CovSoc member, Peter James, tells us a bit about the history of Allesley Hall and the IIiffe family who lived there in the twentyieth century. Peter writes……
Allesley Park was originally a deer park which belonged to Henry de Hastings in the 13th Century. The first house was built there some time between 1702 and 1714. Records show that it was rebuilt in 1909 by Harry Quick a local man for William Isaac Iliffe.
William Isaac Iliffe was born in Coventry on 1st July 1843 to parents William and Mary Ann Iliffe who lived in Upper Stoke. He was the founder and head of Iliffe and Sons who were printers and publishers, having established the Midland Daily Telegraph in 1891 which was Coventry’s first daily newspaper. Selling for half a penny it was a four page broadsheet that became the Coventry Evening Telegraph on 17th November 1941. After his death he was described as :- “One of the most successful businessmen Coventry has ever known” Later Allesley Hall passed to his eldest son Edward Mauger Iliffe who was born
in Coventry in 1877.
Edward Mauger Iliffe began working for his father at the Midland Daily Telegraph when he was 17 years old. After his father died he and his brother worked together to grow the business until Edward became principal proprietor of the Birmingham Mail, the Birmingham Post and the Cambridge Daily News. He was Deputy Chairman of Allied Newspapers and also part owner of the Daily Telegraph.
During the First World War Edward was Controller of the Machine Tool Department at the Ministry of Munitions under the direction of David Lloyd George. He was knighted in 1922 then on 22nd June 1933
was raised to the peerage as Baron Iliffe of Yattendon. Between 1922 and 1929 Edward was the MP for Tamworth.
In 1937 Edward Mauger Iliffe donated 51 acres of land and Allesley Hall to the City of Coventry. After his death in 1960 his son Edward Langton Iliffe who was born in Keresley on 25th January 1908 became 2nd Baron of Yattendon.
Edward Langton Iliffe was educated at Sherborne and Clare College Cambridge. During the Second World War he was a Flight Lieutenant and an Intelligence Officer and from 1951 to 1954 he was Sheriff of
Berkshire the home of his family seat in Yattendon. In September 1963 he agreed to give 46 acres of land in Allesley to the city. Then in March 1965 he handed over the deeds to the Lord Mayor of Coventry making 97 acres in total from the Iliffe family. It was to provide a public park. After giving £35,000 towards the building of the new cathedral he bought 151 sketches made by Graham Sutherland for the cathedral tapestry and put them on public display at the Herbert Art Gallery. On 1st May 1969 he was created an Honorary Freeman in recognition of his services and benefactions to the city.
