From FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):
Archive documenting 100 years of iconic British magazine, Country Life, published online
• Full back catalogue of iconic British lifestyle magazine Country Life has been published online for the first time by Findmypast
• New agreement with publisher Future sees over half a million pages digitised
• Magazine dates back to 1897, developing into one of the UK’s leading glossy titles
• Fully searchable to the public, the pages record the people, properties and landscapes that defined British country living
The full back catalogue of Country Life, one of the world's most celebrated magazines of the British way of life, has been made available to the public online for the first time by family history website Findmypast.
Over 500,000 pages of the magazine dating from 1897 to 2009 have been digitised by the company in a new partnership with Future – the title’s publisher and keeper of its archive.
The online pages are fully searchable by name, location, keyword or even phrase, allowing the public to browse both the wider social history they contain and more intimate family connections.
Launched on 8 January 1897, Country Life offered itself to readers as ‘a journal for all interested in country life and country pursuits’, printed as a luxurious folio on heavy glossy paper with large black and white photographs.
Photographs feature heavily in its pages with the Frontispiece becoming famous in later years for the society ‘Girls in Pearls’. Notable subjects of the Frontispiece include Nancy Astor in 1919, the first woman to sit in parliament as an MP, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on holiday in 1937, and the future Queen Elizabeth II as a wartime volunteer in her ATS uniform in 1945.
It has maintained an enduring connection with the Royal Family, with issues edited by King Charles, who has acted as Guest Editor twice to mark both his 65th and 70th birthdays, as well as Princess Anne in 2021 and Queen Camilla who guest edited in July 2022.
It quickly became the publication for the presentation and sale of the country’s grand properties, documenting the ebbs and flows of Britain’s fortunes. The first issue featured Stowe House, Buckinghamshire, vacant after the death of its tenant H. R. H. Comte de Paris, to be let or sold; it was sold for £50,000 and Stowe School opened two years later.
In 1915, Stonehenge was famously advertised in Country Life as part of the sale of the Amesbury Abbey estate, bought for £6,000 by Cecil Chubb for his wife, and subsequently gifted to the nation in 1918.
In the post-war era, declining family estates were advertised for £100 per year, while more recent revivals have seen the likes of Park Place in Berkshire – the set for the 2007 film St Trinian’s - bought in 2012 for a remarkable £140m, making it Britain’s most expensive house sale.
The collection also includes an important record of its support of female journalists, editors, and artists. Gertrude Jekyll, celebrated horticulturist, garden designer, photographer, writer and artist who created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the US became the first Gardens editor of Country Life. Alice Hughes, a celebrated artist and photographer, contributed hundreds of photos to Country Life between 1898-1909. She was described in the Globe in 1915 as ‘head of the most successful and artistic photographic business ever run by a woman... appointed private photographer to the Royal family.’
Rose Staveley-Wadham, Newspaper Licensing Manager at Findmypast said:
"Country Life has held an unshakeable position as the glossy magazine for British society across the globe, still much loved to this day. We’re very excited to bring this amazing record of British life to the public online, documenting the changing faces, fashions, and fortunes of the past century.
“And behind the glossy pictures are family stories waiting to be discovered – from the sporting pursuits enjoyed by our ancestors to a family’s treasured home up for sale. I’d encourage everyone to dive into this iconic British collection.”
John Goodall, Architectural editor at Country Life said:
“Through the pages Country Life, it’s possible to chart the history of Britain week by week over a period of more than 125 years. The sheer diversity of the material it covers is extraordinary, from royal pets, country sports and pastimes to our greatest architecture, gardens and landscape. Having this material digitised makes the extraordinary cumulative riches of the magazine available to readers and researchers once again.”
Comment: It's wonderful to see this collection online, not least becasue I have had the chance in the past to see the archive at Country Life!
In 1996 I was the researcher on a BBC2 documentary, directed by Jane Treays, entitled An Everyday Tale of Country Life, which was specially commissioned to commemorate the magazine's centenary. Over the course of a couple of months I had unprecedented access to Country Life's offices in London, and to the editor Clive Aslet and his staff, as we filmed them putting together all sorts of features for their centenary edition, both in the office and out on location. We filmed fashions shoots, garden shoots, and all sorts of other features, as well as interviews with various celebrities who were big fans of the magazine, including ballet dancer Deborah Bull, botanist David Bellamy, the then Queen Mother's designer Sir Hardy Amies, then Prime Minister Tony Blair, and many others.
Of these, by far my favourite was the drummer from Queen, Roger Taylor, with me being a huge fan of the band when growing up in Northern Ireland. We arrived at Roger's house to find his wee daughter had disappeared, and spent the first half hour helping him try to find her (she was quickly found hiding in a cupboard!), and then spent half an hour with him in his study going through his personal collection of Country Life magazine to try to find the edition that had advertised the house that he had bought, and where I had a wonderful chat with him! The day after I got home, I received a small package in the post, containing Roger's first two solo albums, whuch had just been released on CD, and which I still listen to this day!
Country Life is an exceptionally quirky publication, ranging from its introductions of debutantes ("the girls in pearls") to its spectacular photo shoots of gardens and architecture across the UK. I'm sure we'll all have some fun plundering its archive! You can access the title both via FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) and the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).
(With thanks to Madeline Gilbert) Chris
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