MEMORIES OF THE RAJAH
Cirencester is well
known for its fine Roman heritage and prominence in Roman Britain. Perhaps
fewer people realise that at one time the town was associated with the destiny
of a family and a unique state of headhunters extending along the coast
of Northern Borneo in South East Asia. Our attention is drawn to Sir Charles
Brooke, the second White Rajah, who ruled Sarawak from 1868 to 1917. He
epitomised the Brooke policy that “Sarawak belongs to the Malays, the Sea
Dayaks, the Land Dayaks and the Kayans and other tribes... not to us. It
is for them we labour ...not for ourselves”
The three White
Rajahs divided their lives between ruling Sarawak in Kuching and taking their
leave in England. The town connection does not begin with Rajah James the
first White Rajah. He spent his leave in a small house at Burrator, Sheepstor
in Devonshire. Rajah Charles inherited it and indeed spent his
honeymoon there. However, his marriage to Margaret Lili de Windt in
October 1867 meant that he was now drawn towards the Cotswolds. The
home of Margaret, daughter of Clayton de Windt, was Blunsdon
Hall, Highworth in Wiltshire. Charles had no desire to live in
London high society which bored him to distraction. He wished to be
near his favourite hunting area with the Duke of Beaufort and Ranée,
Margaret's friends.The Rajah returned regularly to England in winter for
the hunting season. Charles consequently became increasingly attracted to
Cirencester and the immediate neighbourhood. He occupied several houses within
and around the town. It would appear that Cecily Hill House could be included
among them. At the turn of the century the Rajah became interested in
property in Chesterton. His search for an established residence was soon
to be fulfilled.
The property he first
purchased was known as Oakley Villas. He immediately converted it into a
well-appointed residence and named it Oakley Hall. He then erected a
museum which Illustrated the inhabitants, customs, products and natural history
of Sarawak. Mr Sheldon, the curator, had to repair the more fragile objects
which were damaged from the rough handling the packing cases received en route
from the East. The Sarawak Museum was open to the public in October 1901
from 3 p.m to 5 p.m on Tuesdays and Fridays. Gentry who wished to view the
items on display at any other time were requested please send their cards the
day before stating the hours they wished to call. The most noticeable item on
display had been prepared by a London taxidermist. This gigantic python
was twenty-one and a half feet long. In the centre of the body was a swelling
4-ft in diameter and 3 feet long; just before capture it had bolted down a
whole pig live. A boatload of Dayaks had spotted it swimming across the river
looking for a quiet spot to digest its prey. The Dayaks gave it a dose of local
tobacco, lashed rattans around the monster and delightedly handed it over live
to Rajah Charles. The display was regarded as one of the most interesting
private collections in the country at the time. However, the collection remind
only briefly at Oakley Hall. Chesterton House was advertised for sale in the
Wilts and Glos Standard on 8th February. Rajah Charles promptly acquired
Chesterton House in 1902 and Oakley was subsequently sold to Lord Grantley.
Rajah Charles had now established himself in a spacious and well furnished
residence befitting a wealthy country gentleman of that period.
Rajah Charles erected
additional stables and acquired 20 fine hunters. During the hunting season the
grooms led them around the district to Earl
Bathurst's Park for their daily morning exercise. They entered through the
Tetbury Road entrance proceeding past the Vale of White Horse kennels down
Windsor Walk inside the park. On their return they were dressed and groomed,
remaining in their stables in the afternoon. After each hunt they were given
one day's rest. From May to August the Rajah's sleek Hunters grazed under the
trees in the field beside Fox's Lane. They were thoroughly conditioned ready
for his return in early November. Rajah Charles also had a magnificent team of
coach horses. His high-steppers were given a daily outing which proved
quite an event. He gained a reputation for driving with panache around the
countryside and hurtling throughout bthe streets of Cirencester. On one
occasion he drove straight over Birdlip Hill. On the way down this slope the
brakes of the coach refused to work. The Rajah then lashed the wheels together
and slid all the way down as best he could. Emma Evelyn, his sister, was inside
the coach and she leaned, terrified, out of the window. The Rajah quickly
uttered a few comforting words. Emma, a devout Christian, sat back quietly
folding her arms preparing peacefully for the end.
His widowed sister
lived at Worcester House on the corner of Chesterton Lane and Somerford Road.
She was a well-known figure in the Chesterton district frequently seen being
pushed around in a bath chair. Mrs Evelyn mirrored Queen Victoria in
appearance, never failing to wear widow's weeds in public. She was known to
distribute religious tracts on every conceivable occasion including missionary
leaflets on Sarawak. Gladys informs us that the Rajah's devotion to his younger
sister was touching. He never let a day pass without calling on her with 'all
the grace and gallantry too often lacking in a frequent visitor'.
