To help maintain the sanity of the nation during the lockdown , we recommend this rare circa 1899 volume packed with card games be purchased and avidly read by inmates to pass the time and ease the stress of being confined to barracks .
The book and the personal story of the author , Miss Mary Whitmore Jones , we guarantee, will keep you enthralled over the coming months. It seems Miss Jones was exceedingly patient , mister right not coming her way , resulting in her being unmarried . While waiting for Sir Galahad to ride up , she played patience , wrote a book on the subject and invented a card playing table seen here.
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Upon the death in l874 of her brother, Willie, described as a tearaway who was always in debt , easily bored , she, pictured, aged 51, became the first female heir of the family estate, Chastleton House , an historic pile in Oxfordshire, a lavishly built example of Jacobean architecture in 1607-1612 for Walter Jones , puzzlingly said to be a lawyer and also a prosperous wool merchant , impoverished after the Civil War .
The original estate had been bought in 1602 from Robert Catesby who had been involved in the plot with Guy Fawkes and others to blow up parliament, about which she wrote a book . It also had links with the Jacobite Rebellion and Bonnie Prince Charles and remained in the same family for 400 years .
Mary had nursed Willie , who suffered from fever picked up in an inglorious career in the army, having served in Gibraltar and Bermuda ; he bought his way out of military service before the Crimean War which began in 1853 .
Mary had nursed Willie , who suffered from fever picked up in an inglorious career in the army, having served in Gibraltar and Bermuda ; he bought his way out of military service before the Crimean War which began in 1853 .
Another brother , Walter , around at the time Willie was in command of the estate, also rather stroppy and strong willed, is credited with having codified the rules of croquet. He set up croquet field on the lawn at Chastleton . Without a doubt, he influenced Mary's interest in games of all kinds, including those of patience .
After failing at Oxford, he got a position in the War Office , which he left with the aim of making money through inventions and board games .
One game, Frogs and Toads , met with some success , but The Game of War , played like chess, lost money . He invented a bootlace winder and a railway carriage sign , both patented in 1864. Two volumes of poetry did not sell like hot cakes . He died of throat cancer at the age of 41.
In l991 Chastleton House was taken over by the National Trust and underwent six years of restoration . Open to the public , until a little over a week ago when it, the gardens, parks, bat colony , cafes and shops were shut down to limit the spread of coronavirus , its many treasures include the Juxon Bible thought to have been used to read the last rites to King Charles l at his execution ; the very card table invented by Mary Whitmore Jones ; Jacobian glass ; a portrait of Rudyard Kipling . Naturally, packs of cards were offered for sale in the shops .
A diary recorded that in 1837 one of the Jones family, interested in politics and antiquarian books, had jumped on a horse and ridden to a sale at Broughton Castle where he bought a fine piece of tapestry and three lots of old armour for a mere ten pound .
Our nibbled, worn and faded copy of the book , purchased through Pelican Rare Books at some stage , picked up on Magnetic Island , North Queensland .
After running Chastleton House for several years, Mary passed management of the estate to nephew Thomas Whitmore Harris who had married a first cousin , Irene Dickins . Thomas changed his name to Whitmore Jones, the Whitmore part derived from Sir William Whitmore . Mary eventually moved out and became a boarder at the Chastleton Rectory .
At some stage she wrote the popular, illustrated book , the introduction declaring that nobody should despise the game of Patience . Many over -worked brains, lonely hearts , and those with pain racked nerves could testify to the benefits . Those who knew the benefits of card playing included ladies living alone , hard working professional men , doctors who pointed out it was a remedy against insomnia .
For example, the antidote for lousy Pommie weather at the seaside , empty beaches , with leaden sea and leaden sky , monotonous drip of rain , the newspaper read through and through , even the advertisements, the small stock of ancient books at the library exhausted, and nothing to be done between meal times but to yawn-cards- which could be obtain anywhere .
The unhappy victim of ennui was advised to buy two packs of cards and play Patience , perhaps Sir Tommy Patience, said to be first one invented . The long list of Patience games included American Toad, Blonde and Brunette, Chastleton , Conjugal, Dictator, Dog, Double Pyramid, Hammer of Thor , Marriage, Metternich , Muggins , New York , Pirate, Russian, St. Helena, Spanish, Wheel-of-Fortune .
One game which will appeal to those in home isolation , growing extensive facial hair and long fingernails , pointed teeth like the Wolf Man , will surely be Waning Moon . Persons keen to split hairs, argue the toss and quote dubious laws, will find Q.C. Patience appealing . Miss Jones explained it was the favourite of an eminent barrister who could not make up his rubber at whist so went for this intricate, difficult game which is like one named Backbone .
It seems Thomas and his wife tried hard to keep the crumbling estate going . He worked on the Long Gallery ceiling which had been neglected for more than a century and carried out other work . They moved out eventually into the nearby village and the house was rented out .
In l991 Chastleton House was taken over by the National Trust and underwent six years of restoration . Open to the public , until a little over a week ago when it, the gardens, parks, bat colony , cafes and shops were shut down to limit the spread of coronavirus , its many treasures include the Juxon Bible thought to have been used to read the last rites to King Charles l at his execution ; the very card table invented by Mary Whitmore Jones ; Jacobian glass ; a portrait of Rudyard Kipling . Naturally, packs of cards were offered for sale in the shops .
A diary recorded that in 1837 one of the Jones family, interested in politics and antiquarian books, had jumped on a horse and ridden to a sale at Broughton Castle where he bought a fine piece of tapestry and three lots of old armour for a mere ten pound .
Our nibbled, worn and faded copy of the book , purchased through Pelican Rare Books at some stage , picked up on Magnetic Island , North Queensland .
