Identifier:

Series 1

Dates:

1868-1933

Biographical / historical:

Laura Troubridge was born in 1858 in London, the second (surviving) child of war hero Sir Thomas St. Vincent Troubridge and Louisa Gurney. After the early deaths of their parents in 1867, Laura and her 5 siblings went to live with their widowed grandfather Daniel Gurney in Runcton, Norfolk. Laura showed an early aptitude and passion for drawing and painting and became a well-regarded portrait painter (especially known for portraits of children) and illustrator. In 1884, she became engaged to Adrian Hope, the eldest son of Lt-Colonel William Hope and his wife Margaret Jane Cunninghame Graham.

Adrian Hope was born in 1858 and had a somewhat difficult and unhappy childhood. After a brief career in the Diplomatic Service, his father moved the family back to England to work on a series of unsuccessful agricultural experiments. He also tried to invent a new kind of gun. Adrian and his 5 younger siblings did not receive any formal education after they completed their basic schooling, and Adrian had some difficulty finding adequate employment as an adult because of this. After suffering ill-heath he worked in Ceylon for 3 years as Private Secretary to the Governor and returned to London in 1884. He finally was appointed as Secretary to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, where he had some success as a fund-raiser.

The young couple was not able to marry until 1888 because of Adrian's difficulties in finding a job that would support them both, but their marriage was a happy one until Adrian's untimely death in 1904, the result of an operation for appendicitis. Their younger daughter, Esme, died of diptheria in 1905 at the age of 7 and Laura and their older daughter Jaqueline (1889-1972) were left in much reduced circumstances. During this period, they had to let More House to others and lived in rented lodgings, but were able to move back into the house in 1915. In 1916, Jaqueline married Hedley Nicholson and, along with their children Lauretta, Marie-Jaqueline and Felix, the Hope-Nicholson family lived with Laura in More House until her death in 1929. In addition to her work as a painter, Laura (like her sisters and daughter) was much involved in amateur theatricals and also wrote articles and stories for publication.

Arrangement:

This series is arranged in 6 subseries:

Subseries 1.1.

Adrian Hope-Laura Troubridge correspondence, 1884-1904

Subseries 1.2.

Laura Troubridge Hope correspondence, 1868-1929

Subseries 1.3.

Diaries, photograph albums and writing by Laura Troubridge Hope, 1870-1925

Subseries 1.4.

Original artwork by Laura Troubridge Hopem about 1883-1925

Subseries 1.5.

Adrian Hope correspondence and other materials, 1881-1918

Subseries 1.6.

Laura Troubridge Hope housekeeping and general files, 1888-1933

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