Robert Knight, 1st Earl of Catherlough
Encyclopedia
Robert Knight, 1st Earl of Catherlough, KB, (1702–1772), was a Member of Parliament
for Great Grimsby
(1734–41, 1762–68), Castle Rising
, Norfolk (1747–54) and Milborne Port
, Somerset (1770–72). He
became successively Baron Luxborough (1745), Viscount Barrells and Earl of Catherlough
(both 1763), all titles within the peerage of Ireland
. His wife, Henrietta Lady Luxborough, later became well-known as a lady of letters, poetess and pioneering landscape gardener.
, Essex, on the manor of Luxborough which he had purchased. His estates were seized by the South Sea Company, which sold Luxborough to Sir Joseph Eyles
(d.1740), Alderman & Sheriff of the City of London & MP for Devizes (1724–5) & Southwark (1727–30). His only other child was a daughter, Margaretta (d. 1 May 1739) who married 28 February 1731 Hon. Morgan Vane, son of 2nd Baron Barnard
of Barnard Castle
, Durham. His funerary monument, a free-standing urn on a pedestal, can be seen in St Peter's Church, Wootton Wawen
, Warwickshire.
, where he matriculated on 22 June 1719. He entered the Inner Temple
in 1719.
in February 1721. On 10 June 1727, following his return to England, he married Henrietta St John (15 July 1699 - 26 March 1756), daughter of Henry St John, 1st Viscount St John
, of Lydiard Park, Swindon, by his second wife Angelica Pelissary, daughter of Georges Pelissary, treasurer of the navy to King Louis XIV. Henrietta was thus half-sister of the highly influential Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
, the son of her father's first marriage.
In 1730 he purchased Barrells Hall
, Ullenhall, Warwickshire, the ancestral home of the Knight family, from his second cousin Raleigh Knight. He entered parliament in 1734 as 2nd M.P. for the borough of Great Grimsby
, and was at first identified with the Bolingbroke interest. John Page, MP for Grimsby in 1727, wrote in 1762 concerning Knight that his interest in Grimsby:
On the break-up of his marriage before 1736 and following Bolingbroke's return to France, he became less partisan, but held his seat until 1741. In 1740, on the death of Sir Joseph Eyles, Robert Knight snr. had repurchased Luxborough House, to which his son succeeded in 1744. On 8 August 1745 he was created Baron Luxborough, of Shannon, in the peerage of Ireland. In 1747 he won the seat, as 1st member, of Castle Rising
, Norfolk, which he retained until 1754. In 1749, he sold the estate at Luxborough to a London merchant named James Crokatt, who was in the Carolina trade. He became Agent for the Province. He was instrumental in obtaining the Royal Charter for the incorporation of the Charleston Library Society in 1755. whose heirs sold it to Sir Edward Walpole
, K.B. (d.1784), younger son of the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole
. In March 1761 he obtained the position of Recorder
of Grimsby. In the general election of 1761 Luxborough procured the return of his son Henry as MP for Great Grimsby
, as 1st member. On the sudden death of his son in August 1762, Luxborough decided to stand himself in the resultant by-election, and was returned unopposed, holding the seat until 1768. He explained his decision to stand thus: "As money can be no consideration in my unhappy situation and as possibly hereafter it may be an amusement to be in Parliament". He gave support to the Earl of Bute
, Prime Minister between 1762-63. On 14 May 1763 he was further raised in the Irish peerage by Bute's successor George Grenville
, Prime Minister between 1763–65, becoming Viscount Barrells of Co. Catherlough and Earl of Catherlough.
