Shambellie House was built in 1856 for the Stewart family. A
superb example of a Victorian country house, it was designed by the
Scottish architect David Bryce, who also designed Fettes College in
Edinburgh.
Charles Stewart, the great grandson of the original owner,
donated his superb costume collection to National Museums Scotland
in 1977. He also loaned Shambellie House to be used as a Museum of
Costume.
Who was Charles Stewart?
Charles William Stewart was an artist, designer, teacher,
landowner, ballet dancer, Conscientious Objector and, in his own
words, “that obsessed and demented being, a Collector”.
He was born in 1915 at Ilo-Ilo, Panay, an island in the
Philippines where his father worked for a merchant company. When
the First World War ended in 1918, his mother brought him home to
live at Shambellie with his uncle.
Fascinated by historical costume from an early age, Charles
studied at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting in London,
while at the same time dancing at Covent Garden as a member of the
corps de ballet.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Stewart, a
Conscientious Objector, joined the Air Raid Precautions service
(ARP). While still drafted as a stretcher-bearer, he began work as
book illustrator in 1943. This led him to research period costume
in more detail, and he first began his collection of historical
garments so that he could study the fall of drapery for his
work.
To help him capture period clothing in context, he purchased a
life-sized artist’s lay-figure, which he christened Rosie. Stewart
writes: “When I first saw her in the studio of her previous owner
she was seated on the floor, bowed in an attitude of hopeless
despair. We travelled home in a taxi and the driver remarked in a
confidential tone, ‘You’re like me, Sir; you likes ’em quiet!’”
Rosie appeared in many guises in Stewart’s illustrations, in
works including Sheridan Le Fanu’s Uncle Silas, William
Thackeray’s Pendennis and Edward FitzGerald’s translation
of Omar Khayyam's poetry. She even stood in for the Queen, modeling
the Garter Robes when Stewart lent her to artist Pietro Annigoni
for his famous 1956 portrait of the monarch.
What began as an interest soon became an obsession. Driven by
what he called “Holy Greed”, Stewart searched through market
stalls, friends’ attics and forgotten trunks for interesting items
of clothing, devoting all his energy, spare time and money to the
cause.
Why did Charles donate his collection and lend his house?
Stewart inherited Shambellie from his father in 1962. The size
and age of the property made it expensive to maintain, but Stewart
was loathe to sell the house and see it “cannibalised” as a rest
home or hotel.
He was also concerned about the fate of his collection, which he
feared would be dispersed after his death and “cast away to the
dangers and squalors from which so much of it had been rescued”.
And so he concluded that, by offering his house and collection to
the Royal Scottish Museum (which later became National Museums
Scotland), he could save both.
The collection on display
By the time Stewart donated his collection, it consisted of over
six thousand objects spanning three centuries. Besides a rich hoard
of clothing spanning over a century, there were parasols and
shawls, corsets and underwear, muffs, boas, fans, lace and much
more. The Charles Stewart Collection became part of the extensive
textiles and dress collections of National Museums Scotland.
Shambellie House opened its doors to the public in 1982. Many of
the outfits and accessories from Stewart’s extensive collection can
be seen on display, complemented by items from the National Museum
Scotland’s other collections.
Many of the furnishings and paintings around the house are on
loan from the Stewart family. Other items of glass, ceramics and
furniture are from the National Museums Scotland's further
collections.
Charles Stewart died in 2001, aged 85. His superb collection and
house continue to be enjoyed by the public today. Almost
immediately after handing over the collection he was finally cured
of his “holy greed”, he writes: “my interest in collecting costume
mysteriously melted away."