Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
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.
More from this author
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, photographed c1893  / Pic: Author unknown/Public domain
Music / 22 July 2025
22 July 2025

NICK MATTHEWS welcomes the return of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s music to the repertoire of this years’ Three Choirs Festival

Mo Chara and Moglai Bap of Kneecap performing on the West Holts Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, June 28, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

From sexual innuendo about Blackpool Rock to Bob Dylan’s ‘God-almighty world,’ the corporation’s classist moral custodianship of pop music has created a roll call of censored artists anyone would feel honoured to join, writes NICK MATTHEWS

DISTINGUISHED: Portrait of Hans Hess c1962 (photographer unk
Features / 20 June 2025
20 June 2025

NICK MATTHEWS previews a landmark book launch taking place in Leicester next weekend

LEADING THE WAY: Wind power plants in Xinjiang, China. Photo: Chris Lim/Creative Commons
Features / 9 June 2025
9 June 2025

As new wind, solar and nuclear capacity have displaced coal generation, China has been able to drastically lower its CO2 emissions even as demand for power has increased — the world must take note and get ready to follow, writes NICK MATTHEWS

Similar stories
Eleanor Marx (sketch by Grace Black, 1881)
Features / 4 March 2025
4 March 2025
Author RACHEL HOLMES invites readers to come to her talk in London about the great foremother of the working-class women’s movement – Eleanor Marx
SOLIDARITY WITH THE REVOLUTION: The presidium of the 9th Con
Book Review / 2 March 2025
2 March 2025
DAVID NICHOLSON is fascinated by one of the early pioneers of the women’s movement and of the early days of the Labour Party
ROOTS: Eleanor Marx
Features / 16 January 2025
16 January 2025
The youngest daughter of Karl Marx and her unwavering humanity in the face of injustice remain relevant for our times, writes DANA MILLS
Wortley Hall
Features / 30 August 2024
30 August 2024
BRIAN CLARKE recently explained Wortley Hall's fascinating history at the South Yorkshire Festival, and here relates it for Morning Star readers