Hylands House
HYLANDS HOUSE: Temporary flying site
Note: This picture was obtained from Google Earth ©
Location: Just SW of Widford, W of the A414, and about 2.5nm SW of Chelmsford town centre
NOTES: On the 27th June 1912 Claude Grahame-White married Miss Dorothy Cadwell Taylor at Widford in ESSEX. The reception was held at HYLANDS HOUSE and several guests arrived by air, landing on the lawn. After the ceremony the assembled guests were treated to an impromptu flying display – apparently the first ever “impromptu” flying display in the UK?
Can I predict much contention on that score? Flying was of course a pretty dodgy business in those days, and often very dangerous. Normally performed in front of large crowds who had paid to witness the aerial antics.
In his excellent book RAF Hendon Andrew Renwick has a picture of the bride and groom, plus guests, on the lawn, with Pierre Verrier’s Farman Longhorn in the near background. Andrew also adds; “The only time Dorothy flew with Claude was when they returned from their honeymoon in France. It was not what she expected and terrified her, curing her of her desire for flying.”
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