(108) Allhusen of Elswick Hall, Stoke Court and Bradenham Hall

Allhusen of Stoke Court

Christian Allhusen (1806-90) was the son of a merchant at Kiel (then in Denmark), and came to England in 1825. He settled at Newcastle-on-Tyne and joined his elder brother (who had come to England a couple of years earlier) in business as corn merchants there. In 1832 he branched out on his own, and was so successful that he was able to diversify his interests in several directions. His most successful venture was the establishment of the Newcastle Chemical Works at Gateshead in 1840, which earned him a fortune, so that he died in 1890 a millionaire, at a time when such riches were so rare that the term had only just been invented. Christian became a naturalised Englishman in 1835, around the time of his marriage. He had four sons, all of whom appear to have been dragged into the family businesses for at least a period. Two of them, Frederick (d. 1866) and Henry Christian (d. 1871) died relatively young; the other two seem to have abandoned day-to-day involvement in the business as soon as possible after their father died.  Christian Wilton Allhusen (1840-1924) bought the Pinhay estate near Lyme Regis from the Ames family in 1892 and William Hutt Allhusen (1845-1923) rented the first of several sporting and residential estates in Britain and South Africa at about the same time.  

Pinhay House, Lyme Regis

Christian Allhusen himself first acquired a country estate - albeit on the edge of Newcastle - as early as 1842, when he leased Elswick Hall (see below) from the Newcastle property developer, Robert Grainger. He later bought the freehold, and lived there until 1872. He seems then to have scaled back his direct involvement in business and bought Stoke Court (see below) at Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire as a retirement home.  He originally wished to give Elswick Hall to Newcastle Corporation as a public park, but was dissuaded by his family (who apparently did not realise how rich he was and how easily he could afford this philanthropic gesture); instead he arranged for a consortium of leading citizens to buy the estate from him and donate it to the City.

Stoke Court passed at his death in 1890 to his grandson, (Augustus) Henry Eden Allhusen (1867-1925), who had been brought up by his widowed mother in comparatively straightened circumstances, but given a public school and university education. His handsome appearance and good manners brought him an advantageous marriage into the Stanley family, with its ramifying social and political connections, and his and talents as an extempore orator soon led him to be elected as Conservative MP for Salisbury, 1897-1900 and for Hackney, 1900-06. He and his wife made Stoke Court a fashionable weekending house, and further extended it to the designs of Blow & Billeray, probably in about 1905. Henry’s wife was a cousin of Sir Winston Churchill’s wife, Clementine, and the visitors’ book reflects how the rich and famous were entertained at Stoke Court. Apart from great politicians of the day the Allhusens’ guests included important writers such as Thomas Hardy, John Buchan, Somerset Maugham and John Galsworthy.  Henry's only son having died four years before his father, in 1922, Stoke Court was sold after Henry's death.

Henry's brother, Frederick Henry Allhusen (1872-1957) was the first member of the family to take up a military career, although there is evidence that many of them, including his own father, would have preferred it to a life in business. Christian Allhusen tried to tie him into the business, in which he was left shares, conditionally on his being employed by the company at the age of 21, but by the time he reached that age the company had been reconstructed and his right to the shares was denied. So Frederick abandoned the company and secured a commission in the 9th Lancers in 1893; finally retiring as a Lt-Colonel after the end of the First World War. In 1921 he bought Fulmer House in Buckinghamshire, near to his brother's estate at Stoke Court and lived there until his death in 1957, after which it was sold. His two elder sons both bought estates in Norfolk. The elder, Dick Allhusen (1910-98) bought West Bradenham Hall (see below) in 1951, which has now descended to his son, Christian Henry Allhusen (b. 1956).  The younger, Derek Swithin Allhusen (1914-2000), who became a successful Olympic equestrian at the 1968 games, bought Claxton Manor House.

Claxton Manor House, 2009. Cropped from an image by Evelyn Simak. Licenced under this Creative Commons licence.

