BIBLIOMANIA & BETRAYAL (1819 - 1864)

By the time he inherited Middle Hill Estate in 1818 Thomas Phillipps was already well known as a bibliophile; a person who compulsively collects books and manuscripts. Had there been a local psychiatrist in the early 19th century he would have surely diagnosed Sir Thomas as an Obsessive Habitual Hoarder. Today he is remembered as the man who assembled the largest collection of privately owned books in the world, an achievement which has afforded him a unique if eccentric place in British history.

The obsession of Thomas Phillipps had been noticed by his father who correctly predicted that his son was likely to spend all the family wealth on his obsession and so structured his will to ensure that while Thomas would inherit the Middle Hill Estate and other properties he could not sell or mortgage them to raise additional funds. In fact, he wisely left them to his grandchildren. Perhaps because of this decision he also made it clear that he disapproved of his son's choice of future wife. Young Thomas had to wait until after the death of his father in 1818 before he could marry Henrietta Elizabeth Molyneux in 1819. She was the daughter of Major General Thomas Molyneux who used his connections with the Duke of Beaufort to ensure that Thomas Phillipps was elevated to a Baronet in 1820. Henrietta soon gave birth to three daughters. The first to be born in 1819 was named Henrietta after her mother. She would one day inherit the estate and with it, Broadway Tower.

By now married, wealthy and a Baronet, Sir Thomas deeply desired to copy and preserve his growing collection and employed the services of Mr J. A. Gilmour of Salisbury. By 1821 he was already spending more than he could afford and his Middle Hill House was becoming overcrowded with his collection. Sir Thomas also wished to set up his own printing press so as to be independent of private printers. He desperately needed a place for the new machinery and a compliant printer to do the work. The solution was simple - use the tower.

Shortly after the marriage of his daughter Sir Phillipps married his second wife Elizabeth Mansel. Some historians believe that this was in an attempt to father a son who would then take precedence over his daughter and prevent Halliwell inheriting Middle Hill Estate. If this was the case then he was unsuccessful.

During the 1850's Sir Thomas grew obsessive about what should happen to his collection after his death but his attempts to forge an alliance with either the British Museum or the Oxford Universities failed after both institutions felt that that couldn't concede to his conditions. He continued to discredit James Halliwell whenever he could and refused to forgive his daughter.

In 1864, and in a bid to ensure that Halliwell would not inherit his collection as part of the furnishings of Middle Hill Estate Sir Thomas relocated to a larger property, Thirlestaine House, in Cheltenham. It's claimed that it took two years to transfer all the books and manuscripts. Middle Hill Estate and Broadway Tower were already in a poor condition by the time he left and he seems to have deliberately let them deteriorate further to spite Henrietta and James Halliwell.

He died on the 6th February 1872 and left Thirlestaine House and its contents, including 60,000 manuscripts and 30,000 books, in trust for his youngest daughter, Katherine. The Halliwell family and all Roman Catholics were to be banned from ever entering the library which was to remain intact. Years later in 1885 Katherine's descendents overturned the conditions of the will and began to sell off the collection. Thousands of rare and priceless books were lost to British museums and libraries as international buyers vied for his collection.

GLOVES, PRE-RAPHAELITES & CONFUSION (1864 - 1878) #556E8D

When Sir Thomas Phillipps abandoned Middle Hill house for Thirlestaine in 1864 the printing press went with him and Broadway Tower was empty once more although an obscure record suggests that it was briefly used by glove makers until 1866.

Little did Sir Thomas know, or for that matter care, but Broadway Tower was about to be the catalyst for one of the most important developments in the preservation of British heritage.

In the next section: The Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and the preservation of ancient buildings, Shakespeare and the Industrialists, Enterprise at Tower Hill Farm, War and tragedy, the nuclear bunker, A gift rejected and the creation of a country park (coming soon)