Benton Fletcher

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"Major G H Benton Fletcher (artist author and traveller) refused a public school education and became a licensed peddlar - the reason for this was that he wanted to study the conditions of doss houses at first hand - in his house in Holborn which was built by the first Duke of Devonshire - he has one of the finest collections of musical instruments in the world and he allows students to practise on them for a fee of sixpence an hour - his house is also the headquarters of the famous Tudor Singers and very often Major Benton Fletcher accompanies them during rehearsals on his historic instruments - photo shows Major G H Benton Fletcher playing the accompaniment for members of the Tudor Singers on one of his valuable instruments - a virginal of Queen Elizabeth period 24 October 1934"
Lord Allenby opened an exhibition of drawings of Royal Homes near London by Major Benton Fletcher. The picture shows Lord Allenby with Susan, Duchess of Somerset and Major Benton Fletcher. 3 December 1930

Major George Henry Benton Fletcher (22 October 1866 – 31 December 1944) was a collector of

Fenton House, a beautiful late 17th century merchant's house in, Hampstead
, north London.

Career

He was involved in social work in London slums from 1889 to 1899 with

Libyan, Hejaz and Sahara deserts.[4] In 1934 he found an elegant but dilapidated Charles II town house called Old Devonshire House in Holborn. He bought, restored and furnished it with antiques and his growing collection of early keyboard instruments as a music centre for amateurs, students and professionals. He gave this and other houses and his collection of instruments to the National Trust in 1938.[8] He became something of a social and press celebrity and raconteur giving talks on the BBC National Programme radio service in 1938-9[9] and early television broadcasts from Alexandra Palace featuring his stories and keyboard instruments in 1937-8.[10][11] His art exhibitions, early musical instrument concerts and furniture collection[12][13]
were patronised by royalty, military and society figures.

Although he was called "the luckiest collector in the world",[14] he was unlucky that Old Devonshire House was totally destroyed in a Luftwaffe bombing raid on Holborn, London in May 1941.[15] However he had had the foresight to move most of his keyboard instruments, in January 1941, to Bourton-on-the-Hill in Gloucestershire for safe-keeping during the war and these survived with minimal damage.[16][17]

The Early Keyboard Collection

The keyboard instruments collected by Benton Fletcher

Jacob Kirckman
of 1762 with "book-matched" walnut veneer panels, and a double manual instrument by Jacob and Abraham Kirckman of 1777. A Longman and Broderip, a single manual harpsichord, made by Thomas Culliford dated 1783, which was the first harpsichord acquired by Benton Fletcher, includes a buff stop and a pedal machine stop.

An anonymous Italian harpsichord[23] of about 1590 with original jacks and keyboard is unusual having only one string per note. It has two split accidentals allowing either chromatic or selected lower bass notes to be played with the front or back component of the "same" key. The interior of the lid features a painting of Moses and Aaron in an Italianate landscape.

There are two bentside

spinets. One, by John Hancock, London, is of late eighteenth century origin, with a single curve to the bentside. The other is unsigned, appears to be English and may have been made in 1742.[1]
It features a wing-shaped bent-side with a double curve as well as elegant ebony accidentals with a central ivory strip.

Three of the four virginals in his collection are Italian. The oldest and lightest, dated 1540 is by Marcus Siculus of Sicily. It includes a well preserved parchment rose of extravagant tracery, and is decorated with bone studs and symmetrical floral decoration. A more robustly made virginals attributed to Vincentius Pratensis[24] was made in the late 16th or early 17th century. An unusual virginals attributed to Giovanni Celestini, Venice, also of late 16th or early 17th century construction has two rather than one string per note and a false inner-outer case,[25] which is the custom of some Italian makers to make a case that looks as if a delicate inner instrument is lying within a protective outer case when in fact it is all one. Benton Fletcher said that he found this instrument in a cellar in Florence where it was being used as a carpenter's workbench.[1] A late example of virginals by Robert Hatley, London, 1664, opens to reveal an inside lid and drop-down front painted with figures in 17th century dress in landscape, with applied gilt papers. There is an anonymous triple fretted German clavichord of late 17th or early 18th Century origin.

