25 Apr 2021
HUSSEY BY NAME: Museum founder John Bowes’ father fell deeply in love with the married Sarah Hussey
In the latest of her regular columns, Dorothy Blundell takes a sideways look behind the scenes at The Bowes Museum where she is a volunteer
REGARDLESS of whether you believe in things that go bump in the night, the stories of a family’s long dead ancestors can make for entertaining reading.
If nothing else, they breathe life into the dusty pages of history.
Like the story from 300 years before museum founder John Bowes was born, when Janet Douglas, wife of John Lyon, the 6th Lord Glamis, was burnt at the stake after being accused of witchcraft by King James V of Scotland. Although clear that the accusations were false, the king had Janet, along with her family and servants, tortured until she “confessed”.