Z1804/1

Photograph album of The Hyde, East Hyde while being used as a temporary location of Hambro bank staff.

c. 1939-40

From: 1939 To: 1945

Professionally produced photograph album with brown leatheret binding with the Hambros bank coat of arms stamped in gold in the centre of the front cover. The photographs are 25cm x 20 cm and are mounted on brown card with captions titled in brown below them. No indication of photographer. Flyleaf - signed 'Jack Hambro' in top left corner. The pages were not numbered but for ease of identification pencil numbers have been applied by the archive service at the top right corner of each page. Page 1 'The Hyde - Front Gate' - view shows the open gate with a car on the drive beyond. There is a thatched building [lodge?] to the right of the gate behind the hedge - believed to be the entrance from the junction of Farr's Lane and the Lower Harpenden Road. In the distance are trees within the park. Page 3 'North View' - view of the house with a car parked on the sweep outside. [The view shows the full extent of the facade before the demolition of the wings added in the 19th century]. Page 5 'South View' - view shows the facade of the house from an angle with the stable block to the far right. At the top of the steps leading down to the lawn stands John Henry Hambro. Page 7. 'The Cedar' - view of a group of trees within the park dominated by a large cedar tree. Page 9. 'the Huts - Men's Sleeping Quarters' - view of a range of wooden huts near a house; a man is working on a roof being made between two of the existing huts. Page 11 'Interior of Hut' - photograph shows two camp beds each with a small wooden wardrobe, a rug and a chair beside it. A man is combing his hair at a mirror in the corner; a second man is sitting on one of the beds tying his shoe lace and a third man is standing at the open door of the wardrobe to the right. None of the men is looking at the camera, making them difficult to identify. Page 13. 'A Ladies' Bedroom' - photograph shows an attic room with blocked up fireplace with four camp beds. A chair with a lamp on it stands within the fireplace. A woman is sitting in the centre examining something she is holding in her hands. Page 15. 'Correspondence and Day Book' - view shows a crowded room occupied by approximately 10 women and 10 men at desks; many are using typewriters. To the far right another man and woman are just entering the room from a door in the corner. To the far left is a Chippendale style china cabinet and to the far right is a covered grand piano. Page 17 'Correspondence and Coupons' - view shows a crowded room with approximately 12 women and 14 men working at desks. The far end of the room has multiple long windows possibly indicating that it is the apsidal end of one of the wings of the house. Page 19 'Ledgers' - photograph shows 12 men and 5 women working at desks in a dark panelled room; each has range of narrow ledgers in front of them with client names on the spines. Page 21 'Nostro and Impersonal' - photograph shows a woman and two men working at their desks with suspense account ledgers. In the background is a Chippendale style bookcase. Page 23 'The Chain Gang' - photograph shows three young men and an older man moving wooden cradles of ledgers. The curved archway suggests they are probably 'below stairs' in the cellars or servants quarters. Page 25 'The Management' - photograph shows 7 men around a central table. The table (actually made up of several tables) has on it various documents and many bottles of ink and pens. The man seated second from the left is John Henry Hambro. On the mantelpiece to the left is a calendar indicating that the photographs were taken in December and a framed set of Chinese paintings of interiors. There is a large framed Chinese painting (possibly a screen) in the far corner of the room behind a simple cupboard such as those seen in the men's accommodation huts. Page 27 'The Priest on the Waters' - photograph of one of the managers standing beside a Chinese painting of a priest standing on a circular board 'surfing' over waves. Page 29 'Laying the Tables' - photograph shows two female kitchen staff laying tables in a large dark panelled room with a carved fireplace. The tables are trestle tables with benches and they are being laid with enamel mugs and plates, knives, forks and piles of sliced bread. Page 31 'Preparing for lunch' - photograph of seven female kitchen staff in the kitchen - at the table in the foreground two are preparing vegetables, two are preparing meat and one is slicing bread. Page 33 'Food Queue' - photograph of four men queuing at a hatch. The first man in the queue is taking a plate which is being passed to him through the hatch. Page 35 'Staff at Lunch' - photograph of men and women at lunch. In the centre of the front row is one of the managers, the man from page 27, who may be Cecil Theodore Askwith who is the only person listed among the staff as 'bank manager' in the 1939 registration survey. Page 37 'Messengers at Lunch' - photograph of four young men. On the 1939 registration survey there are three men listed (with a further name redacted) who are described as bank messengers they are: Sidney Constable, William Stannard and Samuel Legon. Page 39 'Managers at Lunch' - photograph of three of the men from page 25 sitting at a table, the place closest to the table is laid but the chair is unoccupied. The man opposite is carving a joint. Another man, possibly William Howard the butler [?], is standing with a serving dish. Page 41 'Slosh!' - photograph showing five men (including two of the managers) playing snooker. Page 43 'The Club Room' - photograph of three women and four men relaxing around a fireplace - some are reading, some writing. Page 45 ''Ping Pong in the Funk Hole' - photograph showing two women playing table tennis possibly in a farm building. Page 47 'A Quick One - or Two' Photograph of the front of The Leather Bottle public house S G Sirrett licensee. Page 49 'Mrs Jack Hambro on Grania with Rus and Sandy' photograph of Elizabeth Hambro on a grey horse in the stable yard with two dogs a retriever and a labrador. Page 51 'ETH, JHH, DJJH' - photograph of Elizabeth Hambro on Grania with her son David Jocelyn Jersey Hambro (1936-1997) sitting in front of her. John Henry Hambro is standing feeding Grania and the two dogs, Rus and Sandy are standing in the background. Page 53 'The Clock House' - portrait photograph of central portion of The Clock House with John Henry Hambro standing at the door with a labrador sitting looking up at him. Page 55 'Edward with the Mails' - portrait photograph of Edward George White, chauffeur, handing two brief cases over to a young man. Page 57 'Radford in his Shop' - photograph of Ernest H Radford (1886-1953) who lived in the Carpenter's Cottage and was occuppied in estate maintenance and general building repairs. Ernest is sawing a piece of wood; behind him and on the bench to the right are his carpenter's tools. Page 59 'Simmonds with Begonias' - photograph of Alfred Charles Simmonds (1886-1978) surrounded by begonias. Simmonds was the estate head gardener and lived in Gardener's Cottage with his wife Alice.

