Curious Collections of the National Trust

Marquess of Anglesey’s wooden leg

In a corner of the display cabinet at Plas Newydd, on Anglesey, is this wooden leg. Known as 'The Anglesey Leg', this was the world’s first articulated prosthetic leg (meaning that it has a hinge that allows it to bend). It was invented by James Potts of Chelsea and was one of the wooden legs belonging to Henry Paget, the Marquess of Anglesey. As it could bend, he was able to wear it for dancing and riding.  

Paget lost his right leg while leading the charge of the heavy cavalry during the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Legend has it that he turned to the Duke of Wellington and said, ‘By God Sir, I’ve lost my leg,’ to which the Duke replied, ‘By God Sir, so you have!’ Paget was taken off the battlefield to have surgery in a nearby house owned by a Monsieur Paris. During surgery he allegedly joked with the surgeon about the bluntness of his knives. The remains of his amputated leg were kept by Monsieur Paris and buried in the garden in a tiny coffin with a tombstone, becoming a visitor attraction.

Boxing squirrels

Castle Ward in Northern Ireland is home to this tableau of ‘boxing squirrels’, made by the Victorian taxidermist Edward Hart. The series of five cases take you through a boxing match between two red squirrels. One wears a red sash and the other a blue sash and both wearing boxing gloves (which became mandatory in boxing in 1867 with the publication of the Marquess of Queensberry Rules). The fight plays out until the victorious red-sashed squirrel stands over the fallen blue squirrel.

Fire extinguisher grenades

More than 50 of these glass fire extinguisher bottles or ‘grenades’ were bought by Simon Yorke III (1811-94), who lived at Erddig, near Wrexham. Simon had a particular fear of fire, following a number of minor fires at Erddig. All had been extinguished safely by estate workers, but Simon invested in these grenades as an extra precaution. They were filled with water, salt and ammonium chloride. When the bottles were thrown at the fire, the idea was that the ammonium chloride would heat to boiling point and the fumes it produced would smother the flames.

Actually, the effect would have been equivalent to throwing a cup of water at the flames, but you can still see the ‘grenades’ dotted around the property. Yet the family fear of fire at Erddig continued. In the early twentieth century, pressed steel panels were introduced to the ceiling of the Saloon. This decorative, metal ceiling was intended as ‘protection’ against fire.

Lord Nuffield's appendix

Not for the squeamish, this small glass case at Nuffield Place in Oxfordshire contains one of our more unusual collections items. On a specimen slide, covered in preserving fluid, is the appendix of William Morris, Lord Nuffield, removed by surgery in 1928 and kept on his shelf at home. Morris was the owner of the Morris Motor Company and was at one time Britain’s richest self-made man. He was also a great philanthropist, and this appendix is part of that story.

Fast-forward to 1937 and Morris was looking for an opportunity to use his wealth. Having lived in and grown his business in Oxford, Morris had already donated substantial sums to the University of Oxford to help establish a new college, Nuffield College, with a particular focus on the social sciences. But in 1936-7 he also helped establish Oxford’s Postgraduate Medical School. This became a clinical school for training medical students and his £2 million donation included endowment for three medical chairs. However, Morris argued strongly for a fourth chair in anaesthesia. Oxford were reluctant, but he insisted and got his way. Morris’ insistence may well have been because of his experience in 1928, when he had had a bad and painful reaction to anaesthetics during the removal of his appendix.

Charles Paget Wade's pet cat

Snowshill in Gloucestershire is a house full to the brim with eclectic, unusual and special objects. This collection was created by Charles Paget Wade between 1900 and1951, when he gifted it to the National Trust. Wade was an architect, artist and craftsman, who inherited his father’s sugar estates in the West Indies. The income from these enabled him to spend his life accumulating a large and varied collection, much of which you can see at Snowshill today. This included everything from bicycles, toys and masks to musical instruments and samurai armour. In 1945 he wrote that he hoped the collection, which featured rare treasures as well as everyday objects, would “be a valuable record in days to come.”