Shawms and Upmeads - two mini Midland architectural masterpieces
and
The Bostock family of Stafford - 1815-2015

The Bostocks were arguably Stafford's most influential family for the best part of two centuries as industrialists, mayors, aldermen and high sheriffs. Recently a lady commented in Stafford that 'the Bostocks were almost like Stafford's royal family' - I am not sure quite in what sense that was meant (!!), but the family, with their Dorman cousins, employed thousands of people from the early nineteenth century onwards and close to five thousand people were working in the factories at any one time in the early twentieth century. Perhaps the great importance the family placed on the welfare of its employees was one reason for their popularity in the county town.

In 1814 Thomas Bostock, son of a Derbyshire cordwainer, had set up a successful shoe business in Stafford which, under his sons, Edwin of Stafford, Frederick of Northampton and Thomas of Stone, prospered and, by 1950 employed close to two thousand people. Lotus, as the amalgamated company became known, was the largest employer in Stafford and the most famous shoe brand in England.

Thomas Bostock of Stafford - c.1830

Thomas Bostock, son of the first Thomas of Stafford, in 1828. Grandfather of Air Vice Marshall William Dowling Bostock, CB, DSO, OBE, R.A.A.F. 

As the Bostocks prospered over two hundred years their houses became larger and some were of outstanding architectural historical interest. Godfrey Bostock told me that none of the family had lived in a house for more than a generation since the early Nineteenth Century. This is true of all the houses owned or built by the Bostocks during that time; Greenfield Cottage, Rickerscote, Green Hall, The Hough, Rowley House, The Oaklands, Upmeads, Shawms, Barn Bank and Tixall House, none has been home to more than one generation of Bostocks, albeit some have been home to family in the female line. As a result there is no one family 'seat' but numerous houses of varying size and architectural quality in and around Stafford.

Of the houses the Bostock family have owned, rented and built in Stafford here is a list of the notable ones:-

Thomas Bostock (1777-1865) – Rickerscote

Edwin Bostock (1807 – 1883) – Green Hall and The Hough

Edwin Bostock (1838 – 1901) – Tixall Lodge

Henry Bostock (1841 – 1923) – Greenfield Cottage and The Oaklands

Alice Susanna Bostock (1844 – 1931) – The Ancient High House

Henry John Bostock (1870 – 1956) – Shawms

Frederick Marson Bostock (1871 – 1945) – Upmeads

Godfrey Stafford Bostock (1915 – 2008) – Tixall House

Shawms and Upmeads

Shawms was built in 1905 on Radford Bank for Henry John Bostock J.P C.B.E and his wife, Eleanora, by the Stafford architect Henry T Sandy. Sandy came from a religious family and two of his brothers became priests. Sandy commenced his training in the office of Basil C Champneys, architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, where he remained for 18 months and then for six months was assistant to Elijah Jones. In 1891 he returned to Stafford to commence independent practice and about 1900 he acquired the practice of Nicholas Joyce in Stafford. By 1914 he had established a second office in Birmingham. Sandy completed some major buildings for the Catholic church, including the Chapel at St Paul's Convent and St Edward's Church, Selly Park, as well as St Paul's School, Edgbaston and St Edward's Care Home, Coleshill. He was highly skilled in a number of architectural styles. Henry John Bostock was a religious minded man so it is no wonder he chose Sandy, who was also a fashionably arts and crafts architect. Eleanora Bostock also came from a family with distinct architectural taste - her brother lived at Edgemoor, Hale, and commissioned a marvellously Arthurian mural in the billiards room there. Henry John shared his modern taste in architecture with his brother, Frederick Marson Bostock, who in 1908 completed an internationally important house, Upmeads. It was probably competition with his older brother that led to Frederick, and the redoubtable Mabel Bostock, commissioning Edgar Wood to design their house.

                            Shawms c.1906

Shawms was named 'The Shawms' because of the nearby public house, 'The Trumpet'. Henry John was obviously possessed of a sense of humour as well as a sense of religion. 'With trumpets and shawms' indeed!

   Shawms  c.1906 - part of the pergola on the left is now at Upmeads

Stained glass with the 'Shawms' from Shawms and now at Dallowgill

Henry John Bostock masterminded the formation of Lotus, which was amalgamated from the original companies of Edwin Bostock of Stafford and Frederick Bostock of Northampton. Lotus became a public company in 1920.

Henry John Bostock C.B.E, Alderman and Mayor of Stafford and High Sheriff of Staffordshire

Eleanora Bostock (nee Handley)

Eleanora Bostock

The Billiards Room at Edgemoor, home to Eleanora Bostock's brother, George Forrester Handley

Gilbert Handley Bostock and James Forrester Bostock at Shawms

Henry John Bostock by Frank Salisbury RA

Henry John Bostock photographed by Howard Coster

The pioneer skier!

