Christmas at the big house

The festive season was also the time when the landed gentry remembered their servants and those who worked on their estates. It has been a tradition in England since the earliest times to relax the disciplines needed to administer the mansions and country houses and to allow a little merrymaking among those who kept them running and in good order.

The poor of the parish were also remembered and in 1857, Captain William Woodhouse, of Irnham Park, "with his usual generosity", according to the Stamford Mercury, had two fine fat Scotch bullocks slaughtered and the meat given away on Christmas Eve to deserving families at Irnham, Bulby, Hawthorpe and Corby Glen, a gift which was repeated the following year, in 1858, when he again remembered the poor from these villages "with his usual liberality" by distributing his annual supply of beef.

Also that year, the Rev W W Smythe, owner of Bulby Hall, near Bourne, but resided at Brighton, sent £10 to be distributed among the poor of Bulby and Hawthorpe. The tenant of the hall, Lieutenant Colonel Reeve, also gave them a fat pig and 2s. 6d. to every widow and poor old man. By 1866, Bulby Hall had changed hands but the Christmas festivities were observed by the new owner, as reported by the Stamford Mercury:

The Hon Gilbert Heathcote MP, with his usual liberality, gave his servants and their friends a ball. Nearly 100 enjoyed themselves, the strains of Mr Wells' band and the refreshments being much appreciated. 

At nearby Grimsthorpe Castle, as befitted a grander house, the celebrations were far more elaborate when their party was held on New Year's Day in 1867:

A ball was given by Lord Willoughby de Eresby to the servants and employees on the estate. Nearly 200 assembled about nine o'clock in the great hall which had been magnificently decorated by Mr McVicar, the head gardener. Amongst the decorations worthy of notice were a single branch of mistletoe seven feet high and twenty feet in circumference (this is a very uncommon size), the flags of the Lincolnshire Volunteers of the olden time when they were commanded by the Duke of Ancaster; and the ensigns and flag  belonging to his Lordship's yacht. The band of Mr Wells, of Stamford, attended. After a few preliminary dances, the guests adjourned to an excellent supper. His Lordship's health was drunk with an enthusiasm well worthy of the place and the occasion. After supper, the dancing, interspersed with one or two well-sung songs, was kept up till six o'clock, the visitors at the Castle entering into the evening's festivities.

Some of the gentry were also aware of the impoverishment that existed in the countryside as this report from the Stamford Mercury on Christmas Eve, Friday 24th December 1880, illustrates:

The Rev Henry Prior, Vicar of Baston, has received £5 from Lady Willoughby de Eresby to be expended in coals for the poor of Baston. Miss Bothamley, of Pelham House, Kingston-on-Thames, has also sent the vicar £1 10s. for the same object.