Map from P. Morant’s ‘The history and antiquities of the County of Essex’ (London, 1768).
The aim of this short series of posts on the Essex homes (essentially northern Greater London, England) of Mabel’s kin – on her father’s side – is to give a quick look at the open spaces and sorts of landscapes that Mabel Bent (née Hall-Dare) would have enjoyed as a young woman on the eastern shores of the Irish Sea, predisposing her to an adventurous, outdoor life – horses everywhere, rivers, forests, walks, new rail links, not to mention the travelling involved in getting up to Dublin from Co. Wexford and then across the sea to London (there were rented properties in ‘Town’ too of course), for stays in Essex before, for example, spending the long summers touring Europe with her siblings. Indeed, she was to meet her husband-to-be, Theodore Bent, in Norway on one such tour (although we still don’t know when, where, how, and why).
The Essex properties, lands, and churches featured include: (1) ‘Fitzwalters‘, (2) ‘East Hall‘, (3) ‘Ilford Lodge‘, (4) ‘Cranbrook’, (5) ‘Wyfields‘, ‘Theydon Bois’, and others, all with links in one way or another to Mabel Bent.
No. 4: Cranbrook – Ilford, Essex, UK.
A period photograph of Cranbrook Manor taken from Edward Tuck, ‘A sketch of ancient Barking, its abbey, and Ilford’ (Ilford, 1899(?), pp. 36-39).
The jewel in the triple-crown of the Ilford estates linked to Mabel Bent’s connections on her father’s side was ‘Cranbrook’, taking its name from a stream that made its slow way down to the Thames through its acres. The stream was dammed in the 17th century to make a lake for the grand chalet of Valentines nearby, and the best way to locate what was once Cranbrook is to cross the happily labelled A123 at the west end of this water feature, and there the suburban sprawl that greets you all around affronts the memory of Mabel’s grandfather’s fine demesne. By 1901 the estate and manor house were gone. Mabel is unlikely to have stayed there, the lands being inherited by her uncle Henry on her grandfather’s death; however she may well have called in for tea.
Ordnance Survey: Essex Sheet LXXIII Surveyed: 1863, Published: 1873. The arrow points to Cranbrook, Ilford. Valentines lake is to the right of today’s A123.
Our two guides to the manor house of Cranbrook and its lands are the very straight-bat of The ancient parish of Barking: Manors, in Volume 5 of A History of the County of Essex (originally published in 1966, edited by W.R. Powell and now as essential as it freely accessible, online); and Edward Tuck’s whimsical A sketch of ancient Barking, its abbey, and Ilford (1899?).
It is not at all hard to distinguish the pens, not least because Tuck adds a final ‘e’ to the name.
To open the bowling, then, with Powell: “The manor of Cranbrook (in Ilford) which lay about ½ mile north of Ilford village, was a free tenement held of [Barking] abbey. It derived its name either from the Cran Brook, a tributary of the Roding, or from a family of Cranbrook which was itself named from the stream.” (Powell 1966, 190ff)
Barely visible, but Tuck assures that this is (was) a way to enter ‘Cranbrooke Park’. Taken from his book c. 1899. The whole estate was soon to be eradicated.
Tuck chips in at this point: “It may here be remarked that Cranbrook Manor is the oldest manor connected with the ancient abbey of Barking. It was held by the Malmeynes for several generations prior to 1314, giving it a period from 600 to 650 years at the least; during which time it has maintained its unbroken dignity of being a ‘Gentleman’s Mansion’…” (Tuck 1899, 36-9)
The erstwhile manors of Barking – three of which benefited Mabel Bent’s family connections – ‘Ilford Lodge’, ‘Cranbrook’, and ‘Wyfields’ (after ‘The ancient parish of Barking: Manors: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 5, 1966, pp.190-214′.
Powell again, clearly annoyed at the interruption: “In 1805–6 the estate was acquired by John M. Grafton Dare (d. 1810). In 1805 Dare, originally surnamed Grafton, and his wife Elizabeth, had inherited the estate of John Hopkins Dare, her son by a previous marriage… In 1808 Cranbrook comprised 179 [acres, c. 70 ha], including some 60 [acres, c. 25 ha] lying west of Cranbrook Road… After J.M. Grafton Dare’s death the estate passed to his widow, Elizabeth Grafton Dare (d. 1823), and then to her daughter Elizabeth, wife of Robert Westley Hall [Mabel’s grandfather]. Hall, who then assumed the additional surname of Dare, was the son of Robert Hall, of Ilford Lodge [Mabel’s great-grandfather]… Hall-Dare died in 1836, leaving Cranbrook to his second son Henry [Mabel’s uncle. (Her father was to have rights to East Hall in Rainham, and a huge sum from compensation due after their plantation slaves in Demerara were freed after Abolition in 1833)]… [Henry] sold it, some time after 1847 [Mabel’s birth year]…”
The area today where the lands of Cranbrook spread themselves for some 700 years. The western end of Valentines lake is the blank grey area, top right (Google maps).
“The last occupier of Cranbrook House, A.S. Walford [husband of the novelist L.B. Walford], gave up his tenancy in 1899, and by 1901 the house had been demolished and the estate cut up for building. The site is now occupied by De Vere Gardens, Endsleigh Gardens, and adjacent roads.” (Powell 1966, 190ff).
Mrs Lucy Bethia Walford (1845-1915), writer of popular fiction. The final resident at Cranbrook before its demolition. Born two years before Mabel, there is every chance her books were in the Bents’ library in their London home (Wikipedia).
Tuck saw the writing on the walls for this elderly estate long before the death of Queen Victoria; he will tell us, in a style reminiscent of Dr Frederick Chasuble, but not before his recommendation to read the ‘light-hearted domestic comedies’ of the previous dweller: “This mansion for a number of years was occupied by A.S. Walford, Esq., J.P., and his wife, Mrs. A.S. Walford, the well-known and popular authoress, whose works find favour, not only in many a household, but also in our principal public libraries… But this handsome mansion and estate is doomed; the destroyer’s hand has commenced operations, the beautiful park, the great resort of the inhabitants of Ilford for generations, is now cut up and covered with houses.” (Tuck 1899, 36-9)
He should see it now. The fine house numbered among its owners “families of honour and distinction”, opines Tuck, including: “Robert Westley Hall-Dare, Esq., J.P. and M.P. [Mabel’s grandfather]. [He] was elected M.P. in December 1832. He was always most interested in the affairs connected with the Ilford ward, and the Parish Church, Ilford, owes its origin to his indefatigable exertions. His daughter Mary [Mabel’s aunt] was selected to lay the foundation stone, and the building was named St. Mary’s.
St Mary’s, Ilford. The name is connected with Mabel Bent’s aunt, Mary Hall-Dare, who lived at Cranbrook (Wikipedia).
“This church was opened on June 9th, 1831, by Bishop Blomfield, Bishop of London, and the day was spent in general festivity from the highest to the lowest classes. All labour was suspended and the poor were not forgotten, being provided with food at their homes. A large party was entertained under a marquee on the lawn at Cranbrook, and after luncheon a ball was opened by Mr. Hall-Dare, who chose for his partner Miss Ashmole, a daughter of one of the oldest trading families of Ilford.” (Tuck 1899, 36-9) Those were the days.
An interesting announcement in The London Gazette of June 20 1865 relating to the will of Mabel’s grandfather, Robert Westley Hall-Dare (the first, d. 1836).
Of course Mabel was fortunate in that her family (on both sides) were landed (obviously) and comfortably off. Mabel’s paternal grandfather was the first of the Robert Westley Hall-Dares proper, an astute, baronial, figure who sat at the head of a coalition of wealthy and influential Essex families (Halls, Dares, Graftons, Mildmays, Kings, to name but a few), garnering in with him two major estates (Theydon Bois and Wennington) and various other demesnes, farms, and assorted dwellings, large and small. His wealth and assets were based on rents, farming, ventures, deals, and investments – including a sugar plantation in what is today British Guyana. This plantation, ‘Maria’s Pleasure‘, still retains its name, although it was disposed of after Mabel’s father, to whom the sugar estate had been left, received his compensation for the emancipation of around 300 slaves after Abolition (worth the equivalent of several millions of pounds now).
Robert Westley Hall-Dare the first (1789-1836), the Member of Parliament for South Essex from 1832 until his death, rubbed shoulders with the great and the good, not to mention London Society, but it was his son Robert Westley Hall-Dare the second (1817-1866) who actually married into (minor) aristocracy with his marriage to Frances, daughter of Gustavus Lambart of Beauparc, Co. Meath – Mabel (b. 1847) was one of their daughters.
Mabel was thus free to travel; her husband was the perfect fit; they were never slowed down by children. But if anyone should say to you, ‘Ah, but Mabel never worked’, then they don’t know what they are talking about: few women of her class would have sweated more, from Aksum to Great Zimbabwe.
‘The Album: A Journal of Photographs of Men, Women, and Events of the Day’ (8th July, 1895, Vol. II, No. 23, pp.44-45).
In July 1895 Mabel and Theodore Bent gave an interview to The Album: A Journal of Photographs of Men, Women, and Events of the Day (8th July, 1895, Vol. II, No. 23, pp.44-45). Published by Ingram Brothers (Strand, London), it was a short-lived venture (the market was extremely competitive); a browse through a collected volume gives an unsurprising but fascinating glance back to Victorian Britain at its zenith.
Zenith can equally well be applied to the fame of the Bents in 1895 – they were celebrities. They had more or less covered the Eastern Mediterranean by the end of the 1880s; ridden south-north the length of Persia (1889); had famously explored the ruins of Great Zimbabwe for Cecil Rhodes (1891); become entangled in the Italian debacle in Ethiopia in 1893; and were now (1895) obsessed with Southern Arabia – their work in the region was to provide the data for Theodore’s great quest of a history linking both sides of the Red Sea over three millennia. This was not to be however – within three years of the article you are about to read, Bent was dead, a victim to feverish malevolence, east of Aden, in the spring of ’97.
Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Bent
Since the days when Sir Walter Raleigh returned from the West Indies laden with good things, down to our own unromantic time, there have always been a large number of large-hearted Englishmen who have devoted their lives, fortunes, and too often their healths, to exploring the little-known corners of the earth with a view to increasing our knowledge of far-off climes, and of adding to the instructive contents of the British Museum and of the other vast treasure-houses possessed by the nation. note 1
Mr. J. Theodore Bent has played a leading part among latter-day travellers. Accompanied by his plucky and charming wife – nee Miss Hall Dare of Newtonbarry, Co. Wexford – note 2 he has explored in turn many pathless portions of the uncivilised world, to say nothing of his valuable researches into the bygone civilisations of Greece, Asia, and Africa.
Each one of Mr. and Mrs. Bent’s expeditions has hitherto resulted in a valuable addition to geographical and archaeological literature, and the former’s book, dealing with the famous ruins of Zimbabwe, was the first and in many respects the best, account of Mashonaland published.
The well-known explorer and his wife have lately returned from their second journey into Arabia, and I found them, (writes a representative of The Album), settled for the season in their museum-like London home, a house filled with momentoes of my hosts’ many years of travel, from Greek antiques to the barbaric, if splendid, gifts of his Arab Sheikh friends. note 3
The first appearance of this well-know portrait of Theodore Bent, taken (pre 1895) in the studios of society-photographers, Russell & Sons. Three years later Mabel was to approve it for her husband’s obituary in the ‘Illustrated London News’ [May 15, 1897, page 669]“What do we consider to have been our most interesting and perilous expedition?” echoed Mr. Bent, in answer to a question. “Our last, undoubtedly, for when one comes to think of it, there is scarcely anything known about the land which gave Europe Algebra. There is practically no modern literature dealing with the country. In the old days, when geography was written merely by hearsay, historians and travellers were more reckless as to what they said, but it is wonderful to note how often they arrived at right conclusions. Ptolemy, for instance, wrote about Arabia, and my wife and myself were able to identify several sites mentioned in his works. note 4 In modern days, certainly, no country has been so little explored. When it was announced that we were going there, the Indian Government placed a surveyor at my disposal, and we hope to complete our task of surveying the whole of the country from Hadramout to Dhofar, and so on.”
“And what were the practical difficulties in the way of an Arabian expedition?” “Owing to the slave trade the Arabians are not at all anxious to have their dark ways made light. Each district is governed by a Sheikh, and the country is in a wild a lawless state. Indeed, Arabia was far more civilised before the rise and spread of Mahommedanism. I traced many of the ancient Sabæan fortresses and towns, and found most interesting inscriptions. We entered Arabia by Merbat, and thanks to the European resident in Muscat, got on fairly well, but of course in the interior our means of getting about was by the help of camels only used to carry frankincense.”
“And what did you take in the way of provisions, and so on?” “I always leave the commissariat side of our journeys to my wife,” answered Mr. Bent, smiling. “She sees after everything of the kind; but as to food, there is one point I should like to mention. I am a thorough believer in tea, and do not advise anyone to explore on spirits, although on this last expedition we took a little rum much over proof to dilute. Then, of course, quinine is the best travelling medicine in the world.”
Mabel Bent with one of her large-format cameras. She was expedition photographer from 1885 until 1897.
“Our exploration larder”, added Mrs. Bent, “is quite varied enough for all reasonable requirements; desiccated soups, corned beef and beef essence, potted meats, condensed milk, and last but not least, some sackfuls of dry bread, are all included, for long experience has taught us both what to avoid and what to add to our travelling impedimenta. note 5 We always try to be as comfortable as possible when journeying, and so take plenty of sheets and towels; but, of course, the lack of water is a great annoyance. By-the-way, we always travel with one of Edgington’s green fly-tents, with double flaps, the whole made of the green Willesden canvas which does not get mouldy when folded up wet.” note 6
“And are you accompanied by a large party?” “During our last journey we were eleven in all; my husband and I were the only Europeans among them. There is no use in taking English servants. Of course this increases danger in uncivilised countries. Constantly on our travels the Bedouins with whom we have been travelling have turned against us, and on one occasion we seriously thought of trying to find our own way to the coast alone.”
“My travelling dress consists of a tweed coat and skirt, a pith hat, with breeches and gaiters. The skirt is made in pleats, and is so arranged as to act as riding habit when I am on horseback.” Mabel Bent dressed for travel. (Photo taken (pre 1895) in the studios of society-photographers, Russell & Sons)
“And have you any views on the best travelling costume?” I enquired. “Yes, inasmuch that we do not alter or modify our travelling costumes, wearing the same kind of clothes in both Africa and Asia. My husband finds a Norfolk jacket and breeches the most practical and pleasant form of dress for either riding or actual exploring work. My travelling dress consists of a tweed coat and skirt, a pith hat, with breeches and gaiters. The skirt is made in pleats, and is so arranged as to act as riding habit when I am on horseback. When actually in camp, that is to say, during the heat of the day – for early morning and evening are the only safe hours to travel – I put on a linen shirt or blouse and ordinary skirt.” note 7
“And on the whole, what is your verdict on the various countries you have so successfully explored?” “South Africa is, undoubtedly, the land of the future,” answered Mr. Bent decidedly. “Perhaps you know that in 1891 we explored the ruined cities of Mashonaland, the Royal Geographical Society and the British South Africa Company aiding us in paying the expenses of the expedition? note 8 Our experience while in the interior taught us something of the possibility of Rhodesia, and I think that an energetic emigrant has as a good chance there as anywhere else; but of course opinions differ. I myself fell a victim to South African fever, but I have noticed that this kind of disease disappears with civilisation, and my views have been thoroughly borne out in the case of Kimberley.” note 9
Note 3: For this ‘museum’, see The Gentlewoman – The Illustrated Weekly Journal for Gentlewomen, No. 175, Vol. VII, Saturday, November 11, 1893, pages 621-622. Coincidentally, the ‘Sixth International Geographical Congress’ was held in London in the summer of 1895, and one or two participants were invited by the Bents to visit 13 Great Cumberland Place, extending “their kindness to the point of offering Prof. Sitta, statistics teacher at the University of Ferrara, delegate of the Anthropological Society of Rome, and me [G. Riccieri], full hospitality in their home, which is not only a perfect English home with all the comforts imaginable, but also a true museum of artistic objects and archaeologists” (trans: Google) [An extract from G Riccieri’s subsequent report (1895) to the Directors of the Italian Geographical Society] Return from Note 3
Note 4: For example, see the Bents’ identification of the site of Abyssapolis (Khor Rori, present-day Oman). Return from Note 4
Note 9: In fact the start of Bent’s demise can be traced back to the Cycladic island of Andros in 1884, and the malarial coastal hamlet of Gavrio on the north-west (Mabel Bent, Chronicles, Vol. 1, Oxford, 2006, pp. 50-51). The malaria he contracted there was to return many times in the years to come, and he died at 45 of complications from it in May 1897, on his return from Socotra and Aden. Return from Note 9
[You may also enjoy the two interviews Mabel gave to Lady of the Housein 1893 and 1894]
Map from P. Morant’s ‘The history and antiquities of the County of Essex’ (London, 1768).
The aim of this short series of posts on the Essex homes (essentially northern Greater London, England) of Mabel’s kin – on her father’s side – is to give a quick look at the open spaces and sorts of landscapes that Mabel Bent (nee Hall-Dare) would have enjoyed as a young woman on the eastern shores of the Irish Sea, predisposing her to an adventurous, outdoor life – horses everywhere, rivers, forests, walks, new rail links, not to mention the travelling involved in getting up to Dublin from Co. Wexford and then across the sea to London (there were rented properties in ‘Town’ too of course), for stays in Essex before, for example, spending the long summers touring Europe with her siblings. Indeed, she was to meet her husband-to-be, Theodore Bent, in Norway on one such tour (although we still don’t know when, where, how, and why).
The Essex properties, lands, and churches featured include: (1) ‘Fitzwalters‘, (2) ‘East Hall‘, (3) ‘Ilford Lodge’, (4) ‘Cranbrook‘, (5) ‘Wyfields‘, ‘Theydon Bois’, and others, all with links in one way or another to Mabel Bent.
No. 3: Ilford Lodge – Ilford, Essex, UK.
Before AD 687, the Saxon king Œthelræd gave to the newly-founded abbey of Barking large parcels of land in the area, and over the subsequent centuries, further patronage, crown and mitre, established in this corner of Essex, after the Dissolution this is, estates such as Aldborough Hatch, Bifrons, Clements, Hainault, Highlands, Valentines, and Ilford Lodge, our subject.
The mansion of Ilford Lodge – hardly a lodge as we might think of one – was a late 18th-century edifice of yellow brick – a central block and side wings, all in three storeys (from Edward Tuck, ‘A sketch of ancient Barking, its abbey, and Ilford’, Barking, 1899?, pp.52-53).
The mansion of Ilford Lodge – hardly a lodge as we might think of one – was a late 18th-century edifice of yellow brick – a central block and side wings, all in three storeys. Fine enough, if not exactly characterful, although Edward Tuck (of whom much more later) thought it ‘distinguished’. It stood, suffering several vicissitudes, until demolishment as recently as 1960. It is unlikely that Mabel Bent ever slept under its roof, as the property was owned by soldier-uncle Frank, who, like Mabel, was hardly ever at home; but she may well have taken tea there – we can only guess.
The erstwhile manors of Barking – three of which benefited Mabel Bent’s family connections – ‘Ilford Lodge’, ‘Cranbrook’, and ‘Wyfields’ (after ‘The ancient parish of Barking: Manors (pp. 190-214): A History of the County of Essex: Volume 5, 1966.
The estate of the same name, dates only from the late 18th/early 19th centuries, and was just a short distance down a lane from another Hall-Dare mansion, ‘Cranbrook’, which is to feature in another of these posts. Incidentally, according to our Edward Tuck (p. 53) – “It may, in a passing remark, be said that the road shadowed by the beautiful trees and shrubs along this estate down to Cranbrook was one of the most charming walks in the neighbourhood.’ He would not write the same now.
Ilford Lodge had been carved from the much larger adjoining estate of Valentines, and it passed into the hands of Robert Hall, who was previously a tenant there, before 1810. It remained in the Hall-Dare families until 1883, when it was acquired by the larger-than-life character, and crook, Jabez Balfour, and his Liberator Building Society, which collapsed in 1892, and Balfour imprisoned for embezzlement. His story his well worth a read and for an amusing coincidence click here!
The site of Ilford Lodge (OS London Sheet IV.SE, Revised: 1893 to 1895, Published: 1894 to 1896).