In 1770 he stood successfully as 2nd member in the by-election for Milborne Port
, Somerset, which seat he held until his death on 30 March 1772, aged 69. He was created Knight of the Bath (KB) 18 May 1770.
with her doctor, whilst other sources add a further lover in the form of a young cleric named John Dalton (1709–1763). Dalton had been employed as tutor to the children of Henrietta's close friend Frances Thynne (1699–1754), known until 1748 as Lady Hertford, wife of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset
. Dalton went on to become prebendary
of Worcester Cathedral
and rector
of St Mary-at-Hill
Church, London, as his large funerary slab in the crypt of the cathedral reveals. He was also noted for his poetic works. As Henrietta, Lady Luxborough, she was one of the first to establish a ferme ornée
and is credited with the invention of the word “shrubbery
”. She was a prominent member of "The Warwickshire Coterie", a group of poet friends including the poet William Shenstone
, who had developed his own ferme ornée at The Leasowes
in Halesowen
, Shropshire.
, Hampshire, which later adopted Edward Austen, the brother of Jane Austen
, who became heir of the family assuming the surname Knight. The Registers of St Peter le Poer
church records the marriage in April 1738, by the Bishop of Norwich, of Sir John Le Quesne, Alderman of London, with Miss Mary Knight, of Hampshire, a lady with a dowry of twenty thousand pounds. Le Quesne was a huguenot
, and served from 1736 as director of the French Hospital, founded at Rochester in 1718. He was a sheriff
of the City of London
in 1739 and died in 1741. A Silver tea kettle was made for the 1738 marriage of Sir John Le Quesne to Mary Knight by the Huguenot silversmith Paul de Lamerie
(d. 1751), now in the collection of the Courtauld Institute, London. It displays the acorn arms of Le Quesne, which name derives from the French Chene, oak. William Randolph Hearst
expressed his attraction to this object. Luxborough however became involved in an affair with Jane Davies, the daughter of his tenant at Moat Farm, Ullenhall, which resulted in several illegitimate children. He was unable to marry her because his wife, Lady Le Quesne, refused to release him. Mary died in 1795 and was buried in Hampton, Middlesex.
is situated in Ullenhall
, Warwickshire.
The earliest mention of Barrells was a reference to a Richard Barel in 1405. In 1554 the estate was purchased by Robert Knight of Beoley
, 4 miles west of Ullenhall, and remained in the Knight family until 1856. An inventory taken in 1652 shows that it was then an ordinary farmhouse, and a member of the Knight family appeared in the 1682 Heralds' Visitation of Warwick. The future 1st Earl purchased Barrells from a cousin in 1730. When Henrietta St John was banished to Barrells in 1736 it was still a relatively simple house, in very poor condition. When his son married in 1750 he commissioned the Italian architect Joseph Bonomi the Elder
to build an imposing extension, which thereafter became the main house. On Henrietta’s death in 1756 her husband rebuilt large parts of it.
}}
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Great Grimsby
Great Grimsby (UK Parliament constituency)
Great Grimsby is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, consisting of the town of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
(1734–41, 1762–68), Castle Rising
Castle Rising (UK Parliament constituency)
Castle Rising was a parliamentary borough in Norfolk, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1558 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act...
, Norfolk (1747–54) and Milborne Port
Milborne Port (UK Parliament constituency)
Milborne Port is a former parliamentary borough located in Somerset. It elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons between 1298 and 1307 and again from 1628, but was disenfranchised in the Reform Act 1832 as a rotten borough.- MPs 1640–1832 :...
, Somerset (1770–72). He
became successively Baron Luxborough (1745), Viscount Barrells and Earl of Catherlough
Earl of Catherlough
Earl of Catherlough was a title in the Peerage of Ireland.It was created in 1763 for Robert Knight, 1st Baron Luxborough, Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby, Castle Rising and Milborne Port....
(both 1763), all titles within the peerage of Ireland
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those titles of nobility created by the English and later British monarchs of Ireland in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. The creation of such titles came to an end in the 19th century. The ranks of the Irish peerage are Duke, Marquess, Earl,...
. His wife, Henrietta Lady Luxborough, later became well-known as a lady of letters, poetess and pioneering landscape gardener.
