Dr Victoria L. Humphreys Profile picture
Feb 13, 2023 8 tweets 9 min read Read on X
🧵For all those interested in #SOE & #BritishEspionage #history, a visit to the red-brick #StErminsHotel in #London is a must. Situated in the heart of #Westminster, but hiding on Caxton Street, my map reading skills were sorely tested. Not till I admitted defeat, did I find it. Image
I wandered in - somewhat frazzled - declared my interest, & was swiftly treated to an impromptu tour by the munificent concierge. It began here: the grand staircase in the hotel lobby. The pictured door is said to conceal a secret tunnel that leads directly to #TheHouseofCommons. Image
'#MI5 & #MI6 each occupied a floor of the hotel during #WW2...' said the concierge. Indeed, #SIS made the hotel their Section D HQ, then #SOE arrived in the guise of the 'Statistical Research Department'. 'This way,' said the concierge, ushering me away from the lobby to this... Image
In a little nook, the glass-fronted cabinet of SOE artefacts is artfully curated. It's a smorgasbord of original WW2 SOE field equipment; a historical memory game for the SO(e) inclined; an apt memorial to the wartime past of St. Ermin's Hotel. 'I have goosebumps,' I said. ImageImageImage
'Yes,' said the concierge, nodding benevolently.
I had this mini-museum, this cabinet of wonder, to myself, and I set upon each object with a photographic pounce. ImageImageImage
And my goodness did I pounce... ImageImageImage
saving the best till last: a #WW2 Pigeon Transport Box.

My debut novel, #NotTheWorkOfAnOrdinaryBoy will be published by @StairwellBooks next month on 16/03/2023 & features an elite carrier pigeon named Ethelred the Unready. You can preorder here:
stairwellbooks.co.uk/product/not-th… 🙏 ImageImage
As I reluctantly made to leave the hotel, I bid a fond farewell to the obliging concierge & was gifted a little booklet: The St. Ermin's Autobiography. You can find the text online: sterminshotel.co.uk/about/our-hist…

And more about the hotel's history here: thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/st-er…

#Visit ImageImageImage

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More from @drtorhumphreys

Mar 2, 2023
🧵I begin with a story of lost love told in curated objects: a funereal silk glove; a wedding ring; a heart-shaped locket; [love] letters secured with pink ribbon; fallen petals of a dog rose (purity, love & marriage); & an inscription in Latin:
'Truth is great and will prevail'
This is the work of the great muralist, #RexWhistler and can be found on the wall of the large saloon in #MottisfontAbbey in #Hampshire. Now owned by the @nationaltrust, it was once the 'luxuriously ordered' home of art patron and socialite, #MaudRussell and her husband, Gilbert.
Whistler was commissioned by Maud to paint Trompe L'oeil murals that would reflect the history of the house & dazzle her coterie of glamorous guests. Consider the spine of the green volume: here, Whistler has left us a time clock.
Begun December 19 1938
Finished October 31 1939
Read 9 tweets

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