Matlock: Marchant Brooks Sale Rooms,
Causeway Lane, 1946 |
Matlock : Twentieth Century Photographs, Postcards,
Engravings & Etchings |
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Marchant Brooks and Co. were auctioneers, land, house and estate
agents, surveyors and valuers, with offices in Westminster Bank
Chambers[1]. Their sale
rooms, Central Sale Rooms, were on Causeway Lane; the premises had
been used by another auctioneer, W. H. Marriott, at the beginning
of the twentieth century.
This somewhat damaged photograph records the sale of the Residential
Estate at Holloway known as Lea Hurst, a "Historic Mansion" because
it had been the home of Miss Florence Nightingale (shown on the
sale board in the photograph). After the death of Mr. Louis Shore
Nightingale in 1940 the house had been used as a nursing home.
The property was offered for sale in 1946 and the house was bought
before the auction date by the estate of Lt.-Col. E. S. Halford
as a permanent memorial to Florence Nightingale. Marchant Books
offered the remaining thirty lots on Thursday 23rd May 19462].
The auctioneer, J. Marchant Brooks, is standing at the front of
the room. Four years later he was to sell the Warney Estate at
Darley (see Darley
Dale, The Warney Mill Estate (1) in a different part of this
web site).
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Lea Hurst was on the market again in 1951,
and the sale coincided with the final day's filming of the
last scenes of "The Lady with the
Lamp", a film starring Anna Neagle. On the left
is the sale notice published in the Matlock
Mercury a short
time before.
The property was bought by a 45 year old Whatstandwell publican,
Mr. William Bowmer. He subsequently told the Mercury that
he had "bought
he house to try to keep it as it has been until now and to
respect the associations with Miss Nightingale".
Although the auctioneer's sale room has now gone from Causeway
Lane, the building is still there. It is now (2013) the Thomas
Cook building. On the side wall, at first floor level, a
painted sign is still visible although it is now in unreadable.
Also see Matlock:
Letterheads of Local Businesses, 1900-1949 (3).

Advertisement from Hodgkinson's Almanac. |
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1. Photograph in the collection of and provided by and © Ken
Smith.
2. Sale Notice from a copy of the Matlock Mercury © Susan
Tomlinson collection.
3. Advertisement for Marchant Brooks from "Hodgkinson's
Matlock and Historic Almanack, 1945 (War Edition)" © Jane Leslie collection.
Researched, written by and © Ann Andrews.
Intended for personal use only.
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References:
[1] Kelly's Directory, 1925.
[2] "Derby Daily
Telegraph" 21 May 1946, notice of sale. "Derby Daily
Telegraph", 22 May 1946, report of house sale.
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