From the mid 1880s, the rural idyll of Broadway became a popular destination for visitors from across the world. The Broadway Colony of artists, composers and writers, some of whom made Broadway their home, attracted a number of their friends from Europe and America to the village. Local newspapers regularly published lists of people who visited and stayed in the area at the time. The Evesham Journal reported in October 1892 that the following visitors had been staying in Broadway that summer:
Argyle Parade: Miss Murray (from London), Miss Paton (Wales), Mr Clutterbuck (Merioneth)
Cowley House, hosted by Mrs Righton: Mr & Mrs J.T. Morris and family1 (Ballinaboy House, Ireland)
The Green, Mrs Stanley: Mrs Harris and Mr Edward Harris (Windsor)
Ivy House, Mrs Holcroft: Miss Macpherson (Lichfield), Miss Davis (Bilston), Mr & Mrs Norton (Edgbaston)
The Low Farm, Miss Tennant: Major Corbett (Worcester)
The Lygon Arms Hotel, Charles Drury: Mr C Dixon, Mr H.M. Dixon, Miss Dora Dixon (Edgbaston), Mr Fred G. Clarke (Eastbourne), Mr. G.H.M. Morley (Birmingham), Mr J.W. Lill, Mr A. Lill, Mr D. Lill (Solihull), Monsieur Louis Saurin (Rue des Roses, Paris), Mr W.J. Gale2 (Toronto, Canada), Mr James Bettner Ludlow3 (New York), Mr & Mrs James Smith (Moseley, Birmingham), Mr & Mrs Lewis (Gloucester), Mr Joel Wainwright4 (Finchwood, Marple, Derbyshire), Mr & Mrs Schiefflein (New York), Mr J.H. Payne (Birmingham).
The Lygon Cottage, Charles Drury: Mr & Mrs John Baker and family (Pershore)
North Place Mrs John White: Mr & Mrs J.H. Bacon (Highgate)
North Street, Mrs C. Bunn: Mr Dyer (Cambridge)
Russell House Cottage: The Misses Barnard5
The Knapp Farm, Mrs S. Savage: Mr Peach (Straford-upon-Avon), Captain Henry Allfrey6 (Stratford)
The Swan Hotel, Mr J. Brick: Miss Maun (Bridgnorth) and Mr A. Maun (Shrewsbury), Mr F.W. Land (Leamington), Mr H. Jenkins, Mr C. Daniel, Mr W. Perrot (Bordesley)
Notes:
- The Morris family were Irish landed gentry who had inherited part of the estate of the Frenchs of Errislannan and they had a house in Ballinaboy, Co. Galway.
- J. W. Gale was a wholesale dealer in staple and fancy dry goods, woollens, tailors’ furnishings, and gents’ furnishings with premises at 24 and 26 Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Gale was the manufacturer of the celebrated “Gale Shirt Collars and Cuffs”.
- James Bettner Ludlow (1859-1921). James Ludlow was an expert on real estate law. Most of his time was employed in the management of the estate owned by himself and his sister, Annie, which embraced most of the water front of South Yonkers in New York.
- Joel Wainwright was a naturalist, author of ‘Memories of Marple’ and one of the publishers of The Strines Journal.
- Frederick Barnard’s daughters, Dorothy and Polly, served as the models for John Singer Sargent’s painting Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose which was painted in Broadway in the mid 1880s.
- Henry Allfrey was born on 9th September 1850. He was educated at Cheltenham College and entered the army in 1868, being gazetted Ensign on 19th May to the 2nd Battalion 60th Rifles. Promoted Lieutenant on 28th October 1871 and Captain on 29th September 1880. He saw service during the Zulu War. Captain Allfrey was the father of Lieutenant General Sir Charles Walter Allfrey, Commanding Officer of V Corps in North Africa and Italy 1942-44.
Debbie Williamson
Broadway History Society