The Rajah enjoyed
making occasional coaching trips to London with his loyal coachman, Mr
Reynolds, who lived in Sheep Street. He wore a distinctive dark green uniform
with his huntsman's hat and cockade. They ventured out on to The Bristol to
London West Coach Road passing through Fairford, Lechlade, Kingston Bagpuize,
Faringdon, Abingdon, Dorchester and Henley. They made two night stops, changing
their four horses at Abingdon and Henley, before stabling them on arrival in
Islington. They shared the driving though the Rajah worked his horses
relentlessly. They usually stayed in London for a fortnight before making the
return journey. The Rajah was keen to attend the annual Islington Horse and
Coach Show which paraded the latest innovations in coach designs. Presumably
Rajah Charles shopped locally at the saddlers, Morris and Harmers, in
Cirencester Market Place.
After Lord Grantley
had purchased Oakley Hall, Rajah Charles needed a new home for his Sarawak
Collection. Therefore he bought a considerable area of land on the other side
of Chesterton Lane immediately opposite Chesterton House. On a portion of it
near his main gates he had a fine Museum and Institute built. The design and plans
were drawn up by Mr V.A. Lawson and the builder was Mr George Drew who lived in
Victoria Road. The front elevation was a picturesque open vestibule similar in
design to the old Cirencester Cottage Hospital. The Rajah’s motto Dum
spiro spero, meaning “While I breathe, I hope” was on the coat of arms prominently displayed
at the front of building. The Sarawak Collection
was now displayed in a spacious lofty and well lit room under the care of Mrs
Ellen Walker. Visitors walked across the veranda through the main hall and then
down a flight of steps into the back of the building. The gigantic python now
extended along the entire length of the room, kept company by one of the orangutans holding
a metal lamp. Elderly Cirencester residence vividly recalled Dayak boats and
the cases full of butterflies. In the centre of the room was a large display
table with a conventional glass cover and various shields, spears, bows and
arrows around the walls. a recent addition
to the original exhibits was a large model of a Dayak dwelling built on piles.
Rajah Charles also provided a small reading room and a library. The reading room was declared open daily from
10 a.m in October 1904 for the public at large and residents of the Chesterton
district in particular. Books could not be taken out or children admitted in
the Reading Room. Smoking was allowed so that visitors could enjoy book and
pipe under pleasent conditions. Only one book on Sarawak by Charles Anthony
Brooke appears to be listed among the other works in the well-stocked library.
Although Sarawak was his passion the Rajah always maintained a keen interest in
the old country.
 |
| Postcard of c.1905 |
Around the museum and institute
Rajah Charles laid out ornamental gardens and pleasure grounds for public use.
These included tennis courts croquet lawns and playgrounds for children. The
children could play on the seesaws and stand under cover shelter when it was
raining. The Chesterton children tended to be very possessive of the playground
and did not like other children coming up from the town at all. Over the
entrance gateway was a lamp which was only lit when the Rajah was in residence.
This lamp did not shine during the 1914 1918 War. The whole area was kept in
darkness throughout that period. The garden aviary housed specimens of the
birdlife of Sarawak and other tropical countries including parrots macaws
cockatoos and game birds such as pheasants. Peacocks also wandered freely
around the gardens. They roosted in the trees overlooking Chesterton House on
the opposite side of the road and roamed at will around the grounds, frequently
wandering back across Chesterton Lane into the museum gardens they apparently
made plenty of raucous noise particularly at night. According to the
long-suffering locals this was invariably a sign that it was going to rain.
Chesterton residents in 1985
nostalgically recalled visiting the museum and aviary when they were children.
Chesterton was quite rural in those days and there certainly was no transport
available in the area. Townspeople simply walked or cycled up from the town
usually on Sundays after church. The occasional automobile irritatingly kicked
up a lot of swirling dust. The python was vividly remembered and similarly a
cockatoo called Max. Mr Max Cole, a local resident who had worked out East,
presented it to the Rajah for safekeeping. Everytime the children called its
name it would come fly over to greet them. The Rajah was particularly fond of
children. Occasionally he would take a little boy or girl passing by
down to the aviary. He proceeded to take a tiny key from his gold chain, open
the door and show the child around the interior. He then collected colourful feathers
from the cage floor and handed then to the child as a keepsake. Every year at
Whitsun up until the Great War he treated the children of Chesterton to a day
out. The boys turned up in their hard-wearing tweed suits, white starched
collars and tweed flat caps. The girls
wore their best white starched frocks and leather shoes having placed their
hair in curlers overnight. Boots were considered boys' footwear in those days.
They then scrambled aboard two four
wheeled brakes, seating approximately 20 children, each pulled by two horses.
When they were all aboard they gaily trotted off to The George hotel in
Birdlip. On arrival they played games and ran races, eating and drinking as
much as they could from the spread laid out on trestle tables. The Rajah similarly organised an annual
Christmas party in the museum reading room. They all enjoyed the conventional
Christmas festivities and party games. During the summer the children we're
allowed to pick apples from the orchard near the house.