Elswick Hall alias Elswick Lodge, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Northumberland

Elswick Hall. Image: Matthew Beckett

The estate was formed by the Jennison family, who made their first purchase of land at Elswick in 1640, but nothing is known of the first Elswick Hall, which was rebuilt in 1803 by William & John Stokoe of Newcastle for John Hodgson III. As rebuilt, the house consisted of a five bay, three-storey centre with a pediment set against the attic carried on giant Ionic columns, and lower two-bay two-storey wings. This house was later extended to the left. When Christian Allhusen decided to sell the house and estate in 1872, it was initially put on the market as building plots, but a number of prominent Newcastle merchants clubbed together, bought the estate, and presented it to the City Council for use as a public park. It was opened as a park in 1881, with the house being used initially for a display of the work of local sculptor, J.G. Lough (1798-1876), the designer of the Stephenson Monument in Newcastle. Later, as happened all too frequently, the City Council abandoned the Hall, and it was eventually demolished about 1977-80 and a swimming pool constructed on the site. At the same time, the park was refurbished and reopened in the year of its centenary as a public park.

Descent: estate fromed by Sir Ralph Jennison (1613-170o/1) from 1640; to his great-grandson, Ralph Jennison (d. 1735) sold c.1720 to John Hodgson (d. 1749); to son, John Hodgson II (d. 1781); to son, John Hodgson III (d. 1820), who rebuilt the house in 1803; to son, John Hodgson IV (1806-69), who sold 1839 to Richard Grainger; leased and later sold 1842 to Christian Allhusen; sold 1872 to a consortium which presented it to Newcastle City Council.

Stoke Court, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire

Stoke Court: the house before it was extended by Blow & Billeray. Image: Historic England.

The house is first recorded as a "compact box of red brick with sash windows" called West End House, which was the home of the poet Thomas Gray's mother and her sisters, and where he used to stay. Whilst there he wrote his famous ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ and ‘Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton’. Although sometimes referred to as a cottage, the house was grand enough to have a grotto of flints and shellwork in the garden at this time. After the death of his mother and aunts, Thomas Gray gave up the lease in 1758. 

The house was modernised after a period of abandonment about 1784 and altered for Henry Wilmer around 1830, and although in 1842 it was said to be “now a place of some pretension to elegance” it remained fairly modest in size. In 1844 it was bought by Granville John Penn, who was downsizing from the Manor House; he refaced and enlarged it about 1845 in the Tudor-Gothic style, adding the chimneys, altering the windows and raising the roof.  It was further extended in 1873 and (by Blow & Billeray) in the early 20th century in the same manner, resulting in a vast rambling irregular house with gables and big octagonal bays. 

Stoke Court: east front in the 1950s. The pierced balustrade around the top of the tall canted bay was not reinstated after the fire in 1979. Image: Historic England.

The house was sold and the estate broken up in 1927. The house remained a private dwelling for only another year, becoming Stoke Court Country Club in 1928. By the 1950s it had reached the nadir of its fortunes when it was used for storing television sets. Demolition seemed inevitable but in 1959 the house was rescued by its new owners, Miles Laboratories, who carried out a comprehensive refurbishment of the house and grounds. The house was gutted by fire in 1979 but the main (south and east) facades were restored afterwards by C.B.M. Smith & Partners, architects. No attempt was made to reinstate the appearance of the north and west sides, which are straightforwardly utilitarian elevations of reddish brown brick, and there are no surviving interiors of interest. The house has remained in commercial occupation as laboratories, offices and a training centre since the 1950s.

"Gray's Summerhouse", probably built in the 1780s,
photographed in 1899 by H.C. Shelley.

The grounds of the house extended up the hill to the north, and a path known as 'Gray's Walk' follows a circuit round the edge of a meadow which occupies the main area of the grounds. This may have existed as early as 1719 - before Gray's time - when a walk is mentioned in a lease.  A summerhouse (inevitably, Gray's Summerhouse) existed at the highest point of the walk in the 19th century, and was perhaps constructed by Capt. Salter, the late 18th century owner. The grounds were enlarged in 1812 and 1832 when highways were diverted to allow expansion, and were much improved by the Darbys and the Allhusens, who planted formal gardens south-west of the house, created a small lake, and planted a maze near the summerhouse in 1893; both maze and summerhouse have now disappeared without trace.