In 1896 the Ilford Lodge Estate was put up for sale as the ‘Ilford Park Estate’, sold, and subsequently developed into mostly residential housing – very much as can be seen on the maps today: no more gardens, gazebos, and children’s ponies grazing in the distance; pretty nondescript, suburban, a stone’s throw from Ilford railway station (opened 20 June 1839 for Eastern Counties Railway).
A Google map of Ilford today, the arrow pointing to where Ilford Lodge once was.
When the estate was sliced up for building, Ilford Lodge was preserved as a sports and social club for the local residents of Wellesley Road. As mentioned above, the roof under which Mabel never slept was torn down in 1960. Nothing remains.
Tuck’s entry on Ilford Lodge, from ‘A sketch of ancient Barking, its abbey, and Ilford’, Barking, 1899?, pp.52-53 (archive.org)
But now it’s time for Tuck proper and an account of the mansion’s heyday; his work on this corner of Essex is unparalleled: “‘THE LODGE’. This once distinguished house, although not one of the Manors connected with the Abbey of Barking, held a very prominent position among the leading seats of the surrounding gentry. The mansion and estate was for a number of years owned and occupied by Robert Hall, Esq… Their family consisted of a son and a daughter. The son, Mr. Robert Wesley Hall… married the only daughter of Marmaduke Grafton Dare, and on their marriage took the name of Hall-Dare, omitting Grafton, through some dispute of the Grafton family… It appears that the Graftons were once Romford people. I found on a tomb in the Churchyard ‘John Marmaduke Grafton, died 1788,’ aged 70. His son (named also John Marmaduke Grafton) married Mrs. Dare, of Cranbrook, and assumed the name of Grafton-Dare. Some years after, Mrs. Grafton-Dare’s daughter became the wife of Robert Wesley Hall, and they assumed the name of Hall-Dare. On the death of Mr. Robert Hall-Dare [i.e. Mabel Bent’s grandfather] his widow succeeded to the estate, and outlived her husband for several years… On her demise the mansion and estate came, by will of the grandfather, to Captain Frank M. Hall-Dare, third son of Robert W. Hall-Dare, Esq., of Cranbrook.
Jabez Balfour (1843–1916), whose Liberator Building Society was involved in fraud concerning the Ilford Lodge estate, inter alia (Wikipedia).
Having entered the army when young, he did not occupy the estate, nor leave the army till after the Crimean War, where he gained… four medals… After the war he retired from the army, and spent most of his time in travel. He subsequently disposed of the estate to the Liberator Building Society [see above for the rogue Jabez Balfour]. The mansion is now used for a club-house, and the estate covered with residences…’ (Edward Tuck, pp.52-53)
Of course Mabel was fortunate in that her family (on both sides) were landed (obviously) and comfortably off. Mabel’s paternal grandfather was the first of the Robert Westley Hall-Dares proper, an astute, baronial, figure who sat at the head of a coalition of wealthy and influential Essex families (Halls, Dares, Graftons, Mildmays, Kings, to name but a few), garnering in with him two major estates (Theydon Bois and Wennington) and various other demesnes, farms, and assorted dwellings, large and small. His wealth and assets were based on rents, farming, ventures, deals, and investments – including a sugar plantation in what is today British Guyana. This plantation, ‘Maria’s Pleasure‘, still retains its name, although it was disposed of after Mabel’s father, to whom the sugar estate had been left, received his compensation for the emancipation of around 300 slaves after Abolition (worth the equivalent of several millions of pounds now).
Robert Westley Hall-Dare the first (1789-1836), the Member of Parliament for South Essex from 1832 until his death, rubbed shoulders with the great and the good, not to mention London Society, but it was his son Robert Westley Hall-Dare the second (1817-1866) who actually married into (minor) aristocracy with his marriage to Frances, daughter of Gustavus Lambart of Beauparc, Co. Meath – Mabel (b. 1847) was one of their daughters.
Mabel was thus free to travel; her husband was the perfect fit; they were never slowed down by children. But if anyone should say to you, ‘Ah, but Mabel never worked’, then they don’t know what they are talking about: few women of her class would have sweated more, from Aksum to Great Zimbabwe.
Some ceramics brought home from the Eastern Mediterranean by Mabel Bent in 1885 (private collection).
The Bents visited Rhodes briefly (then Turkish, now in the Dodecanese) in early 1885 on their way to explore nearby Karpathos. Theodore wrote up his stay on the island in an article tagged as ‘Rhodian Society’ (Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. 52 (1885 May/Oct), 297-303). As tradition ruled, the Turks would not allow the ‘Franks’ to reside within the great (if battered) walls of Rhodes’ Old Town, and the Bents based themselves in a modest pension not far from where the Grande Albergo delle Rose (Rhodes Casino) is today. (They make make contact with the influential Biliotti family, a name that will appear again below.) Lawrence Durrell describes the area in his Reflections on a Marine Venus (London, 1953) – the still unmatched English book on the island. His paean makes several references to Rhodian ceramics and potters – a tradition reaching back millennia and continuing vibrantly in Durrell’s time, notably in the studios and workshops of the Italian I.C.A.R.O. company (the Italians, of course, having ousted the Turks, after a stand at Psinthos, in 1912).
Theodore and Mabel also admired the iconic (and highly collectible) pottery, especially the wall-plates, and returned to London with some: “The walls are surrounded by plates and jugs for household use. Once upon a time these utensils consisted of Lindos ware, but now these have all found their way to the museums and drawing-rooms of Europe. The greatest feature of a peasant’s house is the decoration of the wall opposite the door as you enter…” (ibid. p.302).
An I.C.A.R.O. ceramic plaque on a building in Rhodes town (XI E.F. being 1933, 9th year of Fascist Era). Presumably Huber’s work or supervised by him.
One of the great potters in Durrell’s day was the enigmatic I.C.A.R.O director, Egon Huber; Marine Venus is glazed with undisguised admiration for him. His story is little known, and, while awaiting the Solomonesque ruling of some Wikipedia judge, we can shed a little light on him: he well merits it.
Our subject
Egon Huber at his wheel on Rhodes (undated).
Egon Huber (1905-1960), was an Austrian designer, ceramicist, sculptor, installation artist, and philhellene. He is best known for his association with the Industria Ceramiche Artistiche Rodio Orientali (I.C.A.R.O.) company, on the island of Rhodes, in the 1930s and 1940s.
“Egon Huber, an Austrian potter who has lived here for some fifteen years and has been responsible for much of the lovely Icarus pottery turned out during the Italian dispensation.” (writes Lawrence Durrell)
Huber’s designs for a set of ceramic figurines dressed in Dodecanesian costumes (Benaki Museum, Athens)
Huber was born in Bregenz, Austria, in 1905, spending his early years in Salzburg. As a boy he was multi-talented, interested in all the arts, photography, and music (he played the guitar and violin). He expressed a desire early on to become a painter and sculptor and secured a place after the First World War at the University of Vienna, where he added ceramic arts to his studies. After university Huber lectured at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. note 1 Huber early work? Man with dog; central figure from a plate; reaper with scythe (see www.dorotheum.com).
There are, possibly, early examples of Huber’s ceramics produced for Austrian and German companies in the early 1920s (e.g. the Keramische Schule Schleiss), although there seems to be some confusion with one Ernst Huber, a painter of the time. There is a naivete and sense of humour in the work, as well as technical and colouristic clues, that make one want to see in the pieces echoes of what will appear in the 1930s for Huber’s ICARO RODI designs, in particular his mini-statuettes of costumed figures associated with the Dodecanese, a set of which is today in the Benaki Museum, Athens. They are now rare and much sought-after things.
The Eastern Mediterranean
By his late twenties, seeking a more creative and artistically fulfilling life, he embarked on a solo journey in a dinghy from Vienna (or Venice according to Lawrence Durrell, who comes to know Huber well in the 1940s), via the Danube, the Black Sea, and the Turkish littoral, to Egypt. This odyssey was cut short in 1931, however, when Huber met with a violent storm off the island of Symi that blew him across the strait to the island of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, at that time in the hands of the Italians. note 1 note 2 He immediately formed an attachment to the island and it became his home for the next twenty-five years – an equanimitable personality enabling him to cope with Greeks, Italians, Germans, and British alike during his long residence.
‘Industria Ceramiche Artistiche Rodio Orientali’ (I.C.A.R.O.)
At the bottom of the Street of Knights in Rhodes’ Old Town is the former ICARO showroom where Huber worked. On the wall is a scene of ceramic tiles, possibly made by Huber himself. The text is fantasy, but lovely: “La bella Martana de mastro de Lindo che danza ne piatti et susta et rispetto/ La bella Martana piliera de pinto Regina de putti sultana neu chetto/ Tra fiori tra fiere boccali et bicchieri Martana Martana Regina et Sultana”.
In early 1928, an Italian pottery company ‘Industria Ceramiche Artistiche Rodio Orientali’ (I.C.A.R.O.) had been founded on Rhodes, as part of the administration’s plan to industrialise the Dodecanese islands, to produce and market a range of pottery for export generally and to sell to the growing number of European tourists. note 3 The business model was a sound one, based on regenerating the early designs, many of Iznik/Syrian/Levantine origin, that had been made so popular by the ateliers of Lindos and Archangelos, on Rhodes’ southern coast, since medieval times. Hearing of Huber’s background in ceramics, a meeting took place with I.C.A.R.O. director Alfred Biliotti, who offered the Austrian a position as ceramic designer. note 1 The creative team included two Italians, Luigi de Lerma and Dario Poppi, note 4 and, briefly, the German potter Günther Stüdemann. note 5 Huber’s imagination, creative, distinctive designs, line and use of colour made him a key figure in I.C.A.R.O.’s initial phase (1928 – c. 1942) and he was appointed its first artistic director. note 1 It seems clear that Huber was a gifted linguist – German, Greek, Italian, English….
Friendship with Lawrence Durrell
The ancient city of Kamiros, Rhodes. A plate from Durrell’s ‘Reflections on a Marine Venus’ (1953 edn, facing p.112).
