STAMFORD BROOK HOUSE - Part 2
This is a second article about the history of Stamford Brook House. Part 1 can be found here
In the late 1890s, Stamford Brook House was bought by Archibald and Ellen Macgregor, beginning a long family association with the house. The Macgregors were from an artistic background. ‘Archie’ Macgregor was the grandson of Andrew Hunt, a well known landscape artist. Archie was an illustrator, sculptor and draughtsman who was active between 1884 and 1907 and who exhibited at the new Water-Colour Society, the Royal Academy, and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. The Royal Academy of Arts listed Stamford Brook House as his main residence from 1893.
Archie’s sister Jessie Macgregor, was also a Royal Academician who illustrated a book called ‘Gardens of Celebrities’ which featured the gardens of rich and famous London residents. Her painting of Stamford Brook House (left) is still owned by the family. (This digital copy was kindly donated by the family for use in this article).
The Macgregors knew the Bloomsbury group of writers, as well as many people from the literary and arts circles of the day. Archie macgregor was great friends with the artist Lucien Pisarro who lived very close by at the Brook.
His illustrative work has an art nouveu/pre-raphaelite quality similar to that used by Pissaro’s Eragny Press, based at the Brook. Magregors's paintings oftens depicted allegorical myths and legends. His illustrations for childrens books and fantasy works by Victorian authors have a fantastical quality. .
Among the childrens books he illustrated, were a series of childrens books by Sir Edward Abbott Parry, a writer of fairy tales for older children, which were first published in 1895 and 1896.
The first book was titled 'Katawumpas: its Treatment and Cure' a tale about 4 children who suddenly start to misbehave and throw tantrums, or 'Katawumpas' - crying for what you cannot obtain, which were totally alien to their normal behaviour. The children are cured by 'Krab the Caveman',a thousand year old goblin-gnome-dwarf, who had cured the children's father when HE was a child suffering with it. 'Butterscotia' was the second book,in which the children are all one year older and totally cured of the affliction which gives the first book its title. The books were reprinted in 1927 by William Heinemann Press.
Archie Macgregor sadly died when he was 42, leaving Ellen a widow with 3 sons, John, Alex and Norman who all went on to serve and fortunately survive the First World War.
Archie had married Ellen Miers, an English woman born in Brazil, on 24 September 1887. She was the niece of Annie Miers and a young friend of Dinah Maria Craik, the novelist and poet. Ellen was a suffragist and political candidate for Bedford Park. There are also records of Ellen supporting the 'Women's Municipal Party, the 'Liberal Party' and the 'Women's Freedom League', with newspaper reports showing she regularly used the house and garden to host political events.
She was an active proponent of the early welfare state, including the first mother and baby welfare centre in Hammersmith. She lived at Stamford Brook House until she passed away in her eighties.
Their middle son John Eric Miers Macgregor was an emminent architect involved in the preservation of ancient buildings with SPAB. He was very well regarded in the emerging field of building preservation and was nicknamed The Artichoke’ by the 'Ferguson's Gang', a group of fascinating women campaigners dedicated to the cause of protecting England’s heritage. The group of five women, some from troubled aristocratic backgrounds, others the daughters of wealthy merchants and industrialists, used Stamford Brook House for events and meetings, finding a natural home among the artistic, socialist community in Stamford Brook. They supported the organisation they considered to be the most dedicated to preserving England’s heritage - the National Trust.
With his wife Janet, this next generation of Macgregors were part of a flourishing artistic and socially minded community. Janet Macgregor worked with her mother-in-law Ellen Macgregor in child and family welfare and produced plays with the writer Naomi Mitchison at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill to raise funds for family planning. They put on plays by the wit and writer G. K. Chesterton in the garden of Stamford Brook House and co-hosted debates with the artists Lucien Pissarro and Esther Pissarro who lived next door until the mid-1940s.