The Adamson Family

The Adamson period at Linden Hall began in 1903 proving to be the longest single occupation by one family over 60 years.

Lawrence William Adamson (1829-1911) a solicitor, was Chairman of Gateshead Engineers, Abbot & Co. and having sold his house at Eglington near Alnwick, purchased Linden Hall in 1903. He took an active part in the social and commercial life of Northumberland and from being made county magistrate in 1873, he was appointed High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1900, and the same year became one of the first aldermen of the newly created Northumberland County Council.

Lawrence Adamson's first wife, Anne, died in 1869 and 20 years later, at the age of 60, he married his second wife Sarah, to whom he bequeathed Eslington Lodge, part of his estates. He was a keen industrialist and was on the board of directors of several Tyneside Companies, besides Abbot & Co. These included the Newcastle Gas Company (Chairman), the Scotswood, Newburn and Wylam Railway Co. (Chairman), Haswell Shotton and Easington Coal Co. (Chairman), the East Holywell Coal Co., and the Ryhope Coal Co. He was a Director of the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company and of Lloyds British Testing Co.

Upon his death at Linden in November 1911 aged 82, Lawrence Adamson's son John George Adamson (1855-1931) inherited Linden Hall Estate. He had been a Lieutenant-Colonel of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and lived at Glenfarne Hall in County Leitrim, Ireland until his father's death.

When John George Adamson left Ireland for Linden in 1911, he brought with him his wife, Lina, and two daughters Muriel Anne Pearl aged 27, and Catherine Evelyn (Eve) aged 20. During the First World War, Colonel Adamson, who was by this time in his early sixties, was in charge of the War Records Office for the London Territorial Regiment which had offices near Liverpool Street.

It was during part of the First World War at Linden Hall that Muriel and Eve maintained the house as an Auxiliary Hospital and convalescent home for sick and wounded soldiers. Miss Muriel was commandant and Miss Eve was quartermaster during the period from 1st March 1916 until 1st April 1919 and they both received the Royal Red Cross for their services. Some time between 1925 to 1929, when his wife Lina died, a family arrangement was made whereby Colonel John George Adamson moved out of Linden Hall. He went to live at Linhope Farm in the Ingram Valley near Linhope Spout, with his secretary and housekeeper, leaving Linden Hall to his two daughters. Apparently, he still visited the Hall once each week to deliver his laundry. In the early 1930's the Colonel died, leaving Linden, all its estates and his house in Country Leitrim, Glenfarne Hall, to Miss Muriel whilst he left his London House, 36 Portland Place (designed by Adam) to Miss Eve.

In the 1930's, Miss Muriel managed Linden Hall and its estate with the help of her staff, taking every commercial advantage of its land. The estate office was in Cote Nook, the large stone house on the North Drive now providing hotel staff accommodation. The properties providing estate income were Linhope Farm, South High Moor, Whinney Hill, Haredene Farm, Home Farm, Bells Hill and property in Longhorsley. Five cottages at Linden Row on the North Drive were also provided to some of the Hall's staff, rent free, as was the Front Lodge on the South Drive. From the accounts of the estate for this period, it is interesting to note some of the running costs such as the rates for Linden Hall which were £52.19s.6d. per annum and a typical telephone bill was £1.13.3d. a quarter. A mole-catcher, called Thomas Percival was employed by the estate in 1932 and his fee was 30 shillings a year. Another form of income was from licences for shooting game and fishing on the estate lands, the summer shooting season being advertised as far away as Birmingham.

Amongst Miss Muriel's former retainers, her housekeeper recalls her working day beginning at a quarter to seven in the morning, by waking Miss Muriel, serving her coffee and taking her the mail. Miss Muriel used to stay in bed until midday, because of an ulcer, which according to one retainer, accounted for her sometimes very bad temper. For lunch she would love game and wildfowl, though her favourite dish was jugged hare cooked in wine - all provided by the estate gamekeeper. Miss Muriel also employed a chauffeur to take her to Newcastle and Morpeth to catch trains, to entertain in restaurants and visit friends. The chauffeur during the 1930's lived in the Front Lodge on the South Drive, and the car at this time was an American Studebaker, assembled in England.

