The Great House, Timberscombe, an RA Series Postcard, co-published by Mrs. E.H. Hyde
Title
The Great House, Timberscombe, an RA Series Postcard, co-published by Mrs. E.H. Hyde
Subject
Description
A sepia tinted postcard depicting The Great House, on the right, through the trees. It is on the northeastern edge of Timberscombe, situated on a bend of Great House Street-also known as Duck Lane until the 1960's (1).
The postcard is labelled "THE GREAT HOUSE, TIMBERSCOMBE", on the left end of a white strip along its' bottom. On the reverse, across the top centre, the postcard is identified as part of the RA SERIES. This title is placed in an oval, with "THE SEAL OF ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE" handwritten and printed around it. "POST' and "CORRESPONDENCE" are printed to the seal's left, with "CARD" and "ADDRESS" on the right. "PRINTED IN ENGLAND" is placed within the unused stamp box. On the bottom left corner of the reverse, "The R.A.P. Co., Ltd. London, E.C.4" is printed and more unusually, along the left edge of the reverse is "Published By Mrs. E.H. Hyde, the Stores, Timberscombe. 12888". The same reverse can be viewed at SP-032.
The R.A.P. Co., Ltd. was the Rapid Art Photography Company, founded by Mr. de Jornette Plummer around 1907, who arrived from Europe to England c. 1901 (2). He may have emigrated from Brussels. In 1902 at Marylebone, Plummer married Hortense Sober, who was born in Brussels. Perhaps more importantly, she listed her occupation as a photographer (3). By 1903, they had set up a photographic stall on the Brighton Palace Pier and in 1910, he and his wife opened an R.A.P. headquarters at the Chelsea Bridge Pier, London --the source of the "E.C. 4" at the end of the company name, as it was their London address. At this location, Mr. Plummer began producing postcards and Mr. and Mrs. Plummer operated a photography studio--which they preferred to call a gallery (4). Soon there were R.A.P Galleries at Brighton, Eastbourne, Bournesmith, Croydon, Dover, Folkstone, Swansea and Hastings (5), which was the last one, opening by 1918 and listed only in Madame Hortense Plummer's name--as she was now identified (6). Mr. Plummer's wife appears to have been the driving force behind these galleries as most closed in 1919 when Madame Plummer died.
In July 1920, de Jornette Plummer married Edith Mary Metters, originally from Hampstead, London (7). She was a photographer as well and since 1917 had been operating two studios in Liverpool as "Mrs Edith Plummer "--certainly suggesting that de Jornette Plummer was involved with Edith Metters well before the death of Hortense Plummer. After their marriage, the couple opened another portrait studio in Liverpool with the dramatic name of Princess Dubarries Portrait Studios, Limited. By 1922, Edith Plummer became the studio's "sole director". Mr. Plummer disappeared around 1924 and shareholders of the Liverpool studio urged Edith to "voluntarily" close the business (8). On the 1939 England and Wales Register, Edith was back in London at Westminster, working as a portrait photographer and divorced. It has been presumed de Jornette Plummer returned to Europe. Perhaps Brussels.
Perhaps produced by the shareholders or by Edith Plummer, R.A.P. postcards continued to be published, at least to around 1930 (9). The RA Series was a separate line of postcards by Rapid Art Photography, that appeared as early as 1910, looking much like the postcard seen here, with a title neatly printed on the left end of a white strip below the photograph. RA Series postcards, in particular, were often published in tandem with another publisher that was usually connected to the place depicted on the front of the postcard (10). In the case of this postcard (as well as SP-049, a postcard featuring Timberscombe's St. Petrock's Church), that co-publisher was Ethel Hyde, proprietor of The Stores, shops on the southern end of Timberscombe's Brook Street. They are depicted at SP-032, and were also part of the RA Series.
Ethel Hyde was born in 1894 as Ethel Daley at Willesden, Middlesex, London. She was the second of at least nine children born to William, a bricklayer and Elizabeth (nee Kitchener) Daley. By the age of 17, Ethel was working as a shop assistant (11). She married Joseph Hyde, a cook, in 1916 (12) and their only child, Hilda Rita Caroline Hyde was born in 1918 (13).
