Knowsley

STUDENT TRAVEL JOURNAL
Week 7
Jen Mack

On Friday, the third day of March, our study travels brought us to Knowsley, the family home of the Earls of Derby. The Derby family is one of the oldest noble families in England. Knowsley is a private home that is now used for weddings, conferences, and charity functions. These functions are an essential element in keeping the home private and help to pay for the up keep of the house. The Earls of Derby, being one of the oldest noble families in England have historical significance that relates to our studies. Our tour of the Knowsley home began in the Great Hall. The Great Hall contains paintings of the past Earls of Derby. In this room our tour guide, Amanda, gave us a wonderful history of the Derby family. After our history of the Derby family we moved on to see various other staterooms. Throughout the years there have been many changes and great contributions made to the house by various Earls. The Knowsley home has a magical feel to it. We were able to get a sense of how the aristocracy in England live.

Throughout the years the Earls of Derby have played an important role in politics and English history. The Derby family acquired the Knowsley home and title from King Henry VII as a reward for the 1^st Earl’s contributions to the country and the monarch's struggle to become king. All of the Earls of Derby have had some kind of significance politically, socially, or culturally. The fifth Earl, Ferdinando, was a lover of the theatre and a patron of a company of actors that is believed to have included Shakespeare. Some believe that Shakespeare himself acted on the grounds of the Knowsley home. Our study of Shakespeare this semester made the tour of the Knowsley home even more exciting because of it connection to Shakespeare. The 10^th Earl, James, is to be thanked for how the home appears today. James rebuilt the Knowsley home between 1720 and 1737. James also began the amazing collection of art that is displayed throughout the Knowsley home. The Earl of Derby’s art collection is the second largest in all of England. The Queen has the largest collection of art. One could spend a whole day just looking at the art in the house; it is quite magnificent. The 13^th Earl, Edward, was noted as a Zoologist among other things. Edward collected an amazing library of natural history books. These books are still in the library that we were lucky enough to stroll through. The 14^th Earl, Edward Geoffry, became Prime Minister three times. While Prime Minister the 14^th Earl began to push the Bill abolishing slavery through Parliament. The 17^th Earl, Edward John, was awarded the Military Cross during the Second World War. In addition, the 17^th Earl founded the Knowsley Safari Park in 1971. Today the Knowsley Safari Park is the largest in Europe and attracts about 500,000 visitors every year. The last Earl of Derby that I will mention is the 19^th and present Earl, Edward Richard William who along with his wife, the Countess, Caroline Neville, were kind enough to admit us into the home to have our tour of the magnificent Knowsley house. The Countess, Caroline Neville, even took time out of her busy day to say hello to us and have a picture taken!

The trip to Knowsley also related to our studies in the team taught class. Upon our return to Cambridge we were studying British and American writers and their views of each other. One of the authors we were reading was Nathaniel Hawthorne. In "The English Notebooks" Hawthorne's writings of the 23^rd day of March 1854 describe a visit to the grounds of Knowsley. Hawthorne is able to see the Knowsley home from a distance. Hawthorne then proceeds to describe the exterior of the home. What is interesting about Hawthorne’s impressions of the home is that they were nothing like ours. Hawthorne was not at all impressed with the house. Hawthorne thought that the Knowsley home looked more like and school or hospital, not a home of ancient nobility. Reading Hawthorne’s description of the outside of the Knowsley home as a dark and dreary house that did not appear to be anything special was quite interesting after the group had our own experience at the home earlier in the week.

Finally, Yes, we did get to take a drive through the largest Safari Park in Europe. Our Coach drove through the three and a half-mile route while deer, lions, tigers, elephants, buffalo, zebras, baboons, and white rhinos among other animals roamed the grounds. The Safari park was a great break from our studies and brought on lots of smiles and laughter. Over all, our trip to the Knowsley house was a wonderful experience.