A Visit To The Wallace Collection: Excursion

This was a memorable event, but thanks to Ian Harris's propensity to mislay his instructions and Dawn Fulks's diligence in answering questions by e-mail, we can retrospectively confirm the detailed timings:

"We are meeting at 1pm at the Wallace Collection in Manchester Square for pre-lunch drinks, lunch is at 1.30pm and the tour is to commence at 3.30pm."

Ian would have sworn that the tour was before lunch, but possibly that's because he sneaked in early and had a good look around before lunch. The Wallace Collection is free entry so anyone can sneak in during opening hours and look at the collection. It's not even sneaky to do that, come to think of it.

This public domain picture shows the outside of the building as it looked in 2014...or do we mean 1814...anyway, that is what that glorious building, Hertford House, looks like.

By sheer coincidence one of Ian's friends, Chris Parkins, visited The Wallace Collection in November 2023 and took the stunning picture (below) of the collection housed in The Great Hall: Thank you for letting us use the picture, Chris.

Prior to the Gresham Society guided tour of the collection came lunch with the then new provost of Gresham College, Professor Sir Richard Evans. Those who thought that the Gresham Society website might be immune to the internet adage known as Godwin's Law will realise that no internet place is exempt from that law. Fortunately, Richard Evans' expertise on Third Reich history played no part in this charming visit to Hertford House. Seriously, it was a good opportunity to meet Richard in convivial circumstances and celebrate his appointment as provost.

If any other members who attended have memories and/or pictures of this event to share, please contact us by e-mail, click here - it will help us improve this event page.