A fascinating letter has given an insight into how VE Day was celebrated at Longleat.
VE Day – 8th May 1945 – saw the surrender of German forces in World War II and was marked across the country including on the Longleat estate, which also played its part to support the war effort.
Now, a letter discovered in Longleat’s archives has revealed just how the Wiltshire estate marked VE day.
It was written by Lady Emma, the great-aunt of Ceawlin Thynn, 8th Marquess of Bath, and dated 12th May 1945.
Emma wrote, “I had to go to the office on VE Day, which I thought a bit hard, but I dined with Helen Smith that evening and they lit a bonfire for the children at dusk. They, the children never stopped running round and round the bonfire for ¾ of an hour waving flags.
“Even the youngest aged 5 ½. The energy of it was incredible, and a source of envy to your middle-aged daughter. I go to London tomorrow to attend the service at St Pauls, which should be most impressive…. I will tell you all about it when I see you. We opened the Victory case of Champagne which I have been keeping for this occasion and made a great hole in it.
“All the same I cannot realise that the fighting in Europe is really over. It has been the most utter and complete defeat.”
As well as hosting the pupils from Bath during the war, the Longleat estate had an American Military Hospital based in the park – near to where the rhinos live today. It was designed to accommodate 750 patients and personnel. Longleat also had a major RAF base with buildings storing equipment and munitions, near the current main entrance to the estate.
Longleat archivist Emma Challinor said, “Our current Lord Bath’s great grandfather, the 5th Marquess, was sharing Longleat House at the time with the Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army, Bath; it had moved there in its entirety for the duration of the war.
“The whole school gathered around a bonfire in the park to celebrate, later sending the 5th Marquess a poem to commemorate the event which began: ‘Symbols of hope and aspiration high, The leaping flames challenged the darkening sky. Victory filled our hearts and minds that night …’
“Lady Emma, daughter of the 5th Marquess, had been working with the Women’s Voluntary Service in Reading throughout the war and she wrote to him and described the many ranges of emotions experienced by young and old on that momentous day.”
The trains on Longleat Railway, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, will herald the start of the national two-minute silence on Thursday 8th May at midday.
One of Longleat’s flagship events, Icons of the Sky, this year will also commemorate the VE Day anniversary with flights including the Supermarine Spitfire.