Henry John Bostock became Managing Director of Lotus in 1920, and Chairman in 1923. He held the two offices until 1945 when he gave up his managing directorship but continued as Chairman until 1953.

                                                  Lotus c.1925

                        Lotus in the late Forties

Although the running of Lotus Ltd with its three thousand employees was his main concern he found time to serve in other spheres, and was President of the Incorporated Federated Associations of Boot and Shoe Manufacturers from 1922 to 1925, and took a prominent part in negotiations with the Trade Union.

In civic affairs he gave outstanding service after his first election to the Stafford Town Council in 1902. He was Mayor of Stafford (like his Uncle, William Albert Marson and Grandfather John Marson before) in 1914, became Alderman in 1918, and served on the council until 1956. He was made a Freeman of the Borough in 1942, after 40 years service.

He was a member of the Staffordshire County Council for many years, a J.P, and was High Sheriff of Staffordshire from 1948 to 1949. He was awarded the C.B.E in the 1953 Coronation Honours and attended the Coronation in Westminster Abbey with Mrs Bostock and their son, James Forrester Bostock and his wife, Isabel (James was High Sheriff of Staffordshire for the Coronation year).
While Lotus would play host, at times, to Royalty - it was Shawms that formed the backdrop to the Bostocks' social life. Houseparty guests included Conservative politician William Ormsby Gore, 4th Baron Harlech, Liberal politician and philanthropist Lord Charnwood, famous church musician Herbert Howells, Conservative MP and one of the architects of the League of Nations Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, Labour MP James Lovat-Fraser, Scottish Unionist Party MP Walter Elliot, founder of Aiglon College John Corlette,the 10th Duke of Devonshire, Conservative MP Viscount Dunrossil, Liberal politician Nelia Muspratt, Director of BBC music Adrian Boult, the Organist of Trnity College, Cambridge, Hubert Stanley Middleton and the industrialist Sir Charles Bruce-Gardner.

Henry John Bostock in Stafford

James and Isabel Bostock's invitation to the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II

Commemoration window in the Guild Hall Stafford in honour of Henry John Bostock. The Bostock family coat of arms is in the bottom central panel, and shawms in the panels either side.

 Henry John Bostock (right) with a group including Lord De L'Isle and Dudley (left)

A presentation certificate presented to Henry John Bostock in his mayoral year in 1915. Shawms is at the bottom right 

Henry and Eleanora Bostock at Shawms

              A garden display in honour of Henry John Bostock

Stained glass window in Holy Trinity Church, Baswich, donated by H.J. Bostock in thanksgiving for his fifty years residence in the area.

Detail of the window

Henry John, Frederick Marson Bostock and their brothers and sisters were brought up at The Oaklands, which their Father, Henry Bostock, had built on land bought in Rowley Park to designs by Henry's brother in law, Samuel Dorman in 1879. This was a large Victorian house with stables, cottages,  formal gardens and was of an interesting design; red brick with stone dressings, timber framed sections and a profuse use of leaded panes in the mullioned windows with stained glass. The front door was beneath a Mediaeval-style gothic arch and Mrs Bostock's boudoir was above, which took the form, externally, of a realistic attempt at timber framed Tudor re-creation. The central staircase hall had a mosaic floor and a galleried oak staircase. In the house were the Drawing, Dining and Morning Rooms, numerous service rooms, the Boudoir, nine bedrooms, Dressing Rooms, Day and Night Nurseries, School Room and store rooms. There was a Conservatory, Carnation and Cucumber Houses. There was a formal walk on axis with the Dining Room windows and the grounds, rich in fruit trees, gave on to a small park. There was a small jersey herd to complete the picture. The Oaklands was demolished in the 1980's and houses built on the grounds. It is now known as 'Oaklands Drive'. Henry Bostock also built a holiday house on Cannock Chase called 'The Besoms', which looked straight over the Chase and had a large garden. Henry's major building work was the truly palatial factory on the Sandon Road, which he had built in 1901 to designs by W H Simpson.

Henry Bostock of The Oaklands c.1860

Samuel Dorman, architect of The Oaklands and first cousin of Henry Bostock

                                Henry bostock's new factory

A later image of Lotus with Henry Bostock's factory building on the left

 The gates to The Oaklands in c. 1910. A Bostock dog is to the left of the gatepost 

                        1931

The entrance front of The Oaklands as built and designed by Samuel Dorman

The service wing elevation of The Oaklands

The garden front of The Oaklands
(These three images are copyright of The Staffordshire Record Office)

The Bostock family at The Oaklands. Henry is sitting between the two youngest, Alice is standing at the centre. Henry John Bostock of Shawms is on her right and Frederick Marson Bostock of Upmeads on her right.