On the 1921 Census, the Hyde family was still living in Middlesex and by the 1939 Register of England and Wales, they are in Timberscombe. Their address was The Stores, on Brook Street, where Ethel was managing possibly two shops and Hilda worked as her assistant. Mr. Hyde, 25 years older than Ethel, was listed as a Retired Boarding House Keeper. As Mrs. Hyde is not at The Stores until some point after 1921 and the RA Series seems to discontinue in the early 1930's, this postcard of The Great House would appear to have been published within that time period.
(The Stores, as managed by Mrs. Hyde on Brook Street, became the residential cottages called Brooklyn and Butterflies and should not be confused with other "The Stores," shops operating in the village-- at Brook House on Brook Street (depicted at SP-035), at Combe House on Jubilee Terrace, owned by Emily Coles, or "Stores," as operated by Sydney and Eva Loveridge on Church Street. The latter two were also listed on the 1939 Register of England and Wales. Timberscombe was a village of shopkeepers but with limited variety in their names.)
The Great House was rebuilt in 1740, either by William Withycombe, owner of Bickham Manor or by his tenant, William Baker (14). It was constructed on the site of a previous house built in the late 17th century--which had been attached to an even earlier three cell house, possibly a farmhouse used by Dunster's Luttrell family, with medieval origins (15). In 1814, it was owned by Nathaniel Merchant, who is believed to have given it the name of The Great House (16). The three storey roughcast manor house, with its' pitched slate roof visible in this photograph. was described in the 18th century by Edmund Rack as a "pretty white house" (17).
This postcard was donated in 2019 by Alan Hines and Tom Sperling of Berrowcote, Timberscombe.
The postcard is labelled "THE GREAT HOUSE, TIMBERSCOMBE", on the left end of a white strip along its' bottom. On the reverse, across the top centre, the postcard is identified as part of the RA SERIES. This title is placed in an oval, with "THE SEAL OF ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE" handwritten and printed around it. "POST' and "CORRESPONDENCE" are printed to the seal's left, with "CARD" and "ADDRESS" on the right. "PRINTED IN ENGLAND" is placed within the unused stamp box. On the bottom left corner of the reverse, "The R.A.P. Co., Ltd. London, E.C.4" is printed and more unusually, along the left edge of the reverse is "Published By Mrs. E.H. Hyde, the Stores, Timberscombe. 12888". The same reverse can be viewed at SP-032.
The R.A.P. Co., Ltd. was the Rapid Art Photography Company, founded by Mr. de Jornette Plummer around 1907, who arrived from Europe to England c. 1901 (2). He may have emigrated from Brussels. In 1902 at Marylebone, Plummer married Hortense Sober, who was born in Brussels. Perhaps more importantly, she listed her occupation as a photographer (3). By 1903, they had set up a photographic stall on the Brighton Palace Pier and in 1910, he and his wife opened an R.A.P. headquarters at the Chelsea Bridge Pier, London --the source of the "E.C. 4" at the end of the company name, as it was their London address. At this location, Mr. Plummer began producing postcards and Mr. and Mrs. Plummer operated a photography studio--which they preferred to call a gallery (4). Soon there were R.A.P Galleries at Brighton, Eastbourne, Bournesmith, Croydon, Dover, Folkstone, Swansea and Hastings (5), which was the last one, opening by 1918 and listed only in Madame Hortense Plummer's name--as she was now identified (6). Mr. Plummer's wife appears to have been the driving force behind these galleries as most closed in 1919 when Madame Plummer died.
In July 1920, de Jornette Plummer married Edith Mary Metters, originally from Hampstead, London (7). She was a photographer as well and since 1917 had been operating two studios in Liverpool as "Mrs Edith Plummer "--certainly suggesting that de Jornette Plummer was involved with Edith Metters well before the death of Hortense Plummer. After their marriage, the couple opened another portrait studio in Liverpool with the dramatic name of Princess Dubarries Portrait Studios, Limited. By 1922, Edith Plummer became the studio's "sole director". Mr. Plummer disappeared around 1924 and shareholders of the Liverpool studio urged Edith to "voluntarily" close the business (8). On the 1939 England and Wales Register, Edith was back in London at Westminster, working as a portrait photographer and divorced. It has been presumed de Jornette Plummer returned to Europe. Perhaps Brussels.