This volume or possibly a copy of it appeared at auction by Bellmans as Lot 1025 on the 12 September 2019; the hammer price was £15. The description given was 'PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM: John Henry 'Jack' Hambro (1904 - 1965) The Hyde, Luton, Bedfordshire, ca. 1940s, 60pp., 30 b/w. photographs pasted on card, printed captions beneath, 20cm x 25cm, ownership ink signatures Jack Hambro and Elizabeth Hambro, leather binding, Hambros bank crest on front cover, the images include exterior views of the main house, the Huts - men's sleeping quarters, financial staff working on correspondence, day books and ledgers, the Management, The Chain Gang, a family group of 'Jack', his wife Elizabeth,and their son David Jocelyn Jersey Hambro, captioned E.T.H J.H.H D.J.H.H. * 'Jack' Hambro, Chairman of the British merchant bank Hambros between 1963 - 1965; as Managing Director of the United Kindom Corporation from 1940 - 1945, 'Jack' ran an economic cloak-and dagger operation formed to meet the difficulties in overseas trading during war time.' It is signed Jack Hambro on front flyleaf but there is no signature of Elizabeth Hambro; the binding is not leather. The album came into the possession of Harpenden Local History Society, which, because the album had no association with Harpenden, donated it to the Bedfordshire Gardens Trust in 2020. The Bedfordshire Gardens Trust gifted it to the archives service in February 2023.

item

Hambro, John Henry,
Hambro, Elizabeth,
Hambro, David Jocelyn Jersey,
Askwith, Cecil Theodore,
Constable, Sidney,
Stannard, William,
Legon, Samuel,
Radford, Ernest,
Simmonds, Alfred,
White, Edward George

East Hyde, East Hyde The Hyde, photographs, banking, Hambro Bank, World War Two, bank clerk, chauffeur, horses, dogs, gardeners, carpenters, East Hyde Leather Bottle, snooker, table tennis