“ TREDEGAR HOUSE :WEEKEND PARTIES, FROLICS AND FUN” : EVAN MORGAN’S HOUSE GUESTS 1934-1938

“ TREDEGAR HOUSE :WEEKEND PARTIES, FROLICS AND FUN” :  EVAN MORGAN’S HOUSE GUESTS 1934-1938

 From William Cross, FSA Scot

In the years 1934 - 1949 Evan Morgan Viscount Tredegar held court at his Welsh mansion, Tredegar House, an impressive 17th century red brick building set in 100 acres of parkland near Newport. Invitations to Evan's country house weekends were highly prized. But how many house guests passed through the gates of Tredegar House in the Evan years? Who actually stayed there and when? What of the legends of Evan's séances, outrageous parlour game of charades, riotous drinking and orgies to compare with Caligula's Rome? What is the truth, and what are the myths about these crazy weekends? In this book William Cross, author of previous Morgan books reveals the identity of the scores of people who were Evan's guests. Here are the good, bad and the downright disgraceful whom Evan brought together under one roof. The historical icons of the era, male prostitutes, spivs, spies, and traitors as well as a sizable collection of stage and literary figures, politicians, Catholic luminaries and Evan's relatives including his Royal cousins. Evan was a generous host, an excessive party giver, a man whose wealth in theory could support his foibles for pleasure seeking, for indulging in a complex homosexual life style, having footmen wear powdered wigs, and running a large zoo in the Estate grounds comprising wild and exotic birds and animals. But beneath the surface of fun, folly and farce it was a dynasty in decay, the Morgan coffers were crumbling fast under the burden of death duties, heavy taxation and the changing attitude in Society to service and employment on the landed estates. Evan was also a sick man crippled with poor health, moreover he ploughed a dangerous furrow especially during the war years and was subject to surveillance from on high.”

Essential reading for those interested in Newport’s most famous family and their history  and those who want to know the truth about Evan’s hospitality and who he invited to stay under his 500 year old roof during his early years as the lord of the Manor.

The book is 150 pages long, over 55,000 words with over 400 End Notes. The main text  contains  over  100 images. There is also a  directory of over 300 guests whom Evan entertained, with biographical details, and dates when they visited Tredegar House,  some entries have photographs ”. Enquiries William Cross 58 Sutton Newport, Newport, NP 19 7JF  e-mail  williecross@aol.com

“Evan Morgan, Lord Tredegar's House Guests 1934-1938. “  Compiled by  William Cross. ISBN 9781905914531.  ( 2019) Copies of the book can be obtained direct from the Author.  Also on Amazon/ e-bay. The book will shortly revert to Print on Demand

https://lord-carnarvon.blogspot.com/2019/09/tredegar-house-weekend-parties-frolics.html

William Cross, FSA Scot is the author /co-author of several books on the Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport

An illustrated  talk is available from Will Cross about the book

Notorious House Parties at Tredegar House: 1934-1938

Tredegar House : Weekend Parties, Frolics and Fun

 Evan Morgan, Lord Tredegar's

House Guests  1934-1938 

A NEW BOOK FROM WILLIAM CROSS

In its heyday of the 1920s and 1930s the country house weekend house party was an example in Britain of the 20^th century oozing class and propping up the flagging class structure. It was a ritual full of  frivolity.   Often, as in the case of South Wales, there were hundreds of families within a stone’s throw of the large mansions houses (like Tredegar House) who were struggling in poverty. [i] Two different worlds in the same town.

Evan  Morgan, the Lord of the Manor at  Tredegar  House, Newport  was one of  those who  staged  these large, lavish and lazy  weekend parties, whilst in the nearby hamlets of  Pill and Duffryn the unemployed tried to make ends meet.  In history,  the era was dubbed  “The Marching Thirties”.    

Evan’s parties are a  legend,  a  part of  the Evan - legacy  between 1934 and 1949  when he reigned supreme  as  the  last  Viscount  Tredegar .