Descent: Elliot Salter (fl. 1721-39), who let the house 1739-58 to Jonathan & Anna Rogers and later to Anna Rogers (d. 1758) and her sister Dorothy Gray (d. 1753); to Capt. Elliott Salter (d. 1790)... sold 1828 to Henry Wilmer; sold 1844 to Granville John Penn; sold 1851 to Abraham Darby IV (1804-78); sold 1872 to Christian Allhusen (1806-90); to grandson, Augustus Henry Eden Allhusen; sold 1927 and again 1928 when it became a Country Club...sold 1958 to Miles Laboratories, later part of the Bayer Group; sold c.2010 to Comer Group.

West Bradenham Hall, Norfolk (aka Bradenham Hall)

Bradenham Hall: the main south front in 2012. Image: Ultra Panavision via Flickr

A handsome red brick double pile house, probably built about 1766 for James Smythe. It has a five bay south front with giant pilasters framing the end bays and supporting the central three-bay pediment. The entrance was moved from the south to the north side in 1819 and some consequent changes were made to the interior layout, including the relocation of the staircase. A new doorway was made in a small extension added to the east side of the house in the 1930s, and the doorcase comes from a house in Tombland, Norwich. A three-bay wing was added on the west side in 1936, and there were further additions to the north in 1956. The gardens have been entirely created since 1953. The house was the childhood home of the novelist, Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925), and is also said to have been the inspiration for 'Brandham Hall' in L.P. Hartley's novel, The Go-Between (although the film version was set at Melton Constable).

Descent: sold 1753 to James Smythe (d. 1800); to son, Rev. Edward Smith (d. 1805); to widow, who sold 1818/19 to William Henry Haggard (1757-1837); to son, William Haggard (1783-1843); to son, William Meybohm Rider Haggard (1817-93) who let the Hall; to son, Sir William Henry Doveton Haggard (1846-1926); sold 1917/18 to Alexander Penrose (1896-1950); sold 1951 to Richard Christian Allhusen (1910-98); to son, Christian Henry Allhusen (b. 1956).

