Over recent years I have been carrying out research of Francis Jack Needham, the 2nd Earl of Kilmorey. He was a larger-than-life character who is best known for eloping (when he was a man of mature years) with the 20-year-old Priscilla Hoste. When she died young, he built an Egyptian style granite mausoleum for her body, which he moved with him when he moved house. He also built a tunnel and was pushed through it to the mausoleum by his servants. The mausoleum is now in St Margarets, containing both their bodies in ornate coffins – for a summary of his story see an earlier blog.
I have now authored two booklets on the Earl and the mausoleum, which has been published by Habitats & Heritage – the charity that looks after the mausoleum. One of the things that I wanted to do was to find out more about some of the other people in the story, in particular the women that he loved. There is little known about them, they often seem to be walk on parts for a story that is dominated by the Earl. However, through newspaper cuttings and letters that we found in the Norfolk Records Office we were able to get a better idea of them. It was a particular pleasure to be shown by her descendants some paintings and drawings that Priscilla Hoste made, a few of which were included in the booklet.
The story also led down some unexpected alleys. A chance clue in a book I was reading led to a trail of evidence that resulted in showing that the mausoleum had been made in Alexander MacDonald’s works in Aberdeen. MacDonald had been inspired by Egyptian exhibits in the British Museum to develop new approaches to cutting and polishing granite. This made me want to find out more about the men who quarried the stone and worked the granite to make this monument, leaving me with a strong appreciation of their skill and hard work. This resulted in the second booklet which looks at how the mausoleum was constructed.
It has been quite a journey (literally) of discovery. I have been in the records office in Belfast looking at the separation agreement between the Earl and his first wife. I found myself arriving in Aberdeen by sleeper train to spend a day looking at some of the exhibits in the museum and a wonderful afternoon in the Aberdeen Discovery Centre handling some of the tools that the masons used. It has also given me the opportunity to meet all sorts of people, including the descendants of the Earl and Priscilla.
The journey has also challenged my thinking about knowledge. There is a lot that we shall never know about the relationship between the Earl and Priscilla – we may know more facts as a result of my work, but we do not know the nature of their love for each other. It was a delight to work with the young students at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance who interpreted the story of Francis Jack and Priscilla and the mausoleum in dance – a totally different way to try and understand history.
The two booklets are sold by Habitats & Heritage. Please contact them. For those in the Richmond area the booklets will also be sold by the Open Book bookshop in King Street. For those interested in the evidence behind the books, Richmond Local Studies Library have a referenced version of the Kilmorey booklet.