A grand piano inscribed Americus Backers, London, of the late 1770s is possibly an 18th-century "fake";[1] the instrument is genuine but it was probably not made by Backers. There is also a square piano of eighteenth origin by Christopher Ganer, London.[17]

Instruments collected by Benton Fletcher[18] and probably lost during the Luftwaffe raid on Holborn in 1941 include an early 16th-century Italian painted clavichord,[26] and two grand pianos, one by Matthew and William Stodart of 1791 and the second by Kirckman of 1803. A 16th-century portable pipe organ and a larger pipe organ of 1754 by Merlin were also lost. A third spinet is described by Edgar Hunt.[17] If it was in the collection, it may have been lost then as well.

In

grand piano by John Broadwood & Son, London, of 1805[27] and a clavichord by Arnold Dolmetsch, Haslemere
, of 1925.

Family and early life

His father, John Fletcher, was a successful milliner with a shop in

Victoria & Albert Museum.[41]

Octavia Hill, Cadets, Social work

Red Cross Hall and Redcross Cottages 6 and 5

Octavia Hill, the social reformer, a moving force behind the development of social housing and a founder of the National Trust,[42] exerted a strong influence on Benton Fletcher. In 1889 she pioneered the Cadet movement in South London as a means of improving the social conditions of working-class boys. Elijah Hoole, an Arts and Crafts movement architect, built the Cadets' Drill Hall, Red Cross Hall, which was decorated by Walter Crane, with painted panels of scenes of working class heroism, adjacent to Redcross Cottages and Red Cross Garden, Southwark. Red Cross Hall was also used for concerts, including a yearly performance of Handel's "Messiah".[2] Benton Fletcher joined the Cadets as a junior officer in 1890 and lived in no 5 Red Cross Cottages in this street of social housing, two doors from the Red Cross Drill Hall.[43] A letter from Octavia Hill in Jan 1891 expressed her approval of the physical and moral training of the cadets by "the gentlemen who are its officers", and mentions that "the band attached to the cadet corps has been taught by Mr Fletcher". Another letter dated February 1892 mentions "the present the working men's carving class have made... a beautiful clock case, carved by themselves and designed by Mr Fletcher".[2] Later, in 1931, in a letter to Samuel Hield Hamer, (Secretary of the National Trust, 1911–34) about his scheme for giving his property and musical instrument collection to the National Trust, Benton Fletcher wrote: "it embraces education, pleasure and philanthropy, &, would I feel confident have appealed strongly to the late Octavia Hill and her sisters whose efforts to encourage the love and performance of old music fostered the like desire in my own mind during the twelve years I lived in the slums of Southwark working with & for these farseeing pioneers."[44]

Military career

Benton Fletcher in the uniform of a Major in the Sherwood Foresters (Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment). His cap badge is that of the Sherwood Foresters and his sleeve markings are those of a British Army Major. He became a Major in 1905, the probable date of this photograph. Courtesy of the National Trust

Fletcher became an Honorary

Waterloo station until 1920.[47]

Egypt, Flinders Petrie, and Temple discovery in Abydos

He assisted as an artist drawing finds in

Herbert Winlock.[53]

Musical connections

He had close connections with composers from the first decade of the 20th century, especially with

Grieg and Sinding while sharing a house in Chelsea, 14 Upper Cheyne Walk, with the pianist and composer Percy Grainger and Grainger's mother Rose,[54] He was nursed at Bawdsey Manor, the Quilter's family home after returning ill from Cairo in 1907 and later accompanied Roger Quilter and his parents on a holiday tour in 1908-9, staying with them in Taormina, Egypt, and Naples.[55]

Painting, exhibitions, drawings

Benton Fletcher had become Secretary of the Amateur Art Society by 1898.

Edmund Allenby in 1930 opened an exhibition of his drawings of "Royal Homes near London". He held an exhibition of drawings of places associated with the tercentenary of Samuel Pepys birth in 1933 in his house at 6 Buckingham Place.[61] Fenton House contains a drawing by him of 3 Cheyne Walk,[62] a painting of Rye Harbour,[63] and a view of St Paul's Cathedral from the South Bank.[64]

Books and Illustrations

He produced illustrations for at least 15 books, mostly travel books or travel-guides.[48][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78]

Three prolific travel writers used his illustrations:

Egyptian Exploration Society wrote the text to the book on Luxor,[48]
with both authors acknowledging Benton Fletcher for initiating the enterprise. Benton Fletcher wrote the text as well as producing drawings for one book "Royal Homes Near London".

His purchase and gift of houses to the National Trust

This unusual rain hopper at 6 Buckingham Place SW1, is dated 1913 and bears the initials GHBF. George Henry Benton Fletcher acquired this house in 1913 and gave it to the National Trust in 1937.

