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BELSIZE AND THE MONARCHY

Averil Nottage, local historian and former BRA Chair, gives us some interesting and amusing links between Belsize and royalty:

In the Middle Ages monarchs determined who owned land.  King Ethelred the Unready granted the manor of Hampstead, including Belsize, to the Abbot of Westminster in 986.  Henry VI granted land to the south of Belsize to the newly created Eton College in 1449.   

By the 16th century Belsize House was a desirable aristocratic country residence.  From 1557 Amigail Waad, an explorer and statesman who became Clerk of the Council to Henry VIII and Edward VI, leased the property.  He passed it on to his son William, who became Clerk of the Council to Queen Elizabeth and James I.  William died in 1623.  

Belsize House and Park opened as a pleasure garden in 1720.  Read’s Journal of 15 July 1721 reported: 

“Last Saturday their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales dined at Belsize-house near Hampstead, attended by several persons of quality, where they were entertained with the diversions of hunting, and such others as the place afforded, with which they seemed well pleased, and at their departure were very liberal to the servants.”

However, the benefits of this royal patronage were short lived as in 1722 Belsize was described as “a scandalous lewd house”, and fashionable visitors soon moved on.

Baron Loughborough bought Shelford House, a substantial property on the northern boundary of the Belsize Estate, shortly before becoming Lord Chancellor in 1783.  He was known for his pomposity and siding with whichever party was in power.  He held extravagant banquets with guests including the Prince of Wales.  By 1801 King George III and the Prime Minister wearied of his “domineering tactics” and dismissed him whilst granting him an earldom.  He became Lord Rosslyn and the house was renamed after him.  When he died in 1805 the King exclaimed, “He has not left a greater knave behind him in my dominions”.   

George IV was determined that his Coronation would eclipse all others.  In July 1821 the Morning Chronical promised: “At night, several of the largest rockets will be thrown up from Primrose Hill, by which light balls will be suspended by parachutes in the air, nearly a mile high, where they will continue to burn for many minutes.”  Belsize residents were ideally placed to enjoy this spectacle. 

A local woman wore a white frock and black sash to mourn the death of William IV in 1837.  Sadly, as she walked down England’s Lane, then just a farm track, she fell into the drainage ditch and spoilt her costume.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were given a pair of exotic fowl in 1842 and established a large royal fowl-house at Windsor.  Poultry keeping soon became very fashionable and poultry shows proliferated.  Elizabeth Watts, of Monk Barnes in England’s Lane, was a serious breeder and writer and highly respected in poultry circles.  She sold eggs for a guinea (£1.05) a dozen.  At the first Windsor show in 1855, Elizabeth won two prizes and Prince Albert was highly commended.

In the early 1850s Queen Victoria went to see if Rosslyn House would be a suitable summer home for her children.  A small girl stopped her carriage at a toll gate in Belsize Lane demanding payment of a penny charge.  The Queen was apparently amused and paid the toll, but she didn’t rent Rosslyn House.  Soon afterwards it became the home of 70 girls orphaned by the Crimean War.  On a sunny day in 1858 Prince Albert led the girls up the hill to a new home in Hampstead.   

It was said that T. Gurney Randall, a butcher in England’s Lane, drove his pony and trap to Buckingham Palace to wait upon Her Majesty for orders.  

Queen Victoria’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees were celebrated with great patriotic zeal.  A beacon was lit by Whitestone Pond on both occasions.  In 1897 the Hampstead Vestry, which covered Belsize, organised a three-day Diamond Jubilee fete in Kenwood.  In a large marquee, ceremonial speeches were followed by a series of concerts.  In another tent there were performing dogs, royal marionettes, ventriloquists, magicians and a knock about cycling act.  And outside there was an old English fair, a grand military tattoo and a full programme of sports races.  Inmates of the workhouse were given special leave and free tickets to take part in the rejoicing.  

The Hampstead and Highgate Express praised the general excellence of the Jubilee decorations on houses and shops, singling out the chaste and artistic decorations and illuminations of the Vestry Hall in Haverstock Hill for special mention.  In February 1901 they noted that all classes across Hampstead loyally observed the Queen’s funeral.  In the following year a merry peal of bells rang out from St Stephen’s Church to celebrate King Edward VII’s Coronation, but the decorations and illuminations were disappointing because of unsettled weather. 

