Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel

The aunts, the ‘red peer’ and the Basque refugees

A statue fountain stands in a pond before Buscot House, a grand stone mansion with manicured lawn
Buscot House, Oxfordshire, where Lord Faringdon provided accommodation for Basque refugees. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock

Daniel Vulliamy’s account of the life of Paco Robles (Other lives, 28 July) is a moving one, citing the work done by his aunts to care for the children brought to the UK from the devastation of the Spanish civil war.

Readers might be interested to know that Daniel Vulliamy’s aunts, Poppy and Chloe, can be seen in a mural at Buscot Park in Oxfordshire, where the extraordinary “red peer”, Lord Faringdon, having been told by Poppy that, as a socialist, he should not be living alone in such a big house, provided a lodge and other accommodation for 55 Basque boys.

The murals and others around the house were painted in the late 1930s by another red peer, John Hastings. Poppy and Chloe are on the left, flanking the artist himself, with Lord Faringdon at the head of the table. Behind him is the butler who was also the chair of the (small) local Labour party.
Judith Martin
Winchester

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.