Volunteers in The Attic – not as bad as it sounds!
May 27, 2025 | Holkham voices | 4 minute read
In this post, we hear from Theresa Bradley, one of our volunteers at Holkham, as she shares the story of her project restoring the magnificent uniform that belonged to Hon. Thomas William Coke (later 3rd Earl) 1848-1941.
Since 2019 I have been part of a great team of volunteers engaged in various conservation projects within the Hall.
At the beginning of each season we are allocated assignments in the libraries, the attics and other miscellaneous tasks as required. Ongoing projects include the cleaning and condition checking of the vast number of books held in the Hall’s libraries and on the decades of entries in the Estate’s game books.
Along with Kaye Liggins, the task this season is a continuation of the cleaning and cataloguing of the many uniforms belonging to past Earls of Leicester started last year. Kaye and I have marvelled at the many gorgeous items found as a result of this work.
A few weeks ago, we were handed a black bag which had been discovered in the depths of the cellars. It had been stored in a freezer for some time in order to get rid of any pests that may have settled in the contents and at first glance there appeared to be a just a mish-mash of fairly uninteresting and discarded items.
As Kaye and I laid out the bits and pieces in preparation for cleaning we realised that almost every item had some connection to The Honourable T. W. Coke and his service in the Scots Guards at the turn of the 20th century. With both the 3rd and 4th Earls serving in the Scots Guards around this time, it is most likely that the T. W. Coke to which this uniform belongs is the 3rd Earl, who reached the rank of Colonel. The most obvious military paraphernalia consisted of heavily embroidered badges of rank from dress uniforms including a stiff upright collar (complete with hand-written name tag), epaulettes, and sleeve and tail decorations from a now missing jacket. Research using historic photographs showed that other items were sashes which were worn across the body and around the waist of officers on parade rather than curtain tie-backs as first thought! There is still much more to discover in this bag of “stuff”, and we hope to share more of our findings, as well as some more details on how this uniform would have been linked to the family, later in the year.
Cleaning was carried out by gently brushing each item and using a museum vacuum cleaner to remove the accumulation of dust and debris. We are both so happy with the results and the difference we have made. Eventually each item will be catalogued and wrapped in acid free tissue before being placed in a Tyvek “envelope”, a casing devised by us to maximise coverage whilst being as economical as possible with the Tyvek.
The work on the uniforms has been a very exciting and rewarding opportunity to discover so much more of the history of the Hall, its past owners and inhabitants.
