Blue plaque unveiled at Leamington house where historically important couple lived

A blue plaque has been unveiled at the former home of an historically important couple who lived in Leamington during the Second World War.

Christopher Ironside was an important camoufleur and the designer of the decimal coin. His wife, Janey was professor of fashion at the Royal College of Art (RCA).

They lived, for a time, at 11 Lansdowne Circus.

The plaque was unveiled by Leamington Mayor Cllr Nick Wilkins and the couple’s daughter Virginia, who lived at the property until she was two years old before the family moved to London.

The property is now owned by Sheila Grainger-Clemson.

When the Ironside’s lived in Leamington the town was full of artists who had applied to the Ministry of Home Office Security to become camouflage officers.

The Camouflage Unit operated from the former ice rink in the town which had been converted into a giant studio.

The unit’s job was to disguise the roofs of Leamington factories from The Luftwaffe by using netting, paint and false scenery to make the buildings look live rivers and farmland from the air.

Even daylight, nighttime and weather conditions were reproduced to disguise the buildings at different times of the day.

At the time, Janey worked at the Lockheed factory and, later, the records section of the Camouflage Office.

When the war was over she set up her own dressmaking buisness at the family’s new home in Chelsea.

Christopher was employed by the Camouflage Unit’s former artistic administrator and RCA’s new rector Robin Darwin to work at the college.

Always a talented designer, in 1960 Christopher won a competition to design the reverses on the first decimal coinage in the UK – this came into circulation in 1968.

Robin installed Janey as the first Professor of Fashion at the RCA in 1956.

Virginia said: “My mother was indeed a new broom.

"She threw out the old rules that decreed that students should wear white gloves and carry furled umbrellas at all times and nurtured such talent as Ossie Clark, Zandra Rhodes, Bill Gibb, Anthony Price, Foale and Tuffin and a host of designers who went on to become young stars of the 1960s fashion revolution.

"She also introduced a menswear department which raised a lot of eyebrows at the time.

"The yearly fashion shows at the RCA, with loud pop music and dancing models with Vidal hairdos and wearing revolutionary designs became front page news.”

Christopher and Janey divorced in 1961 and Janey resigned from the RCA in 1968.

Virginia said: “I like to think their artistic legacy nurtured in Leamington still lingers today.”

A blue plaque is also placed on the house next door to number 11 in honour of renowned American novelist and short story writer Nathaniel Hawthorne who lived in Leamington in the 1850s.