The history of Rainham Hall

1729-1751

The first owners

Rainham Hall was built in 1729 for sea merchant, Captain John Harle (1688-1742). John Harle was from a northern coal and shipping family who, after many years on the seas trading with various countries, settled in London. In 1719, John Harle married Mary Tibbington, a widow. Sometime in 1739, Mary died childless. John remarried quite soon afterwards, to Sarah Gregory, a widow who lived in Rainham. In 1740 Sarah gave birth to their only child, also named John. 

We don’t know who designed and built Rainham Hall, nor how much it cost. Only a lead rainwater hopper tells us it was built in 1729.  

The passing of John Harle 

Although John stated he was ‘of sound health’ when writing his will in February 1742, he died just 10 months later. He is buried in nearby Rainham Church. 

Left with a small son to care for, Sarah advertised Rainham Hall and wharf to let in 1743. It seems she may have rented out the wharf but continued to live in the hall. Her goddaughter, Sarah Green, and widowed sister, Jane Vincent, joined her there. 

Tragedy struck again in 1749 when Sarah Harle died, leaving the orphaned nine-year-old John junior in her sister Jane’s care. Jane died in 1751 and it seems likely that John then went to live with his uncle, Joshua Harle, a London grocer. Shortly after Jane’s death, the contents of Rainham Hall were auctioned (the hall itself was rented out). All the things that John Harle senior had collected during his life were dispersed. The house he built, and fragments of written evidence, are now the only window we have on his world. 

Discovering John Harle’s will 

Some time ago, when at a car boot sale, a Rainham resident made an extraordinary connection with a dealer who sourced an original copy of John Harle’s will. She generously donated it to Rainham Hall in 2014. It has been conserved and exhibited as part of displays to the public. An electronic copy of the will is available via the National Archives website. 

1943-1954

A day nursery

During the Second World War, with many men away fighting, there was a shortage in Britain’s workforce. The government, via local authorities, set up wartime nurseries to allow mothers with young children to go out to work. Many of these establishments were housed in prefabricated buildings but the children of Rainham had the run of the historic Rainham Hall and its garden. The building was requisitioned by the Essex County Council in 1942, and the nursery ran from 1943-1954.  

Who worked there? 

Miss Rhoda Violet Carter was the first Matron. She was 40 years old from Middlesbrough, Teesside and must have been a State Registered Nurse to get the job. She probably resigned from this post when she married in early 1944.  

Matron Carter was in charge, but she was helped by a Deputy Matron. A Certificated Nursery Nurse oversaw two or three Nursery Assistants and a similar number of Probationers and Helpers who were studying for the new National Society of Day Nurseries’ Diploma or Child Care Reserve Certificates. Probationers and Helpers were often girls aged between 15 and 18 years old. 

A former employee of the nursery, called Dorothy, recalled in the 12 January 1971 edition of the Havering Echo that ‘There cannot be many buildings of such historical value that can boast of having hundreds of tiny feet trotting through their grand hall!’.

The children’s story

Janice, a fair-haired girl, beaming out from her old nursery photos, attended the nursery from 1946-1950. Roger, a boisterous and playful boy, attended from 1946-1948.  They shared a childhood of play and adventure in the grand house in Rainham with its large gardens. 

However, when they met as teenagers neither remembered each other. It was only when Roger's mother recognised Janice that the connection was made. Sure enough, Roger and Janice appear in the same photographs taken at the nursery.  

When the National Trust acquired the hall in lieu of death duties in 1949 it was still being used as a day nursery. 

1964-69

Anthony Denney, photographer

In 1964 the National Trust were seeking a new tenant for Rainham Hall, who would be able to bring in high-quality furniture and furnishings and respect the historic interiors. Photographer Anthony Denney came highly recommended by his friend Robin Fedden, then Deputy Director of the National Trust. 

Born on 7 October 1913, Anthony Denney was a graduate of the Royal College of Art and started his career as a painter and photographer. He went on to have a 20-year career with Condé Nast publishers, working for British, American and Paris Vogue, House & Garden magazine and its French counterpart Maison et Jardin. 

His photos were notable for their drawing and composition, elements of a traditional outlook, interpreted in new ways, with his still life’s, fashion photos and pictorial ideas arranged as carefully as a painting, reflecting his training at the Royal College of Art. Denney is also recognised for  teaching one of the first classes in photography, authorised by the Board of Education. 

Denney’s time at Rainham

Upon securing the tenancy, Denney set about a programme of interior repairs, installing Tadeo Smythinski as butler to supervise the day-to-day running of the hall and a team of specialist workers. Over several years, they sympathetically restored almost every room to reflect the tastes of the early Georgian period, a style three decades before John Harle built the hall. These old-fashioned interiors would often be strikingly dressed alongside the bold surrealist art Denney had collected, combining objects from the 18th century to the present day. 

While Denney lived at Rainham Hall he regularly hosted dinner parties and lunches for Condé Nast colleagues, gallerists from Paris and members of British art societies. On Wednesdays the hall was open by written appointment and occasionally people would visit.  

Despite enjoying his time in Rainham, following the sudden death of his butler in 1969, Denney left the hall, unable to manage the upkeep of the property alone. Today only some of Denney’s paint schemes remain, particularly the entrance hall’s gilding and marbled paintwork.