What the heck is a lek?
Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
Mrs Ridout and the Coombe Express c. 1878, is a keynote painting within The Salisbury Museum’s collection. Depicting a humble woman and her donkeys conveying goods between Coombe Bissett and Salisbury. Her celebrity grew with this painting by eminent local artist and portrait painter, Frank Brooks.
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Mrs Maria Ridout (1814 – 1886), was a ‘common carrier’ of goods and shopkeeper. Mrs Ridout lived with her husband and donkeys at a small cottage in Coombe Bisset.[i] During the nineteenth century, in rural communities like hers, Mrs Ridout would have been a common sight, following generations of traders in Salisbury.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Salisbury experienced a flourishing trade producing cloth, leather, and cutlery. Consequently, many small portable items were made by women and sold by women, such as straws hats and gloves, and though some industries declined, rural crafts continued among families making sacks and cork cutting.[ii]
In Frank Brooks’ painting, many objects are visible from the depths of Mrs Ridout’s. The contents of the cart reflect local craftsmanship and trade, such as straw baskets and red cloth.
Mrs Ridout made her journey between Coombe Bissett and Salisbury several times a week, stopping off at various public houses along the way to refresh herself and her donkeys. As she was a familiar sight in the area, she was a well-known character. Local man William Wagg recalls his father reminiscing about Mrs Ridout and the public houses she would frequent along her route. To mention a few – the Fox and Goose, the Anchor and Hope, and the Goat Inn.[iii] She soon caught the attention of rising young artist Frank Brooks. Brooks was born in Salisbury in 1854 to the renowned photographer Henry Brooks. The Brooks family had firm links to the area, and were captured in stereoview by Henry Brooks, enjoying a day out at Stonehenge in the 1860s. This is the earliest known stereoview of Stonehenge, and it is in the Dr Brian May collection.
Mrs Ridout made an impression on Frank Brooks, the aspiring artist, who was 24 when he painted her. In a letter to the Sunday Times, he wrote “I was then beginning my career as an artist and looking about for something to paint. The old lady and her donkeys struck me as an attractive and picturesque subject, so I thought I would try and paint a picture of her.”[iv] Brooks would often walk the journey with her, sketching as he went, and the pace of the cart was often so slow that he could walk backwards alongside and draw.
It is significant that Brooks notes this painting as instrumental in the making of his early career. This painting brings together many local stories and perspectives. Despite class differences, a bond was formed between Mrs Ridout and Brooks. Brooks admired the rural simplicity that Mrs Ridout conveyed to him. Brooks depicted her with soft shades offset with warm hues, and the time he dedicated to sketching her makes us wonder what conversation they would have had. She appears in the painting a contented veteran of these repeated, long journeys, with her tired, affectionate donkeys by her side. The painting provides us with a record of rural life in the Salisbury area. Also reflecting, on the lives of hard working country women.
The painting joined The Salisbury Museum collection in 1999, with financial support from the V & A Purchase Grant Fund, the Salisbury Museum Events Group, and donations from museum members. It is a firm favourite amongst staff and the public.
Volunteer Bob Gann, who helped researching this showcase said;
“I like Mrs Ridout and the Combe Bissett Express because it’s a picture of an ordinary local woman rather than the rather pompous establishment figures in Brooks’ portraits. I also like the story behind the painting, in particular Brooks walking backwards in front of Maria […] so that he could draw her.”
[i] Liz Batten, Maria Ridout’, in Her Salisbury story: Her Stories, Historic Women [2021].
[ii] ‘Salisbury: Economic history since 1612’, in A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6, ed. Elizabeth Crittall (London, 1962), pp. 129-132. British History Online.
[iii] Frogg Moody, ‘Bygone: Mrs Ridout and the Coombe Bissett Express’, from the Salisbury Journal [2022].
[iv] Mrs Ridout and the Coombe Express, The Salisbury Museum.
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Males great bustards perform spectacular courtship displays, gathering at a ‘lek’ or small display ground to try to impress the females.
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