Events at the Library and BelSoc support

BelSoc is making a contribution to the Belsize Community Library. We are helping to fund (with the Friends of Belsize Library) the much needed interior renovation of the Library. A start has been made on replacing the blinds, which are in very poor condition. Our funding goes towards the overall amounts of money needed to complete the works.

We are also hosting an event with the Friends in June, at which Fabian Watkinson will speak on “The house that no one wanted – Erno Goldfinger & 2 Willow Road”.

Fabian has a passion for architecture and is author of “The Golden Age of Camden Housing”. He has been a National Trust volunteer guide at 2 Willow Road in Hampstead for the past five years and he will tell us about the controversy surrounding its building in the 1930s and the equal controversy surrounding its acquisition by the National Trust in the early 90s.

The talk is part of a series of exciting events that the library has in plan, with dates in the box.


Events at the library

There is an exciting programme of in-person speaker meetings at the Belsize Community Library. All on Thursday evenings, 7.30pm and  £5 is suggested for donation and refreshments.

18 May: Rosmond Kinsey-Milner: Vermeer – the Sphinx of Delft

15 June (joint with BelSoc): Fabian Watkinson: The house that no one wanted – Erno Goldfinger & 2 Willow Road.

21 September: Tudor Allen: Treasures of the Archives – Highlights from the Collections of Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre

19 October – Carole Isaacs: The Wolf of Baghdad

16 November – Lester Hillman: William Camden

14 December – Karin Fernald: The Blue Hour: Painting the North

18 January – Martin Sheppard: The War in Belsize Park

Pistols at Dawn In Chalk Farm

Averil Nottage, local historian and former BRA Chair, tells us about a murky side of life in Chalk Farm in past centuries: 

On the morning of Monday 12 January 1818 William Adams, of Little Chalk Farm, England’s Lane felt unwell.  So, he was still in bed when he heard two firearm shots in quick succession shortly after 9 o’clock.  From his window he saw four men standing in a field opposite his house – two facing each other, about 12 yards apart, with the others standing to one side.  Realising that a duel was being fought, Mr Adams dressed quickly and rushed out, hoping that he could prevent anyone being injured.  The field was about 50 yards from his house and just as he climbed over the gate, he heard two further shots and saw three men running towards a fourth man who was bleeding profusely.  Mr Adams confiscated the pistols and observed that it was a most unfortunate affair, to which one of the men responded: “Yes, it is:  it is not our quarrel originally, we are all friends.”  The others agreed.  

The injured man, Lieutenant Edmund Bailey, was carried to Mr Adams’ house and laid on a sofa in his parlour.  Mr George Rodd, a surgeon from Hampstead, was summoned but unable to save Lieutenant Bailey because of several injuries to his intestines.  Before he died the Lieutenant shook hands with Mr O’Callaghan, who had shot him, and said he freely forgave him and that everything had been conducted most honourably.  He asked Mr O’Callaghan if he would have forgiven him if he was in his place.   Mr Callaghan replied, “Yes my dear fellow, I wish I had been wounded instead of you.”

Mr Adams sent for Thomas Hunt, the Hampstead constable, who arrested Mr O’Callaghan and the two friends who had acted as seconds.  They were taken to Newgate Prison and tried at the Old Bailey on Friday 16 January.  All three men were charged with feloniously, wilfully and with malice of forethought murdering Edmund Bailey.  Ten respectable witnesses gave the prisoners excellent character references for their humanity and gentleness of mind.  The jury found them guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter for which they were imprisoned for 3 months.

It wasn’t surprising that Mr Adams was alert to duels as the peaceful meadows near Chalk Farm were a favourite meeting place for them in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  With no houses between England’s Lane and the Chalk Farm Tavern (where the Lemonia Restaurant now stands), and trees screening the fields, they provided perfect privacy.

