On a beautiful day in early September, 20 members of The Badsey Society went on an outing to Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire. The original house (much altered over the years) was first built in the 16th century by Lawrence Washington, a direct ancestor (5xgreat-grandfather) of George Washington, First President of the United States of America.
We decided to visit Sulgrave because of the Washington family connections with Wickhamford. Penelope Washington, who lived for a time at Wickhamford Manor, was the 3xgreat-granddaughter of Lawrence Washington. She was also the second-cousin-twice-removed of George Washington.
And that’s not the only connection. One Society member with a vested interest in the trip was Ian Gibson who can claim kinship with the Washington clan. As Ian explained in a talk he gave to the Society a few years ago entitled “Vicars, Virginia and Wickhamford”, he is the third cousin six-times-removed of George Washington!
After travelling by coach from Badsey to Sulgrave, we were met by Thea who gave us an excellent guided tour of the house and garden. As she explained, by the beginning of the 20th century, Sulgrave Manor was in poor repair. In 1914 some of the most influential American people of the day decided to fund the purchase and restoration of the home of George Washington’s English ancestors. The initiative for the purchase of Sulgrave Manor came from the Peace Centenary Committees set up in 1911 to determine how to commemorate the centenary of the Treaty of Ghent, which established peace between Britain and the USA in 1814. The outbreak of the First World War meant that work on the project had to be put on hold but, in 1921, it was ready to open to the public. Sulgrave Manor Trust was established to care for Sulgrave Manor and to promote friendship and goodwill between the British and American peoples. In the words of Dr Steven Knapp, President of George Washington University: “There is no richer symbol of the deep historical and cultural connection between our two nations than the ancestral home of the leading founder of the United States.”
The day was rounded off with afternoon tea. Many thanks to Shirley Tutton for organising the visit.
