War wounds of a stately kind

IN THE opening episode of TV’s Brideshead Revisited, Captain Charles Ryder’s army jeep draws up at the great country house that is to be his new Brigade headquarters.

Ryder was played by a young Jeremy Irons. And the house itself – Brideshead – was, of course, played by Castle Howard.

In reality, the great home of the Howard family never did serve as headquarters for an army unit in the Second World War. Instead, it welcomed the children of Queen Margaret’s School, who were evacuated there soon after war broke out. The great fire which swept through the house in November 1940, destroying the dome and nearly 20 rooms, was an accident, and not directly related to the war.

But as with all great country estates, the war had a lasting effect on the house and its family.

From the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 up to the end of the Second World War, five Howards were killed in action. One died in action at Waterloo; another was killed at the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan in 1898. A third – Michael Howard, youngest son of the 9th Earl of Carlisle – was killed at Passchendaele. And two young Howard brothers died in the Second World War.

Major Mark Howard of the Coldstream Guards was killed in Normandy in June 1944. His younger brother, bomber pilot Flight Lieutenant Christopher Howard of 617 Squadron – the famous ‘dambusters’ – was killed a few months later, in October 1944, while flying on the Kembs dam raid. “The story is that he came in and made his first pass, was not in position, came around again, and was shot down and killed with his crew,” says Christopher Ridgway, the curator of Castle Howard.

Military service was a tradition with most families of the great country houses and the sons of the aristocracy were not the only ones to suffer during wartime.

The names of tenants and servants who lost their lives in war are commemorated on war memorials in villages across the Castle Howard estate – democratised in death alongside the names of the sons of the Howard family themselves.

“And show me a village in England that doesn’t have one of these memorials,” Mr Ridgway says.

With the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War rapidly approaching, some of Yorkshire’s finest stately homes have decided 2013 is the year to stage exhibitions reflecting the impact that war had upon them.

Throughout this year, no fewer than nine great Yorkshire houses will be holding exhibitions under the umbrella of the Yorkshire Country House Partnership, which Mr Ridgway chairs.

Alongside Castle Howard, others in North and East Yorkshire include Beningbrough Hall, Fairfax House, Kiplin Hall at Richmond and Newby Hall in Ripon. Sewerby Hall in Bridlington is also taking part, as is Nostell Priory at Wakefield.

All the exhibitions, staged at different times of the year, seek to tell the story of the great houses in time of war, and are being held under the title Duty Calls.

While many of the exhibitions focus on the First and Second World Wars, Fairfax House’s exhibition, which will run from August 9 through to the end of the year, will focus on the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Other houses include the Boer, Crimean and Napoleonic wars in their stories.

Whatever period the individual exhibitions focus on, each house has its own distinctive story to tell in portraits, documents and objects.

“The family may have a strong military tradition,” Mr Ridgway says.

“The house may have been requisitioned during wartime; wives, mothers or sisters may have been active in the nursing corps; heroism or bereavement may have touched the entire estate, whether in the family or amongst their household or tenants.”

• For more details about the Duty Calls websites, visit ychp.org.uk

Duty calls exhibitions

Beningbrough Hall, York Open now and running until November 3: From Rural Idyll to Perilous Skies
In 1941 Lady Chesterfield, the hall’s former owner, moved out as it was requisitioned for RAF Linton on Ouse SNCO bomber crew and later the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Seventy years on from opening its doors as a billet and mess to the Royal Canadian Air Force, the exhibition focuses on the poignant stories of the men and women who stayed there during the Second World War.
nationaltrust.org.uk/beningbrough

Sewerby Hall, Bridlington Open and running until September 1: Sewerby Hall in Time of War
The exhibition contrasts the experiences of the Lloyd Greame family and their estate workers during the First World War with what happened during the Second World War.

In the inter-war years, the shifting fortunes of country house estates resulted in the house being sold off to Bridlington council for whom the gardens were more important. The house was subsequently requisitioned and served as a convalescent home for RAF personnel: a world away from being the nerve centre of a landed estate.
eastriding.gov.uk/sewerby

Kiplin Hall, Richmond From today until October 29, 2014: From Civil War to Second World War
During the First World War, Kiplin’s last owner, Miss Bridget Talbot, served with the Red Cross and later invented a torch for life-jackets, saving the lives of many service personnel. In the Second World War, an RAF Maintenance Unit requisitioned the estate, supplying bombs to local airfields: and Kiplin also served as a ‘rendezvous’ house for a regiment rescued from Dunkirk. Miss Kiplin recalled exhausted men straggling in all day and night, the “…sun streaming in on a silent carpet of prostrate khaki figures”.

An exhibition, trails and events recount 300 years of Kiplin’s owners, family members and local communities in times of war.
kiplinhall.co.uk

Newby Hall, Ripon From today: Newby Hall in Time of War
Newby Hall’s involvement in the Second World War is surrounded by mystery, intrigue and secret meetings. The exhibition explores the ‘Coats Mission’ that saw Newby Hall reserved as a safe haven for the Royal family should the Royal Palaces come under attack, and reveals how the house had to be ready to receive the Royal party with only six hours’ notice. Local people have shared their wartime memories with schoolchildren. The exhibition explores the children’s thoughts and feelings on these first-hand accounts.
newbyhallandgardens.com

Castle Howard May 25 – end of 2014; Castle Howard in Time of War
While generations of Howard sons went to fight overseas the impact of war was often more powerfully felt at home. Between 1815 and 1944 five Howards were killed in action, and for the family war was a time of anxiety as well as bereavement. This was an experience shared with staff and tenants, many of whom are commemorated on war memorials in estate villages. Belgian refugees, enemy prisoners, evacuees, fire, and crashed aircraft also meant that the impact of war in both world wars was never far away from Castle Howard.
castlehoward.co.uk

Nostell Priory, Wakefield Events from June 2013 to August 2014: Red Poppies and White Butterflies Lives at home and away, for rich and poor, farmworker, landowner, tradesman or maid. Events and workshops to uncover the world of Nostell’s people and that of visitors. nationaltrust.org.uk/nostell-priory

Fairfax House August 9 – December 31: In the Name of the Rose: The Jacobite Rebellions, Symbolism and Allegiance
The Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745 had a dramatic impact on Georgian society. Marking the 250th anniversary of Fairfax House, In The Name Of The Rose sheds light on the secretive world of Jacobite allegiance during this troubled period, uncovering the use of symbolism to convey covert messages of loyalty to the cause of the exiled Stuarts.

At the heart of this exhibition lies the rose, the most potent and evocative of Jacobite symbols, inspiring faith, courage and hope.
fairfaxhouse.co.uk