Peplow: Mystery of the museum that went missing
There was an Emperor penguin, a really big one. Leopards, at least one crocodile, and dozens and dozens of birds. Stuffed, naturally.
But what happened to them all?
If you know, do tell, because it will solve the riddle of the fate of the long-disappeared Peplow Hall Museum.
Our pictures give an idea of what it was like. It comprised a large collection of British birds and eggs, mammals, heads, moths and butterflies, fossils and so on, and "a number of bronze and stone implements found in the ruins of the Red Castle."
The photos come from an album in the possession of Sir Beville Stanier, who is now in his 80s. Peplow Hall, near Hodnet, was historically the home of the Stanier family.
However it was all before Sir Beville's time. Billy – that's the name he goes by – was born in 1934, and his grandfather, also called Sir Beville, sold Peplow Hall in 1921, downsizing (and this is of course relatively speaking) to The Citadel at Weston-under-Redcastle.
"My great-grandfather had a natural history museum at Peplow and when Peplow was sold, I believe it was either sent to Liverpool or Manchester University, although I'm not sure," said Billy.
However information in an album caption points to the exhibits going to some undisclosed location in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
His great-grandfather, incidentally, was Francis Stanier, who had bought Peplow Hall in a sorry state in 1873 and done it up. Francis, who died in October 1900, hailed from Newcastle-under-Lyme, which on the face of it adds strength to the notion that the collection went "back" there somehow.
However, his obituary in the Newport Advertiser made no mention of the collection, nor indeed of him having any interest in natural history.
A handwritten note with one of the pictures in Billy's photo album says: "The museum, Peplow, presented to Newcastle, Staffs, by B.S. 1920."
Those initials are for Beville Stanier, Billy's grandfather, who was Newport MP, and then, from 1918, Ludlow MP. He died in December 1921 only a few months after the family moved in at The Citadel. They had lived at Peplow Hall until the first part of 1921 and the hall's sale by private treaty was reported by local papers in May that year.
Presumably arrangements had been made to move out the museum exhibits by the time of the sale.
Petition
The Staniers' decision to move on was met by dismay locally and in November 1920 a petition was presented to Sir Beville by the three senior tenants, a Mr Rodenhurst, Mr Cottrell, and Mr Williamson, bearing the signatures of 120 people living on the Peplow and High Hatton estates.
It expressed their profound sorrow at their departure, and spoke of the extraordinary kindness of Sir Beville and Lady Stanier to the tenants.
"Is there anything that we could do to avert the catastrophe which threatens us and Peplow in your contemplated removal from the hall, and the possible sale of the estate?" the petition asked.
In his response Sir Beville said he and Lady Stanier were touched by their words, but added: "After long consideration, I have decided that I ought, for the sake of my family, to live in a smaller house, and surroundings with less expense."
