As the Second World War loomed over Britain, Russell-Cotes curator Norman Silvester launched a rescue mission to protect Bournemouth’s art collection, organising the evacuation of hundreds of paintings to churches, rectories and stately homes across the county
On September 4 1939, just one day after the declaration of war, Norman Silvester, curator of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth (then in Hampshire), sprang into action and in just two weeks arranged the evacuation of several hundred paintings from the walls of the museum to selected churches, rectories and stately homes within a 20-mile radius of Bournemouth.
The evacuation of paintings from London museums to disused underground stations and stately homes and mines in Wales and elsewhere is well known, yet it is striking to learn that regional museums, such as the Russell-Cotes, were also advised to evacuate their most valuable collections to limit the risk of enemy attack, a significant and costly undertaking at a deeply challenging time.
From 1933, there was a growing fear that war in Europe was inevitable as events unfolded in Spain and Germany. Fears grew that the nation’s cultural heritage was at risk.
The Government started advising museums and galleries around the country to make plans for the evacuation of their collections from 1935. In June 1939, they were sent a booklet entitled Air Raid Precautions in Museums, Picture Galleries and Libraries, which was produced and published by the British Museum, with instructions that it was to be obeyed, not questioned.
At the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum records show that on July 26 1939, ‘the Chairman, Mr Kerrison Preston and the Curator were instructed to prepare a list of the most valuable pictures in the Art Gallery and to suggest suitable places for their safe storage in case of emergency.’
The Russell-Cotes is on the clifftop in Bournemouth, minutes from the pier with views out to sea. It had been opened as a museum formally in 1922, following the death of its founders, Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes. Merton and Annie were entrepreneurs and hoteliers, who had bought the Bath Hotel in Bournemouth in 1876, renamed it the Royal Bath Hotel and set about attracting the rich and famous to the select winter resort.
Merton was a keen collector of contemporary art and he filled his hotel with works of art to attract his discerning clientele. Oscar Wilde himself wrote in the visitors’ book: ‘You have built and fitted up with the greatest beauty and elegance a palace and filled it with gems of art, for the use and benefit of the public at hotel prices…’
In the 1890s, the couple decided to build themselves a flamboyant, highly decorated home next door, which they donated to Bournemouth Corporation in 1908 as a museum and art gallery, encouraging others to donate further art and ethnography to attract tourists and edify the locals.
By the 1930s, the museum was well-established but Merton’s core collection of famous Victorian artists, including Lord Frederick Leighton, Edwin Landseer, Edwin Long and Evelyn De Morgan, still remained at its heart, alongside ceramics and souvenirs from world travels. The paintings came in all shapes and sizes, including Edwin Long’s Anno Domini portraying the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt, measuring three by five metres and occupying an entire wall of the museum.
The curator, Norman Silvester, was required to live with his family in the curator’s flat in the museum’s basement. His daughter, Joy Shellard, wrote in her memoir Child of the Home Front how her father (a former First World War dispatch rider) began searching for suitable locations in nearby churches across the surrounding countryside. To this end he ‘bought a motor bike as being the most economical on petrol… He toured the countryside looking for suitable accommodation for the pictures: any damp or excessive light in a church had to be avoided and of course he had to obtain the vicar’s consent.’
On August 23, museums were instructed to evacuate their collections. On September 1,
Silvester wrote to the town clerk for permission to start the distribution to village churches and rectories in a 20-mile radius of Bournemouth, noting that he had already communicated with about 50 potential hosts who were eager to help. War was declared two days later. Silvester reported that he closed the museum from September 4-20 and removed and transported hundreds of the most ‘valuable or irreplaceable’ paintings and objects to locations around Dorset. A nucleus of works remained on display, with further tranches evacuated later, particularly in 1941.
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On his motorbike, Silvester had identified churches, rectories and stately homes as temporary custodians for the collections. The homeowners agreed to look after the works without any liability and they remained the property of the County Borough of Bournemouth for the duration of hostilities.
