Notes from the Archive: From Seat of the Hammond Family to College of Physical Education
By Pernille Richards
From Seat of the Hammond family to College of Physical Education
“I noticed in the Times that St. Albans Court Nonington is being sold and is to be used by the English Gymnastic Society. It is sad to think that, after such a long tenure, it passes out of the Hammond family but I suppose these changes are inevitable” wrote E.P. Boys Richardson (treasurer of the KAS) to Dr F.W. Hardman on the 22nd of November 1937. Indeed the Hammond family were in possession of St. Alban’s Court near Dover for almost 400 years, starting out as tenants in the 1520s and later becoming owners. The family is probably best known as the founders of the Hammond and Company banking firm in Canterbury, now part of Lloyds. The long association with St. Albans Court came to an end when the widow of Captain Egerton Hammond, Mrs Ina Hammond, put the property up for sale in the 1930s. She had for some years lived in Old Court house rather than in the handsome 19th Century main building by the architect George Devey and the estate had been rented out. Her only son, Second Lieutenant Douglas William Hammond had died serving with the East Kent Regiment in 1915. Dr Hardman was interested in the Nonington area and the history of the estate. He gathered a collection of transcriptions of deeds relating to the estate for the years 1548-1846. Copies of these are in the KAS archive. Hardman also collected newspaper articles relating to the change from family estate to College.
St Albans Court estate was advertised and featured in the magazine Country Life. After fundraising efforts it was acquired by the founder of the English Gymnastic Society, Gladys Wright, as its headquarters and training centre for women interested in becoming gymnastics teachers. It was opened on the 23rd of July by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Lang of Lambeth, who remained interested in the College. Miss Wright had trained in Denmark and Sweden, and taught a modernised version of the form of gymnastics originating in the work of Per Henrik Ling, who had studied and applied anatomical and physiological principles in the development of the exercises and opened the way for using exercise therapeutically. Most of us probably recognise this type of gymnastics by its distinctive choreographed look. Students would be taught in lines and perform movements in unison often accompanied by music. Miss Gladys Wright was the founding Principal and led the school with vision and vigour from its opening in 1938 to 1951. Her Vice Principal was the Swedish born Stina Kreuger and the links with Scandinavia were maintained though the English and Scandinavian Summer School of Physical Education. The school was evacuated to Bromsgrove, Worcestershire during the war, but Miss Wright’s visits to Sweden, Denmark and Norway were continued, possibly as part of her work for the Ministry of Information.