MONTEVIOT HOUSE
Alison Fraser
13th July 2005

On a gloriously warm sunny afternoon seventeen members of the Old Gala Club visited Monteviot House and Gardens. We were met by our guide, Alison Fraser, who first explained to us that the original house, built in 1701, was a comparatively small one with two rooms downstairs with low ceilings and two upstairs. It was probably thought of as his "small hunting lodge in the country" by Lord Lothian who had a stately home in Newbattle and a castle at Ferniehirst. In a document dated 1724 he refers to it as Mount Teviot Lodge and in July 1824 Sir Walter Scott still called it that. Later two wings were added by the 7th Marquis using an architect called Edward Blore whose main claim to fame was that he had designed Buckingham Palace. In 1962 the whole of the front of the building was changed and added to by an architect called Schomberg-Scott, a descendent of the family.

On touring the house one's first impression is that although it is a Stately Home it is eminently livable in and cosy. The next strong impression one has is how artistic the family is. Philip Kerr, the 11th Marquis of Lothian did the illustrations for Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat" poem in book form and there were some stunning charcoal drawings of family members by Lady Cecil (Anne) Kerr, sister of Philip. Not only were the drawings exquisitely executed but the subjects were so good looking. This carried on through the rest of the house where there were the usual array of oil paintings of the family's ancestors. In many stately homes that one visits the oils of the ancestors are mostly extremely plain. Not so here. Almost all of them were very goodlooking.

Having noted the Coat of Arms on the outside of the entrance with its Sun in Splendour at the top and the three Kerr stars in the bottom left hand quarter we moved into the square entrance hall with its picture of the 3rd Marquis by George Knapton above the balcony, one of the 4th Marquis who was in charge of the cavalry at Culloden below it together with another family member who was the General in charge of the English army at the Battle of the Boyne and was killed by friendly fire! Next came the library which was part of the original house with its low ceiling and its portrait of Robert, 1 st Earl of Ancrum, painted by Hercules Sanders in 1653. He was a Royalist, a good friend of James VI and Charles I. When the latter was executed Robert escaped to Holland and died there penniless. His son, by contrast, was a Covenanter.

We then moved into a lovely drawing room with a portrait of the 6th Marquis (1775-1815) by Sir Henry Raeburn, two other family members by Sir Joshua Reynolds and one of "Uncle Billy" with his great red beard by G. F. Watts from the Pre-Raphaelite Period. In the Dining Room, part of the Blore extension of 1832, there were portraits of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Marquises, all called William while in the main big hall with its barrel ceiling there were paintings of Robert, the 1 st Earl and his wife Lady Jean Campbell, Charles I on a horse by Van Dyke (the Queen has the original of this in Buckingham Palace and this is a contemporary copy also by Van Dyke), the 4th Marquis with his wife and two children wearing clothes made from fabulous fabrics, the 9th Marquis (Schomberg who grew all the orchids illustrated by Florence Woolward, 1854-1936. He was Secretary of State for Scotland at the height of his political career), Philip, the 11 th Marquis, also a politician, Captain Andrew Kerr, father of the 12th Marquis, the Duke of Norfolk, father of Lady Jane Ancrum, the present Lady Lothian and wife of Michael Ancrum, the current 13th Marquis and present Shadow Foreign Secretary.

We thanked Alison for a memorable and highly artistic house tour and then spread out to explore the lovely gardens in the sunshine.

Reported by D.R.T. 13th July 2005