Background
The 1st Earl was born 17 December 1702, the only son by his 1st wife, Martha Powell (1681–1718), of Robert Knight (1675–11/1744) who became notorious as the cashier of the South Sea Company partly responsible for the “South Sea Bubble”, who absconded to France with a fortune and set up as a banker in Paris. He built Luxborough House in ChigwellChigwell
Chigwell is a civil parish and town in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located 11.6 miles north east of Charing Cross. It is served by two London Underground stations and has a London area code.-Etymology:According to P. H...
, Essex, on the manor of Luxborough which he had purchased. His estates were seized by the South Sea Company, which sold Luxborough to Sir Joseph Eyles
Eyles-Stiles Baronets
The Eyles, later Eyles-Stiles Baronetcy, of London, was a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. It was created on 1 December 1714 for the merchant and director of the Honourable East India Company, Francis Eyles. The second baronet was Lord Mayor of London from 1726 to 1727. He married Mary,...
(d.1740), Alderman & Sheriff of the City of London & MP for Devizes (1724–5) & Southwark (1727–30). His only other child was a daughter, Margaretta (d. 1 May 1739) who married 28 February 1731 Hon. Morgan Vane, son of 2nd Baron Barnard
Baron Barnard
Baron Barnard, of Barnard Castle in the Bishopric of Durham, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1698 for Sir Christopher Vane, who had previously served as a Member of Parliament for County Durham and Boroughbridge. Vane was the son of Sir Henry Vane the Younger and grandson of...
of Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle is an historical town in Teesdale, County Durham, England. It is named after the castle around which it grew up. It sits on the north side of the River Tees, opposite Startforth, south southwest of Newcastle upon Tyne, south southwest of Sunderland, west of Middlesbrough and ...
, Durham. His funerary monument, a free-standing urn on a pedestal, can be seen in St Peter's Church, Wootton Wawen
Wootton Wawen
Wootton Wawen is a small village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The village is located on the A3400, from Birmingham, miles south of Henley-in-Arden and miles north of Stratford-upon-Avon. The soil is a strong clay and some arable crops are grown,...
, Warwickshire.
Education
He was educated at Wadham College, OxfordWadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
, where he matriculated on 22 June 1719. He entered the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in 1719.
Career
He was with his father on his flight to BrabantDuchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
in February 1721. On 10 June 1727, following his return to England, he married Henrietta St John (15 July 1699 - 26 March 1756), daughter of Henry St John, 1st Viscount St John
Viscount Bolingbroke
Viscount Bolingbroke / Viscount St John is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain and is currently held by Nicholas Alexander Mowbray St John, the 9th Viscount Bolingbroke and 10th Viscount St John who lives in Sydney Australia....
, of Lydiard Park, Swindon, by his second wife Angelica Pelissary, daughter of Georges Pelissary, treasurer of the navy to King Louis XIV. Henrietta was thus half-sister of the highly influential Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his atheism. In 1715 he supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the...
, the son of her father's first marriage.
In 1730 he purchased Barrells Hall
Barrells Hall
Barrells Hall is a small stately home in the Warwickshire countyside near Henley-in-Arden. The nearest village is Ullenhall, which for many years was the estate village, large parts of it having been built by the owners of Barrells Hall, the Newtons of Glencripesdale Estate...
, Ullenhall, Warwickshire, the ancestral home of the Knight family, from his second cousin Raleigh Knight. He entered parliament in 1734 as 2nd M.P. for the borough of Great Grimsby
Great Grimsby (UK Parliament constituency)
Great Grimsby is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, consisting of the town of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
, and was at first identified with the Bolingbroke interest. John Page, MP for Grimsby in 1727, wrote in 1762 concerning Knight that his interest in Grimsby:
"… was stronger there than any man's because they have had more of his money than anybody's and he has always been punctual to all his engagements with them and they with him".
On the break-up of his marriage before 1736 and following Bolingbroke's return to France, he became less partisan, but held his seat until 1741. In 1740, on the death of Sir Joseph Eyles, Robert Knight snr. had repurchased Luxborough House, to which his son succeeded in 1744. On 8 August 1745 he was created Baron Luxborough, of Shannon, in the peerage of Ireland. In 1747 he won the seat, as 1st member, of Castle Rising
Castle Rising (UK Parliament constituency)
Castle Rising was a parliamentary borough in Norfolk, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1558 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act...