For a portrait of the artist, there are many references to Huber in Durrell’s Reflections on a Marine Venus (1953). Durrell was stationed on Rhodes as Information Officer for two years when the Dodecanese were under British Administration (1945-1947). The English writer describes Huber as “a born solitary, tall, fair-haired… one of the aristocrats of the spirit — the poor artist who wishes for nothing but a chance to create.” note 2 The melancholy tone is appropriate, the war has effectively brought an abrupt end to the heady days of I.C.A.R.O.’s first, and best, period. Huber now spends his time beach-combing, note 2 and fishing. note 6 There was time, too, to make gifts for Durrell’s tiny home (a stone’s throw from the Casino, it still stands) – two white vases: “I remember so vividly the thump of the clay on the wheel, and the gradual emergence of their fine stems under the broad thumbs of Egon Huber”. note 7 There exists a classic black-and-white photograph of Huber at his wheel. note 8 note 9 The title of Durrell’s book on Rhodes even has an association with Huber, who was apparently present when the eponymous ‘Marine Venus’ was buried, in late 1942, to keep it out of the hands of the approaching Germans. note 10 Rhodian acquaintance of Huber’s, the writer Andonis Vratsalis (1921-1986) (‘Rodiaki’ 2021).
Durrell’s portrait of Huber differs from that of a first-hand account of the artist by Rhodian resident Andonis Vratsalis, which is included in the latter’s ‘biography’ of the district of Niochori, Rhodes, an area luckily still retaining a little of its charm, where both Huber and Durrell chose, happily, to live. (Incidentally, Theodore and Mabel Bent also spent a week there in 1885. It was traditionally a quarter for European visitors, who, of course, at that time were not allowed to stay overnight within the walls of the Old Town. No bad idea.)
Vratsalis writes: “One morning in 1930, a tall handsome man with two more seafaring Austrians, who were making their way around the world by sail and by oar, were pushed ashore by the waves in the small harbour of Mandraki in a narrow little dugout boat. His name was Egon Hubert [sic]. And he came ashore to explore the island with his companions. But he, ever the romantic painter and ceramicist, took a liking to the place and the people, enough that he abandoned his seafaring adventure and remained on the island to paint…” (kindly translated for us from the Greek by Savvas Pavlidis, from Αντώνης Βρατσάλης (1921-1986) “Νιοχωρίτικα”, Rhodes, 1990, pp. 230-231)
Huber would have been a regular presence in the everyday life of Vratsalis, who was about ten when the talented potter arrived in his canoe from the Turkish littoral opposite, and 25 or so at the time of Huber’s friendship with Durrell.
A tile year plaque on the side of a building in Ethnarchou Makariou St, Rhodes town – 1935, with 5695 above, the equivalent in Hebrew numerals; the building presumably belonged to a prominent local Jewish family.
Metamorphosis and IKAROS
Huber’s windmill, Rhodes town. “Huber lives now in a little Martello tower much ruined by damp and neglect… No word of complaint ever passes his lips, however, for he is one of the aristocrats of the spirit….” (L. Durrell, ‘Reflections on a Marine Venus’, 1953, p.43) (photo = Travel.gr).
The German occupation of the Dodecanese, and the duration of the Second World War, ushered in a second, much less productive phase for the ceramics firm, with Huber being obliged to focus less on I.C.A.R.O. and more on designing propaganda material. note 11 By this time, the artist was living in one of the medieval windmills that cluster around the windy northern point of Rhodes town. Durrell calls it “a little Martello tower much ruined by damp and neglect. How he avoided having to join the German Army is a miracle… He works in desultory fashion at the ruined workshop outside the town where in the past this world-famous pottery brought him tourists in their thousands and where shortage of clay has reduced him to poverty.” note 2 A frieze on a property in the Old Town of Rhodes associated with the early years of I.C.A.R.O. An astonishing relic. There is every reason to believe that Egon Huber was involved in its design.ICARO were commissioned to produce a series of plaques for the Guardia di Finanza buildings around the Dodecanese. This one is from Rhodes Old Town and bears the crest of the House of Savoy and the motto FERT. The ‘E.A. IX’ (bottom right) signifies 1931 (9th year of the Fascist Era) and so the work may just have had some input by Huber, who arrival on the island that year. (See Dasakli 2024: 496-511 and ‘Gallery’ below) (photo: The Bent Archive).
When the Italian colonists ceded Rhodes, and the Dodecanese, to Greece officially in 1947, the assets of I.C.A.R.O. were acquired by a Rhodian entrepreneur, who neatly rebadged the new Greek company as IKAROS, and it continued to produce decorative and popular ceramics until 1988. note 11 The metamorphosed pottery enterprise lasted exactly 60 years, and the output from the firm’s first phase is now widely collected worldwide, based much on the creative energy and imagination of Egon Huber. note 12
Marriage and later life
An IKAROS wall plaque for gynaecologist Dr A.A. Karagiannis, Rhodes.
Huber, meanwhile, was tempted away from his old firm in 1947 to head up a rival company on Rhodes, in Rodini, on the main road to Lindos, and an offshoot of the large Athenian ceramics manufacturer – Kerameikos S.A. note 13 While arranging this in Athens, Huber, now in his forties, met a chemistry student, Elpida Bianchini, who was working as a colour specialist in the Kerameikos factory at Neo Phaliro. note 14 Elpida came to Rhodes as Huber’s wife and the couple had a daughter. Huber was to run “Kerameikos – To Rodini” from 1947 until the factory closed some eight years later. note 14 The I.C.A.R.O. ceramic frieze for the offices of Ροδιακή Λέσχη, Mandraki, Rhodes.
Huber now found himself out of work and with no option but to leave Rhodes, much changed since he had found himself washed ashore there in 1931. He and his family moved to Athens, where he was taken on as a painter in the main Kerameikos factory, near which he lived. note 14 One of Huber’s masterpieces, the large ceramic representation of an extract from ‘De Bello Rhodio’ by Jacobo Fontano (Book 2, 1527), telling the story of one Anastasia of Rhodes, who, her husband having perished, chose to join the defenders of the city and fight the Turkish invaders to the death in the great siege of 1522. The tragedy is compounded by her decision to slay her own children rather than that they should be taken as slaves. Huber’s work can be seen set into the left wall just as you enter the precincts of the Palace of the Grand Masters, in the Medieval City of Rhodes, a fitting place for this memorial to courage against great odds (see Ioannidis 2017, p 101).
These changes, and the fact that he had lost his own creative bearings, as well as having to provide for his family, eventually led to something of a crisis that saw Huber resigning and temporarily moving back to Vienna in 1956, to stay with his sister, while he searched for some artistic meaning in his life; he was 51.
“Venus von Krieau” by Rudolf Hoflehner (1964, height 2.20 m; Faculty of Biology, the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau) (Joergens.mi/Wikipedia).
There he began to find inspiration in modernist sculpture and installation art, collaborating with an old friend, the sculptor Rudolf Hoflehner (1916-1995). note 15 (Hoflehner spent 6 months travelling in Greece in the mid 1950s, presumably spending time with the Hubers.) With a new sense of direction, Huber returned to Athens, and a break seemed to come in 1960 when he and Hoflehner were commissioned to represent Austria at the Venice Biennale that Autumn. Huber busied himself preparing a series of large pieces in stone and iron (a look at Hoflehner’s work might give a clue as to what Huber was designing), but he was not to complete them, he died that summer in Athens, aged just 55. note 14 Huber was replaced at the Biennale by the painter Max Weiler, the event turning out to be a success for the artists, who went on from there to further establish their reputations. We can assume that Huber would have shared in this success.
Huber’s work and legacy
Thought to be by Huber himself, the ubiquitous ceramic tile representation of the famous Virgin of Filerimos.
Rare examples of Huber’s early work are to be found today in the Benaki Museum, Athens and in private collections. He specialised in scenes composed of ceramic tiles, his influence being seen in his icon of the Virgin of Filerimos, the several decorative plaques for the port authorities and administration buildings of the region, and the amusing tile illustration of the doggerel ‘La bella Martana, De Mastro De Lindo’, preserved today in the small courtyard behind I.C.A.R.O.’s former showroom at the bottom of the Street of Knights in Rhodes’ Old Town. note 16 Numerous other decorative pieces are still to be seen, including his beautiful ‘Garden of Eden’ for a private client.
Huber’s work featured in the exhibition “ICARO – ΙΚΑΡΟΣ The Factory of Rhodes 1928-1988” in 2017 in Athens note 17 and 2018 on Rhodes. note 18 note 19
Huber’s work continues to inspire modern ceramicists, e.g. the 2023 event “Here is Rhodes”: The first exhibition of Gallerie ICARO CAGA at space52, with 14 contemporary artists invited to take a fresh look at the ceramics of the Ikaros pottery in Rhodes and, by studying the designs from the original, utilise them in new creations.
Huber’s 1935 design for map/poster of Rhodes for the Italian State Tourist Department.
In 1935 Huber also designed a highly decorative pictorial colour map/poster (69 x 49 cm) of Rhodes for the Italian State Tourist Department (ENIT), promoting his island and its legends, history and traditions. note 11 The composition is dominated, as might be expected, by Huber’s interpretation of the Colossus.
Could these be Huber’s pebble mosaics? Within the grounds of the former ceramics factory at Rodini (photo = Travel.gr).
Recently, the Conservation Department of the Service of Modern Monuments and Technical Works of the Dodecanese (Rhodes) – Hellenic Ministry of Culture, has identified some mosaics from within the grounds of the former ‘Kerameikos – To Rodini’ factory (now a secondary school), where Huber was manager, as bearing the hallmarks of his work. This is unquestionably the most significant recent addition to the Huber corpus.
We would be delighted to hear from you if you have any further information on Egon Huber you would care to share.
Ceramic frieze in the ‘Lindos House’, La Mostra d’Oltremare e Fuorigrotta, Naples (photo: Marco Ciotola (detail)).
The Pavilion of the Italian Aegean Islands (the ‘Rhodes Pavilion’) was designed in 1938 by the Roman architect Giovanni Battista Ceas for the Geographical section of the Mostra d’Oltremare to celebrate the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese archipelago in May 1912. It contains a fine array of ceramic tiles of Iznik design (now much defaced) in a section referred to as the ‘Lindos House’. It is hard to think that Huber would not have made some contribution, or was unaware of the project.
A coda
Detail from Huber’s unique tile assembly for a private client, “The Garden of Eden”, early 1950s (eculture.gr).