He bought 6 Buckingham Street (now Buckingham Place) SW1 in 1913, Cobham Hall with two adjacent cottages in about 1916

Fenton House, Hampstead in 1952.[88]

Death

His sudden and lonely death aged 78 at 3 Cheyne Walk on an unusually cold 31 December 1944 hunched in rigor mortis in his bed with a burnt out pan on an electric ring, was dramatically described by James Lees-Milne in his diary: "Give me V2s every minute rather than a repetition of this experience".[89] He was buried in Brompton Cemetery. A nephew by marriage, probably Alec Hodsdon, was the only member of his family to attend his funeral, the three others present being Roger Quilter, James Lees-Milne and Donald MacLeod Matheson, the Secretary of the National Trust and the executor of his will.[90] He left £47,783. His will provided for the endowment of a centre for the study of early keyboard and chamber music at the discretion of the National Trust.[91]

Conclusion

Major Benton Fletcher pioneered the idea of preserving early keyboard instruments so that they can be played and heard in surroundings of the right period. He was unusually enthusiastic that amateurs, students and professionals should all be encouraged to play original instruments.

Bach was not improved when performed on modern pianos and was disparaging about the lack of sonority of 20th century revival harpsichords.[17][93] The National Trust
tries to maintain a balance between the preservation of the instruments and their use.