, Norfolk, which he retained until 1754. In 1749, he sold the estate at Luxborough to a London merchant named James Crokatt, who was in the Carolina trade. He became Agent for the Province. He was instrumental in obtaining the Royal Charter for the incorporation of the Charleston Library Society in 1755. whose heirs sold it to Sir Edward Walpole
Edward Walpole
Sir Edward Walpole KB PC was a British politician, and a younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister from 1721 to 1742....
, K.B. (d.1784), younger son of the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
. In March 1761 he obtained the position of Recorder
Recorder (judge)
A Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales. It now refers to two quite different appointments. The ancient Recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of Honorary Recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges...
of Grimsby. In the general election of 1761 Luxborough procured the return of his son Henry as MP for Great Grimsby
Great Grimsby (UK Parliament constituency)
Great Grimsby is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, consisting of the town of Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
, as 1st member. On the sudden death of his son in August 1762, Luxborough decided to stand himself in the resultant by-election, and was returned unopposed, holding the seat until 1768. He explained his decision to stand thus: "As money can be no consideration in my unhappy situation and as possibly hereafter it may be an amusement to be in Parliament". He gave support to the Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute KG, PC , styled Lord Mount Stuart before 1723, was a Scottish nobleman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain under George III, and was arguably the last important favourite in British politics...
, Prime Minister between 1762-63. On 14 May 1763 he was further raised in the Irish peerage by Bute's successor George Grenville
George Grenville
George Grenville was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an MP for Buckingham...
, Prime Minister between 1763–65, becoming Viscount Barrells of Co. Catherlough and Earl of Catherlough.
In 1770 he stood successfully as 2nd member in the by-election for Milborne Port
Milborne Port (UK Parliament constituency)
Milborne Port is a former parliamentary borough located in Somerset. It elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons between 1298 and 1307 and again from 1628, but was disenfranchised in the Reform Act 1832 as a rotten borough.- MPs 1640–1832 :...
, Somerset, which seat he held until his death on 30 March 1772, aged 69. He was created Knight of the Bath (KB) 18 May 1770.
First Marriage
He banished his wife Henrietta St John to Barrells Hall in 1736 as punishment for a romantic indiscretion. Horace Walpole's correspondence suggests she was caught by her husband in flagrante delictoIn flagrante delicto
In flagrante delicto or sometimes simply in flagrante is a legal term used to indicate that a criminal has been caught in the act of committing an offence...
with her doctor, whilst other sources add a further lover in the form of a young cleric named John Dalton (1709–1763). Dalton had been employed as tutor to the children of Henrietta's close friend Frances Thynne (1699–1754), known until 1748 as Lady Hertford, wife of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset
Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset
General Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset was the son of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset and his wife, Elizabeth...
. Dalton went on to become prebendary
Prebendary
A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon. Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral...
of Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, England; situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester...
and rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of St Mary-at-Hill
St Mary-at-Hill
St. Mary-at-Hill is a Church of England church on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap in the ward of Billingsgate, London, England. Rebuilt many times, St Mary-at-Hill was originally founded in the 12th Century, where it was first known as "St. Mary de Hull" or " St...
Church, London, as his large funerary slab in the crypt of the cathedral reveals. He was also noted for his poetic works. As Henrietta, Lady Luxborough, she was one of the first to establish a ferme ornée
Ferme ornée
The term ferme ornée as used in English garden history derives from Stephen Switzer's term for 'ornamented farm'. It describes a country estate laid out partly according to aesthetic principles and partly for farming. During the eighteenth century the original ferme ornée was Woburn Farm, made by...
and is credited with the invention of the word “shrubbery
Shrubbery
A shrubbery is a wide border to a garden where shrubs are thickly planted; or a similar larger area with a path winding through it. A shrubbery was a feature of 19th-century gardens in the English manner, with its origins in the gardenesque style of the early part of the century...
