Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Cosmo Rowe and two Wolverhampton houses
For decades, portraits of great socialists by the same artist hung in very different houses, one working class and one a country estate — and both played a role in labour movement history, writes NICK MATTHEWS
Rowe’s lithograph of Keir Hardy (left) and (right) his painting of William Morris

IN 1887 the Mander family decided to move out to the country and purchased part of the Wightwick Manor estate, three miles from their paint factory in central Wolverhampton.  

The new house built between 1887 and 1889, designed by Edward Ould, of Port Sunlight fame, was built for Theodore Mander. Mander Brothers, the family firm, was a successful paint and varnish manufacturer with branches all over Europe and North America.  

Like all the family, Theodore was very active in local affairs and became mayor of Wolverhampton shortly before his death in 1900.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
walfrid
Book Review / 20 August 2026
20 August 2026

DAVID McKINSTRY welcomes the republication of a meticulous portrait of Brother Walfrid, the founder of Celtic FC

Land O’Cakes Hotel, Great Ancoats Street, Manchester in July 1962 / pic: Manchester Archives+/CC
Downing Street of the north / 16 July 2026
16 July 2026

KEITH FLETT looks at geographical roots of working-class activism in Britain

Meirian Jump with MML archivist Matt Dunne [Pic: Marx Memorial Library]
Spanish Civil War 90th Anniversary / 4 July 2026
4 July 2026

The Marx Memorial Library’s Spanish Collection remains a powerful tool for the working-class movement today, writes MML director MEIRIAN JUMP

Andrew Fisher and King O'Malley (bearded), minister for home affairs, at the naming of Canberra in 1913 / Pic: Public domain
History / 28 February 2026
28 February 2026

KENNY MacASKILL reminds us of the unprecedented political career of a Scottish miner’s militant son who stayed the course and true to his roots