Emily Gertrude and Madeline Louise Bostock at The Oaklands

Samuel Dorman also built Rowley House in 1882, which was later lived in by Dudley Bostock, It was extended by Henry T Sandy for Dudley in  1921.

Rowley House, Stafford, designed by Samuel Dorman in 1882

Rowley House today - with extra wings!

Emily Gertrude Bostock and her husband, Professor Edward Provan Cathcart CBE at The Oaklands

The Oaklands after the wedding of Emily Gertrude and Edward Provan Cathcart in 1913

Professor Edward Provan Cathcart

Henry Bostock (far left) and Alice Bostock (far right) at The Oaklands in 1913

Henry and Alice Bostock with their family at The Oaklands in 1909

Alice Bostock in the Dining Room at The Oaklands

                      The Oaklands in 1931

The Besoms, Brocton

Henry Bostock by George Percy Jacomb-Hood, M.V.O, R.B.A

Henry Bostock's Sandon Road factory in 1996 before demolition

The front door of the Henry's factory

Henry Bostock's wife, Alice, was the daughter of John Marson, who was Alderman and Mayor of Stafford in 1847. John Marson owned The Ancient High House, reputably England's largest timber framed townhouse. This skyscraper of an Elizabethan house still gazes down on Stafford. Built for the Sneyd family in the Sixteenth Century it was bought by John Marson, in the early 1820's. He lived in the house and converted the ground floor in to shops. His son, William Albert Marson, took over the house on his death and ran a successful business from it. The Marson family owned various parts of Stafford and the nearby Butterhill estate in Coppenhall. Alice Bostock's mother, Jane (nee Cramer's), family lived at Greenfield Cottage, a handsome late Georgian villa surrounded by a small park and large grounds, where Cramer Street now stands. Henry and Alice spent their early married life at Greenfield and Henry John Bostock was born there. This was originally the home of Alice's Grandfather, James Cramer, Gent.

                  Alice Bostock's maternal grandparents's home, Greenfield Cottage

                        Henry and Alice Bostock at The Oaklands

Alice Bostock (nee Marson) in 1864

Alice Bostock (nee Marson)

John Marson (1805-1864), Alderman and Mayor of Stafford

The Ancient High House at the time of the Marsons

The Ancient High House now

The Ancient High House from the tower of St Mary's Parish Church

William Albert Marson was also Mayor of Stafford (in 1906), as was his brother, James Cramer Marson (in 1876) and his first cousin, Frederic Marson, in 1878. It was Frederic who presented the town of Stafford with the mighty Marson Mayoral Cup. One wonders whether the timber framed elements of The Oaklands were a fond reference to Alice Bostock's magnificent Tudor birthplace and childhood home.

Susanna Marson - 1783 - 1854 (nee Rogers of Normicott Grange, Staffordshire), Grandmother of Alice Susannah Bostock (nee Marson)

Portraits of James and Susannah Marson (nee Rogers)of Acton Trussell in William Albert Marson's dining room in Stafford

Mayor and Mayoress Marson of Stafford in 1906

Mayor William Marson of Stafford, 1906

William Albert Marson with his Magic Lanterns in 1871. He used to put on displays for the people of Stafford

William Albert Marson at a Ball he gave at The Ancient High House in 1884

Mayor William Albert Marson (centre) with Mrs Marson and, fourth from the left, William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. 1906

The William Albert Marson memorial window in the south aisle of St Mary's Church, Stafford. The window shows Saints, including Bertelin, who were connected with Stafford. The Marson family arms is at the bottom in the centre.

Henry's Father, Edwin Bostock J.P, had also lived in important buildings, the first of which was Green Hall (at that time known at Forebridge Hall), which he moved his young family in to at the end of the first half of the Nineteenth Century. This house is still standing, grand, clean and four-square on the corner of Stafford's main roundabout. It used to be outside the town walls and had large gardens and a park, lodges, stables and an ice house.

Green Hall (formerly Forebridge Hall)

                            Green Hall

Green Hall (centre) with its park and its relation to stafford. The lodge of The Hough can be seen in the far right hand corner. This was drawn in 1881 just after Edwin had left Green Hall for The Hough

The Bostock family then moved to The Hough, also off the Lichfield Road, which Edwin built. This must have been a very attractive house, with its canted bays, high ceilings and formal gardens. The house still stands and is now Lloyd's bank. Edwin's Father, Thomas Bostock, was the first of the family in Stafford and he lived at Rickerscote and farmed one hundred acres there.

