Editing Wightwick Manor (section)

==History==
[[File:Carving Wightwick Manor 1 (3915932445).jpg|thumb|upright|Detail]]
The oldest building on the site is the Old Manor, which incorporates elements of a medieval house and which was built in two stages around the turn of the seventeenth century by Francis Wightwick and his son, Alexander. The Wightwick family took their name from the estate and owned it from at least the thirteenth century until 1815, when it was sold to the Hinkes family. In 1887 it was sold again to (Samuel) Theodore Mander.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ponder |first=Stephen |title=Wightwick Manor |publisher=The National Trust |year=1996 |isbn=9781843591405 |location=Swindon |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Mander family]] became established in Wolverhampton in the mid-eighteenth century, when Thomas Mander moved to the town from Warwickshire. His son, Benjamin Mander, established a [[japanning]] and [[tinplate]] works in 1773, which became [[Mander Brothers]] and expanded into the manufacture of paints under his grandsons, Charles and Samuel Mander. Their sons, Charles and Theodore respectively, became company directors in 1879.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Mander Company at Wightwick |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/birmingham-west-midlands/wightwick-manor-and-gardens/the-mander-company-at-wightwick |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=National Trust |language=en}}</ref> In the same year, Theodore married Flora, the daughter of [[Henry Nicholas Paint]], a merchant and member of the [[Parliament of Canada]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/55690|title=Mander, (Samuel) Theodore}}</ref>

After purchasing Wightwick, Theodore commissioned [[Edward Ould]] of [[Liverpool]] to design a new house. This was completed in 1887, and consisted of the western half of the present house and a single-storey west wing containing a [[billiard room]]. Notes taken by Theodore Mander at a lecture given in Wolverhampton in 1884 by [[Oscar Wilde]] on the 'House Beautiful' inspired Wightwick's interiors. Taking inspiration from this lecture, Theodore and his wife Flora decorated its interiors with the designs of William Morris and his Arts and Crafts contemporaries.  However, the Pre-Raphaelite collection was mostly assembled after the house was donated to the National Trust, particularly by Geoffrey Mander and his second wife, Rosalie, who was an art historian.

The house had no guest bedrooms and proved too small by 1893, when the billiard room was demolished and a new east wing built. This approximately doubled the size of the building, and, as well as five guest bedrooms, contained a living-room called the 'great parlour', a dining room, and a replacement billiard room.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="greeves" /> The elaborate pendant imitation Jacobean plaster ceiling in the dining room was designed by [[Leonard Shuffrey]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pevsner|first1=Nikolaus|title=The Buildings of England Staffordshire|date=2002|publisher=Yale Press|isbn=9780140710465|pages=311.}}</ref>

In 1937, [[Geoffrey Mander]], a radical Liberal MP and local paint manufacturer who had been left the timber-framed house by his father Theodore, persuaded the National Trust to accept a house that was just 50 years old, under the Country Houses Scheme Act. 

This house of the Aesthetic Movement was, by 1937, a relic of an out of fashion era. Yet, so complete was the design that it was worthy of preservation. Having given the house to the Trust, Geoffrey Mander and his second wife, Rosalie, became its live-in curators, opening the house to the public and adding to its contents. In particular, they added a notable collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Rossetti, Burne-Jones and their followers. Descendants of the family retain a private apartment in the manor.