When the Lanhydrock House opened its doors in 2008 there was a major new attraction for visitors. For the first time the dressing room that once belonged to the Honourable Tommy Agar-Robartes, MP (1880-1915) will be open to the public.
A flamboyant character in both personality and dress, Tommy was set to inherit in excess of 120,000 acres of land and the Viscount Clifden title, had his life not been curtailed at the Battle of Loos in 1915.
Using the money raised in Lanhydrock’s 2007 fundraising raffle, Tommy’s dressing room has been re-created as a well decorated and furnished intimate room, with writing desk, wardrobe and washstand, and dressed with Tommy’s political books and papers and his personal belongings. The room, which is based on the 1886 inventory description, uses many items that we know once belonged to him and are now on display for the first time.
Tommy’s bedroom was opened in 2000 and it soon established itself as a firm favourite with visitors. The display of his personal dressing case, which returned after his premature death in the First World War, helped to tell the very personal story of his military and family life. However, Tommy would have needed a more private space in which to write and research his many speeches during his two spells as a local Liberal MP.
A prominent politician in his day, we can only speculate how Tommy’s career would have progressed had he survived. This new room will offer an insight into Tommy’s successful political life and help make more sense of how country houses, like Lanhydrock, were carefully planned for convenience and privacy.
Paul Holden, Lanhydrock's House and Collections manager, says:
'Tommy was known as the best dressed man in Parliament and the most reckless horseman in Cornwall. His death was a tragic loss to his family and constituents. He was a very popular Cornishman. The new room tells the evocative story of his life as a politician through a display of his personal belongings'.
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