                The Indentures of Thomas Bostock, 1777-1805

The Indentures of William Bostock, 1745-1809, Grandfather of Edwin of Stafford, Frederick of Northampton and Thomas of Stone

The Hough, built by Edwin Bostock

Edwin Bostock's house at The Hough is the large one opposite Hough Villa. St Paul's church at the top left adjoins the park of Green Hall. This was drawn in 1881, by which time Edwin Bostock was living at The Hough.

The fire at Edwin Bostock's Stafford factory at Foregate Street in 1901

The Lotus fire brigade

The Lotus Great War Memorial

The Staff Bar at Lotus in the 1950's. The Bostock crest of the muzzled bear is on the bar

In Northampton the family had also owned important houses. Frederick (1812-1890), the brother of Edwin, lived at a handsome Georgian mansion in Northampton at Sheep Street. This large Georgian townhouse is standing, alongside its stable block, bereft of its formal gardens. The interior is grand and spacious. Frederick founded, what was, the oldest shoe manufacturer in Northampton.  Frederick's son, another Frederick D.L (1859-1940), lived at Springfield, Cliftonville, in Northampton. This is a large elegant house on the edge of Northampton. He then bought and rebuilt Pitsford House completely. Frederick added two large Elizabethan-style wings to the house and festooned the front of the house in Bostock heraldry…as befitted the newly landed gentleman and great-grandson of the original Bostock Derbyshire cordwainer.

Frederick Bostock of Northampton

The Bostock mansion in Northampton at 47 Sheep Street

The Georgian front staircase, now enclosed, at 47 Sheep Street

Springfield, Cliftonville

Springfield

Pitsford House, Northamptonshire

Pitsford House with the Bostock crest, with the muzzled bear, above the door and the shield and initials of Frederick above the window to the left

Frederick's sister, Louisa, had married James Manfield, son of Sir Moses Philip Manfield. Sir Moses was one of the great names in the Northampton shoe scene. Louisa and James Manfield built Weston Favell House (now Manfield Grange) in 1901. This is one of Northamptonshire's grandest late Victorian houses. 

Weston Favell House (now Manfield Grange)

Within just a century the style of houses built by Bostocks in Stafford had gone from Neo-Classical, through Neo-Tudor to Arts and Crafts and beyond.

                               The entrance front of Shawms in September 2015

                                  The garden front of Shawms in September 2015

                                                   Shawms in 1939

                                          The top terrace at shawms

Shawms was built of very fine materials; brick and tiles with roughcast walls and Hollington stone mullioned windows. The entrance facade seems to be 'more glass than wall', with two asymmetrical gables at each end and one in the centre, under which is a stone plaque with the date of the house. When built the main rooms faced south west across Thomas Mawson's gardens, which meandered down to the canal, which was expertly incorporated in to the plan. The ground floor of Shawms consists of various small rooms and several principal rooms overlooking the garden; the sitting room/hall, drawing room, dining room and study. The entrance hall had stained glass incorporating the Bostock family coat of arms and pairs of Shawms.  These were removed and placed in windows at Godfrey Stafford Bostock's shooting lodge at Dallowgill in Yorkshire. The floor of the hall was paved in mosaic in geometric patterns incorporating the initials of Henry Bostock and Nora Bostock. A similar, though grander, floor scheme was carried out by Sandy at St Paul's School, Edgbaston.

Mosaic-work in the entrance hall at Shawms

The similar floor at St Paul's School, Edgbaston

The hall, staircase and sitting room opened-off one another. The sitting room at Shawms has an oak fire-surround surmounted by a remarkable deeply coved plaster over mantel covered in Elizabethan-style plasterwork incorporating strap work and a 'green man'. The drawing room is a much more feminine room and has panelling with shelves and a convex mirror with a Baroque-style surround with festoons and ribbons. The dining room has a large bay window. The impressive carved chimneypiece and over mantel have been removed. On the first floor there were six bedrooms and two bathrooms and the second floor had bedrooms for the servants. Each of the nine bedrooms in the house had a fireplace, which explains one of the crowning architectural features of Shawms, its huge tapering chimney stacks.

                      

The coved over mantel in the Hall at shawms

The over mantel convex mirror in the Drawing Room at shawms

The Bostock heraldic window from Shawms and now at Dallowgill

Mrs Bostock and family in the Dining Room at Shawms

Another view of the Dining Room showing the carved overmantel - now removed.

Henry John Bostock was very widely travelled and Shawms, in the early views, appears almost un-English. To me it is a little like a lake house in Switzerland, indeed it would not be out of place on the banks of lake Geneva. Henry John was one of the pioneer British skiers and had spent much time in Switzerland. He also sent his youngest child, my Grandfather Godfrey, there to school at the Alpine College in Villars.
Shawms is most similar, albeit on a far reduced scale, to Sandy's now-demolished St Edward's Home, Coleshill, of 1905. Here the symmetry is strict and the architecture is grand and not vernacular. The arched hood to the door is seen again at Shawms, as is the triple gable facade. Sandy's skill with Baroque motifs is much more clearly seen in his palatial work for Lotus.

