World War I autograph album

1916

Single Item

Provenance: In a letter from the donor, Mrs Margaret E. Palmer, dated 5 April 2004, the autograph album "was found at the bottom of a trunk that has been with us on a number of house changes and has never been fully emptied."
The Louis Vuitton trunk, which came up for auction at Unique Auctions (Lincolnshire) in 2013, had originally come from a house (Surrey Cottage/Villa), in Oatlands Drive, Weybridge, Surrey, England, that was once owned by Dr Angelo Matteo Crabtree, who was Resident Medical Officer at No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, during the First World War.
The auction catalogue states that the trunk was left to the donor's husband Ronald Reginald Palmer (1925-1998) by a Mr 'Purkiss' [sic], a former manager for Coutts & Co., a private bank and wealth manager for the rich and famous of British society, founded in 1692. The Mr 'Purkiss' mentioned was probably William George 'Purkis' (1878-1956), who was described in his brother Harry's 1947 probate calendar index entry as a "retired bank official."
William and Harry Purkis were both brothers-in-law of the trunk's original owner, Dr Angelo Matteo Crabtree (abt. 1874-1925), who married their sister Agnes Constance Purkis in London in 1902. The Electoral Registers for Surrey show William had lived with Agnes and her husband at "Surrey Villa" for a good portion of his life from at least 1918 until 1952. Harry Purkis, whose probate calendar entry also links him to the same address, does not appear to have ever lived there with any degree of permanence. He left the UK for Mexico in December 1937 where he appears to have died at Minatitlan, Veracruz, on 23 February 1947.
The auction catalogue further states that a friendship was formed between Ronald Palmer and William Purkis when, as a young man, Palmer saw an elderly Purkis struggling with a sack of potatoes which he then offered to help carry for him.
Evidence from the Electoral Registers for Surrey show Ronald and Margaret Palmer (they married in Willesden, London, in 1949) lived at Purkis' home at 164 Oatlands Drive from 1952 until at least 1957 (there is no record of them for 1958), after which time they moved to 16 King's Head Lane (1959-60), and then to 32 Barnsford Close (1961-62). In the 1952 Electoral Register, Purkis was also noted as living at the same address but soon removed to a care home known as Lulworth House, at 2 Ellesmere Road, Weybridge, where he died on 27 November 1956, aged 78. The auction catalogue mentions that Palmer was left Purkis' estate, which, of course, also included the Louis Vuitton trunk and its contents.
Ronald Palmer appears to have died at Bournemouth, Dorset, in 1998, aged 72. No death was found for Margaret in the England & Wales Civil Registration Death Indexes from 2004 (the year the album was donated) until 2007, but the fact that the trunk came up for auction in 2013 is highly suggestive of her death having occurred sometime between 2007 and 2013.
(Sources: Unique Auctions - Lincoln Auctioneers, Valuers, House Clearances in Lincoln & Lincolnshire ; Ancestry.com.au ; Auckland Museum: Library Collection Information - Manuscripts, folder 3844-06, January - December 2005)

Donated by Mrs Margaret E. Palmer in April 2004.

07 Dec 2023