www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-25535536

Many years ago (1920s) a (very distant) relative was emigrating to Australia and need to dispose of a very large piece of furniture (the Apostle's cupboard) which he had acquired through the family.

This is the same Apostle's cupboard that Charlotte Bronte had seen when she visited my ancestors at North Lees Hall, Derbyshire (she described the cupboard in detail in Chap 20 of "Jane Eyre").

This relative tried to place the piece with numerous people - Chatsworth showed interest as the panels were "copies" of Van Dyck paintings and one of the originals then hung - and does now - in Chatsworth.

Eventually Keighley Council agreed to buy the piece (for £40 !) for the newly formed Bronte Society. The cupboard stands today in the Bronte museum in Haworth.

I didn't realise we were still taking bloody British criminals in the early 20th Century but it's clear your relative was some sort of fence and needed to dispose of his ill gotten property asap.

probably a pillar of community down here.

thank God I'm a snob.

hedda wrote:
I didn't realise we were still taking bloody British criminals


No - inherited through the family, from Mary Eyre (who was resident at North Lees Hall when Charlotte Bronte visited).