                     St Edward's Home, Coleshill

                         Henry Sandy's 1921 elevation for Lotus

The building as built, with added roundels above the windows in the pavilions

Adjacent to Shawms was a lodge with garages for three cars and numerous domestic sheds. Next door was 'Little Shawms' and the house was approached by a private road and was surrounded, at that time, by open fields. Stafford was then two miles away rather than surrounding it! The house is an extremely fine example of a medium-sized Arts and Crafts country house with a wealth of fine internal decoration.

                                                 Shawms today

                    Eleanora and Molly Bostock at Shawms

                                            Shawms

Godfrey Stafford Bostock (right) at Shawms in 1937 after a minor road collision 

Nancy and Mary - maids at Shawms

Godfrey Stafford Bostock in the garden at shawms with the domed garden house behind

James Forrester Bostock playing tennis at Shawms with the pergola in the background

The grounds were large and there were greenhouses and a domed cedarwood garden house. Along the garden front of the house ran a long terrace culminating, at the northern end, with steps and a five bay pergola and, at the southern end, with the domed garden house. Thomas Mawson designed the gardens at Shawms. This was one of his lesser known works. He was one of the greatest of the early Twentieth Century garden designers. He had also designed the gardens at Little Onn Hall, childhood home of Diana Bostock (nee Heywood). Along the garden front of Shawms was a paved stone terrace with stone steps leading to a large rose garden. There were lawns, herbaceous borders, rockeries and arbour walks. The canal was expertly incorporated in to the grounds. It was filled with lily pads and the family used to row on it. One of Henry John Bostock's favourite pastimes was weeding the lilies on the canal.

Henry John Bostock weeding the lilies with Joe Johnson on the canal at Shawms in 1956

After the death of Eleanora Bostock Shawms was sold and divided in to apartments. These are looked after beautifully by the current owners. The garden has been largely built on apart from the lawn and terrace by the garden front. After Mrs Bostock died the family donated part of the grounds of Shawms at Baswich to the public in memory Mr and Mrs Henry John Bostock.

Henry and Eleanora Bostock

 The Bostock open space (formerly part of the grounds of Shawms)on the east side of the Meadows Canal Bridge outside Stafford

                   An aerial view of upmeads in its heyday

                                      Upmeads, as it was built, in the countryside outside Stafford

Frederick Marson Bostock was the second son of Henry Bostock, after Henry John Bostock of Shawms. He was a a glove manufacturer and Managing Director of Lotus Ltd, Director of Earl and Earl Ltd, Chairman of Henry Venables Ltd, Director of Highfield Tanning Co Ltd, Director of Sutor Ltd, Chairman of vik Supplies ltd and Director of W.H. Peach & Co Ltd. He was also closely involved with Evode Ltd and the creation of Bostik, which looks like a family punn. He married Mabel Winifred Dorman, a cousin. The Dormans and Bostock family were closely entwined; Edwin Bostock had married Joanna Dorman and one of Henry Bostock's daughters had married John Ehrenfried Dorman. Joanna's brother, William Henry Dorman (founder of Dorman's) lived on Eastgate Street at what is now The William Salt Library. Sir Maurice Henry Dorman, Governor General of Sierra Leone and Malta was a nephew of Frederick's, as is Richard Bostock Dorman CBE. Their parents, John and Madeleine (nee Bostock) Dorman lived at 77 Eastgate Street. Shawms was lived in by the Bostock family and their kingwood descendants until it was sold in 1985.

The Rev William Henry Dorman, brother-in-law of Edwin Bostock

Rev William Henry Dorman's wife, Selina Augusta Robinson.

Joanna Dorman, wife of Edwin Bostock of The Hough

William Henry Dorman, Junior - founder of Dormans and father of Mabel Bostock of Upmeads

Mabel Winifred Bostock (nee Dorman)of Upmeads

Mabel Bostock by William Cartledge

A colour image of the original portrait showing Mabel Bostock. She always wore a velvet ribbon around her neck with a diamond brooch at the centre.

The Dorman's first Stafford home on Eastgate Street, which is now the William Salt Library

77 Eastgate Street, Stafford - The Dorman family house

W.H Dorman & Co's First World War Memorial painted by H. Clewlow

Sir Maurice and Lady Dorman by Bassano

The Lotus & Delta shop in Princes Street, Edinburgh, in 1928. The shop was designed by Joseph Emberton

Umpeads drawn by Edgar Wood in 1908

Upmeads soon after it was built

Frederick Marson Bostock by William Cartledge.