According to the museum’s records, 671 paintings and 181 cases of objects were stored for safety in 67 different churches, rectories and houses in Dorset and on the fringes of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Somerset. Sometimes we know the number: for example, at Milborne St Andrew, five paintings hung in St Andrew’s Church, nine in the rectory and three cases were stored in the rectory. At Wimborne St Giles, six paintings hung in the church, 20 small and two large hung in the rectory and two cases of objects were stored in the rectory. The Rev W. C. Edwards of St Mary the Virgin Church in Bransgore, Hampshire, displayed the Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece Aurora Triumphans by Evelyn de Morgan and museum favourite Judith by Charles Landelle on the walls of his Rectory, along with five others and four hanging in the church.
Some paintings went to large houses in the area. Under wartime regulations any house with more than four bedrooms could be requisitioned for war purposes, so maybe storing art was preferable to housing evacuees, schoolchildren or soldiers. Ralph Bankes at Kingston Lacy took three paintings including Gypsy Horse Drovers and Duck Shooting and three cases of oriental, Dresden and British ceramics.
Mrs F. E. Dennis Maillard at Milton Abbey took by far the largest amount from Russell-Cotes, including large-scale Victorian biblical scenes which hung in various rooms, 78 cases of birds, nine cases of Japanese armour and seven cases of engravings. Anno Domini, the largest painting in the collection, was hung in the private chapel which was used daily. This painting is so large it was probably dismantled and rolled to get it out, but no one in the museum really knows as it is probably the last time this painting has ever been moved out of the building and we have no desire to move it again any time soon.
According to Joy Shellard, Silvester had to check on the condition of the paintings periodically and it was a treat for his wife who ‘happily mounted the pillion seat behind my father’ as it provided a rare day out in the countryside.
The museum remained open throughout the war, recognising the importance for public morale to ‘keep calm and carry on’. Extraordinarily, given the challenges, the Russell-Cotes continued its normal activities, stayed open daily and was allowed coal in order to maintain some heat to ensure the survival of the collections on site. Silvester arranged temporary exhibitions, continued to acquire donations for the collection and published the museum magazine.
Bournemouth was targeted by the Luftwaffe, as the hotels were used as accommodation for Commonwealth aircrew. There were a number of attacks on the town, including a bomb on the Metropole Hotel, killing 37. The most devastating was in 1943 when 25 bombs were dropped in a daylight hit-and-run attack which killed 77, destroyed 22 and damaged a further 3,000 buildings.
The Russell-Cotes building was damaged in October 1941, when a parachute mine went off below the cliffs. The blast shattered the leaded-glass skylight over the main hall along with every window in the neighbouring Royal Bath Hotel and Pavilion. The only casualties were goldfish in the ornamental mosaic pond.
At the end of the war, the collections started to be returned to the museum and as far as we know, all came back safely. The museum used a variety of removal companies, including Harvey Nichols of Knightsbridge, which then had a Bournemouth branch. It seems the museum found the extra storage facilities useful and was not always prompt in having the work returned. Some works did not return until 1954, occasionally after increasingly urgent reminders from homeowners. Sir Ernest Debenham of Briantspuddle wrote in 1951 asking Silvester to take back a chest of Dresden china as he wanted to use the building for other purposes.
As a thank you for their support, Silvester offered homeowners five years’ free membership of the museum’s picture borrowing scheme, whereby they could rent a painting (of rather less value and significance) from the museum. However, by that time, many may simply have welcomed the return of their empty walls.
It is an extraordinary story of how ordinary people recognised the importance of their artistic and cultural heritage and stepped up to the very significant challenge of ensuring its survival for future generations.
A lesson for us all! .
Sarah Newman is manager of Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. With thanks to Charlotte Scott-Beveridge and Andy Gill for their research. The museum would be very interested to hear from anyone with information about the evacuated paintings.
dorset art
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