ABSTRACT
Manywhoattendedthesaleofthecontentsof84PlymouthGrove, Manchester,inmid-February1914,orvieweditscontentstheweek before,weredrawnnodoubtbynaturalcuriositytoseetheinside ofahouseleftbytwosisterswhosemotherhaddiedfiftyyears before.JuliaBradfordGaskelldiedin1908,andhereldersister MargaretEmily-'alwayscalledMeta'(81)1-in1913.Theyhad kepthousefortheirfather,theRev.WilliamGaskell,untilhis deathin1884,andwerewellknownthemselvesintheManchester community.Butafterfiftyyears,howtotell,amidstthegrowing wrackanddisorderofanauction,whatwasrecentandwhatfrom thehighdaysofElizabethGaskell'stime-probablythehandsome piercedbrassfenderinthedrawingroom.Butwhichamongstthe 310lotsofchinaweresurvivors?HadtheauthorofMaryBarton,of Cranford,ofWivesandDaughtersusedthesetofEarlyEnglishtea ware(56pieces)withredandgoldbutterflies?Orthebreakfastset (45pieces)withflowersandtreesingold,redandgreen?Orthe willow-patterndinnerservice(65pieces)?Therewereassociation iteffi.'i:twosmallsketchesbyCharlotteBronteandapictureof
Elizabeth Gaskell
Florence Nightingale given to Elizabeth Gaskell by Florence's sister, Lady Verney; a painting of Silverdale, the family holiday spot in Lancashire, two busts of Gaskell and one of her husband. Amongst the books ( 662 lots in the catalogue) were survivors - William Gaskell's lecture notes on English Literature and Moral Philosophy, three manuscript music books of Elizabeth's (they fetched £5); mingling with Hardy and Kipling were copies of Gaskell's work - the first illustrated Cranford (1864), presented to Julia - and Thomas Gray's works, presented by William to E. C. Stevenson before their marriage. 2
Whether those who attended the sale recognized the fact, it was the dispersal of the last and physical representations of a culture (an uneasy word in English, but necessary) that took its life from the Gaskell family and which in hospitality and artistic creation had peculiarly centred upon Elizabeth Gaskell. That culture drew on much that was best in the nineteenth century, and without its particular tone, Gaskell's own writings could not exist as they do. There are no dark secrets of the psyche to be delved for, but there is much evidence that can be pieced together, however patchy or intangible or liable to distorted emphasis, about the frame of mind, the sensibility that produced a body of work distinguished by range, sensitivity and observation, which while not amongst the top ranks of the Victorian novel none the less is guaranteed permanent interest and survival. This chapter will attempt to chart this culture.