Another portrait of Frederick by William Cartledge.

              Mabel and Frederick Bostock in the grounds of Upmeads

            Fred and Mabel Bostock (left and centre) in the Drawing Room at Upmeads

Anthony, one of their two boy twins

Upmeads is situated off the Newport Road outside Stafford. When it was built in 1908 it was surrounded by countryside and overlooked a golf course. Built by Edgar Wood Built in 1908 Upmeads, in John Archer's opinion, "is the best preserved of Wood's experimental designs, and is, therefore, the most fully expressive of his thinking." Archer goes on to say that, "The house can be considered boldly experimental in almost every respect, prophetic of great changes in architectural thinking and not least, a highly accomplished architectural design..... Upmeads (built when Wood was 48 years old) stands pre-eminent amongst Wood's experimental work and it is doubtful if there were any comparable houses produced in Britain until after the First World War." It is extremely similar to Dalny Veed in Hertfordshire, which Wood built in 1907.

                                          Dalny Veed

                                           The garden front of Dalny Veed.

                                           The garden front of Upmeads.

                                                   Dalny Veed

                                                     Upmeads

                                                     Upmeads

                                                     Upmeads

                                                  Dalny Veed

Upmeads was a house built for the pre-War family with large rooms, servant's quarters and extensive formal gardens. When complete, Frederick and Mabel Bostock moved in with their surviving twin son, Frederick Anthony Bostock. There they lived with several servants including Frederick's governess. The chauffeur and cook lived in a cottage in the grounds nearby. The purpose-built Motor House at Upmeads is one of the earliest in the Country and very likely the first in Staffordshire. The mechanic's well is still there as are the two entrances/exits, showing the problems the early cars often had with reversing…!

                                           The entrance front of Upmeads

                                        The garden front of Upmeads

                             The gardens immediately surrounding Upmeads

Upmeads in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century before Mrs Bostock had lowered the large fourteen light Dining Room window. Note that the roof is being used as an extension of the garden

Mabel Bostock (right) at Upmeads

Mabel Bostock (right) at Upmeads

A similar view of Upmeads in 1985 at the time the Bostock family (via the Lingwoods)were selling the house

                        

The garden front in 1985

The origin of the name Upmeads is unclear. The name did appear on Wood's drawings that were drafted two years before the family moved in, so it is likely that Wood gave the house its name. One clue to the origin may lie in Wood's involvement in the Arts and Crafts Movement and the prominent role that William Morris played in that movement. In 1896 Morris wrote a story called "The Well At The World's End" which begins:

"Long ago there was a little land, over which ruled a regulus or kinglet, who was called King Peter, though his kingdom was but little. He had four sons whose names were Blaise, Hugh, Gregory and Ralph: of these Ralph was the youngest, whereas he was but of twenty winters and one; and Blaise was the oldest and had seen thirty winters. Now it came to this at last, that to these young men the kingdom of their father seemed strait; and they longed to see the ways of other men, and to strive for life. For though they were king's sons, they had but little world's wealth; save and except good meat and drink, and enough or too much thereof; house-room of the best; friends to be merry with, and maidens to kiss, and these also as good as might be; freedom withal to come and go as they would; the heavens above them, the earth to bear them up, and the meadows and acres, the woods and fair streams, and the little hills of Upmeads, for that was the name of their country and the kingdom of King Peter.''

Richard Bostock, great great nephew of Frederick and great grandson of Henry John Bostock, recently commented to me that Shawms faces directly at Stafford Castle, so one wonders whether Henry John Bostock was equally interested in Mediaeval romanticism. The brothers, Henry and Frederick, clearly had modern ideas gilded with historic references.

                  Detail of the stone mullions and rainwater heads at Upmeads

Upmeads was approached by a straight drive and avenue which lead to the Motor House and then curved to the left in to the courtyard in front of the house itself.

                             Upmeads today

The entrance front has an extraordinary concave centre, the centrepiece of which is a three-storey stone confection. Above the door is, what can only be described as, a carved portcullis, which enforces the fortress-like appearance of the facade. This portcullis -like feature is most likely a reference to the Marson family crest, which is a portcullis. Surmounting the central first floor windows are the carved initials of Frederick and Mabel Bostock within a carved stone cartouche. A wide tower-like second floor then projects above the concave centre. The facade is full of movement and Laurence Weaver in 'Small country houses of today' writes 'The general aspect of Upmeads is fortress-like. It not only lacks anything approaching prettiness, which is all to the good, but presents an air of austerity, which shows the designer's devotion to extreme simplicity and restraint'. He also comments that 'merits of Upmeads are considerable, it will be generally agreed that the house is unusual to the point of oddness.' Upmeads is odd, but incredibly stylish. The garden facade is equally fortress-like and has an art deco-style stone centrepiece and large mullioned windows, the one in the Dining Room being an enormous fourteen lights. This window was not intended to be quite so large, but Mrs Bostock insisted it be lowered so she could see the garden when dining. The house cost the great sum of Three Thousand Three Hundred pounds to build in 1908.

