ANCESTRAL HOME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 November 1942, Page 4

ANCESTRAL HOME

OF GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FAMILY PRESERVATION of sulgrave MANOR. PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE FOR AMERICANS. The Washington family’s English home, Sulgrave Manor, was Visited ciuite recently for one of wood’s programmes in the 8.8.t5. Overseas Service. Although it is in a remote corner of Northamptonshire, and four or five miles from the. nearest bus route, Sulgrave was visited in peace time by more than ten thousand persons — mostly Americans —-every year For trans-Atlantic pilgrims it is virtually a shrine, for here lived the ancestors of the founder of their independence. Though without the same significance for the British visitor, it appeals to him as a perfect example of a Tudor manor house, in a lovely setting. Sulgrave Manor was bought about the middle of the sixteenth century by Lawrence Washington, of Grays Inn, three times Mayor of Northampton. He was the seventh ancestoi’, in direct line, of the famous President. His son Lawrence subsequently temoved to Brington in Northamptonshire.. That Lawrence’s gi’andson, John, in 1657, emigrated with his brother to Virginia and John Washington was the great grandfather of the great American President. In 1914, the British Peace Centenary Committee, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the peace between England and the United States, bought Sulgrave Manor (now greatly deteriorated) and presented it, with adjoining land, to the Sulgrave Institution The Americans made themselves responsible for the restoration and the work was reverently and artistically done. The magnificent oak beams and great open fireplaces were revealed, and the gardens put in ordei’. Furniture, hangings and ornaments in the house have been approved by Cxpetts as characteristic of the Tudor period. Relics of Washington include a lock' of his hair, the velvet coat in which . he was painted by Gilbert Stuart, and a couple of his saddle-bags. The previous broadcast from the Manor was on Independence Day, 1938, when it formed part of ai joint programme from the 8.8. C. Midland Region station and from the U.S.A. The American broadcast was from Mount Vernon. George Washington s home, before he became President and after his retirement.