The dream Scots home which hides a tragic past
Frederick Sharp’s family lived a life of luxury in Hill of Tarvit mansion, then Frederick died and heir Hugh was killed in the Castlecary rail disaster, leaving Beatrice and Elisabeth bereft
It is said the family papers were thrown on a bonfire, such was the pain of the losses felt.
But a chance discovery of a small box of documents has helped to shed light on the lives of a prominent Fife family whose good fortune was painfully dismantled by tragedy.
The Sharp family made their wealth in the Dundee jute industry with Frederick, youngest son of Dundee industrialist and financier John Sharp, inheriting a vast sum following his father’s death.
Frederick bought the estate around Wemyss Hall, near Cupar in Fife, demolishing the existing house and commissioning Scottish architect Robert Lorimer to build a fine home that could showcase his growing collection of paintings, tapestries, porcelains and furniture.
Hill of Tarvit House, finished in 1906, was perfectly positioned close to the rail line, with Frederick able to enter the city for work. Importantly, it was also near the Royal and Ancient Golf Club where he could indulge his love for the game.
Life for the Sharps was good, and by 1909, Frederick and his wife Beatrice had two children, Hugh and Elisabeth.
But their time at Hill of Tarvit became laced with tragedy. Frederick died suddenly of a heart attack whilst in Aviemore in August 1932. Five years later, Hugh died in the Castlecary rail disaster while travelling to meet his fiancée.
The train stopped in heavy snow and was hit by the Edinburgh to Glasgow express with such force that the stationary train’s engine was sent 100 yards down the track, killing 35 people.
Beatrice died in 1946 at the age of
82 and then just two years later Elisabeth died of cancer at the age of 38. Before she passed away, she made arrangements to leave Hill of Tarvit to the National Trust for Scotland.
Ian Riches and Antonia Laurenceallen, of National Trust for Scotland, have researched the history of the Sharp family and their time at Hill of Tarvit.
“The prevailing wisdom as to why there are no Sharp family papers is that they were burned by the griefstricken Beatrice and Elisabeth, following the tragic loss of Hugh. However, a small bundle of documents, whether by accident or design, managed to evade the alleged bonfire,” wrote Riches and Laurenceallen in a recent article for NTS.
Hints of some documents were made in a house inventory with a later note suggesting the papers were ‘locked in the Strong Room’. In the late 1990s, a locksmith opened up couple of cabinets at the property, but “frustratingly these documents were nowhere to be seen,” the article said.
In 1999, when NTS was in the process of moving in Charlotte Square, a ‘sad-looking cardboard box, about to be thrown out’ was rescued and its treasure trove of contents uncovered, the article said.
Riches and Laurence-allen added: “The survival of this small collection of papers has provided us with invaluable primary source material for Frederick Sharp’s collecting activities.”
The collection of papers are mostly receipts for paintings and show that Sharp was using dealers in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and Amsterdam to build his collection. Receipts for the purchase of four Allan Ramsay portraits were among the papers.
The article added: “Archives, historical papers and manuscripts often turn up when you least expect them and in the most unexpected of ways. We’re very fortunate that this small series of bills and letters were preserved and have come to us as the result of a chance discovery. Although there’s undeniably a sadness that permeates the period when the Sharp family lived at Hill of Tarvit, we can also imagine the joy that the purchase of these paintings brought to Frederick, as he began to decorate his wonderful new family home set in the hills of Fife.”
A version of this article first appeared on the NTS website