In 1806 an Irish poet, Thomas Moore, published “Epistles, Odes and Other Poems” that were deeply critical of America.  Francis Jeffrey condemned him as “the most licentious of modern versifiers” in the Edinburgh Review.  Moore retaliated by challenging him to a duel at dawn on 11 August 1806 in Chalk Farm.  Both men were totally ignorant of the practicalities of duelling.  A friend, who lent pistols to Moore, informed the Bow Street Runners.  So, as Moore and Jeffrey faced each other across a Chalk Farm meadow, the constables appeared.  Both men and their seconds were taken into custody and bound over to keep the peace.  Moore and Jeffrey subsequently became good friends and Byron recorded the foiled duel in “English Bards and Scottish Reviewers” (1809).

There was another literary duel in 1821.  John Scott, the editor of the radical London Magazine, was affronted when the High Tory Blackwood Magazine dismissed what they called the “Cockney School” of poets including Leigh Hunt and John Keats.  The argument played out in further articles in both journals.  On 16 February 1821 Scott demanded an apology or “instant satisfaction”.   When no apology was forthcoming, a duel was arranged for that evening at Chalk Farm.  It was a clear moonlit night, but unfortunately Scott and his second were not familiar with the duelling codes.  In the first round Jonathan Christie, his opponent, deliberately fired wide, which should have ended the process.  However, because Scott’s second did not understand this, another round followed where Christie, in defending himself, mortally wounded Scott.   Scott was taken to the Chalk Farm Tavern where he died on 27 February “without a groan.”  He left a wife and two children.  Jonathan Christie was charged with wilful murder but found not guilty.

By the 1820s there was strong public opposition to duelling which gradually faded out over the next few decades as buildings began to replace the pretty hay meadows of Chalk Farm.

LIFT: Creating a knowledge economy with fairness, opportunity and prosperity for everyone

LIFT (Leading Inclusive Futures through Technology) is a 3 year  partnership between four London boroughs (Camden, Islington, Hackney, and Tower Hamlets). Its primary purpose is to put residents from these boroughs in touch with good entry-level training and job opportunities in tech, digital, creative production (music or film production through computers) and life sciences (work in laboratories).

LIFT has a free service that links residents to local businesses in these sectors, offering jobs, training opportunities, start-up/enterprise support, business support, free or subsidised workspaces and funding opportunities.

LIFT is an entry-level programme which can help residents without higher education to progress either into work or onto vocational training courses. Its short courses are typically between 10 and 12 weeks long and include a paid placement to learn and earn on the job. 

LIFT also has apprenticeships and internships, which are excellent ways for people to access entry-level career opportunities with room for further development.

LIFT offers insight sessions on a variety of roles within the tech and digital industries, employer visits and networking events.  

For further information, visit https://www.liftfutures.london/about, or you can contact Cina Aissa (the LIFT community engagement officer in Camden) on 07977 178528. 

You can register for LIFT’s bi-monthly Bulletin to find out about the latest opportunities: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKISLINGTON/signup/31820.  

LUCIAN FREUD: THE PAINTER AND HIS FAMILY

Freud Museum London until 29 January 2023; curated by Martin Gayford

A small but well-curated exhibition at the Freud Museum in Maresfield Gardens looks at the relationships between artist Lucian Freud and his family – up and down the generations.   Given that the Museum is dedicated to the life and work of Sigmund Freud who lived there, it is not surprising that there are some photographs and film footage of the young Lucian with other family members in his grandfather’s back garden.  Less expected in a museum not dedicated to art exhibitions is the collection of portraits of other family members.  The individual personalities of his children in particular are reflected in Lucian’s striking compositions. 

Lucian was born in Berlin on 8 December 1922 to Ernst and Lucie Freud.   Ernst (1892-1970) was an architect.  He was already living in St John’s Wood with Lucie and their three sons when Sigmund fled to London in 1938.  Ernst had arranged the purchase of the Maresfield Gardens house where Sigmund lived with his wife and daughter Anna (who was herself a founder of child psychoanalysis) until his death in 1939.

The exhibition describes the friction between Lucian and his father.  But a sketch (ink on paper, 1965-66) shows Ernst in older age in a sympathetic light: his worn face and patient smile suggest a caring nature.