In his great book on Rhodes, Durrell glazes a vase of his own, decorating it with the sense of his little house in the Turkish cemetery, the Villa Cleobolus: “The silence seems saturated with a thousand forgotten essences: contained and held, somehow, in the bright peasant carpet, the crude warm pottery of Rhodes on which Huber has traced so lovingly these dancing figures…” (Reflections on a Marine Venus, p.54). Huber has made Durrell and Eve a house-warming present. And a few years later Durrell remembers it in a poem: “Bring joy, as lustrous on this dish / The painted dancers motionless in play / Spin for eternity, describing for us all / The natural history of the human wish.” (‘In the Garden: Villa Cleobolus’, from Collected Poems, 1931-1974. London, 1980, p. 58). There is every chance Huber’s presents to Durrell and Eve Cohen survive.
Ioannidis, Yiannos (2017). ICARO – IKAROS The Pottery Factory of Rhodes, 1928-1988: 99-101 (in Greek). The Benaki Museum, Athens.
Ioannidis, Yiannos (2019). I.C.A.R.O. – IKAROS: the pottery factory of Rhodes (1928-1988), in M. Panagiotaki, I. Tomazos and F. Papadimitrakopoulos (eds): Cutting-edge Technologies in Ancient Greece: Materials Science applied to Cutting-edge technologies in ancient Greece: materials science applied to trace ancient technologies in the Aegean world: proceedings of two conferences held in Rhodes, 12–14 January 2018 and 11–13 January 2019: 153–160. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Nektaria Dasakli (2024), Η συντήρηση και αποκατάσταση των θυρεών και των κεραμικών συνθέσεων που κοσμούν τις όψεις του Επαρχείου Καλύμνου (πρώην Ιταλικό Διοικητήριο) [The conservation and restoration of the coats of arms and ceramic compositions that adorn the facades of the Kalymnos Eparchy (former Italian Command)], in Vol. 30 of the Dodecanese Chronicles, 2024 (496-511).
[All websites accessed 22/11/2022 and after]
In the style of Egon Huber, if not by him, a fine, early tile on a house gate in Rhodes town; the subject is probably St George, but the mythical combat of the Rhodian knight of St John, Dieudonne De Gozon, and his fight with the dragon is also referenced (photo: The Bent Archive).
Gallery
Other ceramics most probably by ICARO, IKAROS, Kerameikos – To Rodini. It is hard not to look for, or see, the influence of Egon Huber in these fine examples of the potter’s art.
ICARO were possibly commissioned to produce a series of wall plaques, for the port authorities on various islands of the Dodecanese. This one is from Karpathos – disfigured due to anti-colonial sentiment (see Dasakli 2024: 496-511; photo: Alan King).
Kalymnos has two beautiful ones, one set in a tile surround. The ‘E.A. IX’ (bottom right) signifies 1931 (9th year of the Fascist Era) and so the work may just have had some input by Huber, who arrival on the island that year (see Dasakli 2024: 496-511; photo: The Bent Archive).
Leros has a complete one, as well as another produced for the Municipality (as shown on the cover of ‘Portolago’ published by ETP Books).
The exquisite tile sequence above the entrance to Agias Anastasias (Church of St Anastasia) in the Marasia, outside the city walls of Rhodes. The inscription includes the word ‘Pharmacist’, indicating the Saint’s powers as a healer.
The date (bottom left) is 1953 and the factory remains untraced for the moment. Egon Huber was working at ‘Rodini’ at the time, and the free flowing lines of the foliage, almost playful, are redolent of his hand. Note the crass way the tops of the tiles have been painted over.
“Small but big enough for me” ICARO tiles on 1933 Italian house in Rhodes town near the old hospital (2022, The Bent Archive).
Italian-era, blue-glaze ceramic lettering on the entrance to Kalithea thermal springs, Kalithea, Rhodes (RR. Terme di Calitea. The meaning of RR here is rather a mystery – perhaps to be translated as ‘Royal Rhodes’ [‘Regio Rodi’]?) (2022, The Bent Archive).The Italian administration on Rhodes reconstructed the Byzantine/Medieval ecclesiastical remains on Filerimos hill into a Catholic monastery in the 1920s, commissioning later the ICARO ceramics company to produce a series of tiles to identify thirteen cells within the cloister. Sadly only two of these are in situ today, the others being stolen or broken: who knows how long these last ones will surprise visitors. After the war the church reverted to its Orthodox roots and less than memorable mosaics were stuck up, it seems destroying one of the tiles (The Bent Archive).
‘Non tibi sit grave dicere Mater Ave’/To say one Hail Mary is no burden’. (The Bent Archive 2022)
ICARO tiles (c. 1930) above an entrance to the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Victory (also known as ‘Sancta Maria’) in the central district of Neohori, Rhodes town. ‘Non tibi sit grave dicere Mater Ave’/ ‘To say one Hail Mary is no burden’. The elegant lettering extending from one tile to another; the emblematic Rhodian double hibiscus focusing the mind on the message.
Some antique house tiles in Rhodes town (5/02/2023), continuing the style and tradition of Icaro, and Egon Huber and his associates (The Bent Archive).
Some antique house tiles in Rhodes town (5/02/2023), continuing the style and tradition of Icaro, and Egon Huber and his associates. The cruder numbering suggests later changes.
A name tile, ‘Yusuf Soyal’, from a street in Rhodes town, Rhodes, Greece (photo: The Bent Archive).
Copies of some of the ICARO and Turkish (?) tiles on the façade of the significant 1930s’ property on the corner of 28 October and Griva, Rhodes town, Rhodes, Greece. The villa’s interior was also once extensively tiled, one hears. The originals are believed lost.
Copies of some of the ICARO and Turkish (?) tiles on the façade of the significant 1930s’ property on the corner of 28 October and Griva, Rhodes town, Rhodes, Greece. The villa’s interior was also once extensively tiled, one hears. The originals are believed lost.
Map from P. Morant’s ‘The history and antiquities of the County of Essex’ (London, 1768).
The aim of this short series of posts on the Essex homes (essentially northern Greater London, England) of Mabel’s kin – on her father’s side – is to give a quick look at the open spaces and sorts of landscapes that Mabel Bent (nee Hall-Dare) would have enjoyed as a young woman on the eastern shores of the Irish Sea, predisposing her to an adventurous, outdoor life – horses everywhere, rivers, forests, walks, new rail links, not to mention the travelling involved in getting up to Dublin from Co. Wexford and then across the sea to London (there were rented properties in ‘Town’ too of course), for stays in Essex before, for example, spending the long summers touring Europe with her siblings. Indeed, she was to meet her husband-to-be, Theodore Bent, in Norway on one such tour (although we still don’t know when, where, how, and why).
The Essex properties, lands, and churches featured include: (1) ‘Fitzwalters‘, (2) ‘East Hall’, (3) ‘Ilford Lodge‘, (4) ‘Cranbrook‘, (5) ‘Wyfields‘, ‘Theydon Bois’, and others, all with links in one way or another with Mabel Bent,
No. 2: East Hall – Wennington, near Rainham, Essex, UK.
East Hall (Ordnance, Kent Sheet III, Surveyed: 1862 to 1866, Published: 1869 to 1875).
Although Mabel Bent never knew the eccentric and stylish Hall-Dare residence of Fitzwalters (see No. 1 in this series), the estate (c. 700 acres, c. 300 hectares) at Wennington, East Hall, near Rainham on the Thames, was extremely familiar to her and her immediate kin: indeed, in her obituary in the Paris Times of 5th July 1929 her birthplace is given (incorrectly) as Wennington.
The layout of East Hall at the end of the 19th century (Ordnance Survey, Essex (1st Ed/Rev 1862-96) LXXXII.4. Revised: 1895, Published: 1897).
Wennington manor became linked to Mabel’s forebears (together with their Theydon Bois lands) via a series of late 18th-century marriages, and remained a Hall-Dare site in a direct line from Mabel’s grandfather and father, and then down through her brother and nephew – until it was disposed of in the early 20th century. (The place is not to be confused with the old East Hall of Dagenham Manor.) The manors of Wennington and Theydon Bois represented the bulk of the amalgamated families’ English holdings. Mabel’s brother Robert, although based in Ireland, took his stewardship of his Essex lands seriously and there are several references in his diary to visits there; his early death from typhoid in Rome in 1876 had a significant impact on the future development of the family’s land assets. The name East Hall remained on large-scale maps into the 1950s.
The blue arrow shows the site of East Hall (Ordnance, Kent Sheet III, Surveyed: 1862 to 1866, Published: 1869 to 1875).
Unfortunately, a description of the East Hall mansion itself (possibly on an earlier site) has eluded us to date, but it is hoped one will surface – at least the outline on the Ordnance Survey maps of the period gives a good idea of its scale and scope, just to the west of the small village and its only surviving medieval building, the church of St Mary and St Peter, which would have welcomed Mabel on the Sundays she stayed in her father’s house – coming down from town on the new railway line.
St Mary & St Peter, Wennington. Possibly the only building that Mabel Bent would recognize today. (Wikipedia)
Those wishing to see how the manor came to be in the possession of Mabel’s father should see the detailed entry: ‘Wennington‘, in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7, ed. W R Powell (London, 1978), pp. 180-190. (The Tithe Award Place-names of Wennington by Parcel Number reveal the extent of the families holdings (under Dare there are 268 references for 1839).)
The sad fate of East Hall today (Google Maps).
All that remains of the estate today are memories, the area has been devastated by modern quarry workings and is a sorry sight on Google Maps; perhaps the murder that occurred on the farm there in 1910 presaged its fate. Ironically, the modern-era desecration has revealed on the land a history going back to the Palaeolithic – archaeology to some degree was never far from Mabel and outlined her future by her husband’s side; she was born on the Boyne, not so very far from the Hill of Tara in the Celtic twilight.
Actually, there is one further souvenir – close to the turning to East Hall Lane you can find Halldare Cottage. A dwelling is marked there on the early maps, so presumably it had an association with East Hall and Mabel Bent’s family; it is a serendipitous survival.
Of course Mabel was fortunate in that her family (on both sides) were landed (obviously) and comfortably off. Mabel’s paternal grandfather was the first of the Robert Westley Hall-Dares proper, an astute, baronial, figure who sat at the head of a coalition of wealthy and influential Essex families (Halls, Dares, Graftons, Mildmays, Kings, to name but a few), garnering in with him two major estates (Theydon Bois and Wennington) and various other demesnes, farms, and assorted dwellings, large and small. His wealth and assets were based on rents, farming, ventures, deals, and investments – including a sugar plantation in what is today British Guyana. This plantation, ‘Maria’s Pleasure‘, still retains its name, although it was disposed of after Mabel’s father, to whom the sugar estate had been left, received his compensation for the emancipation of around 300 slaves after Abolition (worth the equivalent of several millions of pounds now).