The portcullis and initials of Mr and Mrs Frederick Bostock of Upmeads

The Marson family crest

The interior of Upmeads is marvellous. On entering there is a low vaulted hall, off which are doors to the main stairs and various domestic offices. This gives way to a truly remarkable domestic space, the Hall. This is vaulted, double height and has a balcony from from the first floor.

The low vaulted entrance hall in 2015.

The Hall when Frederick Bostock lived at Upmeads

Another early view of the Hall

Mabel Bostock in the Dining Room at Upmeads

The Hall from the balcony in 1985

The Hall in 1985

Looking from the Hall to the Dining Room. The portrait of Mabel Bostock over the door is by William Cartledge

The Drawing Room from the Hall in 1985. A portrait by William Cartledge of Frederick Bostock hangs above the door

The Hall today

To the left of the Hall is the Dining Room, lit by the very large mullioned window. Despite Wood's love of simplicity the dining room chimneypiece is a riot of green marbles, Swedish green and Irish moss, while the lining above the shelf is Siena marble, like onyx.

An early photograph of the chimneypiece in the Dining Room. This was taken before panelling was introduced to the room.

The Dining Room chimneypiece in 1985

The Dining Room in 1985

En enfilade with the Hall and Dining Room is the Drawing Room. This is a magnificent space and occupies one whole side of the house, with a garden room beyond. In Wood's original plans this was two rooms, but the Bostocks, like many at the time, needed a large entertaining space, so these two rooms became one large space. The room is lit by several large mullioned windows, one of which is a bay window of fourteen lights. The entire north wall is wood panelled in a concave with glazed cabinets and ionic pilasters. The capitals of the pilasters appear to be Ionic from a distance, but are in fact an extraordinary squared-off version of the Classical original. When the double doors between the rooms on the garden front are opened there is a sixty foot sweep of formal reception rooms. The house, albeit not huge, manages to combine grandeur and domesticity startlingly well.

The Drawing Room in 1985 when the Bostocks sold Upmeads

The Drawing Room's magnificent concave mahogany wall in 1985

The Drawing Room in 1985 showing the huge carpet specially commissioned from Morris and Co for the room

Dr Lingwood - the last of the Bostock/Dorman descendants to own Upmeads. Here he is in the Drawing Room at Upmeads

                   Upmeads from the air at the time the Lingwood family lived there

                                            The garden at the time of the lingwoods

                                 An event in the gardens of upmeads in the 1940s

The Art School, Birmingham, by Mabel Bostock. This is hanging in the Drawing Room in the photograph above

Another painting by Mabel Bostock 

                      The Drawing Room

The Enfilade along the garden front

A painting by Mabel Bostock of a Bostock girl on the stoep at the Bostock family house, Langerust, in Simondium, South Africa

Langerust, the house built by Arthur Bostock on his farm at Simondium

The first floor of Upmeads has a vaulted transverse corridor with the balcony over the Hall with views of the gardens. The roof of Upmeads was designed by Wood to be an extension of the living space.

View from the first floor corridor over the Hall from the balcony

The entrance front of Upmeads in 1985

                            The house from the Motor House in 2014

Outside it is thought that Edgar Wood also designed the gardens, which are a series of 'rooms' with fountains, statuary and intricate planting. The granden front of the house is sat upon a grand terrace, which projects like wings from either side. Sir Philip and Lady Hunter, who bought Upmeads from the Bostock family in 1985, have carefully restored much of the original planting. There is a sundial, long forgotten until found by the Hunters, presented to Frederick Bostock on his retirement from Lotus and there is part of the Pergola from Frederick's brother's house, Shawms. Much of the garden nearest the Newport Road was sold for housing but over an acre still survives to give the house a fitting setting.

Part of the garden at Upmeads in 1985 with the pergola from Shawms

Upmeads from the garden

One of the enchanting Arts and Crafts gates in the garden.

For a traditional county family, albeit major industrialist, like the Bostocks, Shawms and, in particular Upmeads, are amazingly forward-thinking and un-traditional.

Upmeads is currently for sale for the only the second time in its history. I went to look at it on behalf of my family and it really is an utterly magical place. It is, in my opinion, one of the finest and most perfectly preserved Arts and Crafts houses in Britain. I know the Hunters leave Upmeads with a heavy heart. I just hope the next owners cherish it as much as the Bostocks and Hunters did. If it were mine I couldn't let it go. If only English Heritage, or the like, would buy it and preserve this exquisite house for the Nation. Upmeads has survived the destruction of much of Stafford's historic house architecture. Long live Upmeads!

