A busy morning got this week off to a cracking start with the changeover of the travelling exhibition which I collected from Ripon Library and transferred to Norton Conyers Hall.

The new exhibition replaces the original three panel display and is located in the Summer House until the 4th September. It will then move to Nunnington Hall, remaining until the 19th September. Further future dates and venues can be found on the Events page. If you’re not able to make any of these venues, the exhibition can be seen on this site, by clicking on the Exhibition page. A separate online exhibition is available on Flickr

After all that physical exertion I was more than ready for a cup of tea.  Sir James and Halina Graham were already in the kitchen, poring over a new discovery they had recently made in one of the attic rooms.

Sir James and Halina Graham with their new discovery. Copyright : North Yorkshire County Record Office

As can be seen in the photograph above, they had found a brown, leather Gladstone bag containing a variety of letters, photos and legal documents.  From the contents it appears that the items belonged to Sir Reginald Guy Graham, 9th Bt (1878-1940), although some had belonged to his father, Sir Reginald Henry Graham (1835-1920).

Those which sparked our interest included a letter written by General Louis Botha regarding the Boer War, one of Sir Guy and Katherine’s wedding souvenirs complete with portrait images and a press report, plus an account of a ghostly encounter from a weekend visitor? There was also a letter of reprimand written to Sir Reginald Henry, concerning the conduct of one of his sons, who actually appears to have been an imposter given the nature of his behaviour.  The fact that the letter remains shows it was a likely source of amusement. The writer was particularly outraged by the non payment of borrowed monies and the use of notepaper from expensive hotels, whilst the gent in question stayed in much cheaper lodgings.

This additional material will be added to the Graham Collection housed at North Yorkshire County Record Office in due course.