”. She was a prominent member of "The Warwickshire Coterie", a group of poet friends including the poet William Shenstone
William Shenstone
William Shenstone was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes.-Life:...
, who had developed his own ferme ornée at The Leasowes
The Leasowes
The Leasowes is a 57 hectare estate in Halesowen, historically in the county of Shropshire, England, comprising house and gardens....
in Halesowen
Halesowen
Halesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
, Shropshire.
Second Marriage
After his wife Henrietta’s death on 26 March 1756, Luxborough began to live at Barrells and married secondly on 18 June 1756 Lady le Quesne. She was the widow of Sir John le Quesne (d.1741), Alderman of London, née Mary Knight, from Hampshire, who provided a dowry of £20,000 to her first husband. She was probably a member of the prominent Knight family, seemingly of no relation, of Chawton HouseChawton House
Chawton House is a grade ll* listed Elizabethan manor house in the village of Chawton in Hampshire. It was formerly the home of Jane Austen's brother, Edward Austen Knight, and is now a library and study centre....
, Hampshire, which later adopted Edward Austen, the brother of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
, who became heir of the family assuming the surname Knight. The Registers of St Peter le Poer
St Peter Le Poer
St Peter le Poer was a church on the west side of Broad Street in the City of London. The church, often spelt "St Peter le Poor" was in existence by the end of the twelfth century...
church records the marriage in April 1738, by the Bishop of Norwich, of Sir John Le Quesne, Alderman of London, with Miss Mary Knight, of Hampshire, a lady with a dowry of twenty thousand pounds. Le Quesne was a huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
, and served from 1736 as director of the French Hospital, founded at Rochester in 1718. He was a sheriff
Sheriffs of the City of London
There are two Sheriffs of the City of London. The sheriffs are elected annually by the Liverymen of the Livery Companies, and it is a requirement for a Lord Mayor of the City of London to previously have served as a Sheriff. Sheriffs have only nominal duties now, but previously had large judicial...
of the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
in 1739 and died in 1741. A Silver tea kettle was made for the 1738 marriage of Sir John Le Quesne to Mary Knight by the Huguenot silversmith Paul de Lamerie
Paul de Lamerie
Paul de Lamerie was an English silversmith. The Victoria and Albert Museum describes him as the "greatest silversmith working in England in the 18th century". Though his mark raises the market value of silver, his output was large and not all his pieces are outstanding...
(d. 1751), now in the collection of the Courtauld Institute, London. It displays the acorn arms of Le Quesne, which name derives from the French Chene, oak. William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
expressed his attraction to this object. Luxborough however became involved in an affair with Jane Davies, the daughter of his tenant at Moat Farm, Ullenhall, which resulted in several illegitimate children. He was unable to marry her because his wife, Lady Le Quesne, refused to release him. Mary died in 1795 and was buried in Hampton, Middlesex.
Death and burial
The Earl died on 30 March 1772, aged 69, and was buried at Ullenhall. His will dated 11 February 1772 was proved on 10 April 1772. All his peerages became extinct on his death on 30 March 1772, his son Hon. Henry Knight (1728–62), having predeceased him.Legitimate Progeny
- Hon. Henry Knight (25 December 1728–15 August 1762). Henry served as MP for Grimsby 1761 to his death on 15 August 1762, aged 34. He had married on 21 June 1750 Frances Heath (d. 2/1782), da. of Thomas Heath of Stansted MountfitchetStansted MountfitchetStansted Mountfitchet is a village and civil parish in the county of Essex, England, near the Hertfordshire border, north of London. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 5,533. The village is served by Stansted Mountfitchet railway station....
