How many men can paint, compose music, write poetry, sing and deliver a top-notch haircut to boot? The answer is at least one. Peter Seddon turns detective to pursue the life of a remarkable but enigmatic man.

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One of the charms of local history is that, once in a while, a routine investigation leads down a virgin track into that fascinating territory known as original research.

A particularly intriguing possibility is to stumble across someone quite unknown – even ordinary on the face of it – who turns out to be particularly extraordinary in a surprising way.

At that juncture, further investigation is hard to resist, for you instinctively sense that a retrospective tribute might not only be productive but would also be inherently right.

Some forgotten lives almost demand to be recorded for posterity. One such life is that of the former Derby barber Aubrey Stanhope .

He is one of those local celebrities who appears to have been quite well-known in his time but whose star has dimmed to little more than a pinprick as the years have passed.

This is what was written about him in a Derby Evening Telegraph feature in May 1946: “ Aubrey Stanhope is a man of diverse talents. His hairdressing salon in Stenson Road, near the Cavendish, Derby, is testimony to this, for there he is surrounded by examples of his work in three different artistic spheres – music, poetry and painting.

“Large oil paintings hang in the shop, prominent among them a portrait of Mr Norman Hibbert, for many years the organist and choirmaster of St Werburgh’s Church, Derby.

“In the shop window is a painting called The Old Showman which depicts Mr Stephen Cox – it was he who, with his monkey perched on his shoulder, was a familiar figure in the Morledge in Derby many years ago.

“Mr Stanhope does most of his painting in the morning before opening up his barber shop. He has never had a single lesson but the distinguished Derby artist Ernest Townsend once suggested that he should take up painting as a career.

“As a poet, he is quite prolific. Almost 8,000 copies of his recently published Floral Lyrics (1944) have already been sold and he has just completed two verse books for children.

“One of the proudest possessions in his hairdressing shop is a letter of deep appreciation he received from Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt when he sent her a copy of his poem, written in memory of her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt, the former president of the United States.

“Nor must we forget his love of music. He is a former member of Derby Cathedral Choir and a number of his songs, both of a religious and lighter nature, have been published.”

But there the piece ended, a momentary snapshot of an incomplete life. A few further crumbs were fed by another article in the Derby Evening Telegraph some 16 years later, on August 31, 1962.

It tells us that Stanhope was, by then, living at 316 Duffield Road, Darley Abbey, and had retired from hairdressing two years earlier.

Yet more snippets, only recently aired, suggest that, before hanging up his scissors for good, Stanhope had opened a shop in Derby town centre.

A correspondent on a Derbyshire history website posted the following comment: “I remember Aubrey Stanhope in the 1950s. At that time, he ran a hairdressers in the Corn Market, above a shop on the right hand side as you looked up to the Market Place.

“All the Teddy Boys went there for their D/A cuts. I think he had an assistant called Fred Slater and, when Aubrey retired, Fred opened a barber’s shop at Allenton.

“I got the impression Aubrey was Jewish and probably single.”

And so another piece in a past life’s jigsaw is pressed into place.

We do know, too, that Aubrey did not forsake his artistic talents in retirement, for the 1962 article also revealed that, although severely hampered by arthritis, he had just completed a fine portrait of Sir Winston Churchill and another of the Scottish television and radio broadcaster and journalist Fyfe Robertson.

Auction records suggest that Stanhope’s paintings came to the market occasionally, but never at the behest of the artist himself.

He had also received a letter from Fyfe Robertson stating that he admired his portrait so much that he would like to purchase it.

But Stanhope ’s acid response was a revealing one: “He will not have it under any circumstances. I keep all my pictures. I would not let a single one go.”

Evidently, our enigmatic barber had a stubborn streak, a trifle “precious” perhaps, even overly possessive.

Nevertheless, his portrait of Sir Winston Churchill did eventually come to the market after his death.

In 1999, the 19x16in signed oil on canvas was sold at auction by Sotheby’s New York for an undisclosed sum.

Although Stanhope does not feature in John Fineran’s splendid Who’s Who of Artists in Derbyshire, some of his published poetry and music is listed in the British Library Catalogue, namely his Floral Lyrics and An Ocean Reverie and Other Poems (Derby, 1924).

At the time the latter was published, Stanhope gave his address as 5 Derwent Street, Derby, and the book carries a touching dedication “to the memory of my dear little sister Betsy Anne, who died March 6, 1906, at the age of seven”.

The British Library also lists several musical works by Aubrey Stanhope – the suitably mysterious Twilight Shadows (1922), the oddly-titled Saviour Whose Precious Blood For All (Foden and Son, Derby, 1924) and Vesper (1948).

Census records reveal a little more of Stanhope ’s background and early life. He was born George Aubrey Stanhope at 2 Camp Street, Derby, in the September quarter of 1897.

His father, Ernest, born in Belper, was a carpenter. His mother’s name was Ella.

It is not known when he died but he was certainly alive in 1962 and, further to that, he is listed in the telephone directories, still at 316 Duffield Road, until 1976.

He would by then have been aged 79. Perhaps he passed away soon after?

So there is Aubrey Stanhope, whose only known likeness is featured here.

That he was an unusual personality of diverse talents is evident, so perhaps it is fitting that his story carries a curious postscript, arguably even a spooky one.

By remarkable coincidence, on the very day I completed this piece, a signed 1920 portrait by Aubrey Stanhope was sold on an internet auction site, the first ever Stanhope listed on that medium.

The subject was a wizened old man of about 70 or so, seemingly lost in a reverie of memories.

It is certainly not the St Werburgh’s organist Norman Hibbert, as he was born in 1889 and would have been only 31 when the portrait was painted.

So, how tempting it is to conclude that this is the very picture that once hung in the barber shop window on Stenson Road – that of the “old showman” Stephen Cox.

He certainly has the right air about him. But, of course, we shall never know... unless the past has yet more secrets to yield!

Do you remember Aubrey Stanhope or any of his barber shops? Perhaps you even have a family connection? Whatever you have to add to this intriguing unfinished life story, we would love to hear from you.

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