Lucian was his mother’s favourite child, a status which he disliked.  Lucie Freud (1896 -1989) was university-educated, studying classical philology and art history.   Her desire for her son to be an artist was so strong that Lucian said it made him “feel sick.”  She is best represented in the exhibition through family photos.  Sitting on grass in the sunshine with Lucian and his brothers Clement and Stephen Gabriel Freud, she looks the devoted mother (photograph, c.1930).

It is however the paintings of Lucian’s children that are perhaps the most evocative.  Head of Ali (etching, 1999) captures the worldly experiences of his son Alexander Boyt.  The exhibition quotes Boyt (born 1957) as saying that he battled with a drug problem for a lot of his life.  At the time of the etching he was “pretty wild” after the death of his girlfriend and a stint in prison over Christmas of 1997.   The etching shows a half-closed left eye which is a visible sign of drug-taking. Much of the exhibition emphasises Lucian’s own wildness.  He was expelled from school, gambled for much of his life and rode horses without a helmet even in his 80s.  At around the time of the etching, he had made a concerted effort to spend time with his son, painting a portrait of him and making the etching immediately afterwards.  The wildness of the father shows in the sympathetic treatment of the son.

By contrast, the group portrait of Lucian’s daughter Rose Pearce with her husband Mark, baby Stella and stepson Alex is almost kitsch (oil on canvas, 1999).  Rose Pearce has described how she did not like sitting for the portrait as she wanted to focus on her new marriage.  She is quoted as saying that the portrait liberated her as it showed her as part of the Pearce family and not just as Freud’s daughter. The painting seems to echo her thoughts, emphasising the division between its subjects and the artist.   It shows the family as entirely ordinary except the oversized baby with enormous feet being held close to her father by his oversized hand.  The family have unremarkable clothes and sit in a featureless corner of a bland room.  They look bored and only the baby’s eyes meet the viewer.  The subjects each look in different directions as if disdainful of the task of sitting for the painter.

Not all the works in the exhibition depict family members.  Other works show Freud’s art as a child and young man, such as a wood box painted in c.1935 for his maternal aunt Gerda.   The cover of the box depicts brightly coloured fish swimming among leafy sea plants.  There are leafy trees such as the vibrant and expressive Palm Tree (pastel, chalk and ink on paper) from 1944.   There are pictures of horses (painted and drawn) as well as a photograph by David Dawson showing Freud in 2003 holding the bridle of a grey gelding.  Dawson captures Freud’s own painting of the gelding mounted on an easel nearby.  The head of the painted horse faces the viewer with its lightly outlined body merging into an abstract background.  Dawson (born 1960) was Lucian Freud’s assistant and remains an artist and photographer of standing.  

The exhibition is accompanied by an intelligent catalogue written by its curator Martin Gayford (the art critic) and Bryony Davies of the Freud Museum.

It was the artist R.B. Kitaj who first used the phrase “School of London” to describe “strange and fascinating” artists who worked in the capital in the post-war years.  They included Freud, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, David Hockney and Howard Hodgkin.  Although Kitaj did not seek to draw strong parallels between members of the School, there are similarities between Freud’s work and (say) Francis Bacon.  The exhibition catalogue quotes Dawson as saying that Lucian Freud “believed in the individuality of absolutely everything.”  Whether people, animals or plants, the Freud Museum has gathered a diverse collection of his work helping us – the viewers – to see the individuality of his subjects.

Lucian Freud died in London in 2011.  This thoughtful exhibition, marking the centenary of his birth, is well worth a visit by Belsize Parkers interested in art, even those who have visited the Museum on other occasions.       

The Freud Museum is at 20 Maresfield Gardens NW3 5SX. For further information and booking, visit www.freud.org.uk

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If you are interested in Lucian Freud’s work, you may also want to know about:

Lucian Lates: Playing Up – artist interventions, performances and films: A night of artist interventions, performances and films that explore the relationships between play and family dynamics.  Journey around the Freud Museum to experience poetry, creative activities and evocative films. Freud Museum, 24 November, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Lucian Freud: New Perspectives: This first major exhibition of Lucian Freud’s work in 10 years brings together paintings from more than seven decades.  National Gallery, Trafalgar Square until 22 January 2023

Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits: The first exhibition to delve into Lucian Freud’s paintings of plants and gardens.  Garden Museum, 5 Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 7LB until 5 March 2023

Modernists & Mavericks Bacon, Freud, Hockney & the London Painters by Martin Gayford.  Published by Thames & Hudson and available in the Freud Museum shop at £12.99 (some of the information in our article is from it).