Robert Westley Hall-Dare the first (1789-1836), the Member of Parliament for South Essex from 1832 until his death, rubbed shoulders with the great and the good, not to mention London Society, but it was his son Robert Westley Hall-Dare the second (1817-1866) who actually married into (minor) aristocracy with his marriage to Frances, daughter of Gustavus Lambart of Beauparc, Co. Meath – Mabel (b. 1847) was one of their daughters.
Mabel was thus free to travel; her husband was the perfect fit; they were never slowed down by children. But if anyone should say to you, ‘Ah, but Mabel never worked’, then they don’t know what they are talking about: few women of her class would have sweated more, from Aksum to Great Zimbabwe.
Map from P. Morant’s ‘The history and antiquities of the County of Essex’ (London, 1768).
The aim of this short series of posts on the Essex homes (essentially northern Greater London, England) of Mabel’s kin – on her father’s side – is to give a quick look at the open spaces and sorts of landscapes that Mabel Bent (nee Hall-Dare) would have enjoyed as a young woman on the eastern shores of the Irish Sea, predisposing her to an adventurous, outdoor life – horses everywhere, rivers, forests, walks, new rail links, not to mention the travelling involved in getting up to Dublin from Co. Wexford and then across the sea to London (there were rented properties in ‘Town’ too of course), for stays in Essex before, for example, spending the long summers touring Europe with her siblings. Indeed, she was to meet her husband-to-be, Theodore Bent, in Norway on one such tour (although we still don’t know when, where, how, and why).
The Essex properties, lands, and churches featured will include: (1) ‘Fitzwalters’, (2) ‘East Hall‘, (3) ‘Ilford Lodge‘, (4) ‘Cranbrook‘, (5) ‘Wyfields‘, ‘Theydon Bois’, and others, all with links in one way or another with Mabel Bent.
No. 1: Fitzwalters, near Mountnessing, Essex, UK.
Of all the County Essex (England) properties owned or leased by Mabel Bent’s paternal connections, the Hall-Dares, Fitzwalters (west of Mountnessing, 51.650724, 0.336264) was perhaps the most outstanding, and certainly the most distinctive. The house and estate seem to have come into the possession of the Halls before 1820, on the death of Robert Hall’s friend Thomas Wright, a City banker, and was a favourite residence of Mabel’s father, Robert Westley Hall-Dare (1817-1866), who went on giving Fitzwalters as his address, even though the delightful mansion itself was destroyed by fire on the night of 24th March 1839 and never rebuilt. It seems the lands, with its several farms, were disposed of before 1860, when RHD was focusing on the rebuilding of his grand Irish home, Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford.
Fitzwalters (detail of house) before 1820, from Thomas Cromwell’s ‘Excursions through Essex’, Vol. 1, London 1819, facing page 126.
A piece in The Gardeners Magazine and Register of Rural and Domestic Improvement (Vol. 15, May 1839, Art. V. ‘Queries and Answers’, p. 303) provides an excellent introduction to this lost architectural masterpiece: “Fitzwalters, known also by the name of the Round House, was opposite the nine-mile stone of the London road, in the parish of Shinfield [Shenfield, Essex]. In 1301 the estate was the property of Robert Earl of Fitzwalter. The mansion, now destroyed, was built by Mr. John Morecroft, in the 17th century, after an Italian Model, and was an object of general observation and curiosity, being of an octagon form. Notwithstanding this singular shape each floor contained four square rooms; the centre of the house was occupied by the chimnies [sic]; and staircases filled up two of the intervening spaces between the square rooms, while the remainder formed small triangular apartments, devoted to dressing-rooms, closets, &c. The interior was built chiefly of timber, the girders being of very large dimensions. Fitzwalters was many years the property and country residence of Mr. T. Wright [died 1818], the banker, of Henrietta Street, of whose representatives the late Mr. Hall, grandfather of the present possessor [Robert Westley Hall-Dare, Mabel Bent’s father] purchased the property. (Chelmsford Chronicle, as quoted in the Times, March 30th, 1839)”
Fitzwalters on OS Essex Sheet LIX,
surveyed: 1871 to 1873, published: 1881.
J.H. Brady’s ‘pocket guide’ of 1838 provides details from before the catastrophic fire: “FITZWALTERS, an ancient manorial estate in Essex, in the parish of Shenfield, one mile from the church of that place, north-west from the road between Ingatestone and Brentwood. This is supposed to have been, in 1301, the property of Lord Robert Fitzwalter (whence the name of the manor), and it was held, in 1363, by Joan, his widow, of the king in capite, by the service of supplying a pair of gilt spurs at the coronation. About 1400, it became the possession of the Knyvett family, and subsequently of John Morecroft, Esq., who erected the house, after what is stated to be an Italian model. The building is on low ground, and being of an octangular form, with the chimneys rising in the centre, has a very singular appearance. It has a piece of water in front, with a neat fancy bridge, and toward the road are two porter’s lodges. After Mr. Morecroft’s death, the manor was enjoyed successively by several families. It is now the residence of J. Tasker, Esq., but the property, we believe, of Robt. W. Hall Dare, Esq.” (J.H. Brady, A new pocket guide to London and its environs, London, 1838, pp. 262-263)
[Coming shortly (Nov. 2022) – No. 2: East Hall, Wennington]
The back story
Of course Mabel was fortunate in that her family (on both sides) were landed (obviously) and comfortably off. Mabel’s paternal grandfather was the first of the Robert Westley Hall-Dares proper, an astute, baronial, figure who sat at the head of a coalition of wealthy and influential Essex families (Halls, Dares, Graftons, Mildmays, Kings, to name but a few), garnering in with him two major estates (Theydon Bois and Wennington) and various other demesnes, farms, and assorted dwellings, large and small. His wealth and assets were based on rents, farming, ventures, deals, and investments – including a sugar plantation in what is today British Guyana. This plantation, ‘Maria’s Pleasure‘, still retains its name, although it was disposed of after Mabel’s father, to whom the sugar estate had been left, received his compensation for the emancipation of around 300 slaves after Abolition (worth the equivalent of several millions of pounds now).
Robert Westley Hall-Dare the first (1789-1836), the Member of Parliament for South Essex from 1832 until his death, rubbed shoulders with the great and the good, not to mention London Society, but it was his son Robert Westley Hall-Dare the second (1817-1866) who actually married into (minor) aristocracy with his marriage to Frances, daughter of Gustavus Lambart of Beauparc, Co. Meath – Mabel (b. 1847) was one of their daughters.
Mabel was thus free to travel; her husband was the perfect fit; they were never slowed down by children. But if anyone should say to you, ‘Ah, but Mabel never worked’, then they don’t know what they are talking about: few women of her class would have sweated more, from Aksum to Great Zimbabwe.
St Margaret’s Church, Barking, London ((c) Bob Speel).
Bob Speel’s labour-of-love website, British Sculpture & Church Monuments (“… mostly about sculpture, mostly in England, mostly Victorian and Edwardian, and lots of church monuments. It is simply intended for those interested in sculpture and related arts.”) is a treasure trove. One of these treasures is an entry for St Margaret’s Church, Barking, now London, previously in Essex; the Church is associated with the demolished Barking Abbey next to it.
One of the wall monuments in St Margaret’s offers visitors a chance encounter with Robert Westley Hall, Mabel Bent’s paternal great-grandfather. The memorial is a marble bust by the eminent sculptor Patrick MacDowell RA, commissioned (no doubt at great expense) by Mabel’s grandfather, Robert Westley Hall-Dare, and inscribed: “To the memory of Robert Westley Hall Esq of Ilford Lodge in this parish, who died April 13, 1834, aged 83, this monument is erected as a sincere though feeble testimony of gratitude and love, by his son Robert Westley Hall Dare.”
Mabel Bent’s great-grandfather, Robert Westley Hall’s memorial in St Margaret’s Church, Barking ((c) Bob Speel).
Bob Speel has provided this description of the memorial: “Robert Westley Hall, d.1834. White on black monument with a portrait bust on top of a casket tomb. The bust is of the proper Roman senator type, showing a late middle aged man with tightly cropped hair, prominent nose and ascetic features, with a robe over one shoulder, leaving his chest bare on the other side. Excellently carved and characterful. The bust stands on the casket, which is attached rather than in relief, and has a lid, anthemion styled acroteria to the sides, and the inscription on the front, flanked by low relief carvings of slender amphorae. It stands on blocky feet, and the whole is on a black backing cut to a broad obelisk shape. Signed by no less than Patrick MacDowell RA, London, a prominent sculptor best known for his ideal nudes and his group of Europe for the Albert Memorial, along with much portrait sculpture.”
Robert Westley Hall’s monument (detail) in St Margaret’s, Barking ((c) Bob Speel).
The Bent Archive is extremely grateful to Bob Speel for allowing us to reproduce his text and photographs of Robert Westley Hall’s memorial in St Margaret’s, Barking, London (formerly Essex).
Black & White: A Weekly Illustrated Record and Review was a British Victorian-era illustrated weekly periodical founded in 1891 by Charles Norris Williamson. For the next decade or so it competed with other publications that vied with each other to exploit the new methods of printing (black and white) images, wrapped round with semi-consequential texts by, inter alia, celebrities. There were changes in direction as the market grew tougher, and the first issue of Black & White Budget appeared in October 1899 and it continued under that name until May 1903, after which it appeared as Black & White Illustrated Budget (until June 1905). There was one final issue on 24 June 1905 under the name Illustrated Budget. In 1912, it was incorporated with The Sphere and then disappeared. Ultimately it could not compete with the better-financed and more substantial organs, i.e. Illustrated London News, and The Graphic (to both of which Theodore Bent regularly contributed).
An image of Theodore Bent from the studios of society-photographers Elliot & Fry, probably taken in the early 1890s when Bent was in his late 30s.
