As well as
cuttings about the murder-suicide in colonial
Sydney
which shocked the London theatrical world ,
yet another bizarre story is contained
in the scrapbook kept by
Englishman Thomas Anstey
Parkhouse
which was found on the floor of an old
wares shop in the Barossa
Valley , South Australia .
There is no indication
that the people
involved were related
in any way
to him. However, as
the story appeared
in the Tiverton Gazette, September
10 , l879, a publication to
which he had contributed
items before venturing out to Australia
, it
is likely that he was aware
of the
situation. In any
case, reference to
rare books may
have been justification alone
for snipping it from
the paper. The extensive
report dealt with
a large auction
to be held
at a notorious
place called Dulford
House, near Cullompton, Devon. Strange things
had gone on there over many years.
An ugly house, set
in 30 acres of land ,
it had been “the centre of curious
interest” for years .
By Peter Simon
A century previously,
the house had
been built for
Lord Monteith, said to
have been deformed, who built
a 12ft high , mile long fence
around the abode to
hide his afflication
from public gaze.
The house eventually
became the property of
Bethel Walrond , 8th
Marques de Vallado , a classical
scholar and linguist who had spent many
years in the leading
royal courts of
Europe. Soldierly in
bearing , it was said he
exhibited the hauteur
of a Spanish
grandee , a country in
which he had spent
considerable time .
DAUGHTER’S EMBALMED BODY NEARBY
When one of his daughters died she was embalmed
and kept in
a coffin in
his dressing room . His
bizarre bedroom , called
the Blue Room, was
filled with craftsmen built
furniture . On the footboard of his
bed were human
skulls and hearse plumes
to familiarize himself with
the thought of
death .
Much
time was spent in his 6000
volume library of valuable
books and newspapers.
A man of unbending will, suspicious and aggressive,
he engaged in
numerous vindictive court actions
against people for
perceived wrongs. Legal
disputes were said to be his
“enjoyment” during the last
l5 years of life.
Of him it was said
he would go to law about
anything with anybody , and wouldn’t mind what was spent
if he could
only ruin his adversary.
One of his daughters, Harriet , figured in an hilarious 1862 court
case dispute with a woman over ownership of a dog , which entertained readers of Punch and
newspapers
of the day, caused laughter in two
courts , and it was
said by a learned judge that he had seen gentlemen
followed by dogs
but it did not
mean they intended to
steal the canines .
The case went
from a magistrate’s court to a jury
hearing after the London Morning Post made fun of the proceedings, there being mention under the heading of Spinsters and Their idols , one being described as “ a wee spinster”, which could well be a line from a witty ballad . Miss Walrond
claimed the paper had libelled her by running a letter
commenting on the case. The
term “spinster “ was taken as being demeaning .
It was claimed Miss Walrond had sent a most imperious and threatening letter to the Morning Post. Write ups referred to a public brawl by
two women over a dog and a judge more puzzled than Solomon
. Invoking the wisdom of Solomon, would he give
the
women half each ?
At one time or another , it was claimed,
Harriet’s father employed
up to 50 lawyers . Eventually
, his wife and a daughter
left him and he
spent most of his time
within the high walls in solitude.
After incurring the wrath of his father
for corresponding with his
mother , Walrond’s son
eventually left Dulford House. His
father was so bitter he
did his utmost to make his son’s
life difficult and
moved to disinherit him.
PET CEMETERY , TICHBORNE HEIR INTEREST
While the father
delighted in persecuting people,
he was emotionally attached to
his many dogs
and various kinds of
rabbits that over- ran the estate.
There were so many
rabbits in the
grounds that about
20 acres were
a giant warren,
without a blade
of grass. Because
of his belief
that humans were
reborn as animals, all
his pets were
buried in a special cemetery with details on
individual gravestones. The
dog which outlasted
its maste r was so
well trained , Walrond
had only to name
the colour of the
rabbit he required , and
the dog chased
one down to
meet the requirement.
Upon Walrond's death, his daughter’s body was removed and
buried, as were
the skulls .
After
his death, it was
discovered that Walrond
had paid close attention to
newspaper accounts of
the celebrated case
in which a
butcher from Wagga Wagga
, Arthur Orton, claimed to be
the lost
heir of Sir
Roger Tichborne. The
multitudinous rabbit colony was
exterminated before the sale . Walrond’s
will was disputed
on the grounds
that the testator
had been insane .
After a part hearing , the case
was terminated and
the two parties ,
widow Lady Janet Walrond
and her daughter,
and the son ,
came to an
agreement on how to
dispose of the
estate , clearing the way
for the auction.
The
auction included a
great deal of “exceedingly
handsome and elaborately carved
furniture ” and cannon, suits of armour,
swords, revolvers ,a crossbow, plate,
paintings , books, newspapers
and a man
trap which had been
used to catch
intruders in the grounds .
There was a large offering of
old china and
glass . Of
particular note were white
and gold Sevres
soup plates made for
Louis Philippe in
l842; dishes manufactured in
l778 by Neale and Co., Wedgwood basket
work of l770 ,
old Worcester of
about the year
l750, Oriental dinner services , Dresden
and Derby tea
and breakfast sets.
NAPOLEON AND NAKED
EVE
In the statuary was
a bust of Napoleon
1 in Italian marble by
Cavona, a stone bust of Charles
1 and an
antique carving of the Virgin
and Child and
Eve admiring the forbidden fruit . The write up
said Eve would
have been “innocent of clothing”
had not someone mischieviously placed
an old- fashioned coal scuttle
bonnet on her
handsome head. Other
items of interest included a “curious, old huhl” timepiece
in lake (pigment) and gold
of the Louis X1V period. The
valuable furniture included
a walnut Numberg wardrobe, a
mahogany secretaire of
Italian workmanship, a very
old French marquetry
lady’s writing table, an exquisitely carved l7th century Devonshire
wardrobe and Walrond’s massive ,
English oak , carved
, four- poster bed .
The
newspaper report ended
by saying it
believed that Henry Walrond
, the deceased’s son, would
take up residence in
Dulford . In a
piece of understatement , the
newspaper ventured the
old place would
thus assume a
very different character from
its past. People
in the district
would then have
the pleasure of a
“ genial neighbour”.
NEXT : Anstey’s interesting life in England before he set out for Australia .