Perhaps produced by the shareholders or by Edith Plummer, R.A.P. postcards continued to be published, at least to around 1930 (9). The RA Series was a separate line of postcards by Rapid Art Photography, that appeared as early as 1910, looking much like the postcard seen here, with a title neatly printed on the left end of a white strip below the photograph. RA Series postcards, in particular, were often published in tandem with another publisher that was usually connected to the place depicted on the front of the postcard (10). In the case of this postcard (as well as SP-049, a postcard featuring Timberscombe's St. Petrock's Church), that co-publisher was Ethel Hyde, proprietor of The Stores, shops on the southern end of Timberscombe's Brook Street. They are depicted at SP-032, and were also part of the RA Series.
Ethel Hyde was born in 1894 as Ethel Daley at Willesden, Middlesex, London. She was the second of at least nine children born to William, a bricklayer and Elizabeth (nee Kitchener) Daley. By the age of 17, Ethel was working as a shop assistant (11). She married Joseph Hyde, a cook, in 1916 (12) and their only child, Hilda Rita Caroline Hyde was born in 1918 (13).
On the 1921 Census, the Hyde family was still living in Middlesex and by the 1939 Register of England and Wales, they are in Timberscombe. Their address was The Stores, on Brook Street, where Ethel was managing possibly two shops and Hilda worked as her assistant. Mr. Hyde, 25 years older than Ethel, was listed as a Retired Boarding House Keeper. As Mrs. Hyde is not at The Stores until some point after 1921 and the RA Series seems to discontinue in the early 1930's, this postcard of The Great House would appear to have been published within that time period.
(The Stores, as managed by Mrs. Hyde on Brook Street, became the residential cottages called Brooklyn and Butterflies and should not be confused with other "The Stores," shops operating in the village-- at Brook House on Brook Street (depicted at SP-035), at Combe House on Jubilee Terrace, owned by Emily Coles, or "Stores," as operated by Sydney and Eva Loveridge on Church Street. The latter two were also listed on the 1939 Register of England and Wales. Timberscombe was a village of shopkeepers but with limited variety in their names.)
The Great House was rebuilt in 1740, either by William Withycombe, owner of Bickham Manor or by his tenant, William Baker (14). It was constructed on the site of a previous house built in the late 17th century--which had been attached to an even earlier three cell house, possibly a farmhouse used by Dunster's Luttrell family, with medieval origins (15). In 1814, it was owned by Nathaniel Merchant, who is believed to have given it the name of The Great House (16). The three storey roughcast manor house, with its' pitched slate roof visible in this photograph. was described in the 18th century by Edmund Rack as a "pretty white house" (17).
This postcard was donated in 2019 by Alan Hines and Tom Sperling of Berrowcote, Timberscombe.
Creator
The R.A.P. Co. Ltd. E.C.4
Source
Publisher
Mrs. E. H. Hyde, The Stores, Timberscombe
Date
likely 1921 to early 1930s
Contributor
Format
Language
English
Identifier
The Great House / Timberscombe / Great House Street
Acquisition Date
2019
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PLACES: Manor Houses / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
Entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2020 / 2022
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
12 X 19
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) as recalled in 2019 by Allan Sutton and Wendy Hellewell of Timberscombe (2) photohistory-sussex.co.uk (3) 1911 England Census and England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 (4) photo-history-sussex.co.uk (5) Postcards of the Past, sandgrownlass.co.uk (6) UK, City and Country Directories, 1766-1946 / Kelly's Directory, Sussex, Hastings. 1918 (7) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 and England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 (8) photohistory-sussex.co.uk (9) The Devon Heritage Centre has an R.A.P..Co., Ltd., London, E.C. 4 postcard of Buckfast Abbey dated c. 1930, devon-cat.swheritage.org.uk (10) Postcards of the Past, sandgrownlass.co.uk (11) 1901 England Census and 1911 England Census (12) London, England, Church of England, Marriage and Banns, 1754-1936 (13) London, England, Church of England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1920 (14) Victoria County History.ac.uk (15) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park, MSO10609 (16) VCH (15) VCH
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2020
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-037
Technique
Copy
Citation
The R.A.P. Co. Ltd. E.C.4, “The Great House, Timberscombe, an RA Series Postcard, co-published by Mrs. E.H. Hyde,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 18, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3283.
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