Attingham Park treasures revealed
Cataloguers and volunteers working for Shropshire Council’s Shropshire Archives at Attingham Park have revealed fascinating insights into the life of Teresa, Lady Berwick, the last family member to live at Attingham, through her correspondence and papers dating from 1895.
Edith Teresa Hulton was the younger of the two daughters of the Italy-based painter William Stokes Hulton. She was born near Venice in Italy in 1890 and grew up in Venice and Florence. In 1919 she married Thomas Henry (Noel-Hill), eighth Lord Berwick. Her death followed a car accident on the road between the Mytton and Mermaid Hotel and the gates of Attingham Park in 1972.
The earliest item in her correspondence is a birthday card sent to her for her fifth birthday. The sequence of over 3,000 letters continues until her marriage in 1919, and includes details of her aristocratic social life all over Europe in the years before the First World War, as well as her service as a nurse on the Italian Front during the War.
These papers have now been catalogued as part of a four year project funded by the National Trust in partnership with Shropshire Archives. Details can be found on the Discovering Shropshire’s History online catalogue, and the original records are available to view at Shropshire Archives at Castle Gates, Shrewsbury.
Work is now continuing on the later letters covering the period after Lady Berwick’s marriage in 1919. The huge collection of correspondence continues unbroken until Lady Berwick’s death in 1972.
Mary McKenzie, Shropshire Archves’ team leader, said:
“Shropshire Archives are delighted to be working in close partnership with the National Trust on the Attingham Archives Cataloguing Project. This is the latest chapter in a long history of collaboration with the National Trust to ensure the long-term preservation of the Attingham archives.
“It is incredibly fortunate for us that Lady Berwick not only enjoyed a lifetime of prolific correspondence with a wide range of family, friends and acquaintances, but that she also undertook to ensure that this was kept for posterity. We look forward to continuing the work on this exciting project.”
For more details please see the website at www.shropshirearchives.org.uk, look us up on Facebook, email archives@shropshire.gov.uk, or ring 01743 255350.