Allhusen family of Stoke Court

Allhusen, Christian Augustus Henry (1806-90), of Elswick Hall (Northbld) and Stoke Court. Fourth son of Carl Christian Friedrich Allhusen, born at Kiel (then Denmark), 2 December 1806. Emigrated to England, 31 March 1825, and was naturalised by private Act of Parliament, 12 June 1835; in business with his elder brother as a corn merchant at Newcastle, 1827-32; and then independently; active in the movement for the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1840s; purchased Attwood's Chemical Works at Gateshead, 1845 and established Newcastle Chemical Works Co. Ltd, of which he remained Chairman until his death; he was also involved in the Consett Ironworks and the Newcastle & Gateshead Waterworks Co; Chairman of Newcastle Chamber of Commerce; interested himself in various European tariff reform movements and developing Free Trade; member of Gateshead Borough Council, 1849-58. DL for Newcastle-on-Tyne; JP for Durham and Buckinghamshire. He married, 9 March 1835, Anne (c.1813-89), daughter of John Shield of Broomhaugh (Northbld) and had issue:
(1) Henry Christian Allhusen (1835-71) (q.v.);
(2) Emily Allhusen (1837-1924); married 1st, 1860, Lt. S. Hall of 12th Regt. and had issue; married 2nd, 1872, Rev. Marsden Gibson (d. 1901) and had further issue; died 13 January 1924; will proved 22 February 1924 (estate £2,481);
(3) Frederic Buschek Ehrenberg Allhusen (1838-66), born 3 June 1838; Captain in 1st battn., 15th Foot; married, 1864, Isabella, daughter of W. Wright, Judge-Advocate-General of New Brunswick and had issue one daughter; died 11 July 1866; will proved 4 September 1866 (estate under £2,000);
(4) Annie Allhusen (1839-1935); married 1st, 1866, Robert Laycock MP (d. 1881) of Wiseton Hall (Notts) and had issue; married 2nd, 6 December 1887, Lord D'Arcy Godolphin Osborne (d. 1895), third son of 8th Duke of Leeds; died 9 February 1935; will proved 17 May 1935 (estate £15,563);
(5) (Christian) Wilton Allhusen (1840-1924), of Pinhay (Dorset), born 24 December 1840; chemical manufacturer; married, 7 January 1874, Adelaide (d. 1936), daughter of Maj. Thomas Pakenham Vandeleur of Belfield (Limerick) and had issue four sons and five daughters; bought Pinhay estate in 1892; died 19 December 1924; will proved 20 February 1925 (estate £136,234);
(6) Julia Allhusen (1842-1924), a nun; died 13 January 1924;
(7) William Hutt Allhusen (1845-1923), born 16 September 1845; educated at Cheltenham College and St John's (later Magdalene) College, Cambridge (admitted 1865); merchant; married, 1876, Beatrice May (d. 1918), daughter of Col. Thomas Bromhead Butt; by 1905 lived at various times in rented properties in Cape Colony (South Africa), Tullymet House (Perthshire), Twyford Abbey (Middx) and Isola Bella, Cannes (France); died 25 August 1923; will proved 13 November 1923 (estate £47,163);
(8) Blanche Alicia Allhusen (1847-1929); married, 9 June 1873, Capt. Henry Badeley (d. 1881) of Guy Harlings (Essex) and had issue (including Henry Badeley, 1st Baron Badeley, who was Clerk of the Parliaments, 1934-49); died 23 December 1929; will proved 15 January 1930 (estate £7,957);
(9) Mary Henrietta Allhusen (1849-1937); married 26 May 1870, Maj-Gen. Thomas Lloyd (d. 1921) of Beechmount (Limerick) and had issue; died 25 October 1937; will proved 14 February 1938 (estate £53,859);
(10) Alice Edith Allhusen (1854-1930); married 1 November 1882, Edward Horatio Nevile JP (d. 1934) of Skellingthorpe (Lincs) and had issue; died 27 August 1930; will proved 2 December 1930 (estate £4,414);
(11) Helena Allhusen (1858-1937); married 28 July 1880, Capt. Edward Hugh Rowley Hibbert (d. 1927) of 20th Regt., son of Leicester Hibbert of Crofton Grange; died 17 December 1937; will proved 24 February 1938 (estate £11,606).
He rented and later purchased Elswick Hall from 1842 and lived there until 1872 when he purchased Stoke Court in Buckinghamshire and sold Elswick to a consortium which presented it to Newcastle corporation as a public park.
He died 12/13 January 1890 and his will was proved 28 February 1890 (estate £1,126,852). His wife died 20 September 1889.

H.C. Allhusen in 1862
by Camille Silvy

Allhusen, Lt-Col. Henry Christian (1835-71). Eldest son of Christian Augustus Henry Allhusen (1806-90) of Elsick Hall and Stoke Court, and his wife Anne, daughter of John Shield of Broomhaugh (Northbld), born 30 December 1835. Educated at Repton School, Antwerp and Kings College, London. Employed in his father's chemical works. Captain in Northumberland Artillery Militia, 1854-60; Lt-Colonel of Newcastle Artillery Volunteer Corps, 1860-71. Member of Gateshead School Board, 1870-71. He married, 22 November 1866, Elizabeth Alice (1841-1924), daughter of Thomas Eden of Norton Hall (Glos) and had issue:
(1) Augustus Henry Eden Allhusen (1867-1925) (q.v.);
(2) Lt-Col. Frederick Henry Allhusen (1872-1957) (q.v.);
(3) Margaret Colmore Allhusen (1868-1949); married, 20 August 1891, Col. Lionel Henry Hanbury CMG VD (d. 1954), elder son of George Hanbury of Blythswood (Bucks) and had issue; died 3 March 1949; will proved 5 September 1949 (estate £2,678);
(4) Mary Millard Allhusen (1870-1943); married, 9 January 1900, Capt. the Hon. Edward Oliphant Murray (killed in South African War, 1901), younger son of 1st Viscount Elibank and had issue; died 6 December 1943; will proved 24 April 1944 (estate £25,488).
He lived at Park House, Gateshead, after his marriage. After his death his widow lived at 46 Lansdown Crescent, Cheltenham (Glos).
He died after a short illness, 7 September 1871 and was buried at Elswick Cemetery, Newcastle. His widow was granted administration of his goods (estate under £1,500) and died 3 September 1924; her will was proved 7 November 1924 (estate £5,312).

