Beaulieu

The Lower Drawing Room: Gentlemen at Leisure

In the house of a Family Today this room bears little resemblance to its appearance at the end of the last century, when it was a place where gentlemen could meet.

The practice of smoking became increasingly popular during the 19th century, but as it was considered unseemly to smoke in the presence of women, men had their own room where they could read the papers and discuss topics deemed unsuitable for femini ne ears! A feature of these rooms was a spitoon, used as its name implies! It was here, too, that the men would gather after a day of leisure in the field. Hunting was a favourite leisure pursuit and weekend shooting parties hunting deer, hare and rabbit were common. Game bagged on the Beaulieu Estate included pheasant partridge and woodcock, whilst on the wild fowl marshes mallard, teal, widgeon and snipe were shot. Fishing, too, was popular with catches ranging from sea bass and sea trout to dabs, eels and mullet.

Popular indoor games played exclusively by gentlemen included billiards, chess and backgammon.

In the 18th century travelling on a 'Grand Tour' of Europe completed a gentleman's education. Lord Montagu's ancestors went for reasons of health. In the mid 18th century Lord Monthermer collected a series of Joli paintings from Italy, and my grandfather's visits to Egypt, India, the Far East and Australia yielded many mementoes, including his own watercolours of the sights. Montagu's fathe r was interested in all methods of travel, road, rail, sea and air, and he excelled at all four.