Beauvale School 1889 - Grand dinner honouring Major Rolleston as he vacates Watnall Hall

Beauvale School in Eastwood was the venue for a grand dinner held for Major Rolleston as he prepares to vacate Watnall Hall. 

The Nottingham Daily Guardian of 30 Apr 1889 reports on the great "respect and exteem" shown by Watnall residents to Major Rolleston for his support and tireless work on their behalf. He is moving to Edwinstowe to take up the prestigious position of Master of the Rufford Hunt following the sudden tragic death of the previous incumbent Mr. Thomas Harvey Bayley¹. His life in Rufford would take him up a step of the social ladder, rubbing shoulders with the Duke of Portland and moving in his esteemed circles. Royal visitors to Nottinghamshire often stayed with the Duke at Welbeck Abbey and anyone familiar with ITV's Downton Abbey will appreciate this social hierarchy and the importance that hunting and horse riding had within it. 

c.1900 - Beauvale School, Eastwood with tower that was removed in 1926

The years after Watnall were also a delight for his wife Lady Maud who was at the heart of the social scene, organising society soirees and hunt balls, a throwback to her upbringing in Europe. They would also reinstate the Rufford Hunt Ball and for the first time make use of the huge underground ballroom at Welbeck Abbey built but never used by the previous and famously eccentric 5th Duke of Portland. Those will be future tales told here but in the meantime we look at their departure from Watnall Hall...

His Watnall neighbours club together to buy the Major a commemorative silver salver engraved with his family motto and some kind words. The presentation dinner is held at Beauvale School where Major Rolleston and his younger brother Captain Robert Sidney Rolleston R.N. are guests of honour...

PRESENTATION TO MAJOR L. ROLLESTON AT BEAUVALE.

New role as master of the prestigious
Rufford Hunt in Edwinstowe

April 30th 1889 - Last evening Major L. Rolleston, being the guest at a dinner attended by nearly two hundred of the inhabitants of Newthorpe, Watnall, and Moor Green, was presented with a silver salver in evidence of the general esteem in which he is held by those who dwell in the neighbourhood of his residence, Watnall Hall. When it became known that Major Rolleston was about to leave the neighbourhood for Edwinstowe House for the purpose of taking the position of the Master of the Rufford Hunt, there was a very general feeling expressed that he should not be allowed to leave the Hall without some recognition being made of the many good services he had rendered to the district. 

Major Lancelot Rolleston

A suggestion was made that some form of presentation be made to Major Rolleston, and a committee, with Mr. E.Manvers as chairman and Mr. A. E. Whitehead as hon. secretary, were soon in possession of sufficient funds to enable them to purchase a silver salver of very handsome design from Messers. Spaul and Johnson, Ludgate Hill, London. The salver, having Major Rolleston's crest and motto engraved in centre, bore the following inscription... 

"Presented to Major Rolleston, J.P., Watnall Hall, by his neighbours and friends of Newthorpe, Moor Green, and Watnall Chaworth, as a small token of respect and esteem for his willingness at all times to promote their interests. April 29th, 1889.” 

The repast, which was supplied by Mr. Riley, Newthorpe, Mrs. E. Hopkin [possibly Enid Hopkin wife of Willie Hopkin Eastwood poet and author] providing the wines, was laid in the large schoolroom. Dr. D. M. Forbes presided, and there were also present, including the guest of the evening, Captain Rolleston, R.N. [Major Rolleston's younger brother, recently prompted to Captain in the Royal Navy], Messrs. T. Potter [mine owner], R. G. Hanson [Kimberley brewery owner], E. Manvers, R. Wilkes (Langley Mill), R. Blackwell, J. Yeoman, H. Hand, E. Wakefield, J. Wakefield [farming brothers at Beauvale Manor Farm], T. Chambers, A. E. Whitehead, R. Chambers [the Chambers family farmed Beauvale Abbey Farm], G. Hallam, Slater, Eagle, Letts, Cornhill, Mellors, Cheetham, Greensmith, Jordan, Birkin, J. Shaw, Gibson, &c.

Major Rolleston's brother
was the special guest

The Chairman having given the loyal toasts,  Mr. Manners, in making the presentation to Major Rolleston, after having read the inscription, said he was sure it would enhance the value of the gift when he said that the presentation was suggested by a working man, and had been carried out by a committee of working men - (hear, hear) - and represented the subscriptions of nearly a hundred subscribers. It had not been a single trait in Major Rolleston’s character that had alone excited their admiration and moved them to the present recognition of his worth. What had influenced them had been she general tenour of Major Rolleston’s life since he came to reside at Watnall Hall. The greater number of the subscribers wished the presentation to express their hearty approval of Major Rolleston’s political opinions and the fearless and constant manner in which be had advocated them. (Applause.) 

Others wished to mark their approval of the Major’s willingness on all occasions to place his best services at the disposal of the whole of the district in all matters local, irrespective of political or party feeling. But all subscribers as one would wish the presentation to convey to Major Rolleston their deep gratitude for the many acts of benevolence, charity, and sympathy he so frequently performed towards his less fortunate neighbours in the time of misfortune, sickness, and bereavement, (Applause.) They hoped that he would long be spared to continue such good works. (Applause.) 

