According to her friend Renée Longy, it was while in California in the mid-1890s that Hall suffered a bout of typhoid fever resulting in hearing loss. Her husband, Richard J. Hall, MD, is alleged to have prescribed a novel treatment: playing a wind instrument to stimulate hearing and prevent further impairment. This she did, but because Santa Barbara was a small remote city, finding a teacher was said to have been difficult; hence, according to Longy, lessons began with a village laborer who happened to have a saxophone. William Street, in his dissertation, mentioned that Elise Hall's musical involvement in Santa Barbara included an organization known as “The Amateurs.” Reports of these curious and unremarkable beginnings led historians to conclude that her time in California lacked noteworthy achievement. However, a thorough reinvestigation reveals that such an unflattering narrative is largely false. The truth is that Hall's unprecedented successes in Boston was a continuation of what she had begun eight years earlier and some three thousand miles away.

The Hall family moved from New York to Santa Barbara in late 1889, and Elise began saxophone lessons in 1891. Although dozens of newspaper accounts refer to her throughout the 1890s (including societal happenings, charitable events, and musical performances), none mention illness or hearing loss.

London, February 20th, 1821.

Reverend Sir,

INTENDING, by God's Assistance, to hold my Primary Visitation in the Summer of the present Year, I submit the following QUERIES to your Consideration, desiring you, after due Inquiry, to give PLAIN and DISTINCT ANSWERS to them, that I may become better acquainted with the present State of my Diocese, and, consequently, be the better enabled to provide for the due Administration of it.

I request you to return the Answers, signed with your Name and Direction, at length, to the Register of your Arch deaconry at the ensuing Archidiaconal Visitation, who will forward them to my Secretary, at Exeter. I heartily commend you to the Blessing of Almighty God, and remain,

N.B. It is desired that these Queries may be understood as addressed to the Incumbent of the Living, and not to the Curate, who should forward them to the Incumbent, in case he is not resident, accompanied by such Information as the Curate may think necessary, to enable the Incumbent to answer the several Enquiries; but, if it should happen that the Curate be uninformed of the Incumbent's Residence, or if he should, by Age or Infirmity, be disabled from giving the necessary Answers: in either of these Cases, they may be given by the Curate.

Battalion Moves

The following terms are used in relation to conferences between the Engineering Employers’ Federation and trade unions

A Works Conference literally took place on the works premises and would usually involve the management, shop stewards, convenor and, on occasions, the union area full time official.

A Local Conference took place when the dispute could not be resolved at shopfloor level or factory level. This would involve BEEA officials and local union officials as well as the management and men of the firm involved. Evidence would be presented and usually recorded verbatim.

Central Conference was the final stage in the process when ‘a failure to agree’ had been recorded at the local conference. These meetings usually took place at York and to a lesser extent at London. National level officials of union and employers would conduct the proceedings and present evidence. The proceedings were recorded verbatim.