HOUSE OF SILENCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 109, 11 May 1933, Page 11

HOUSE OF SILENCE

MANSION WITH £IOO,OOO STRANGE MAN’S HOME LIVING IN TWO BOOMS. New facts concerning the eccentricities of Mr. James Stuart Henderson, who left a large mansion near Hastings, England, and £150,000 to his woman secretary, were told to a Sunday Express representative recently. Mr. Henderson, who died in January, left property valued at £411,000, and the mansion will eventually become an endowed convalescent home for the poor. The mansion cost £IO,OOO and contains treasures worth £IOO,OOO. But Mr. Henderson spent most of his life in two rooms. All visitors were sworn to secrecy. The mansion became known as “The House of Silence.’’ James Stuart Henderson was the son of a wealthy Australian banker, and when young was left a fortune by his father. He had been brought up to understand the value of money, and, although he was generous, he hated “spongers” and palyed tricks on them. He was a born musician, with a passion for valuable violins. He was a gifted player. His collection included an almost priceless Guarnierius, which he always kept by his bedside, a Stradivarius, and a Guadagnini. Mr. Henderson’s pictures, which numbered several hundreds, including Rembrandts and Gainsboroughs, were valued at £IOO,OOO, yet he was content to eat the simplest of meals and lived the life of any average middle-class man. A Paseion for Armour. A passion for armour cost Mr. Henderson a lot of money. The great hall of his mansion as lined with suits of armour, kept in perfect condition by a special staff. A suit of armour worn by Charles I. was fitted to a figure mounted on a horse standing in the hall. A close friend who had known Mr. Henderson nearly 20 years said, “ Although he was the most eccentric man I have ever met he was also the kindest. “He had a most infectious laugh, despite the fact that he was rarely free from pain, but once he began every on© in hearing had to join in his merriment. He was terrified of thunder and lightning, and whenever there was a storm he would rush in his bedroom and cover himself with blankets. “The fear of electrical disturbances made him have double windows all over the house. These were rarely opened, and the heat at times was intense. I recall many occasions during the afternoon when his quartettes—gifted musicians from all parts of the country whom he invited to his house several times a week—were playing many people fainted owing to the heat and lack of ventilation. If he left the room a guest would open the window for a second. When Mr. Henderson returned, although every one else noticed no change in the atmosphere, he would immediately inquire who had opened the window. One of his favourite musicians was Mr. Van de V Idt, 'cellist. Another was M. Plotenj Worth, violinist. “Despite the fact that Mr. Henderson was gravely ill nearly all his life, ho was possessed of marvellous strength. If a man held a cushion at arm’s length he would strike it with such force that the impact would knock the man down. Fond of Practical Jokes. “This peculiar man was not above practical jokes. I was walking with him in the garden one day when we found a gardener fast asleep in a barrow. Creeping s’f'ntly away, Mr. Henderson got a revolver from the house, returned to the walk, and fired near the gardener’s ear! “Mr. Henderson was always on the watch for people who took advantage of his generosity. He noticed that several always took the most expensivelooking cigars. He had some made up with grand labels and packed neatly in expensive-looking boxes. These were duly purloined by greedy guests. I never heard what they said when they smoked them, for they were composed of the most dreadful tobacco leaf he could find. “On another occasion Mr. Henderson heard that a man he had helped was not behaving generously to other people. So he dressed as an old sailor, and, carrying a bird in a cage, he knocked at the, door of the man he had helped. He tried to sell him the bird, and begged for help. Mr. Henderson soon found that all he had heard was true. The man slammed the door in his face, and threatened to send for the police unless he went away. “Another habit of Mr. Henderson was to visit Covent Garden, pick out harlf-starved or ill-looking donkeys, buy them, and have them sent to his fields, whore they were allowed to spend the rest of their days in rest and comfort. His chief delight was to teach his guests to dinner how to eat macaroni in the Italian fashion. Few could equal his dexterious handling of this elusive food. A schoolboy at heart, he derived great amusement watchii g his

friends get out of the specially constructed maze near the beautiful goldfish pond in the garden. I tried unsuccessfully many times during the years I knew him. He woulu never give away tho secret. Oil Lamps Only in Mapsion. “ Although the house was so magnificent the eccentric owner would never have any light except oil lamps. At night the shadows cast, by them and the ‘oppressive f silence made many of us feel most uncanny. He must have known this, because he would suddenly burst in, and making a great noise with the door cause us to tremble in our shoes. “One of the quaintest rooms in the house was the pigeon room. Here Mr. Henderson kept about 40 doves and pigeons. These birds were peculiar, too. They seemed to be in a continual state of coma. Anyone could handle them and pet them. They appeared to be just alive. Where they came from or what sort they were I never learned. His favourite bird, however, was a parrot, whom he called Joey. Ho could do anything with it. And that bird could talk. ‘Shut the door!’ ‘Close the windows!’ ‘lt’s too hot,’ ‘Play up’ were but a few of its phrases. Its adjectives were lurid. “One of Mr. Henderson’s chief faults was his temper. I saw him knock his head on a bracket one day. In an instant he wretched tho bracket from its secure place in the wall and hurled it. to the ground. He was devoted to his mother. That was why he never married, he once told me. When she was 80 years of age he built, her a magnificent house. He never really recovered from the shock of her death.”