Faringdon, Oxfordshire - 13
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Faringdon Colony
Basque House showing the adjacent buildings which were also used to accommodate the Basque children.
Names of the boys in the above
photograph will follow soon.
1910 Survey Map
Gavin Henderson
The 2nd Lord Faringdon
This map shows one of Buscot Park's Gates Houses which was to loaned by Lord Faringdon to house Basque boys.

(click here to see a larger picture of the map)
 
    'The Basque House' as it is now known was constructed in the earlt 19th century to serve Buscot Park..  An association with the estate is clear from the inscription on the datestone in the western gable which bears the date 1811 and the initials of Edward Loveden Loveden, the owner of the estate at that time.
    The Basque House is positioned at an entrance to Buscot Park and, as is suggested by an earlier name 'The Heckford Lord', once functioned as a lodge or gatehouse to the Park.  However the original form and internal features of the house, and the provision of a stable and cartshed, suggest it was constructed to house an employee of far greater social status than a gatekeeper.  Nothing is known of the original occupant.  In 1860, when the Estate was conveyed to Robert Campbell, the house was occupied by Mr. Heckford who lent his name to the building.  During the later 19thC the house was occupied by George John Laggat.
History
From left to right: Chato, Oscar and Chatito.
   Gavin Henderson, 2nd Lord Faringdon, thus succeeded his grandfather in 1934.  Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, the 2nd Lord Faringdon had, in the 1920s, been a member of the set known as the 'Bright Young Things' immortalised in the novels of Evelyn Waugh and Aldous Huxley.  But by the time he succeeded to Buscot he had developed a strong interest in public affairs, had joined the Labour Party, and had keenly supported the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War.
A group of boys relazing in the garden of Basque House with Walter Leonard.

Laggart was listed in Kelly's directory of 1887 and 1891 as an agent to Robert Campbell and manager of the Buscot Park Dairy.
    According to local belief the house was occupied by Basque refugees during the middle of the 20thC.  Consequently the building became known as 'Basque House'.

Article taken from papers of The Basque House, which was kindly copied for us by the present occupants Mr and Mrs Bull who were also extremely kind in allowing Natalia and Juanito visit the interior of the house.  To our surprise, Mr Bull opened a hatch which revealed a cellar.  We wonder what secrets lurk!
A group of boys from Faringdon, with the Snr Gomez (the cook) standing at the back, second from the left.  Four of the boys are holding and reading a Spanish Republican Newspaper.  They seem happy, so perhaps the newspaper reported events prior to the defeat of the Spanish Republic.
Walter Leonard
   Walter Leonard, son of the famous German singer Lotte Lenya, was himself a fugitive from the Nazis before becoming involved with the Basque children.
    Trained as a restaurateur in Switzerland, he helped to open the first foreign-run hotel in Tossa and early in 1937 met W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender ("a bickering lot, they were") during their brief civil war forays.  When the hotel closed he came to England and was chosen to supervise a Basque colony housed in a cottage on Lord Faringdon's estate at Eaton Hastings, Oxfordshire.
    "The Oxford committee, mostly university people, were very good about fund-raising, and the government made a pound-for-pond grant.  Lord Faringdon supplied milk, eggs and vegetables, but our anarchist cook accused him of exploiting the older boys as slave labour and had to be sent away.  Rosa, the only girl in the colony, asked for a transfer.  That's how I met my wife Peggy, who came from Birmingham to collect her; and, through Peggy, Fausto Garcia met Rosa and later married her.  There were many such romances."

Article from The Children They Sent Away from the magazine LOOKOUT, September 1983.
Faringdon boy's in the Basque House garden.
We recognise Cairelas Martinez and his younger brother Chechu.  The other we need your help in naming them.
In front of the swimming pool at Buscot House.
  
   During the 2nd Lord Faringdon's day, Buscot was regularly used as the venue for conferences attended by prominent socialist politicians, the most celebrated being in 1970, after the fall of Harold Wilson's government.  Buscot was also noted for its tradition of political weekend parties.  But politicians were not the only visitors: the arts were also fully represented.  Lord Faringdon was a trustee of the Wallace Collection and, in a house where the owner had amassed, rather then inherited, the majority of the contents (and was continually adding to them) this must have provoked many an enjoyable discussion.

Article taken from www.bucot-park.com website.
Faringdon boy's standing in front of the lake at Buscot Park.
Buscot Park is cared for by the National Trust and can be visitied, but please check opening times.
In front of the lake.
A convinced pacifist, he joined the Fire Service in the Second World War, serving with great courage during the blitz in London, Bristol and other large cities.  After the war he sat on the executive committee of the Fabian Society until 1969, and was chairman of the Society's Colonial Bureau from 1952 to 1958.  He also served on the London County Council (LCC), as a councillor from 1958 to 1961, and as an alderman from 1961 to 1965.  After the creation of the Greater London Council (GLC) in that year, he was appointed to serve on its Historic Buildings Committee.
This delightful picture shows Skipper, Paco and Ramon in Skippers car parked at the front of Basque House.
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