Alpine Eagle - Nick Whitaker and his Phantoms

Nick Whitaker and his Phantoms

Page 3 of 3

Letter from David Chaundy:

Dear Ashley

Having read your most interesting article on Alpine Eagle's rebuild of a Gurney Nutting Phantom III, I noticed with interest the 1st owner of the car was Sir Herbert Smith.

Herbert Smith known locally in the Kidderminster area as "Piggy Smith" is known to me. My Grandmother’s family were related to the Earl of Dudley in Victorian times. The Earl then owned a magnificent Palladian mansion called Witley Court. His family were Victorian multi-millionaires and industrialists. He owned several of the coalmines and iron and steel works that started the industrial revolution in England. They also owned engineering companies that amongst other things built railway engines.

The 1st Earl of Dudley after inheriting the massive Dudley fortune paid £890,000 for Whitley Court and its 10,000 acre deer park in 1833. He then employed Samuel Daukes an architect to re-model the house and stables. Joseph Paxton was commissioned to build an Orangery. William Nesfield was commissioned to design elaborate Italianate gardens. Huge 20 ton blocks of stone were imported from Italy to be sculpted into the statuary for the fountains, which remain today the largest sculpted monoliths in Europe. The costs of buying the property and the improvements to it, taking some 10 years was 1.5 Million pounds, at a time when most people earned les than £1 a week.

Witley court became a by word for luxury and extravagance. High Society was lavishly entertained there, including Edward VII. House parties of 500 people were commonplace. The house and estate were described at the time as a Palladian palace of staggering luxury. The house had over 100 principal rooms; the stables accommodated over 100 horses! It was just as well the family owned coalmines, with over 50 tons being burned each day. Hypocaust heating systems and open fires in all the rooms together with the demands of the fountain engine house, and tropical Orangery kept 2 men in full time work grading and washing coal! The magnificent 100 foot high fountains used more water than an entire residential district. They were powered by a huge 120 HP James Watt beam pumping engine. The engine drew water from the lake in front of the house, and then forced it 1 mile up hill to a reservoir. The fall down hill through an elaborate cast iron pipe system delivered high-pressure water to the huge fountains and provided a high-pressure water supply to the house for use in the fire hydrants.

In the later 19th century foreign competition was eating into the Dudley fortune. With their lavish lifestyle continuing to burn money, it was no surprise by the end of the 1st world war Witley Court had been mortgaged four times! By 1920 the 2nd Earl could no longer afford to maintain the property with its 200 staff, villages, quarry and farms. The estate was broken up and sold in the autumn of that year.

The house and 800 acres of the estate were sold to Herbert "Piggy" Smith in a private agreement. Chairman of Carpet Trades, he had worked his way up from a carpet designer to become company chairman. Soon after buying Whitley Court he retired to devote his time to running the estate. He became very unpopular with the locals as soon as he moved in. He closed footpaths across the estate that had been used for generations and he even refused Lord Dudley permission to visit his old home.

"Piggy Smith" was by no means as wealthy as the Dudley's had been. He really couldn't afford to run the estate. Certainly he could not afford to maintain it in the pristine condition that the Dudley's left it in. He kept only a drastically reduced staff. As a consequence, maintenance slipped. The high-pressure water supply to the fountains and the house was allowed to fall into disuse. In September 1937, during "Piggy's" absence a fire broke out in the sub terrain kitchens. The skeleton staff could not contain it, and it spread up the east tower. Extensive damage to the most magnificent rooms resulted.

With the 2nd world war looming no buyer could be found. Magnificent Witley Court was sold to demolition contractors who stripped the building. Today Witley court is a preserved as a magnificent ruin by English Heritage. The Poseidon fountain has recently been restored and is now in working order, powered by an electric pump.

Herbert Smith was born in 1872 and died in 1943

I hope the above information is of interest.

Best regards

David Chaundy