Allhusen, Augustus Henry Eden (1867-1925) of Stoke Court. Elder son of Henry Christian Allhusen (1835-71) and his wife Elizabeth Alice, daughter of Thomas Eden of Norton Hall (Glos), born 20 August 1867. Educated at Cheltenham and Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1890); Lieutenant in Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars; Conservative MP for Salisbury 1897-1900 and for Hackney, 1900-06; Asst. Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for India, 1905; DL and JP for Buckinghamshire and member of the County Council and Slough Board of Guardians; High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, 1913; Chairman of Royal Surgical Aid Society. 1921-24 and of Boodle's Club, 1922-25. He married, 21 July 1896, Mary Dorothy Osma (1877-1965), younger daughter and co-heir of Col. the Hon. John Constantine Stanley, and had issue:
(1) Henry Christian Stanley Allhusen (1899-1922), born 21 November and baptised 21 December 1899; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; always 'delicate', he died unmarried, 2 March 1922; will proved 19 May 1922 (estate £251,105);
(2) Helena Madeleine Mary Allhusen (1897-1982), born 17 May 1897; married 1st, 14 October 1922, Lt-Cmdr. Sir Geoffrey Cecil Congreve RN (1897-1941), 1st bt., son of General Sir Walter Norris Congreve, VC and had issue three daughters; married 2nd, 21 October 1942, Reginald James Tyler (later Stewart-Mackenzie) (d. 1956), youngest son of Maj-Gen. Charles James Tyler; she and her husband assumed name of Stewart-Mackenzie in 1944 on inheriting the Brahan estate from Hon. Francis Alan Stewart-Mackenzie of Seaforth; died 27 July 1982; buried at Stoke Poges;
(3) Dorothea Elizabeth Allhusen (1903-26), born 4 September 1903; died unmarried, 29 January 1926; will proved 13 March 1926 (estate £86,491).
He inherited Stoke Court from his grandfather in 1890, and remodelled it to the designs of Blow & Billeray. The house was sold after his death, and his widow lived latterly at Shalbourne House (Wilts).
He died 2 May 1925; his will was proved 8 July 1925 (estate £85,481). His widow died 6 October 1965; her will was proved 3 February 1966 (estate £44,528).

Allhusen, Lt-Col. Frederick Henry (1872-1957) of Fulmer House. Second son of Henry Christian Allhusen (1835-71) and his wife Elizabeth Alice, daughter of Thomas Eden of Norton Hall (Glos), born 24 January 1872. Educated at Cheltenham College. Lieutenant in Northumberland Artillery Militia, 1891-93; entered the army, 1893; served with 9th Lancers in India and the South African War, 1899-1900 (despatches, Queen's Medal); returned wounded and was on half-pay, 1901-03; adjutant of Derbyshire Yeomanry, 1903-07; retired 1907; Brigade-Major of Highland Mounted Brigade (TA), 1908-12; served again with the same unit in WW1 in Gallipoli and Egypt, 1914-16; Quartermaster General, Home Defence, 1916-17 and Asst. Director of Forestry, France, 1917-18; retired as Lt-Colonel, 1919 (DSO 1916; CMG 1918); Chairman & Managing Director of the Eno Company, 1921-c.1930. JP for Dorset, 1915; High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, 1932-33; member of Buckinghamshire County Council, 1934-49. He had always been a keen sportsman, writing in his autobiography "The finest life in the world is that of the man who is both soldier and sportsman".  He enjoyed big game shooting in India and South Africa in his youth, and later deer stalking and salmon fishing at home; he rode to hounds until his marriage.  He married, 15 July 1908, Enid (1887-1948), elder daughter of Cmdr. Harold Swithinbank of Denham Court (Bucks), and had issue:
(1) Lt-Col. Richard Christian Allhusen (1910-98) (q.v.);
(2) Maj. Derek Swithin Allhusen CVO (1914-2000) of Claxton Manor House (Norfolk), born 9 January 1914; educated at Eton, Chillon College, Montreux and Trinity College, Cambridge (MA); served in the army, 1935-49 with 9th Lancers (Lt., 1935; Capt., 1940; Maj., 1942); farmer, horse-breeder and Olympic equestrian; High Sheriff of Norfolk, 1958; member of HM Bodyguard, Hon. Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, 1963-84 (Standard Bearer, 1981-84); President of British Horse Society, 1986-88; DL for Norfolk, 1969; married, 28 April 1937, Hon. Claudia Violet (1917-2009), younger daughter of Henry Betterton (1872-1949), 1st Baron Rushcliffe, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 24 April 2000;
(3) Frederick Eden Allhusen MC (1917-41), born 26 February 1917; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; joined the army, 1938 and served with 15th/19th Kings Royal Hussars (Capt., 1940); died on active service, 16 June 1941; will proved 19 September 1941 (estate £104,214).
He purchased Fulmer House in 1921, which was sold after his death.
He died 13 January 1957; his will was proved 14 May 1957 (estate £60,731). His wife died 23 December 1948; her will was proved 7 March 1949 (estate £201,930).

