Lady Maud Rolleston of Watnall Hall was a keen sketcher and watercolour artist. This article is a collection of her art works along with pictures of the hall, the staff and the happy events that took place there...
You can click on the green coloured text in the article to read stories about related topics e.g. Watnall Hall's old tithe barn, Sledder woods, garden parties, etc. I've discovered two other owners of Lady Maud's watercolours so hopefully I can add more in the near future. Many thanks to those who have contributed so far...
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| Wedding picture - Newton Abbot, Devon - 25th. Feb 1882 Lancelot and Maud Rolleston |
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| (and possibly before 1900 as it's a young-looking Lancelot) |
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| The Watnall Hall Tithe Barn - above in Lady Maud's painting c.1900 and below in 1955 looking the worse for wear before its demolition |
There's a lovely story associated with these next two pictures.
The first one is a woodland bluebell scene painted by Lady Maud and gifted to a Miss Lydia Langley who worked for the Rollestons for many years and married one of their grooms. Lady Maud helped organise their wedding. When Lydia's husband died young, Lady Maud semi-adopted their young daughter Mary Elizabeth who is the subject of the second painting. The story is best told in the words of Mary Elizabeth's grandson Antony who sent them to me...
"Perhaps Lydia Langley had earned much respect whilst there. Another family treasure I have & which sheds further light on these nice employers, is a beautiful portrait of my grandmother as a young girl. It’s not hard to work out that a mere housekeeper could never afford to commission a painting but this was apparently a gift from Lady Maud. Years later, when my grandmother had grown up & married she named her son & daughter Lancelot & Maud, accordingly, clearly in recognition of her days at Watnall Hall."
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| A woodland bluebell scene by Lady Maud gifted to a Miss Lydia Langley who worked for the Rollestons for many years and married one of their grooms. Lady Maud helped organise their wedding. When Lydia's husband died young, Lady Maud semi-adopted their daughter Mary Elizabeth (below) (Courtesy of Mr. A.Bond) |
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| Mary Elizabeth Langley, daughter of Miss Langley painted by Lady Maud When she married, she named her children Maud and Lancelot. (Courtesy of Mr. A.Bond, her grandson) |
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| "View from my window at Watnall" 9th August 1884 Two years after their marriage |
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| Sledder Woods, Bog End, Watnall where the Colonel had a fishing lake and Lady Maud sketched the gnarly old alder trees |
Lady Maud painted lots of local woodland scenes especially in Sledder Woods where they had a small loggia as a woodland retreat. Sir Lancelot would fish and she would paint. Local lass Alice Saxton, interviewed in 2000, recalls an amusing tale about some illicit flower picking!...
"Mrs Saxton, aged 91, recalls the retreat and how Lady Maud protected it. She says that Lady Maud, "had her own piece of woodland down Narrow Road, opposite Crowhill Farm. It was full of daffodils and she used to go and paint quietly there. The woods at Bogend were full of violets in their season, and she was very protective of them, making sure the village children did not take too many (a popular pastime). Mrs Saxton recalls that when she was a child she, "and a friend had gone there and filled a straw hat with the prohibited blooms. Met Lady Maud on the way back she said "I hope you haven't been picking violets Alice" to which I replied "No my Lady", pinching the brim of the straw hat together so Lady Maud could not see the contents. I got away with it on that occasion."
Alice became a doyenne of the Watnall WI which was jointly set up by Lady Maud whose picture still hangs in the WI hall today.
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| Unknown location. Courtesy of G Scott-Dalgleish |
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| Reflections - Perhaps Sledder Woods? Courtesy of G Scott-Dalgleish |
Local farmer's daughter Iris Clay recalls Sledder Woods...
"In the Sledder Woods, about half a mile from the Hall were three ponds known as "The Fish Ponds". These were beautifully kept and were stocked with trout. There was a summer house, loggia, duck hut and boat there, and to these nearly every fine summer afternoon went Lady Maud and Sir Lancelot— the former to sit and do her intricate embroidery, and Sir Lancelot to fish. These are now wild and derelict, although one can still see the pampas grass, the red current trees, water lilies and daffodils amongst the undergrowth, but the ponds have been claimed by hordes of frogs which make their appearance every Spring." (Iris Clay, 1960)
Kimberley cricketer Tom Hobbs well remembers his father and himself meeting the Colonel on the way to his fishing ponds, perhaps not with the humility that one was supposed to show for members of the gentry, recalling that...
"...when Colonel used to go fishing every Saturday morning - got his net and his rod and his gun, and two dogs exactly like the dogs on the Black & White Whisky advert. He used to go by and he'd say, "Good Morning Hobbs" - never Mr. Hobbs. "Good Morning Hobbs". I thought you ignorant bugger, but still....Oh sorry about that. Father used to go "Good morning Colonel" and he'd say, "Fine weather isn't it Hobbs?", "Yes Sir, I hope you have good fishing . Good morning" Well, he were a big bloke... "
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| Autumn Colours Courtesy of G Scott-Dalgleish |
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| Bluebells Courtesy of G Scott-Dalgleish |
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| 21st. April 1889 - Wedding of Mis Peat, the gardener's daughter. Lady Maud was an enthusiastic wedding planner for her staff. Note that Lancelot, standing by the white horse, has no walking stick yet (from his injuries in the 1900 Boer War) In the front row with the "Black Adder-esque" white crosses are Rev. von Hube and his wife from Greasley Church. |
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| Watnall Hall's gardeners - not sure if Mr. Peat is one of them. (From the Bill Jackson collection) |
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| Lady Maud in her prime |
In January 1900 the 53-year-old Colonel Rolleston volunteered to fight in the 2nd Boer War in South Africa. Lady Maud followed him out there to help the war effort as best she could. She arrived in Cape Town in February, by Royal Mail steam ship from England, and followed the advance of the soldiers northwards supporting the injured troops and visiting hospitals with her young companion, nurse Nan Beaver. Her husband, "Lance" as she calls him in her diary, and her brother Captain Arthur Dalzell "Artie" have both been in the thick of the fighting and she has, as yet, heard no news of them. But that is soon about to change for the worse.
