Frank Green

Frank Green (c. 1861 – 1954), the second son of Sir Edward Green, 1st Baronet, a Yorkshire ironmaster and Mary Lycett, was a British industrialist. His father, Edward Green was a Conservative politician and wealthy industrialist. His grandfather Edward Green had invented a fuel economiser which was very successful during the Industrial Revolution which made the family fortune and helped him make connections to the Royal Family.^[1] Green took over his family's factory producing the Green Economiser in Wakefield. Green was educated at Eton College and then the University of Oxford. Green never married however there were rumours of a liaison between Green and Lady Diana Manners, a local actress. However Manners turned Green down in favour of his older brother, Edward Lycett Green who had inherited their father's land^[2] while Frank took over the family business.^[1] In 1912 Green was offered the position of Lord Mayor of York however he turned the position down.^[3] Green would later become close friends with the actress Ellen Terry and became an honorary lieutenant colonel of the Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons in 1906. Green would spend his free time travelling around Europe in his Rolls-Royce.^[3]

Treasurer's House

In 1900 Green worked with College Henry Jenkyns, to restore Archbishop William of York's former residence into Saint Willams College and became one of its trustees.^[4] Green restored later the Treasurer's House in York, between 1897 and 1930. The first major restoration was for a royal visit in 1900^[5] of Edward, Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII along with his wife Alexandra of Denmark and their daughter Princess Victoria. Green would later lavishly redecorate the house several times before 1930 when he donated the house to the National Trust.^[6]

Green was one of the most significant collectors and antiquarians of his day. Green rebuilt the Treasurer's House as a series of rooms to display his collection in different historical periods. He is said to have been obsessively tidy, to the extent that he had glass fronts placed on cupboards to check they were properly arranged inside and he would inspect the kitchen in the middle of the night. Visitors to the house in York can still see the metal studs which he placed in the floor to mark the position of furniture.^[7] In 1928 Green purchased Ashwick House, Dulverton, Somerset. After donating the Treasurers House with its full collection the National Trust, becoming the first fully furnished property given to the Trust. Green said to the house's custodian "I am an old man. I may not have very long to live. But I warn you that, if ever you so much as move one chair leg again, I will haunt you till your dying day."^[2]

Green moved to Exmoor in 1930 and took as active interest in running the Ashwick Estate, which extended to several hundred acres of farmland. In those days 20 resident staff ran the house and it was regularly used for lavish entertaining. To provide for entertainment of the staff, a miniature theatre was constructed in the grounds.^[8] He died in 1954 at the age of 93. He was described as "an Edwardian who had long outlived his time".^[9]

References

• Riegler, Shax (January 2009). "The 'It' chair". The Magazine Antiques. Retrieved 12 April 2009.