But returning to its launch enthusiasm, we read in The Freeman’s Journal of Wednesday, 4 January 1891, that: “At the offices of Black and White [sic], the new weekly illustrated paper which is to appear in February, a large reception was held on Monday night [2 January 1891]. The offices are at the corner of Fleet Street and Bouverie Street. The guests were received by Mr. C.N. Williamson, the managing editor, and Mr. Spielman, the art editor, was also to the fore. Among those present were… Mr. Jerome K. Jerome [he of Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) fame (1889)]… and Mr. and Mrs Theodore Bent…”
In all, Bent had three articles published in Black & White:
At some time before the reception referred to above, Bent must have been signed up to contribute to Black & White (he would have known some of the other individuals involved with it perhaps – Oswald Crawfurd, Eden Philpotts, Arthur Mee), and the periodical boasted of him as their ‘Great Zimbabwe correspondent’. Back the previous summer (1890), the traveller was somewhat rudderless, having just returned with his devoted wife Mabel from a long tour, south-north, on horseback, of Persia, and the focus of his later research, Phoenician contacts either side of the Red Sea, had not yet become clear. Then fate took a hand in the extraordinary form of Cecil Rhodes, who part-financed Bent, for the season of 1891, to explore the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, present-day Zimbabwe. It was at this stage, feasibly, that Black & White approached Theodore to write dispatches for them (although they did not announce this until later in 1891, see below). By November 1890, preparations were in full swing, rushed and frantic, and the expedition duly set sail for Cape Town on 30 January 1891, just four weeks after the reception at the offices of Black & White.
Sir Frederic Leighton, ‘Lindos, Rhodes’, late 1860s (Google Arts & Culture).
And during all these preparations for South Africa, Bent was commissioned to pen a few hundred words or so on the famous polis of Lindos, Rhodes – a little odd as he never actually went there when the couple spent a few days on the island in early 1885. Bent’s piece must have been rattled off quickly (it probably nods to the work of others) over Christmas 1890. Black & White wanted to launch with a bang on the Arts, and there must have been some promotion (in 1890) of Royal Academy President, Sir Frederic Leighton’s striking (and hardly known at all today) illustrations of Lindos and Rhodes; Bent, known for his work in the Levant, and having published an article on Rhodes in 1885, found himself involved.
It is intriguing to think that Bent was perhaps angling for a portrait by the celebrated artist. Leighton had done a remarkable painting of another explorer, his friend Sir Richard Burton between 1872-1875, the years when Theodore Bent was studying at Oxford and thinking of his travels to come.
This Lindos/Leighton piece that he did for Black & White was divided into two instalments (an old journalistic trick) by the editors, wrapped around Leighton’s evocative pictures, and they appeared in the first issues. They are transcribed elsewhere on this site, and have probably not been much read since the 1890s; those who like Rhodes and Lindos will find them wide-ranging and valuable, if short.
“We await with interest the report of our correspondent, who, besides being a distinguished archaeologist, is also an excellent artist.” Bent’s watercolour of the ruins of Great Zimbabwe from his “The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland” (1892).
In an editorial (1 August 1891, p. 163), Black & White made an announcement with undisguised relish: “Mr. Theodore Bent, our special correspondent in Mashonaland, who is also exploring the grand, and as yet mysterious, remains at Zimbaye on behalf of several learned societies, has discovered images and pottery in the ruins which throw a new light upon their origin, and upon the nationality of the discoveries of, and settlers in, what is assumed to be the ancient land of Ophir. We await with interest the report of our correspondent, who, besides being a distinguished archaeologist, is also an excellent artist.”
In the end, Bent wrote just one article for Black & White, a rather muted one, “Pre-Mahomedan Relics – Excavations at the Great Zimbabwe” (2 April 1892), his best efforts being reserved for other publications, e.g. The Graphic. It is important, nevertheless, for some rare illustrations based on Mabel’s photographs, and is transcribed elsewhere on this site.
In the issue of 13 May 1897 (page 608), Black & White somberly concludes its relationship with the excavator of Great Zimbabwe, and much else: “Mr. Theodore Bent, the indefatigable explorer of South East Africa and Arabia, has passed in his prime at the early age of forty-four. The scenes of his wide travels embrace Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, Mashonaland, Abyssinia and Arabia, and various interesting volumes are left to attest the explorer’s learning and intrepidity.”
Lindos: The Living City of Homer I – with pictures by Sir Frederic Leighton, P.R.A., by Theodore Bent (1891)
[A little-known article, not available elsewhere digitally we believe, by Theodore Bent published in Black & White, 28 February 1891, pp. 109-10. (For some background, see after Bent’s text.)]
Frederic Leighton, ‘St Paul’s Bay, Lindos’, c. 1867.
“The illustrations before us are reproduced from studies made by Sir F. Leighton at Lindos, one of the most ancient of all Hellenic towns, the foundations of which carry us back far into those mystic ages, when early Egyptian enterprise first reached the soil of Hellas. Three mythical brothers, Ialysos, Camiros, and Lindos, divided between them the Island of Rhodes, the first halting place reached after crossing the open sea; they built three towns and called them after their own names, and long before the capital of the island came into existence, Lindos was there, carrying on her trade with Egypt. Of these three coëval towns, mentioned by Homer in one line, Lindos alone survives, thanks to its harbour and its prominent position on the eastern coast.
“As you descend the steep olive-clad hills behind Lindos on muleback, the city lies at your feet spread out as on a map. A narrow promontory there breaks into several small bays, two of which form the harbours, and the city lies between them; just the very site that those early navigators looked for, so that whichever way the wind might blow ingress and egress from one of the ports could be effected. A similar instance occurs at the town of Cnidos on the opposite coast, at the end of the Doric Chersonese, and at many a ruined site on the Ægean shores like harbours can still be seen.
Frederic Leighton “Lindos, North Harbour”, c. 1867.
“The harbour, to the north, is spacious; but despite the protection of some small islets it is very dangerous when the S.E. wind blows. Beneath the waves on a calm day, with the aid of a tin cylinder with a glass bottom – an instrument used by the fishermen of today in searching for the haunts of the sponge or the octopus – you may see the foundations of an ancient breakwater long since ruined. The harbour to the south is well sheltered by high rocks; but it is very shallow now, and only available for small craft. At the extremity of the peninsula, on an abrupt rock rising some 600 feet from the sea, now stand the massive battlements of the castle constructed on the site of the ancient Hellenic acropolis by the Knights of St. John, who, during their tenure of the island of Rhodes, held Lindos as second only to the capital in strategic importance.
“The road descends rapidly as the town is approached. It is flanked on either side by tombs of departed Greeks, rifled and overthrown centuries ago. The flat-roofed, whitewashed houses of the fishermen are tightly wedged together in the narrow valley. Most of these consist only of one large room of uniform arrangement. The family sleep on a raised wooden däis, on which at night time they unroll their mattresses. Painted trunks, spread with Oriental carpets, contain all their worldly goods. Chairs are unnecessary, for they sit cross-legged on the floor and take their meals off a circular board raised half-a-foot from the ground. A great feature of the Rhodian household is the innumerable plates hung for ornament on the walls. Twenty years ago these plates were all of the famed Rhodian pottery, but they have now mostly found their way to European bric-a-brac collectors, and willow-pattern plates and coarse French pottery supply their place.
“Lindos is the reputed home of the Rhodian ware, though direct proof is wanting. One thing is certain, that nine-tenths of the specimens extant come from here, and at the neighbouring village of Archangelos potteries are still to be found. The legend of the exiled Persian potters who worked here in the days of the knights may possibly be true.
Frederick Leighton “House Interior, Lindos”, c. 1867.
“The walls of the peasants’ houses at Lindos, are decidedly decorative, especially if they chance to have the old groined and mullion windows dating from the days of the knights, many of which buildings are still left. On festival days home-made embroideries are hung up from strings, rich in colours, and of elaborate device; the water jars, facsimiles of the amphoræ of bygone ages, contribute to the picturesqueness, and the quaint, much-prized, sacred pictures, with the ever-burning oil lamp before them, shed a holy glamour over the whole.
“In remote island towns, like Lindos, you may still find the women of the old Greek type. In Rhodes, unfortunately, of late years, they have abandoned their quaint, rich-embroidered, costumes; only on such remote islands as Astypalæa and Nisyros can these be found; but the men still adhere to their long, loose baggy trousers, their fez, their embroidered waistcoats and red shoes. On a feast-day as they dance on the flat housetops the old circular dance of the East, which Homer describes, the peasants of Lindos still afford us a living picture of the past.”
J. Theodore Bent.
[Leighton’s pictures, sketches and drawings that featured in the above original article include: – “Lindos Looking North” (page 109); “A Curiosity: A Gothic Archway” (outline sketch) (page 109); “South Harbour” (page 109); “North Harbour” (page 109); “An Interior” (page 110 ); “The True Greek Type of Woman” (page 110). NB: these titles are not necessarily Leighton’s own.]
Quickly, before taking his wife Mabel to South Africa to explore the ruins of Great Zimbabwe at the end of January 1891, Theodore Bent seems to have been persuaded by a new popular magazine, Black & White, to write two articles about the Rhodian city of Lindos, really to act as wrap-around texts for some paintings, drawings, and sketches of Lindos and Rhodes by Sir Frederic Leighton (1830-1896), the great English artist of his day and President of the Royal Academy.
It has to be said, no information has surfaced so far as to whether Bent and Leighton were friends or why such a piece should have been written, other than it was for the earliest issues of a new magazine (Bent’s piece was published over two editions), and the editors wanted to launch it with the work of ‘personalities’; the magazine was pitched as having a focus on illustrations – to compete with names such as The Graphic and The Illustrated London News.
Sadly, the quality of Leighton’s published paintings in reproduction is poor in these two original Bent pieces and they do not appear here (their titles are listed below Bent’s texts for those interesting in finding them). Replacing them are freely available versions of the popular artist’s works relating to Lindos and Rhodes, and very lovely they are.
Leighton was 37 when called in to Rhodes during a tour of the Levant in 1867. His memories of his stay in Lindos and the area of Neochori (Rhodes Town – non-Turks then could not stay within the walls of the Old Town) stayed fresh with him for the rest of his life, and he used remembered scenes as backdrops in many of his most popular works. Indications of his feelings for Rhodes appear in (1) his letters home and, (2) his diary:
1) Royal Steamer, Adriatic, 28 Nov [1867]: “My Dear Papa… I told you, I believe, in my last how much I had enjoyed and, as I hope, profited by my stay in Rhodes and Lindos… The weather, which was very beautiful at the beginning – indeed during the greater part of my stay in the Island – was not faithful to me to the end; it broke up a few days before my departure, and, to my very great regret, prevented my painting certain studies which I was very anxious to take home: on the other hand, I had opportunities of studying effects of a different nature, so that I can hardly call myself much the loser as far as my work in Rhodes was concerned.”
