There is a new display of Victorian dress at Gunnersbury Park Museum which shows the range of clothes which a fashionable Victorian lady might wear in any one day.

Nowadays it is fashionable to look casual and to wear the same clothes from morning to evening, but in the 19th century a fashionable woman would have changed her clothes several times a day. There was a strict etiquette which ensured that formal outfits were usually made of expensive fabrics, legs must be covered at all times and low necks and short sleeves were only suitable for the evening.

For our Victorian lady, the day starts with a starched white cotton nightdress, beautifully decorated with whitework embroidery, but maintaining the purity and modesty of the wearer. She then puts on underwear, consisting of combinations, corset and bustle, which show just how women created the angular silhouette of the1880s. If she is going out, there is the choice of a cashmere shawl or a beaded mantle. For receiving afternoon visitors, there is a silk dress in a rich purple which must have been dyed with one of William Perkin’s new aniline dyes, then being manufactured just up the road, in Greenford. For a grand reception or dinner there is a magnificent blue satin and plush gown, made by a top quality costumier. If she chooses to go out on her bicycle (all the rage in the 1890s) there is a special woollen suit with a hole in the skirt which fits over the saddle.
Finally, there is a magnificent figured silk wedding dress, smothered in artificial pearls.

All these outfits have been given to the museum over the years and are just a sample of the rich and varied collections at Gunnersbury Park Museum.

This exhibition was put on with help from a team of volunteers from EDFAS (Ealing Decorative and Fine Art Societies).

It will be on show until summer 2011.  Entrance is free.

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We are currently displaying an exhibition of historic local paintings - Opening Hours  >

 

 

Steyne Mills

The Acton laundry building in the 1870s

< Click on the painting to view a larger image (808Kb)

 

 

 

 

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PAST EXHIBITIONS

New exhibition at Gunnersbury Park Museum 

Spencer Perceval and All Saints Church

October 3rd 2009 – Jan 3rd 2010     11am – 4pm

Open every day (except December 25th – 26th)   

FREE ENTRY

 

Spencer Perceval was the only Ealing resident to become Prime Minister (in 1809) and the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated (in 1812).

During his three years in office he had to deal with the war against Napoleon, the increasing madness of King George III and the Luddite riots against the spread of factory machinery. He was shot on the afternoon of Monday May 11th 1812, just as he was entering the House of Commons. His assassin, John Bellingham, had a general grudge against the government, rather than with Perceval himself.

This exhibition tells the story of his life and career, his assassination and the building of his memorial Church, All Saints, on land that once belonged to Gunnersbury Park.

Here you will find relics from Perceval’s official life including original letters, parchment documents of appointment and the red despatch box that he was carrying when he was shot, but there is also fascinating material from his private life.

 

It was in 1808, after 20 pregnancies and 12 surviving children, that his wife Jane encouraged Perceval to buy a bigger house in the “country quiet” of Ealing Common. The exhibition shows watercolours of their 36 acre estate at Elm Grove, which looked down to the Thames and the Surrey hills. Their family life is reflected in a handwritten prayer which Spencer and Jane composed when their first-born baby son was very ill. Thankfully, he recovered and the exhibition also includes a letter which Spencer Perceval wrote to him when he was at Harrow School, recommending that he concentrate on his studies and play less football. The most touching item is Perceval’s actual death mask, made by well-known sculptor, Joseph Nollekens, and used as the basis of all the official portraits. 

Ealing residents will be particularly interested in how the Perceval family have left their mark on Ealing. Four of Perceval’s daughters lived for many years at Pitzhanger Manor and are responsible for the Victorian extension to this John Soane house. All Saints Church, in Elm Grove Road, was built by Perceval’s youngest daughter as a memorial to her father. (She was only seven when he died.) Walpole Park is named after Spencer Walpole, Perceval’s son-in-law, while Ealing’s civic centre is called Perceval House.

 

The exhibition is at Gunnersbury Park Museum, Gunnersbury Park, W3 8LQ

email: gp-museum@laing.com  Telephone:  0208 992 1612