Identifier:

Series 3.

Dates:

1897-1969

Scope and content:

Materials in this series comprise correspondence to a wide variety of family and friends, diaries and notebooks, photographs, legal documents and financial materials. Correspondents include his parents A.J. Nicholson and Mary Cleghorn Nicholson, his children and grandchildren, George Alfred Kolkhorst, Leonard Smith, Alex Lawson, James Ramsay, Roger Kynaston, Noel Stevens and other various relatives and friends. For the correspondence between Jaqueline and Hedley Hope-Nicholson, please see Subseries 2.1.1. above.

Biographical / historical:

Hedley Hope-Nicholson (1888-1969) was a barrister and eccentric – the only child of Alfred John Nicholson and Mary Cleghorn Nicholson. He married Jacqueline Hope in June 1916, when the two joined their names by deed poll to become the Hope-Nicholsons. They shared deep interst in heraldry, historical pageantry and genealogy, but their relationship dissolved and they were legally separated in 1938. They had three children – Lauretta, Felix, and Marie-Jacqueline. After their divorce, Felix stayed at More House with Jaqueline, while Lauretta and Marie-Jaqueline largely lived abroad with Hedley. Hedley attended Oxford University as a young man, and later returned there after his separation from his wife. His circle of friends at Oxford was heavily male-dominated, and included well-known characters such as 'Colonel' George Kolkhorst and writer John Betjeman. He was fascinated with heraldry, genealogy, and religious spectacle, and collected religious artifacts and relics. In addition to a long-standing fascination with King Charles I, he was also a great fan of the Russian ballet.

Arrangement:

This series is arranged in 3 subseries:

Subseries 3.1.

Hedley Hope-Nicholson correspondence, 1900-1968

Subseries 3.2.

Hedley Hope-Nicholson diaries, notebooks, and photographs, 1897-1967

Subseries 3.3.

Hedley Hope-Nicholson financial and legal materials, about 1900-1969

Contents

Access and use