Illuminated address
Category
Manuscripts and documents
Date
1913
Materials
Card, Gilt, Paint, Paper, Wood
Measurements
600 mm (H)480 mm (W)20 mm (D)
Order this imageCollection
Llanerchaeron, Ceredigion
NT 460871
Caption
Reaching her hundredth year in 1914, Mary Ashby Lewis was slightly too early to receive a telegram from the king, a practice that began in 1917. The estate's tenants, however, marked the occasion with this heartfelt and respectful address. Her husband, Major John Lewis, had died some 62 years previously, leaving her with the sole responsibility for running the Llanerchaeron estate for her lifetime. A woman ahead of her time, she was a fair-minded employer and landlord, allowing her servants half a day off to vote in elections at a time when women could not even cast a vote.
Summary
Illuminated address to Mary Ashby Lewis on the occasion of her 100th birthday from her tenants.
Provenance
An item from the Llanerchaeron collection, left to the National Trust in the will of John Powell Ponsonby Lewes in 1989