In this book Newport Historian William Cross reveals the hundreds of people who were guests of Evan Morgan, Viscount Tredegar.

The book is available direct from the Author and on E-BAY and AMAZON.

CONTACT THE AUTHOR BY E-MAIL

williecross@aol.com

An illustrated talk is available on the book.

  

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[i] A good example of this comes from Christmas 1934  when  a concert was staged at the Olympia Cinema in Skinner Street , Newport on behalf of the Mayor of Newport’s Distress Fund for the poor in the town.

Review of " Myths About The Morgans" by William Cross, FSA Scot

MYTHS ABOUT THE MORGANS OF TREDEGAR HOUSE

BUSTING THE HISTORY FRAUDSTERS

A REVIEW BY MICHAEL KEYTON

Zombie Barnacles

We live in an era of fake news, though it may be more accurately termed ‘Pick-and-Mix’ news. Facts are omitted, others given undue prominence, but all interpreted and glossed to appeal to our separate and vociferous tribes.

In this beautifully produced book, William Cross does a scholarly hatchet job on the National Trust, the present guardians of Tredegar House. He is concerned with facts and demolishing the myths that have encrusted themselves around the now defunct Morgan dynasty like barnacles—Zombie barnacles—for they have an unholy life of their own. It’s part and parcel of human nature, I suppose, for it is also fake news that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction often trumps truth. 

We love a good story, and sometimes truth just gets in the way. In this respect, Will Cross has done an heroic job. Time will see if the zombie barnacles are truly dead.

For the curious, these are just some of the myths explored and demolished.

The Morgans were descended from Welsh princes

Tredegar House has 365 windows, one for every day of the year. (It has seventy-three)

Henry Morgan the pirate was an ancestor of the Morgans of Tredegar House.

In 1758, Charles Gould married Jane Morgan for love.  Few married for love in that day and age. We have a contemporary account of the union:

“I have,” answered he (Mr Thomas Morgan of Ruperra) “two girls. One is handsome; the other, not so well endowed by nature. In order to repair that deficiency, I mean to give her fifteen hundred pounds as a marriage portion. To her sister I shall only give one thousands. Which of them would you wish to have?”

Gould replied: “Allow me to enquire, which is the eldest?”

“The plain girl,” Morgan replied.

“Then if you please, sir, I’ll have her.”

Both sides were satisfied, especially when Charles changed his name from Gould to Morgan in order to preserve the family line.

A tale that is not a myth but an interesting story nevertheless concerns the two sons of Charles and Jane—John Morgan and Charles Morgan. Both fought in the American revolutionary wars, John killed in action at sea, and Charles captured by the Americans at York Town. Before the surrender, an American soldier, Captain Huddy was captured and executed without trial. Hardly surprising. As Captain in the Monmouth militia he murdered those who remained loyal to the Crown. Even so, it was a bad call by a Captain Lippincott.  It is, though, worth bearing in mind that Huddy had murdered several of Lippincott's relatives.

In consequence George Washington ordered thirteen British officers to draw lots for who would be executed in retaliation for Captain Huddy’s death. They were each handed a folded paper—twelve blank and one with one just one word, Unfortunate.Charles Morgan was fortunate. Captain Asgill of the Coldstream Guards less so, opening up his death sentence. All ended well however when he was reprieved after an intervention by the Queen of France. A different age.

But back to the myths:

Sir Briggs was buried standing up. To explain, Sir Briggs was a Morgan horse that survived the Crimean war and the Charge of the Light Brigade. Named after a servant of that name ‘Briggs’ the horse was unofficially knighted and was buried standing up. There is no evidence at all for those last two claims. 

A golden gondola on Tredegar Park lake

Evan Morgan’s parrot bit Herman Goering’s nose.

After Evan’s death, a  black box of secrets was buried in the grounds of Tredegar House

The myths are first class and you want them to be true, but all are beautifully debunked in this readable and lavishly produced book.

Myths About the Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport, South Wales: Busting the History Fraudsters Paperback – 30 Apr 2018  

ISBN 9781905914425