University of the Third Age (U3A)

Neil Harris, BelSoc Treasurer, writes:

In October I looked in on a well-attended University of the Third Age (U3A) London Open Day, which took place at their base in the handsome Grade II – listed old Town Hall on Haverstock Hill, where it occupies rooms over two floors. Over 20 classes took place over the day, showing a typical variety of classes on offer, including Computer, I-pad and I-phone Tips, The Elderly and the Law, Politics and Current Affairs, Medicine Today, Films, Theatre History, Voice Matters and Beautiful Belly Dancing (I was sorry to have missed that one). These only scratch the surface of what is available.

U3A, which has charitable status, consists of groups of men and women, no longer in full-time employment, who enjoy meeting together to study a wide range of subjects, such as those listed above – there are currently over 150 study groups which are run by members. All are volunteers: no-one in the U3A is paid in any capacity. U3A in London is one of over 1,000 U3As throughout Britain and all are autonomous. U3A in London is the largest of these. 

U3A is not a university in the modern sense of a body that awards degrees, but in the original sense of a community of people engaged in learning – and learning from each other. It offers no examinations, certificates or degrees: study is for the pleasure of learning. The leaders of its groups are called co-ordinators rather than teachers or lecturers, since learning is seen as a co-operative process.

Once you have paid the annual fee (reduced to £40 this year to mark U3A London’s 40th anniversary) there are no other charges (except for some optional special events). You can attend any group you wish without further payment. U3A does not enrol people specially for classes and suggests that once you have joined you come along on the day the class you have chosen takes place. The only limitation is that groups may become full, in which case you may put your name on a waiting list. 

For a full range of classes available and dates please ring 020 7692 5540, email office@u3alondon.org.uk or consult the website www.u3alondon.org.uk. 

SOVIET SPIES IN LAWN ROAD 

Former BRA Chair and local history expert, Averil Nottage, writes:

Between the mid 1930s and mid 1940s seven Soviet spies lived in the Lawn Road Flats, (now known as Isokon), and many others lived nearby.  Who were these spies and what brought them to the area?

From 1933 the rise of Fascism and suppression of workers’ movements in Germany and Austria led many active Communist Party members to flee their homelands, bringing little but their political passions with them.  They gravitated to areas where their views might be received sympathetically.  Soviet intelligence agencies targeted these political exiles to set up their spy networks in Britain.

The Lawn Road Flats, opened in 1934, were very different from the accommodation otherwise available in local Victorian houses.  This sleek Modernist block was designed as an experiment in minimalist urban living.  The 32 compact “ready to live in” flats had built-in furniture and all services provided.  Intended for young professional with few belongings, they were also perfect for refugees.  Jack and Molly Pritchard, who owned the flats, were very sympathetic to the exiles, renting vacant flats to them free of charge and helping with introductions and employment.

Jack Pritchard innocently commissioned Edith Tudor-Hart to photograph the construction of the Flats.  Edith, who had a studio on Haverstock Hill, was an active member of the Austrian Communist Party and worked for Soviet Intelligence.  In 1934 she introduced Arnold Deutsch and his wife to the Pritchards and helped them move into the Lawn Road Flats.   

Ursula Kuczynski, or Agent Sonya.

Deutsch arrived in London to establish a Soviet spy network.  He focused on Oxford and Cambridge University students with communist sympathies who were likely to reach the upper echelons of government and the civil service.   He was one of the most successful Soviet spies then living in London and recruited more than 20 agents including the “Cambridge Five”.  Edith Tudor-Hart introduced him to Kim Philby who she knew from Vienna.  At the height of his clandestine career Philby rose to be the Head of M16 whilst also a KGB spy.  Deutsch was recalled to Moscow in 1937 after some slipups and then side-lined.

