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Visit to Apsley House
| What | Cultural visit |
|---|---|
| When |
March 01, 2008 12:30
March 01, 2008 16:30
March 01, 2008
from 12:30 to 16:30 |
| Where | 51.50325 -0.15159 |
| Contact Name | David Wallis |
| Contact Email | davidawallis@aol.com |
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Report by David Wallis on DSA Visit to Apsley House (Number 1 London), Home of the Duke of Wellington
On Saturday 1st March a party of 31 members and their ladies went to London to visit Apsley House, the home of the Dukes of Wellington, which is known as Number One London as it was the first house after passing through the western Toll Gate.
Before the afternoon visit the party partook of a traditional fish and chip lunch at the Shepherds Tavern located near-by in Shepherds Market. As always the conversation dominated the private dining room on the first floor as friends gathered together, some of which had not attended our gathering for a long period of time and took the opportunity of catching up with all the news.
It was very nice to see Professor Vidal Ashkenazi and his wife Esther, who travelled down from Nottingham also George Harper who made the lunch in the nick of time as he was held up by a derailment at Milton Keynes and had to catch a service bus to Hemel Hempstead to continue his journey. Another member we have not had the pleasure of seeing for such a long time was Sam Sowton, accompanied by his wife Veronica, both are looking great. It was also nice to see Robert and Jane Dobbie as Robert has had some health problems of late and is now back to looking like his old self. As always General Eric and Pam Barton were in attendance, they are great supporters of the DSA; I can only remember one event that they couldn’t attend due to General Eric’s health. He gets along very well with Pam’s constant attention, it is amazing how time passes, Eric will be 80 in May.
After lunch we walked over to the Wellington Arch, sited in the middle of Hyde Park Corner, it has three exhibition floors, fortunately served by a lift, however the attraction was to ascend to the very top and look out toward the east over Buckingham Palace Gardens and Hyde Park and Knightsbridge to the west. We then walked over to Apsley House, accompanied by our very knowledgeable guide Robert. On arrival we split into two parties to receive a very detailed tour of the amazing art treasures that the house contains. Most of the items were given to or collected by the first Duke after the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. The collection is administered by the Albert & Victoria Museum and the house comes under the umbrella of English Heritage.
There are so many wonderful things to see and describe that there would not be space left in the Ranger for any other stories. However, one that is worth telling is how the Duke of Wellington was nicknamed “ The Iron Duke”. In 1829 there was a great deal of unrest due to Wellington, who was then Prime Minster, forcing through Parliament the Catholic Emancipation Act which made him very unpopular with the masses. They vented their frustration and anger by gathering outside Apsley House and stoning the windows, The Duke then had workmen fit iron shutters to all the windows that faced the Hyde Park side of the house, hence the name.
David A Wallis Social Organiser
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