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-7078-0353-5
  2. ^
    ISBN 0 954891406
    p 284-285, 303, 718, xli
  3. ^ Bennett, Lancelot. "Miss Octavia Hill and Cadets", Spectator, 24 August 1912
  4. ^ a b c "Obituary", Major Benton Fletcher, Times [London, England] 3 January 1945:7
  5. ^ Flinders Petrie, W.M., Mackay, Ernest and Wainwright, Gerald, "Meydum and Memphis (111)", p.1. British School of Archaeology in Egypt and Bernard Quaritch 1910, London
  6. ^ Who was who. V4. Who was who, 1941–1950: a companion to Who's who containing biographies of those who died during the decade 1941–1950, London: Adam & Charles Black, 1967
  7. ^ "Rival Arabian Kingdoms: Mecca in Peril; the Hejaz Abdication." Illustrated London News [London, England] 11 October 1924: 681. Illustrated London News. Web. 5 January 2015
  8. ^ "Preservation of Old Country Houses." Times [London, England] 9 July 1938: 17. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 7 January 2015.
  9. ^ Fletcher, Benton. "Early Music at Old Devonshire House." Listener [London, England] 6 October 1938: 713-714: the broadcast on Thursday 29 September 1938 at 20.00, was repeated on Tuesday, 20 December 1938 at 22.45 and Thursday, March 2, 1939 at 10.45. The Listener Historical Archive. Web. 4 January 2015, http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=0&q=Benton+Fletcher&media=all&yf=1923&yt=2009&mf=1&mt=12&tf=00%3A00&tt=00%3A00#search
  10. ^ TV Script for 29 December 1937, National Trust Inventory number 3075290 Fenton House
  11. ^ BBC, Alexandra Palace, Tue 23 February, 3.38. Vauxhall a masque - p 4, 5 /RT-TVS-007-72dpi.pdf[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ Old Devonshire House, The Cabinet Maker and Complete House Furnisher, 22 January 1938
  13. ^ Devonshire House for the Nation: The Furniture Record, The Furnisher and Hire Trade Review 24 December 1937 p120
  14. ^ Evening Standard 1935, National Trust Inventory number 3075290 Fenton House
  15. ^ "Raid Damage In London." Times [London, England] 9 June 1941: 2. The Times Digital Archive: Web. 5 January 2015
  16. ISBN 0 85955 283 7
  17. ^ a b c d e Hunt, Edgar. "A Harpsichord Odyssey (11)", The English Harpsichord Magazine, vol.3, no 1, 1981.
  18. ^ a b Fletcher, Benton "The Amateur Musician" vol 111, no. 2, 1939 pp 39–44
  19. ^ Lees-Milne, Benton Fletcher; Inventory of Furniture, pictures, Musical Instrument at Old Devonshire House, June 1940, Items marked "B" removed to the Rectory Bourton-on-the-Hill Glos 6 January 1941, National Trust, Inventory Number 3075290
  20. ^ Dale, William, Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker, London, Constable 1913
  21. ^ Halfpenny, Eric. "Schudi and the "Venetian Swell", Music & Letters XXV11 1946
  22. ^ Ripin, Edwin, "Expressive devices applied to the eighteenth century harpsichord." The Organ Yearbook (1) (1970): p65-80.
  23. ^ Catalina Vicens - Harpsichord (Italy, ca. 1590) / Picchi - 'Toccata'. YouTube. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021.
  24. ^ Wraight, Denzil "Identification and Authentication of Italian Stringed Keyboard Instruments in The Historical Harpsichord" ed. Howard Schott, Pendragon, NY 1992
  25. ^ Frank Hubbard; Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making, Harvard University Press, 1970, p20
  26. ^ Bavington Peter, The Missing Benton Fletcher Clavichord, British Clavichord Society Newsletter 2005, 33, p6-8
  27. ISBN 978-0907621102
  28. ^ 1861 England census page 11 District 11, Trinity Newington, Newington, Surrey
  29. ^ Parish Register, St Mark's Kennington, 15 April 1857
  30. ^ 1871 England census page 38, district 12, Merton Surrey
  31. ^ National Probate Calendar, Index of Wills and Administrations, John Fletcher's last will and testament, proved London 30 September 1874
  32. ^ National Probate Calendar, Index of Wills and Administrations, proved 25 July 1883
  33. ^ 1911 England census, Schedule 6, District 03, Yapton, Sussex
  34. ^ "PCD_823 High Street, Sidcup c.1910 - Bexley Borough PhotosBexley Borough Photos". Bexley Borough Photos. 15 August 2012.
  35. ^ 1891 England Census p 13 District 4, Lewisham, Lewisham London
  36. ^ Parish Register, Holy Trinity, Clapham, 18 April 1889
  37. ^ "English Marriages, 1538-1973," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N6CC-DMH: accessed 4 January 2016), Thomas Fletcher and Elizabeth Benton, 10 Feb 1817; citing St. Peter's Wolverhampton, Stafford, England, reference it 3 pg 148; FHL microfilm 1,040,899.
  38. ^ England and Wales Marriage Index, 1925, Jan–Feb–Mar, Vol 29, p790
  39. ^ Ackerman, Michael (January 2010). "Alec Hodsdon 1900–1986, the life of an early maker and pioneer - Soundingboard" (PDF). The Harpsichord Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 January 2015.
  40. ^ Radio Times 1099, 20 Oct 1944, p1
  41. ^ Hodsdon, Margaret, V&A, Vol 1 "Early Keyboard Instruments" LP Oryx 1600 EX/EX 1968 with Valda Aveling.
  42. ISBN 0094693803
  43. ^ Census 1891
  44. ^ Fletcher, Benton, letter 1931, National Trust Collections, Scrap book of material relating to the Benton Fletcher collection of early keyboard instruments: inventory Number 3075290, Fenton House
  45. ^ Hart's Annual Army List for 1906: 662.
  46. ^ Hansard, HL Deb 13 July 1908 vol 192 cc329-40
