Several years ago the Peel Society acquired a large folder of documents, a type of scrapbook, which had been put together in the late 1800s by Evelyn Peel, a grandaughter of Sir Robert Peel. It contains photographs (at a time when photography was still in its infancy), press cuttings, numerous autographs and similar items, many of these being for significant people of that period, and seemed to be a record of plentiful social gatherings and parties which she had attended at various times. Apparently, these parties could last for several days, or even weeks and were used by ladies looking for suitable husbands and men looking for wives.
We have had the folder on open display in our museum, but recently discovered that it was suffering from mould, no doubt a result of the unfavourable climatic conditions in an old building like Middleton Hall, without heating or air conditioning. We knew that this mould would have to be treated before the documents were ruined, but that such treatment is very expensive and it would only be a matter of time before it recurred as we could not replicate ideal storage conditions in our museum.
We enlisted the invaluable help of Chris Hills, editor of the local Tamworth Heritage Magazine, and the folder was shown round to several other knowledgable people and organisations, including the National Archives and British Library, whereupon it began to arouse some excitement, even being described as a 'national treasure', for it proved to be a veritable 'Who's Who' of high society at that time. Of particular interest was a group photo showing the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and his long-time mistress (Mrs) Alice Keppel. Alice was the great-grandmother of our own Queen Camilla.
Arrangements have now been made for the folder to be kept at the British Library, where the documents will be repaired and treated, thereafter to be kept in proper storage conditions, and at no cost to the Peel Society. This reinforces just how important these documents are. We can access the original any time we wish, but a facsimile copy will be prepared for us for display in our museum anyway.
Meanwhile, a team from the Holloway Society, to which the Tamworth Heritage Magazine is affiliated, have already started work on identifying, indexing, listing and cross-checking those people contained in the folder's pages. That has already shown some interesting results of who was present at which events! We will keep you posted.
Our photographs show Peel Society Trustee Roger Bragger handing over the folder to Matthew Waters, a senior curator at the Britsh Library.