The two ladies have not been not afraid to "rough it", travelling north from Cape Town through the sweltering, fly-ridden country in guard's vans and on horse carts, quite different from their normal lives back in the gentrified country society of Nottinghamshire.
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| 1900 Boer War, South Africa Boer commander Piet De Wet who Lady Maud dined with after his surrender From her 1901 published diaries. |
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| In Lady Maud's diaries she always refers to him as "Lance" |
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| 1900 Boer War, South Africa Lady Maud (centre) and Nurse Nan Beaver (left) at the hospital they set up for convalescent soldiers |
Pictures and Photographs from the New Century
Even dedicated socialist (and mentor of DH Lawrence) Eastwood's Willie Hopkin, had a soft spot for Lady Maud and wrote poems dedicated to her...
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| c.1910 - One of the many children's garden parties at Watnall Hall. Can you spot the local bobby? |
Children were always encouraged to visit the hall and Lady Maud famously held a Sunday School every week where she'd play hymns on her harmonium to be sung along to. Miss Iris Clay, a farmer's daughter, who lived and worked at Hall Farm, the home farm of the estate, left a manuscript written in 1960 and, amongst other village stories, mentions the Sunday school...
"Lady Maud used to hold a Sunday School in the Mission Room against the Hall (part of the stable block). Every Christmas she gave the children a wonderful party with presents for every child. Once she hired a fire-engine to bring these, and on another occasion she had a house built in the rafters out of which emerged Peter Pan to distribute the gifts. After the party it was the practice for Lady Maud to hand a current bun, and Sir Lancelot an orange to take home".
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| Lady Maud in middle age |
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| March 1916 - An impromptu watercolour done during a family get-together. The Dalzell's are Lady Maud's family. She was born Charlotte Emma Maud Dalzell on Sept 2nd.1859 in Bruges, Belgium. Sarah "aged 94" is her mum (below), Arthur her brother, Muriel his wife and the other Muriel their daughter, Lady Maud's niece. |
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| Sarah Dalzell (nee Harris), Lady Maud's Canadian mum Born in London, Ontario in 1822 She married Scottish Colonel Robert Alexander Dalzell in 1846 |
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| Watnall Hall's gardens - Look carefully, the Rolleston's pet dog stands guard at the top of the old steps.
 King and Queen at Newark |
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| c. 1932 - On the old Watnall Hall steps with Prinkey the dog |
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| Garden gates |
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| Golden Wedding article 1932 Lady Maud also loved the artwork of budding local painter Ephraim Buckley and paid for him to have advanced art lessons. He went on to do many beautiful paintings. The one below is based on a popular postcard of sailing boats at sunset on the Cattewater in Plymouth.
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"... For on a warm midsummer eve, Such revels are, you'd scarce believe. The fairies, headed by their Queen, Dance on the strip of mossy green; But unbelievers only see Perhaps a frog or bumble bee..."
Sir Lancelot decided to study bees. He had a bee-house, as he called it, built such a way that he could sit comfortably inside with a chair and desk, and watch the bees through glass windows let into the rear of each individual hive... "The boxes in which the insects deposit their honey are so arranged that they cannot fly about in the interior of the apartment, whilst their operations can be watched and studied through glass. So the bee-house serves a double purpose, besides being an ornament to the garden. A country gentleman esteemed for his courtesy and geniality, writing his letters among that gentle buzzing in a world that seems now to have been forever summer."
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| Colonel Rolleston's bee house with unknown man. |
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| 1932 - Sir Lancelot as Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council on display at County Hall |
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| Sir Lancelot had his own sailing yacht on the Trent that his chauffeur rowed him out to. |
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| Fred Justice, Sir Lancelot's chauffeur, proudly standing by his Humber motor car |
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| c.1935 - Lady Maud looking like she means business with her stern magistrate's face on in the Watnall Hall rose garden |
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| c.1940 - enjoying their twilight years by the garden lily pond. Sir Lancelot is around 90 years of age. |
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| Colonel Rolleston stands guard at the front door |
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| In the study with Prinkey the dog and a lot of paperwork. Colonel Rolleston was a magistrate (JP) for a remarkable 70 years. From 1911 to 1932 he was Chairman of the Nottinghamshire Quarter Sessions and from 1928 to 1932 he was Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council. He was High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1877 Lady Maud was a magistrate from 1921 to 1936 and received a CBE for her work with many different charities. |
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| Watnall Hall's formal gardens and the Orangery |
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