  47. ^ Fletcher, Benton."Record of Service of George Henry Benton Fletcher, letter", National Archive WO 339/31051, 01/12/19
  48. ^ a b c Blackman, Aylward. "Luxor and its Temples" illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher A & C Black 1923
  49. ISBN 978-1-108-06131-5
    (originally published 1913 and 1914 of work carried out for the Egypt Exploration Fund 1909–1913)
  50. ^ Drower, Margaret: Sir William Flinders Petrie, Hilda Petrie, Letters from the Desert; the correspondence of Flinders and Hilda Petrie (Aris & Petrie) 2003. p 191
  51. ^ Fletcher, Benton. Who's Who, A C Black, 1936
  52. ^ "A Head of King Ramesses 1 from his Temple at Abydos" Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol 10, No 2, p 78-9 July 1924.
  53. ^ "Bas-reliefs from the Temple of Rameses I at Abydos". Internet Archive. 1921.
  54. ISBN 0 333 38085-1
  55. ISBN 978-0-85115-871-6
  56. ^ 'AMATEUR ART EXHIBITION'. Daily News (London, England), Wednesday, 11 May 1898: Issue 16263
  57. ^ "The Beauty and Pathos of Ancient Egypt" Mr. Benton Fletcher's exhibition at the Fine Art Society, The Graphic, 18 July 1914.
  58. ^ "Pyramids At Sunset". vam.ac.uk.
  59. ^ "Court and Society." Sunday Times [London, England] 18 June 1922: 14. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. Web. 13 January 2015
  60. ^ "The Dome of the Rock, from the Mount of Olives". vam.ac.uk.
  61. ^ Dundee Courier Angus, Scotland 25 November 1933
  62. ^ 3, Cheyne Walk, London 1942, National Trust Inventory number 1448636 Archived 8 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  63. ^ National Trust Inventory Number 1449068
  64. ^ National Trust Inventory Number 1449071 Archived 9 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  65. ^ Sladen, Douglas. "Carthage and Tunis: the old and the new gates of the Orient" illustrated by Benton Fletcher, Hutchinson (1906)
  66. ^ Lorimer, Norma Octavia. "By the Waters of Carthage" with coloured frontispiece by Benton Fletcher and 32 illustrations from photographs by Garrigues, Hutchinson (1906)
  67. ^ Sladen, Douglas. "Sicily, the new winter resort: an encyclopaedia of Sicily", with 234 illustrations, a map and a table of the railway system of Sicily with illustrations by Benton Fletcher, Methuen (1908)
  68. ^ Sladen, Douglas. "The Tragedy of the Pyramids: a Romance of Army Life in Egypt" By Douglas Sladen, illustrated by Benton Fletcher; Hurst and Blackett (1909)
  69. ^ Lorimer, Norma Octavia, "By the Waters of Egypt" with sixteen illustrations in colour by George Henry Benton Fletcher; Hutchinson (1909)
  70. ^ a b Cust, Lionel. "Jerusalem a Historical Sketch" illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher A & C Black (1924)
  71. ^ Pepys, Samuel. "Diary of Samuel Pepys", deciphered by the Rev. J Smith M.A. from the original shorthand MS, with notes by Richard Lord Braybrooke, with an introduction by Guy N. Pocock; illustrated with drawings by Major Benton Fletcher, J.M. Dent 1924
  72. ^ Erskine, Mrs Steuart. "The Vanished Cities of Arabia" illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher, Hutchinson (1925)
  73. ^ Erskine, Mrs Steuart. "The Bay of Naples" illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher, Hutchinson (1926)
  74. ^ Headlam, Cecil. "The Story of Naples with 50 half tone illustrations by Major Benton Fletcher", J.M. Dent (1927)
  75. ^ Erskine, Mrs Steuart. "The Vanished Cities of Northern Africa", illustrated by Major Benton Fletcher, Hutchinson (1927)
  76. ^ Fletcher, Major Benton. "Royal Homes Near London", with 43 illustrations by the author, The Bodley Head (1930)
  77. ^ Shah, Sirdar Ikbal Ali. "Arabia; Peeps at Many Lands" illustrated by Benton Fletcher, A. C. Black (1931)
  78. ^ The Gates of Jerusalem by Jacqueline Cockburn, illustrator Frontis by Benton Fletcher, John Murray 1937
  79. ^ "Sladen, Douglas Brooke (1856–1947)". Biography - Douglas Brooke Sladen - Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  80. ^ Sir Lionel Henry Cust, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007
  81. ^ Fairman H W "Aylward Manley Blackman" The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 1956 Egyptian Exploration Society, p 102-104
  82. ^ Fletcher, Benton "Cobham Mill" Times, 24 March 1931
  83. ^ Voss EW The Amateur Musician vol 1 Oct–Dec 1934 pp 13–14
  84. ^ Stephen Denford and David A Hayes, Streets East of Bloomsbury, Camden History Society, 2008, pp 26-27
  85. ^ "The National Trust Acts 1907–1971: 1937, PDF p 15". nationaltrust.org.uk. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015.
  86. ^ "Old Devonshire House" Times, 19 November 1937:21
  87. ^ National Trust 1943 Annual Report p15 ODH (Old Devonshire House) No 3
  88. ^ "Benton Fletcher Musical Collection." Times [London, England] 19 July 1952: 6. The Times Digital Archive Web 5 January 2015.
  89. ISBN 0 85955 283 7
  90. ISBN 0 85955 283 7
  91. ^ "Deaths." Times [London, England] 6 August 1945: 6
  92. ^ "*An English Travel Writer*: Apples and Harpsichords". 29 September 2013.
  93. ^ Fletcher, Benton "Improving Handel" Times [London, England] 27 August 1932:6. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 5 January 2015

External links

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