Quaintly named, "The Stones" is an attractive
street in the centre of Castleton village in Derbyshire. Here in 1926, Randolph
Osborne Douglas, opened part of his home as The Douglas Museum, The House of
Wonders.
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| The House of Wonders at The Stones, Castleton |
On display was his vast collection of ephemera, including
many miniatures that he himself had made including a working engine that would
fit inside a thimble; The Lord's Prayer engraved on a thread and a greenhouse
complete with plants, small enough to stand on a thumbnail. He had collected
African weaponry, mineral samples, ships in bottles, locks and keys and many
other items. For a small fee, visitors were shown around by torchlight.
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| Randolph Douglas with a group of visitors |
Douglas had been born in 1895, the son of a Sheffield
silversmith. He worked himself, at Hadfield's steelworks, until joining the
army in 1916.
At the age of 8, he had seen Harry Houdini, the great
escapologist, perform at the Sheffield Empire and thereafter he aspired to
emulate the star. He became a self taught locksmith and his skills became known
to Houdini with whom he corresponded regularly. After a show at Nottingham,
Houdini travelled to Sheffield, invited to witness a new act that Douglas had
devised. His step-mother dressed him in a straight-jacket secured with chains
and padlocks and he was then suspended upside-down from a beam in the attic of
his home before proceeding to escape. This was soon to become one of Houdini's
most popular acts.
Douglas performed on stage himself on a few occasions as
The Great Randini but only at small local venues. His first appearance was at
the age of 16 at Catholic Young Men's Smoking Concert. A heart condition led to
an early discharge from the army and he was no longer strong enough to perform
on stage. He returned to the steelworks, married his wife Hetty and in 1926
moved to Castleton.
Randolph Douglas died in 1956 and the museum continued to
be run by Hetty until she passed away in 1978. The museum closed and became a
private house, the collection passing to Buxton Museum where it is on
occasional display together with the Houdini correspondence
.
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