Meanwhile in 1933 Robert Kuczynski, a rich and influential German-Jewish-communist exile, moved into a flat at 12 Lawn Road.  Most of his family, who gradually joined him there, worked for Soviet intelligence.  In 1936 Brigitte, a talented secret agent, moved into Lawn Road Flats after marrying a British communist, Anthony Lewis.  In the same year her brother Jurgen arrived in London to reactivate the German communist party in Britain, living at 36 Upper Park Road.  As a well-respected government statistician, he had many influential friends.  Brigitte’s sister Ursula, codenamed Sonya, was sent to Switzerland by Soviet Intelligence to establish a small group of anti-Fascist activists prepared to work inside Germany.   Brigitte briefed new recruits in the Lawn Road Flats’ restaurant, the Isobar, before they travelled to Switzerland.  In 1942 Jurgen and Ursula recruited Klaus Fuchs, the spy who revealed British atomic bomb programme secrets.  After the war they both returned to East Germany.

The Lawn Road Flats offered the perfect camouflage for well-educated and charming Soviet spies who blended seamlessly into the atmosphere of middle-class respectability. The site layout made it hard for the intelligence services to keep track of visitors once they had entered the building.  German and Austrian spies worked quite separately as they came from different Marxist traditions and linked to rival Soviet secret service agencies.  So, spies who were near neighbours may not have known about each other’s activities.  

As well as the Lawn Road Flats, MI5 also monitored other local locations.  In 1938 Jurgen Kuczynski helped to establish the Free German Cultural League at 36 Upper Park Road “to provide a social and cultural centre for refugees and a platform for refugee artists”.  MI5 was not convinced and saw it as “politics by other means”.  They also identified Edith Tudor-Harts studio as “a rendezvous of persons interested in communist matters”.

Belsize Society Newsletter August 2022

The August BelSoc Newsletter is online here as a pdf

Welcome to the August Newsletter of the Belsize Society.

It was great to see many of you at the Summer Party this year, after being unable to host this event for the past two years. We had a sunny day, cakes and tea, and a wonderful garden to enjoy this in. 

We are really pleased that our former chair Averil Nottage will lead an historical walk in the area around Parkhill Road. In this Newsletter, she has written about one of the themes in the walk – spies in Belsize – complementing her piece last time on the British Modernists who also lived in that area. Please do sign up for this walk on EventBrite, which will be a tour through this history.

We were deeply saddened to hear of Diana Self’s passing. The Newsletter has a piece commemorating her. There is also a piece about volunteering for the Society, an aspect of our work for which Diana provided a lot of support, as she hosted numerous events bringing members together to progress Society work.

The Newsletter has two pieces about clean air, with Camden consulting on its pollution strategy and the new Parklets being established in the Borough. A Parklet has appeared at the corner of England’s Lane and Antrim Road.

On planning matters, we report on the O2 Centre development and on the closing of the England’s Lane launderette. Also, the Hampstead Theatre’s autumn schedule is highlighted. 

Hope you enjoy this Newsletter.

Diana Self – An Appreciation

It is with great sadness that we report that Diana Self died on 22 June peacefully at her home.  She was 97.

Diana was a remarkable woman who made an enormous contribution to the Belsize Residents Association, now the Belsize Society.  Having moved to Lancaster Grove from Hampstead after her retirement, she joined the committee of the BRA in December 1990 and soon took responsibility for social events.  From 1996 to 2000 Diana chaired the society at a time when parking controls were being introduced, Belsize Village was pedestrianised and plans were made to redevelop the Swiss Cottage complex.  She remained on the committee, continuing to organise social events impeccably, until 2007.  For at least ten more years, Diana hosted new members lunches and meetings with councillors in her beautiful flat.  She was also always available to offer her wisdom and support.

Diana was very committed to neighbourliness and loved to create events to bring people together.  Some of you will remember that soon after you joined the association, Diana phoned to welcome you and invite you to a new members lunch.  And, as she had organising social events down to a fine art, everything she arranged was always a great success.  Diana will long be remembered for her warmth, generosity and commitment to Belsize.