Of the next generation James Forrester Bostock and Godfrey Stafford Bostock (sons of Henry John Bostock) embraced the Arts and Crafts in their own ways and Lotus was even given various stylish face lifts in a strange Baroque/Deco style from the first quarter of the Twentieth century, largely designed by Henry Sandy and his office.

                          The new wing at Lotus

                      Another view of the new office wing at Lotus

James Bostock owned Barn Bank, at Hyde Lea, near Stafford. This was firmly in the Arts and Crafts mould, although in a more cottage-like style. James Bostock's wife, Isabel Munro (daughter of famous author Neil Munro, aka Hugh Foulis) had been brought up at an exquisite Georgian house, Cromalt, in Helensburgh, Scotland. She must have had some sway on the interior, which was Neo-Georgian in style. The James Forrester Bostocks also owned Dinish Island in Kerry, with its Regency villa.

James Forrester Bostock

James Forrester Bostock, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, with HM The Queen Mother at Lotus in 1953

HM The Queen Mother with James Forrester Bostock at Lotus in 1953

James Forrester Bostock, High Sheriff of Staffordshire, with HM The Queen Mother in 1953 at Lotus

                    Cromalt, Isabel Bostock's Scottish childhood home

James and Isabel (nee Munro) Bostock on their wedding day at Glasgow Cathedral

Godfrey Bostock, with his wife Diana, created the magnificent gardens at their home, Tixall. There is an arboretum, Long Walk, rose garden, orchard, pool and a lime avenue with the the Rotunda, originally at nearby Ingestre, at one end. 

The Long Walk at Tixall

Godfrey Stafford Bostock at lotus

James, Godfrey at Henry John Bostock at Lotus

Godfrey Stafford Bostock by Rosemarie Timmis - 2001

Diana's family, the Heywoods, owned Little Onn Hall, near Church Eaton. This is one of Staffordshire's grand Victorian houses and had famous gardens by Mawson which incorporated an ancient moat and monastic site. 

       Little Onn Hall in c.1925, Diana Bostock's childhood home in Staffordshire

Diana and Godfrey Bostock

Godfrey Stafford Bostock in the drawing room at Tixall in his High Sherrif's uniform. He is holding the Bostock family High Shrieval sword

Diana Bostock with her sons, Simon and Nicholas Bostock, at Tixall in 1947

Godfrey, in the 1960's, built a new house at Dallowgill in Yorkshire in a very much Arts and Crafts style with the heraldic Bostock stained glass from Shawms and inglenook fireplaces and round windows.

1960's Arts and Crafts at The Moor House, Dallowgill

                         One of the newer wings at Lotus in the 1940's

                                The same wing in the 1980s

When Lotus was redecorated in the 1940's it was perhaps more to the taste of Diana and Isabel Bostock, with their Georgian bent, than Godfrey and James. Classical niches, ionic pilasters, dentil cornicing and a black and white marble floor graced this grand room which, from above the brown and white marble chimneypiece, Thomas Bostock, founder of the family firm, gazed down serenely. Little did the great man know that, as well as making sure the citizens of Stafford were well-heeled at all times, his family would leave a marvellous architectural legacy to their beloved County town. 

Diana Bostock in the new office at Lotus in 1949

Annabel Darby (nee Bostock), Elspeth Curran (nee Bostock), Godfrey Stafford Bostock and James Forrester Bostock in the office at Lotus in 1953

Godfrey Stafford Bostock, Gilbert Handley Bostock and James Forrester Bostock in the office at Lotus in 1961

                           The Hall at Lotus, Stafford

The Lotus Victory Dinner in Brook Hall (the factory dining room) in 1945 - the Bostock family are standing in front of the stage

The Menu

A ball in Brook Hall - James Forrester Bostock is dancing in the front row on the left

Another menu showing the Bostock crest at the top

  The Bostock family in the Hall at Lotus on the occasion of HM The Queen Mother's visit to the factory

With thanks to Manchester History.

This piece and photographs are copyright of Oliver Gerrish and other private individuals. Please do not use without prior permission. I would like to thank Richard Bostock Dorman and his wife Anna for all their help. I would also like to acknowledge Staffordshire Past Track for some of the family photographs of the Bostock, Dormans and Marsons and The Staffs Industrial Archaeology Society for photographs of the Lotus factory before demolition. Many thanks to the Staffordshire Record Office for all their help and to Liz and the team. Also thanks to Sir Philip and Lady Hunter of Upmeads and Norah Kendall of Shawms.