In 1937, the sisters' nephew Andrew Osborne, whose company ran the Richmond Theatre, Surrey became involved in the film production of 'Major Barbara' and Muriel decided to take on the role of Managing Director with sole control over the Theatre, with Eve becoming a Director a few months later. During their management of the Theatre from 1937 to 1940, the sisters proved to have a good insight into future stage successes, through their choice of weekly plays for the Theatre and also their use of new talented actors in the cast At one period in 1940, seven of their plays originally performed at Richmond were running in the West End, including 'Under Suspicion', 'Gaslight' and 'Quiet Wedding' by Esther Mccracken the Northumberland playwright (1902-1971).The sisters usually held rehearsals for their plays in the drawing room of Miss Eve's house and it was at this same time that Edward Prince of Wales was entertained by the sisters at Portland Place and also later, Muriel was presented at court to Queen Mary who apparently commented on her beauty.

The sisters' period of management at Richmond ended in the summer of 1940 when the theatre closed its doors for the duration of the Second World War. Muriel and Eve returned to Linden, where since September1939, most of the Hall and its grounds had been rented out by the Army Services Department, for the housing of the Brigade H.Q. for the 370th Field Battery R.A. Over 400 soldiers were housed in nissen huts in the grounds and one hut at the rear of the Hall was turned into a 'convalescent home' by Miss Muriel and Miss Eve and many of the villagers of Longhorsley helped the sisters with bandages and the care of minor illnesses. The Army Services also rented two fields of the Linden Estate for football matches for a period of2 months at£3.ls.9d. per month. It was then that a chapel was established in the basement of the Hall (now the Billiards Room) for the soldiers. The entrance hall was used as the Officers' Mess and the sisters used only the library and the east facing bedrooms.

Muriel and Eve's theatre work brought them into contact with famous actors and performers, many of whom were often invited to stay at Linden Hall. Among those remembered by former employees at the Hall were: Margaret Lockwood, Margot Fonteyn, Googie Withers and of course, Andrew Osborne. Miss Muriel's other great interest after the theatre, was horses, and when she lived in Ireland, two of her horses won silver trophies - these were the Sligo Hunt Cup and the Fermanagh Hunt Cup. At Linden, Miss Muriel became a nationally respected breeder of hunters and point-to-pointers.

During her time at Linden Hall, Miss Muriel Adamson furnished the house with her most exquisite furniture and antiques plus many items of silver and china collected by her grandfather. These included a satinwood dressing table thought to have once belonged to Napoleon and an ornate cabinet in ebony and ivory presented to the British Ambassador by the last Doge of Venice in 1787, and ending up in Lawrence Adamson's possession at Linden. When Miss Muriel and Miss Eve moved to Linden from Ireland in 1911, their father brought with him a superb white marble Adam fireplace bearing the Adamson crest which is now installed in the Monck Cocktail Bar. Amongst the paintings in the House were several landscapes by Gastineaux, Richardson, Turner, Birket Foster, Carmichael and Millais. An interesting contribution to the decoration of the Hall, by Colonel John Adamson, had been the silver door knobs which he made out of some old silverwatch cases, engraved and moulded to fit each knob. These have been retained in Linden Hall today, and can be seen in the Drawing Room and Library.

The drawing room also housed a set of hand painted Sheraton chairs and two 15th century Italian screens. One of the other fascinating objects originally collected by Lawrence Adamson which can still be seen in the outer hall of Linden Hall today was the 'Mystery Lady Clock'. The pendulum is suspended from the hand of the bronze statuette (sculpted by Cartier) and its swing is synchronised with the balance of the clock below, housed in its massive marble base. This clock was invented by A.R. Guilmet of Paris in 1872 and was first displayed at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Two other items collected by Lawrence Adamson are the marble cherubs in the Inner Hall, thought to have been sculpted by Trombetta of Milan in 1874.

Miss Muriel Adamson died at Linden in January 1962 aged 78 when the whole of the Hall contents including furniture, paintings, china, silverware and jewellery were sold by auction. In 1963, Linden Hall itself was eventually sold and all of the housekeeping staff were forced to leave, many having served there all their working lives, and who still live in the nearby village of Longhorsley. Those who lived in Linden Row were left their cottages by Miss Muriel in gratitude for their services.

Miss Eve Adamson died at her London home on 30th April, 1972 aged 81 and was buried at Richmond, the town of her beloved theatre.

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