2) About a year later, on a subsequent trip to Egypt he writes in his diary how a sprig of basil sets him off reminiscing: “As I smell it I am assailed by pleasant memories of Lindos – ‘Lindos the beautiful’ – and Rhodes, and that marvellous blue coast across the seas, that looks as if it could enclose nothing behind its crested rocks but the Gardens of the Hesperides; and I remember those gentle, courteous Greeks of the island… and the little nosegay, a red carnation and a fragrant sprig of basil, with which they always dismiss a guest…”
As for Bent’s text – it’s hack work, cobbled together in an obvious hurry, although his easy, affable style comes through – the same style that was to make his books on Greece (1885), Zimbabwe (1892, and Ethiopia (1893) so popular.
In actual fact, there is a little conceit going on, for although Theodore and Mabel did visit Rhodes in 1885, it was only for a matter of a few days and they never sailed down to Lindos, nor made the lengthy journey there on equids. There are no references in Mabel’s diary to going further than Filerimos, and Theodore would most certainly have written of any Lindian visit in the late 1980s among his many articles on the Eastern Mediterranean. He did publish a review of their days in Rhodes town in 1885, and one or two references in it echo in his two efforts for Black & White. Other echoes sound too – from the pages of such actual visitors (their works surely known to Bent) as Tozer and Newton, and armchair scholars such as Cecil Torr. Bent, in the interests of his own art, was not averse to making things up if needs must…
Lindos: The Living City of Homer – II (With pictures by Sir Frederic Leighton, P.R.A.), by Theodore Bent (1891)
[A little-known article, not available elsewhere digitally we believe, by Theodore Bent published in Black & White, 14 March 1891, pp. 173-4. (For some background, see after Bent’s text below.)]
Frederic Leighton “Winding the Skein”, 1873-8, The view is possibly of Lindos’ North Harbour (Art Gallery of New South Wales)
“A walk round Lindos brings one face to face with the ruined architecture of many ages. A short distance from the modern village to the west is a Doric tomb of rare elegance, a large sepulchral chamber hewn in the freestone rock, with a façade showing engaged columns, upon which have been architrave, frieze and cornice, and upon that four marble altars. South of the acropolis are the seats of the ancient theatre cut in the rock, and at the foot of the cliff is another ruined temple, perhaps that of Zeus Polieus, one of the protecting deities of the place.
“It is on the acropolis itself that objects of great interest are found. Here are still to be seen traces, identified by inscriptions, of the far-famed Shrine of Athena Lindia, which stood on the cliff above the sea. Greek legend attributes the foundation of this temple to Danaos and his daughters, and the fame of its sacred relics was great in classical times. Here was kept a brazen cauldron, with a Phœnician legend on it, dedicated to the shrine by Cadmus; here was a model of a female breast in electrum, the offering of Helen on her return from Troy; and here was a copy of the ode, in letters of gold, in which Pindar immortalises the Olympic victory of the Rhodian Diagoras; in short, the reliquary of Athene Lindia was only surpassed by those of Delos or Delphi. Now all that remains of this once favoured shrine, to which merchants from Egypt and Phœnicia sent their offerings, is built into the walls of the fortress which the knights of St. John erected on the cliff.
“Everywhere in Lindos one comes across reminiscences of the knights and their Gothic architecture. The narrow streets, with arched passages over them, are very like those one sees in the capital of the island, and date from the years subsequent to the great earthquake in 1481 which destroyed all the towns in Rhodes, as can be seen from the coats-of-arms and inscriptions thereon. The arched supports were doubtless suggested by the great catastrophe; the palace of the Grand Master, the celebrated street of the knights, all suffered in like manner, and had to be restored, and everywhere the supporting arch was erected, giving a quaint and unique aspect to the streets.
Frederic Leighton, c. 1867, a view from Monte Smith, Rhodes Town, looking towards Ialysos and the hill of Philerimos.
“In Lindos and the town of Rhodes one finds lovely bits of fifteenth century Gothic, far from the legitimate home of this system. Ogival niches and flamboyant arches blend curiously with classic columns; one Christian church has columns from an ancient temple; the tombs of the Grand Masters de Julliac and de Milly are ancient Greek sarcophagi, for the knights were distinctly adaptive. For example, the sculpture of the mausoleum was utilised for the decoration of their castle at Halicarnassus, and the ruins of the temple of Athene served the same purpose at Lindos.
“There are quaint old apartments in the castle containing relics of the knights, and ornamented with landscapes in fresco with Gothic legends; over a chimney piece is sculptured the fleur de lis of France, and on the walls of the room are the arms of the order and of the Grand Master who built the castle.
“‘Our Lady of Lindos’ is the name of the modern Greek church, the lineal descendant of Athene Lindia. It has an elaborately carved screen to shut off the Holy of Holies from the vulgar gaze, and is rich in quaint frescos and much-kissed pictures, showy though tawdry, as every Greek Church is, and on its bell tower is the coat of arms of the Grand Master who built it, proving that the Catholic Knights maintained pleasant relations with their Greek subjects. After the memorable siege and fall of Rhodes in 1522, every Catholic left the island, 4,000 in all, and their convents and churches were converted into mosques for the conquerors. Now in Lindos not a single Catholic is to be found, and comparatively few in the European quarter or Neomarash, just outside the walls of the capital, for no Christian is allowed to reside within.
Frederic Leighton “Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles by the Sea“, 1871 The scene is the beach of Rhodes Town, looking over towards the Turkish coast – the Bents sailed these straits several times. (The Pérez Simón Collection, Mexico)
“There are more Turks in Rhodes than in most Greek islands, it being a favourite place of banishment for political exiles, and, of an afternoon, veiled Turkish ladies may be seen walking to and fro near the windmill on the sandy spit busily engaged in picking up black and white pebbles. Every house and courtyard in Rhodes is paved with these, and once the islanders drove a thriving trade by exporting them to Egypt.
“Each veiled lady owns a pile of stones – day by day she adds to it; and from her happy hunting ground she might enjoy, if she were so inclined, lovely views of the lofty mountains of Caria jutting out in finger-like peninsulas into the Ægean Sea not twenty miles away.
J. Theodore Bent.
[Leighton’s pictures, sketches and drawings that featured in the above original article include: – “Street of the Knights” (page 173); “Street in Rhodes” (page 173); “The Acropolis” (page 173; “Marash” [page 173 ]; “Arched Street” (page 174). NB: theses titles are not necessarily Leighton’s own.]
Quickly, before taking his wife Mabel to South Africa to explore the ruins of Great Zimbabwe at the end of January 1891, Theodore Bent seems to have been persuaded by a new popular magazine, Black & White, to write two articles about the Rhodian city of Lindos, really to act as wrap-around texts for some paintings, drawings, and sketches of Lindos and Rhodes by Sir Frederic Leighton (1830-1896), the great English artist of his day and President of the Royal Academy.
It has to be said, no information has surfaced so far as to whether Bent and Leighton were friends or why such a piece should have been written, other than it was for the earliest issues of a new magazine (Bent’s piece was published over two editions), and the editors wanted to launch it with the work of ‘personalities’; the magazine was pitched as having a focus on illustrations – to compete with names such as The Graphic and The Illustrated London News.
Sadly, the quality of Leighton’s published paintings in reproduction is poor in these two original Bent pieces and they do not appear here (their titles are listed below Bent’s texts for those interesting in finding them). Replacing them are freely available versions of the popular artist’s works relating to Lindos and Rhodes, and very lovely they are.
Leighton was 37 when called in to Rhodes during a tour of the Levant in 1867. His memories of his stay in Lindos and the area of Neochori (Rhodes Town – non-Turks then could not stay within the walls of the Old Town) stayed fresh with him for the rest of his life, and he used remembered scenes as backdrops in many of his most popular works. Indications of his feelings for Rhodes appear in (1) his letters home and, (2) his diary:
1) Royal Steamer, Adriatic, 28 Nov [1867]: “My Dear Papa… I told you, I believe, in my last how much I had enjoyed and, as I hope, profited by my stay in Rhodes and Lindos… The weather, which was very beautiful at the beginning – indeed during the greater part of my stay in the Island – was not faithful to me to the end; it broke up a few days before my departure, and, to my very great regret, prevented my painting certain studies which I was very anxious to take home: on the other hand, I had opportunities of studying effects of a different nature, so that I can hardly call myself much the loser as far as my work in Rhodes was concerned.”
2) About a year later, on a subsequent trip to Egypt he writes in his diary how a sprig of basil sets him off reminiscing: “As I smell it I am assailed by pleasant memories of Lindos – ‘Lindos the beautiful’ – and Rhodes, and that marvellous blue coast across the seas, that looks as if it could enclose nothing behind its crested rocks but the Gardens of the Hesperides; and I remember those gentle, courteous Greeks of the island… and the little nosegay, a red carnation and a fragrant sprig of basil, with which they always dismiss a guest…”
As for Bent’s text – it’s hack work, cobbled together in an obvious hurry, although his easy, affable style comes through – the same style that was to make his books on Greece (1885), Zimbabwe (1892, and Ethiopia (1893) so popular.
In actual fact, there is a little conceit going on, for although Theodore and Mabel did visit Rhodes in 1885, it was only for a matter of a few days and they never sailed down to Lindos, nor made the lengthy journey there on equids. There are no references in Mabel’s diary to going further than Filerimos, and Theodore would most certainly have written of any Lindian visit in the late 1980s among his many articles on the Eastern Mediterranean. He did publish a review of their days in Rhodes town in 1885, and one or two references in it echo in his two efforts for Black & White. Other echoes sound too – from the pages of such actual visitors (their works surely known to Bent) as Tozer and Newton, and armchair scholars such as Cecil Torr. Bent, in the interests of his own art, was not averse to making things up if needs must…
Click here for Bent’s earlier article the previous month, viz “Lindos: The Living City of Homer – I”. Black & White, 28 February 1891, pp. 109-10.
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