The Rolleston crest, an eagle's head,
was engraved on the silver salver

Major Rolleston, who was received with loud applause, said that when he looked upon that magnificent salver they had just presented to him and when he looked upon the splendid gathering around him, including most of the influential inhabitants of the district, and when he thought of what had just been said by Mr. Manners, he felt that he was quite unworthy of all that had been offered to him that night. He could not help thinking - and he did not say so because it was the usual thing to say - that all he had done in that district, publicly or privately, since be came to reside amongst them had been done simply as a matter of duty. While he had taken an active part in public matters he could not but feel that many of those gentlemen who had so kindly flattered him that night worked as hard and perhaps harder than he had himself in the objects in which they had been engaged in the furtherance of. When he heard at first that they meditated presenting him with so handsome a gift he confessed his first thought was to see if something less substantial could not be put in the place of the salver, but he did not take any steps in shat direction for several reasons. In the first place, until very recently they carefully concealed from him what it was they were about. (Laughter.) 

When he did discover what was going on he could not but feel - and the events of that evening had certainly made him feel so - that their action was a genuine outcome of the warmth of their affection for himself. (Applause). He appreciated fully the honour that had been conferred upon him that evening, and he felt very deeply the kindness which prompted the influential inhabitants of the district to ask him to represent them in the County Council. (Hear, hear.) 

He could assure them that the fact that the majority of votes did not agree with the opinions of those who had asked him to become a candidate, made no difference whatever in the gratification which he experienced for the honour that had been done him... [He did not get elected as County Councillor this time]²... Under the circumstances he thought he was doing quite right in taking the mastership of the Rufford Hunt. He would not conceal from them that that was a very desirable post.

Major Rolleston out with the Rufford Hunt 

He should live in a delightful part of the country, although he should have very responsible duties to perform. He thought that perhaps the post of the master of the Rufford Hunt would be I more arduous than that of a County Councillor - (laughter) - for the district comprised a tract of land lying between Chesterfield on one side and Lincoln on the other. At the same time it is a very pleasant and charming post to hold, and therefore he did not feel disposed to quarrel with those friends in that district who enabled him to accept it. (Laughter.) 

Watnall Hall c.1900

He should not be so very many miles away from his old friends, so that he should not altogether lose touch of the district. (Applause.) He trusted that the pleasant days that they had had together would live in the memories of of them. (Hear, hear.) They had had many such, and he intended to have many more with them in the future. (Applause.) He had been very kindly and hospitably received in the Rufford district, but he should always feel that there was one place where be could rely upon firm friends and true hearts, of whatever party, and that was his native district. (Applause.)

Mr. T.Potter having proposed "The Health of  the Clergy and Ministers of all Denominations,” Mr. R.G. Hanson gave "The Army, Navy, and Reserve Forces,” to which Capt. Rolleston R.N., responded. Mr. Gibson proposed "The Visitors," to which Mr. R.Wilkes replied, and the health of the committee and the secretary and the chairman, which was proposed Major Rolleston, were subsequently honoured.

What happened next and when did he come back to Watnall Hall?

His stint as Master of the Rufford Hunt was very successful and lasted until Christmas of 1899 when he volunteered to go to the Boer War (aged 53). It changed his life in many ways as he was seriously injured there and could no longer ride as he had done previously. That story is told in another Tale From Watnall Hall here...

Tales from the Boer War, "Colonel Rolleston is seriously wounded..."

You can read about his fox hunting days with the South Notts Hunt here. It describes an epic day in the field as described in an epic poem by Mrs. Lina Chaworth-Musters of Annesley Hall...

 Rolleston the huntsman, in a poetic account of a classic 30-mile Notts foxhunt in 1881

On his return from the Boer War he moved back to Watnall Hall and concentrated on the recovery from his injuries. Later, his debilitated state meant his sporting activities were restricted mostly to sailing. He also had his County Council and magistrate duties as well as continuing to represent the interests of the local community, workers and farmers of the Watnall area. 

In his absence, the hall was leased out to a variety of tenants. You can read about that and all the other  Tales From Watnall Hall here...

Tales from Watnall Hall

Notes and sources

Nottingham Daily Guardian 30 April 1889;

1 - He took his own life after a riding accident seemed to leave him suffering from "temporary insanity". The gruesome manner of his death involving his cut throat shaving apparatus is recounted here...

https://livestockconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Sebastopol_Completed_Draft_2014.pdf

2 - [Omitted from main article for brevity] ...He knew that those who supported him represented most influential portion of the district, and, although, under the present system, those who represented the majority of the rates did not represent the majority of votes, that was a matter over which they would not quarrel. Two things had been referred to by Mr. Manners in making the presentation. One was with relation to the dealings which they had had with each other in any direction in which they had conceived that their duties lay, and the second was the fact, that he should not be able, at any rate for some time, to take a very conspicuous part in the affairs of the district as he had hitherto done, because he was about to leave Watnall Hall. He thought that those gentlemen who had voted against him in the County Council election had given him an excellent excuse for the step he was about to take. If the ratepayers had elected him to the County Council he should have had the greatest pride and pleasure in making a study of business, and he had formed a plan, by which if  he had been enabled to have carried it out that district would have been represented with some vigour and effect. (Applause.) ...

The very next story in the paper that day was...

CRUSHED BY A STEAM ROLLER.

A man named John Round was killed a few miles from Stourbridge om Saturday night, who was acting as flag-man in front of a steam roller. He endeavoured to protect some children who ran thoughtlessly towards the roller as it turned a corner, and in saving them his foot caught in the machinery and he was thrown down. the roller passing over him.