Rajah Charles further invited the
Cirencester brass and reed band to play inside the grounds. This was the
Midland Southwestern Works Railway band comprising around 30 members with its
headquarters in Watermoor. It was the
established local band prior to the First World War. During the summer they
performed on Saturday evenings to the public for one-and-a-half hours
completing the performance in time for the Sunday church service at 6:30 p.m.
The grounds were also open annually in the same manner as the Querns and Abbey
grounds. On these occasions people generally wandered around and admired the
gardens.
In October 1916 Rajah Charles
fell seriously ill at the Astana in Kuching.The illness started with a swollen
ankle which the Rajah dismissed as 'Damned nonsense and a touch of gout'. The
swelling ominously vspread from his ankle to his leg. Nevertheless, he
amazingly rallied sufficiently to be able to travel home in January 1917. He
arrived in mid-February staying initially at Hyde Park Hotel in London. Gladys
recalls that he loved to talk about the house at Cirencester hoping that she
and Bertram might later live there and love the old place as he had done. He
wished the museum to remain just that he left it when he died. In mid-April he
personally requested to be taken to Chesterton House.
He travelled by car to
Cirencester accompanied by Dr Howard Marshall. Ranger Margaret and her two
younger sons were in constant attendance. Gladys and Bertram remind at
Chesterton House though Vyner had to stay in Colombo to recover from his own
serious illness. The Rajah's coughing spells developed into oedema and his
heart gradually began to fail. Nevertheless, he continually rallied and seemed
to be on the road to recovery when he died quietly at Chesterton House at noon
on Thursday 17th of May 1917. It was
Ascension day and all the blinds in the house for drawn. Gladys comments that
'All the beauties, gentleness and strength of his nature were revealed upon his face in repose'. He died shortly
before 88th birthday. The funeral took place at 2:30 p.m on Monday 21st May in
Cirencester Parish Church. The family mourners led by Ranee Margaret, Captain Bertram and Gladys Brooke and Sarawak
officers were seated together on the south side of the nave. The prominent
local mourners were headed by Colonel E. Bathurst CMG. The Rajah's coffin was
borne by the personal employees of the Rajah at Chesterton House. The clergy
and the choir met the coffin at the South Porch and preceded it to the Chancel
Step. The service was simple but impressive and attended by large congregation.
The final prayer before Grace giving thanks for the life and work of the late
Rajah had been adapted from the Accession Service. As the Coffin left the
parish church there was a muffled peal of bells. The mourners followed reverently behind the
hearse to London Road then they returned quietly in their carriages to
Chesterton House. Harry Brooke accompanied the hearse to London for the
Memorial Service which was held the following Thursday in the chapel of St
Michael and St George at St Paul's Cathedral. The general public gathered
in enormous crowds outside the small
chapel.
The Rajah's body was embalmed and
placed in a mausoleum in London awaiting internment in Sarawak. However,
contrary to his express wishes, he was buried on 12th June 1919 under the yew
tree in the churchyard of Sheepstor beside his uncle James Brooke, the first
White Rajah. The second White Rajah, like the first, lies far away from the
country he loved. No more would the white-haired old Rajah be seen dashing in
his coach or trap through Cirencester. The periodic coverage of of sensational
events in Sarawak would soon disappear from the pages of the Wilts and
Gloucestershire Standard. An association was now ending.
Rajah Charles left Chesterton
House, the museu and all it contained to his second son, Bertram. Bertram and Gladys already had a large
200-acre property at Tan Y Garth on the Welsh border. Therefore they decided to rent Chesterton
House temporarily as a private boarding school for girls. Subsequently they never lived there as the
old Rajah had originally intended, though Emma Evelyn remained in Worcester
House for some thirteen years. Since
Rajah Vyner never owned Chesterton House, Brooke or Charles Close would appear
to be more suitable names for the drive today.
In June 1920 Brooke informed the
council that it was not practicable to keep the museum site open for public
purposes. The council could not afford
to purchse it so the museum remained closed and the aviary was dismantled. All the exhibits were soon taken away by
wagon to the railway station. They were last seen piled on the platform
presumably London bound though their exact destination remains unknown. They
were not stored with the Brooke Collection at the British Museum though Gladys
had recently established a London business in the Burlington Arcade. The shop was named ‘La Ruche’ and she sold
useful works of art made by artist craftsmen.
It is possible that she gradually sold them off through this new
enterprise. The old Rajah’s wish that the museum and gardens would continue as
they were – open to the public – was not to be.
Nevertheless, in his time Rajah Charles had formed a close association
with Cirencester and had deep affection for Chesterton House. It remains a historically significant
building to this day.
Michael B. Clarke, “Memories of
the Rajah”, Ottaker’s Local History: Cirencester
(Tempus, 2002), p.17-23.
