The manager of this hotel, Robert Rutherford was married to Louise Mary Paulin.  They lived here to her death in 1892.  Her death notice in the newspapers say that she actually died in the hotel.  She died during or as a result of childbirth.  Her daughter Louise Mary Pauline Rutherford survived.

Lichfield Mercury, 5 April 1889 page 5

THE ROYAL HOTEL, SUTTON COLDFIELD

From the beauty of its natural scenery, the picturesque attractiveness of its park, the bracing character of its climate, and the dryness of its soil, Sutton Coldfield has become one of the most popular resorts in the Midland Counties. During the summer season thousands of visitors flock to it, not only from the great Midland Metropolis of Birmingham and the densely populated Black Country, but from other centres of industry, and invariably derive pleasure and satisfaction from a sojourn in the locality.  To meet the growing requirements of these visitors the Royal Borough has of late years made great advances in sanitation, and in the provision of the necessary buildings for their housing and recreation.  One of the greatest desideratums of a resort such as Sutton Coldfield has become is adequate and efficient hotel accommodation, and the Royal Borough is in many ways well served in that respect. By the liberality of a company formed some years ago a palatial establishment was erected on the knoll close to and overlooking the London and North Western Railway Station, and hard by the Park Station on the Midland Railway, and is know as the Sutton Royal Hotel. The building which is of red brick, with stone dressings, is build in the Italian style of architecture and forms one of the most conspicuous institutions in the borough. Some £25,000 were spent in the building and furnishing of the hotel, and in style, finish and completeness it vies with any establishment of the kind in the Midlands. The site is a peculiarly advantageous one, and from its eminence grand views may be obtained of the park and surrounding country. As a commercial speculation the hotel was never the success which was anticipated, but it has met a want long felt in the Royal Borough, and under the new and energetic regime upon which it has now entered, better fortunes are fully expected to attend it. The management has been entrusted to a gentleman eminently qualified for the post in Mr. Rutherford, who for nearly six years acted as manager of the Birmingham Conservative Club in Temple Row, and who previously gained experience which will doubtless be valuable to him now at the Buckingham Palace Hotel, London. The new proprietors have thrown themselves with business aptitude and energy into the undertaking and the premises which had been allowed to fall into ill-repair, are at the present time undergoing thorough renovation and extension at a cost of several thousand pounds. The magnificent suite of rooms comprised within the building are being entirely re-painted, re-furnished, and newly re-upholstered, and when the work now in hand is finished, the Sutton Royal Hotel for comfort, convenience, and efficiency will compare favourably with any similar establishment in the kingdom. The building stands four stories high, and is throughout fitted with the most modern and approved appliances.  The new furniture is being supplied by Messrs. Marris and Norton, Corporation Street, Birmingham, and the painting, papering and decorating is being carried out by Messrs. John R Lea and Co, of Colmore Row, Birmingham.  The furniture is most elegant and beautiful, the decoration very chaste and attractive and the rooms throughout light, airy and cheerful, in appearance, possessing every conmitant of convenience and comfort.  The rooms are arranged on each floor on either side of a passage extending the full length of the building, and are thus rendered easy of access for all purposes, servants being within immediate call from all parts of the house.  At the present time there are about 25 bedrooms, and the additional building in contemplation proposes to make provision for five others. Lavatories are constructed on each floor, and there is an excellent bath room in the centre of the building available for all who may wish to take advantage of such a convenience. One of the chief features of the establishment is the provision of bedrooms and sitting rooms combined, which open into each other, and are let off to parties, who may be desirous of securing for themselves private apartments.  In this way ladies and gentlemen are enabled to secure the privacy of a home with such advantages as only an hotel can afford in respect of waiters, and an efficiently equipped cuisine. These considerations are evidently much appreciated, more especially by bachelors engaged during the day in business in such large centres as Birmingham, and several gentlemen are thus permanently installed in private apartments at the Royal. On the ground floor at the hotel are to be found coffee room, drawing room, assembly room, reading room, and library open to all visitors, and private sitting rooms, which may be engaged by any parties staying in the house. These rooms are elegantly furnished, magnificently upholstered, and brilliantly decorated, and for ease and comfort are not to be excelled in many of the mansions of the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood.  On the first floor is a drawing room for ladies which is a particularly beautiful apartment furnished in Oriental style, and a fine-toned pianoforte is provided for the pleasure and recreation of visitors. The assembly room will accommodate some hundred guests, is grandly furnished, and fitted up with every requisite constituting it a most suitable place for holding banquets, meetings, masonic gatherings &c, and it is largely used for these purposes. The improvements in the course of being carried out contemplate an office in the centre of the building, the provision of a new coffee room, and the construction of a bar and smoke room, near the apartments reserved for the Manager and his wife, and in close proximity to the billiard room, which when completed will be one of the lightest and most elegant of its character in the kingdom. A bay-window is to be constructed on the side overlooking the grounds and park, and will present a grand view of the surrounding scenery.  The room is provided with two of the Boroughs and Watts tables, which have just been re-covered, the seats are artistically upholstered in Morocco, new gas fittings have been provided, and circular marble-topped refreshment tables are distributed around for the convenience of visitors. The hotel stands within its own grounds, which are being re-modelled and newly laid out, has an extensive and cleanly-kept lawn attached where visitors may indulge in lawn tennis, croquet, and other games and beyond an ample and well-stocked kitchen garden is cultivated, and adds completeness to the scene. In the basement at one end of the hotel is a very large, light and airy cooking kitchen with cool and refreshing larders attached, and the excellent servants’ hall and accommodation for domestics in the immediate vicinity; and at the opposite end are a series of capacious wine and beer cellars, where some of the choicest and most delicate wines and ales are stored, and kept in the pink of condition. The basement is connected with the upper portion of the hotel by a lift, which is readily worked, and affords facilities for rapidly despatching esculents over the house, and the establishment is thus rendered efficient and complete for the transaction of business for which it is intended.  The stable accommodation at the present time is very inadequate, but the plans of the new buildings provide for the erection of a number of horse boxes, which will doubtless be eagerly taken advantage of by visitors, more especially owners of horses at the time of the Four Oaks Parks Races.

[The Hotel closed before 1900, and became a sanitorium.  The name was taken by the Swan Hotel, which still operates as the Royal Hotel in Sutton.  The building was recently converted into condos/apartments and is called the Royal Sutton Place]