Allhusen, Lt-Col. Richard Christian (1910-98) of (West) Bradenham Hall. Elder son of Lt-Col. Frederick Henry Allhusen (1872-1957) and his wife Enid, elder daughter of Cmdr. Harold Swithinbank, born 16 March 1910. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (MA). Served in WW2 in Lovat Scouts; Staff College, Camberley; and 21st Army Group HQ. Landowner and farmer. He married, 25 June 1950, (Evelyn) Jane (b. 1917), only daughter of Lt-Col. Sir Richard Henry Chenevix-Trench CIE OBE and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Mary Allhusen (b. 1952), born 10 March 1952; married, 1977, William P. Durlacher, son of Jack Durlacher, and had issue two daughters
(2) Rosalind Jane Allhusen (b. 1954), born 9 July 1954; married, 25 April 1985, Nicholas Charles Thoresby Pawson (b. 1952), son of K.V.F. Pawson, and had issue two daughters;
(3) Christian Henry Allhusen (b. 1956) (q.v.); 
(4) Richard Frederick Allhusen (b. 1960), born 13 June 1960; married, 1989 (div.), Katrina Jane (b. c1963), daughter of Ian R.P. Haig and had issue two sons.
He purchased Bradenham Hall (Norfolk) in 1951, with the manors of Bradenham, East Bradenham and Huntingfield.
He died 2 August 1998. 

Allhusen, Christian Henry (b. 1956) of (West) Bradenham Hall. Elder son of Lt-Col. Richard Christian Allhusen (1910-98) and his wife (Evelyn) Jane, daughter of Lt-Col. Sir Richard Henry Chenevix Trench, born 17 July 1956. He married, 31 October 1986, Penelope Amanda (known as Panda) (b. 1959), daughter of Colin G.C. Rae, and had issue:
(1) Benjamin Christian Thomas Allhusen (b. 1989), born 17 May 1989;
(2) Matthew John Oliver Allhusen (b. 1991), born 28 November 1991;
(3) Natasha Sophie Tasmin Allhusen (b. 1993), born 4 November 1993;
(4) Sabrina Isabella India Allhusen (b. 1996), born 9 September 1996.
He inherited Bradenham Hall from his father in 1998.
Now living.

Sources

G. Burton & F. Allhusen, Some records of the Allhusen family of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Stoke Court, 1925; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1965, pp. 13-14; Sir N. Pevsner, I. Richmond et al., The buildings of England: Northumberland, 2nd edn., 1992, p. 516; Sir N. Pevsner & E. Williamson, The buildings of England: Buckinghamshire, 2nd edn., 1994, p. 658; T. Faulkner & P. Lowery, Lost houses of Newcastle and Northumberland, 1996, pp. 17-18; Sir N. Pevsner & B. Wilson, The buildings of England: Norfolk - North-West and South, 2nd edn., 1999, p. 763; South Buckinghamshire District Council, West End Conservation Area: Character Appraisal, 2011, pp. 16-26; P. Dallas, R. Last and T. Williamson, Norfolk gardens and designed landscapes, 2013, pp. 416-18.

Location of archives

No significant archive is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Barry of six or and azure, four fleurs-de-lis, two and two counterchanged.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 9 February 2014 and was updated 2 January and 14 October 2017 and 30 October 2019..