Quantifying and qualifying inventorised ‘heirlooms’ : a reconstruction of the material legacy of the Hammond Family of St Albans Court Nonington 1551 1938 including a searchable dataset

Based on a 1903 inventory of 400 years of property accumulated by the Hammond family of St Albans Court, Nonington, Kent, this thesis seeks to use this record of material wealth to draw out meaning and reflect character from the material legacy of what is outwardly a representative example of the gentry class. The vehicle for this analysis is a dataset created from the inventory itself and available as a searchable digital file. The Hammond’s accumulated material legacy was a means of projection of status, a representation of visible consumerism and tool for social aspiration. The property listed in the inventory shows stereotypical social conservatism, whilst also being culturally sophisticated and alert to cultural fashions and movements. Focusing on the library listings, the interests of poets and artists share space with those of soldiers and bankers. Likewise, a clear love of house and home, shown in the ever-expanding footprint of St Albans Court itself as well the volume of their collections, is contrasted with a desire for continental travel and all that it brought in terms of cultural consumerism and experiences.

The thesis aims to match items in the inventory with individual members or generations of the Hammond family as well as using their material legacy to reflect wider cultural and social movements and changes. Using a selection of five items across the collections as indicative of a familial character and attitudes, the history of these in relation to the family at St Albans Court may be traced. Several pieces have been found, and their onward journey, following successive sales of the property between 1918 and 1938 is detailed. The dismantling of their material legacy may be seen as representative of the wider dispersal of a gentry class and the move from private to public ownership of their cultural capital.