THE VOSS PAPERS
Voss Court's Palladian south façade above the lake.

Voss Court

A Hampshire country house, seat of the Voss family since 1820. A gravel drive runs up through a home wood the family still calls Doyle's Covert, after a weekend guest in 1892 who never did explain himself. The Grand Hall connects the two picture galleries; a library wing, added later, looks south over the lawn.

Between 1947 and 1951 the house kept two historians-in-residence, Fraser-MacDonald and his young assistant Greville, working their way along its shelves and walls one afternoon at a time. Most of what this archive has to show you, they found first, and it's Greville who can still be talked into the spiral staircase.

The Voss coat of arms: a ship under sail on a blue field, lion and crown above, bull and dolphin supporters, motto Audax at Fidelis.
Lady Margaret Voss in a field coat, pointing across the home farm.

Lady Margaret Voss

Ran Voss Court, 1940

Caught here on the home farm, pointing out the ground she judged best for defending the house against Fallschirmjäger in the summer of 1940, when an invasion was expected, a detail the family has never once tried to explain to a visitor who notices.

Laurel and Hardy

Lady Margaret’s Labradors, 1940

Lady Margaret always kept at least two Labradors at any given time. This pair, in 1940, were Laurel and Hardy. They were constantly on guard for a downed pheasant, a thrown ball, or a landed Fallschirmjäger.

Two black Labradors sitting side by side on a hillside, rolling fields behind them, both looking straight at the camera.
On duty
Two black Labrador puppies asleep, curled together on a grey blanket.
A little younger, less alert

The Gentlemen’s Lavatory

Off the ballroom · François Bonvin, 1853 · oil on canvas

Two small still lifes by François Bonvin hang side by side in the gentlemen’s lavatory off the ballroom. In one, a gratuity waits in an envelope addressed to Élise, as the custom ran at Club Marseilles. In the other, a little purse of coins, as at the Raupenhelm. Bonvin must have thought it an odd double commission. They have started a great many conversations, and show no sign of stopping.

A candlelit table with a dark bottle, a glass of amber liquor, and a sealed envelope addressed to Élise.
The envelope
A candlelit table with a dark bottle, a glass of amber liquor, and a small drawstring purse spilling silver coins.
The purse

Rooms to Visit

American Frigate! Closing Fast!, a tall ship under full sail driving through heavy seas.

East Gallery

The Bamberg Window. The Toulon Goya, which no one looks at directly. A Mühlig harvest scene that nobody has ever had a reason to discuss.
A woman in a pink gown and wide pink hat at a crowded formal party.

West Gallery

Gentler light, tall windows over the south lawn. Two Aegean paintings that have kept each other company for a very long time.
Jefferson's rolltop desk against the south wall of the library.

Jefferson Library

Two stories of dark oak, a desk from Monticello that arrived with nothing inside it but a note, a staircase no one has climbed in decades, and a second one, brass, for people who actually need to get upstairs.