Dr Robert Bearman Letter to the Tatler


Marie Corelli: Stratford's Pioneer Conservationist and her impact on Stratford's buildings

Dr Robert Bearman

Monday 15 April, 6.00 pm - White Swan

Robert Bearman, MBE, BA (Oxon), PhD (London), FRHistS, was formerly Head of Archives and Local Studies at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. He is the author of many published articles and papers relating to Stratford’s history and other local history subjects, including Stratford-upon-Avon: A History of Its Streets and Buildings and Stratford-upon-Avon in 50 Buildings.

Marie Corelli, when she decided to settle in Stratford in 1899/1900, was not only a sensationally successful novelist. For the rest of her life she also fought to protect Shakespeare's native town from recent unsympathetic developments. For these, she held the Stratford Town Council mainly responsible, which not surprisingly led to some lively controversies.

This talk is the first event in the Stratford Society's commemoration of the centenary of the death of Marie Corelli.

Watch the presentation here (starts 3 mins in).

Report on the talk

Her aims were the same as those of the Stratford Society – to protect the town’s heritage. She was very vocal and could be difficult, but she used her fame as a novelist in a good cause and she confronted the “Establishment” of the town. She is remembered for her eccentricities, eg, having a gondola on the river and a gondolier from Venice. She lived from 1855 to 1924 and came to live in Stratford in 1901.

She was criticised as she was an outsider, she attacked the town council and she was an independent woman! Her feminism upset even the women of the town. At first she leased Hall’s Croft and then she bought Mason Croft, which is now the home of the Shakespeare Institute. She organised a petition against the installation of a relief of Helen Faucit, the wifeof Sir Theodore Martin in the Holy Trinity Church (this in now in the Swan Theatre). She also petitioned against the filling in of the old canal basin in front of the Memorial Theatre. She saw herself as a champion of the ordinary people against the modernisers who ran the town!

She campaigned for the restoration of Tudor buildings with their half-timbered appearance. £200 was given to Tudor House (now the Giggling Squid) to strip the plaster covering it. She was also very active in the work to stop plans to demolish a number of buildings in Henley Street, including the library building, which was funded by the benefactor Andrew Carnegie. In the end it was stripped to its timbers and heavily restored in the old style. She lost the goodwill of a number of the town’s worthies, but she won!

She was not keen on American interference, but when, in 1905, the Ancient House, as it was then known, was on the market she met American millionaire Edward Morris and persuaded him it was worthy of saving. He agreed that she should purchase it on his behalf and arrange for its renovation. Then, due to its historical connections it was gifted to Harvard University. She arranged for the American Ambassador to open it and the SBT now administers Harvard House.

In 1910 The Firs house was demolished andshe bought the garden, at the end of Rother Street, for the townspeople to enjoy. In 1913, thanks to her intervention, the cottages (Cannon Court) in Waterside were saved too. One of her last actions involved a donation to the owner of 30 High Street, one Fred Winter, with whom she had had a somewhat acrimonious relationship. Nevetheless, he accepted her money and the building now looks decidedly Tudor!

Despite her difficult personality she was a generous and independent force and a pioneer of recent movements regarding restoration and preservation.

A large audience was well informed and entertained and there were a number of questions. Regarding the famous gondola, it seems that it was actually built in London for an Italian fair in 1904 and she bought it afterwards. The gondolier was a genuine Venetian but, after he got into a drunken fight, she dismissed him, and her gardener (Ernest Chandler) replaced him! The vessel cost 1400 lire, but was only two thirds the normal size – about 8 metres long. It is unique and it is now in the possession of Nick Birch.

For information about the Marie Corelli celebrations, see the Stratford Society website page:

https://www.stratfordsociety.co.uk/what-we-do/marie-corelli-centenary-programme

Report by Helen Elliott.