Mr Straw's House, Nottinghamshire (Accredited Museum)
This collection has 22,715 items online
A 1920s suburban family home caught in time. Very little has changed or been removed since the Straw's took up residence in 1923. The interior decoration and collection of objects reflects the taste and lifestyle of this local well-to-do grocer family. There is currently a cataloguing and photography project underway at the house which some of the volunteers are involved in. With such a large collection of everyday objects in a conventional 1920's family home there are always new stories to discover and tell. This year the National Trust celebrates its 125 year anniversary and at Mr Straw’s House a 125 years of the Straw’s family story. The National Trust was founded on 12 January 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Cannon Hardwicke Rawnsley. On 15 September 1896, having met the decade before, Florence Ann Winks marries William Straw. The pair buy Endcliffe Villa, Mr Straw’s House, in the 1920’s and move their then grown family in. One son, David, had passed away in infancy, Walter had followed father into the family Grocer’s & Seed Merchant business and Willian Jnr. was living and teaching in London. As both parents pass in the 1930’s William returns home to care for the house whilst Walter continues in the shop and the pair become Fire Wardens for the street as war once again spreads across Europe. Having experienced two wars, a thriftiness was deeply engrained in the nation and is reflected in the family’s economical way of life. Combined with their shared love of history they valued the belongings and ephemera they’d collected and the social history stories it told to future generations. William Jnr. the last surviving descendant of Florence and William left the collection to the National Trust and the doors opened for the first time in 1993. Since then the Trust has developed the gardens and orchard, introduced a conservation studio and display room and opened a shop and tea room all to continue William’s legacy and care for this family story.
