To begin...

I've had these address books since my mid-teens, when my dad found them while renovating an old house. At the time I had the idea of writing to the various addresses to find out information about the people listed.

The internet, you see, did not exist then.

This plan came to nothing and they've lived in a keepsake box ever since. Out of curiosity/boredom one holiday I started to google some of the names and I was very surprised with some of the results.

This is an archive of all the information I've found out about the names and addresses in these lovely little books. I hope you enjoy reading about them as much as I enjoyed researching.

The main mystery - as to who these books belonged to - remains unsolved however...

If you have any further information about any aspect of this archive - especially if you have an idea about the original owner of these books - I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Elizabeth, Lady Lewis - Bibsworth House, Broadway, Worcestershire

Elizabeth (1844-1931), nee Eberstadt, was the daughter of German businessman and politician Ferdinand Eberstadt and the second wife of Sir George Lewis (later a Baronet), a preeminent London solicitor. She was a prominent figure among London's artists and thinkers. Oscar Wilde said of her husband: "George Lewis? Brilliant. Formidable. Concerned in every great case in England. Oh, he knows all about us, and he forgives us all."

He also had a cameo appearance in Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes".

Whistler always addressed her affectionately as 'Mrs George', even after her husband's knighthood in 1893, by which time she signed her letters to him 'Betty'.

Their daughters, Kate and Gertie, were painted by Edward Coley Burne-Jones in the 2880s. Indeed, the paintings of Elizabeth and her husband pictured here are by John Singer Sargent (her husband was his solicitor). Sargant's name does crop up quite a bit when researching this book... Lewis was also a solicitor for Oscar Wilde, Henry James and Whistler, among others.

A collection of Elizabeth's letters is held at the Bodleian Museum in Oxford.Among her correspondents are: Sir James Barrie, Sir Henry Irving, Henry James, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler and Oscar Wilde.

As well as letters there is also a fan given to Elizabeth by Wilde which is described in the catalogue: fan made of feather, including a whole small bird, made by Canadian Indians. In a heart-shaped box, covered with decorated paper. It was acquired by Wilde in Canada and given to Elizabeth in 1882. Further insight into the family and their relatiosnhip with the art world can be found here.

Having read about her correspondents, Lewis' biographer's description their Portland Place home comes as no surprise: this house was to be thronged with painters, sculptors, musicians, actors, writers, lawyers, politicians, indeed, to be invited to Lady Lewis' was to enter a social milieu at once fluid and eclectic.... Here the establishment and Bohemia had to embrace - because Elizabeth wanted them to. (Juxon, John: Lewis & Lewis; The Life and Times of a Victorian Solicitor. William Collins Sons & Co., Glasgow 1983).

That of course describes their Portland Place house, but what of Bibsworth? The listing in the address book is 'Bibsworth House, Broadway'. The pretty village of Broadway in Worcestershire was home to an artist and writers' colony, led by Singer Sargent in the 1880s and included people like Henry James.

The only Bibsworth House I can find is a grade 2 listed building which was built in 1904. Using the postcode, this google street view is the best I can do. And I'm not even sure this is the house. It may be a gatehouse to a larger one along that path. Or, as it was built twenty years after the colony began, it may be another house altogether.

Raymond Unwin - The Wyldes, Hampstead

Sir Raymond Unwin (1863 – 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing. He has a detailed wikipedia page.

Unwin was a co-planner of the area formerly known as The Wyldes, or Tooley's farm, later the Hampstead Garden Suburb, where he lived from 1906 until he died in 1940. Click this link for a detailed history of The Wyldes.

The farm was painted by Millais and Charles Dickens lived there for a time as a young man.

He was influential in Arts and Crafts architecture and was a pioneer in urban planning. He was particularly concerned with social issues. John Ruskin and William Morris are influences on his work.

His designs and architecture (in Gretna, Scotland) and his thinking can be seen here.

Unwin died at Old Lyme, Connecticut, while visiting his daughter, Mrs Curtice Hitchcock, wife of the American publisher.

Edgar Speyer - 22 Washington Square, New York

Sir Edgar Speyer, 1st Baronet (7 September 1862 – 16 February 1932) was an American-born financier and philanthropist. He has an extensive Wikipedia page

which details his career as a financier and also his connections with various composers including Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy.

He was also involved in the financing of Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition.

Speyer was the victim of anti-German sentiment at the start of World War 1 and lost his status as a naturalised Briton in 1921 following an investigation into business links with Germany. Friends and partners denied any wrongdoing but he moved to the United States in 1921.

Speyer died in February in 1932, having travelled to Berlin for an operation on his nose.

Leonora Speyer is an equally interesting lady in her own right. She was an accomplished violinist and poet - winner of the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, for 'Fiddler's Farewell'.

This beautiful portrait was painted by John Singer Sargent, whose name is a common thread in

the address book. Read more about her here.

Here is link to another picture of Leonora which she dedicates in her own hand to Edvard Grieg.

The townhouse at 22 Washington Square now houses The Strauss Institute - for the advanced study of law and justice.

Th Institute's website has a thorough history on the house, including this paragraph (by Lauren Gambier) about Speyer's residence there:

22 Washington Square was home to Edgar and Leonora Speyer from 1919 to 1936. The house was purchased by Speyer in 1919 for $22,000.

The couple (pictured on the left) had three daughters. One of them, Vivien Claire Speyer, died in 2001, aged a formidable 94. Her obituary details a commendable war effort, spent in London during the blitz and lists her as one of the first WAACs. At the end of the war she had reached the rank of sargeant.