, Essex, MP for HarwichHarwich (UK Parliament constituency)Harwich was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Until its abolition for the 2010 general election it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
in 1714/15, son of William Heath, a captain in the East India CompanyEast India CompanyThe East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, which marriage was without issue. There is no record of his having spoken in the House. He was buried at Ullenhall. - Henrietta Knight (1729–1763). His only daughter Henrietta, who also predeceased him, married firstly Charles Wymondsold, son of Matthew Wymondsold of East LockingeEast LockingeEast Lockinge is a village in Lockinge civil parish, about east of Wantage. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local authority boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire.-Manor:...
and PutneyPutneyPutney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, a speculator in the South Sea Company. Having run away from him, and been divorced in 1753, Henrietta married secondly the Hon. Josiah Child (d. 1760), an officer in the Royal Navy, the younger son of Richard Child, 1st Earl TylneyRichard Child, 1st Earl TylneyRichard Child, 1st Earl Tylney , was an English Member of Parliament. He held no Office of State, nor any commercial directorship of significance, but is remembered chiefly as the builder of the now long-demolished Palladian "princely mansion" Wanstead House, one of the first in the style...
, of Wanstead HouseWanstead ParkWanstead Park is the name of a grade II listed municipal park covering an area of about 140 acres , located in Wanstead, in the London Borough of Redbridge, historically within the county of Essex...
, Essex, son of the very wealthy Sir Josiah ChildJosiah ChildSir Josiah Child of Wanstead, 1st Baronet , English merchant, economist proponent of mercantilism and governor of the East India Company, was born in London, the second son of Richard Child, a London merchant of old family.-Family:...
, governor of the East India CompanyEast India CompanyThe East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. She may have married thirdly Louis-Alexandre de Grimoard de Beauvoir, Comte de Roure.
Illegitimate Progeny
- Robert Knight (1768–1855). The Earl had arranged by Act of Parliament for his illegitimate son Robert by Jane Davies to take the surname of Knight and to inherit his property. On the death of Robert Knight in 1855, the Reverend Henry Charles Knight (b. 1813), who claimed to be his son by Hon. Frances Dormer, daughter of Charles, 5th Baron DormerBaron DormerBaron Dormer, of Wyng or Wenge in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created on 30 June 1615 for Sir Robert Dormer, 1st Baronet. He had only twenty days earlier, on 10 June 1615, been created a Baronet, of Wenge in the County of Buckingham, in the Baronetage of...
, but who had been disowned by Robert, attempted to obtain the Barrells estate as his inheritance, against Charles Raleigh Knight, Mr Knight's nephew. The resulting legal dispute was settled by the sale and splitting up of Barrells in 1856. Henry bought parts of the estate whilst the remainder was sold to Mr William Newton, a Birmingham merchant. Most of the heirlooms however descended in the family of Mr Knight's daughter, Georgiana, wife of Edward Bolton KingEdward Bolton KingEdward Bolton King was a British Whig politician from Umberslade in Warwickshire.He was the son of Edward King, Vice Chancellor of the County of Lancaster, and nephew of Capt James King and of Rt. Revd. Walker King, Bishop of Rochester...
, of Umberslade, Warwickshire.
Barrells Hall
Barrells HallBarrells Hall
Barrells Hall is a small stately home in the Warwickshire countyside near Henley-in-Arden. The nearest village is Ullenhall, which for many years was the estate village, large parts of it having been built by the owners of Barrells Hall, the Newtons of Glencripesdale Estate...
is situated in Ullenhall
Ullenhall
Ullenhall is a village and civil parish in the Stratford district of Warwickshire, England, situated about West of Henley in Arden and West of the county town of Warwick...
, Warwickshire.
The earliest mention of Barrells was a reference to a Richard Barel in 1405. In 1554 the estate was purchased by Robert Knight of Beoley
Beoley
Beoley is a village and civil parish just north of Redditch in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, and adjoins Warwickshire to the east. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 945, most of whom live at Holt End...
, 4 miles west of Ullenhall, and remained in the Knight family until 1856. An inventory taken in 1652 shows that it was then an ordinary farmhouse, and a member of the Knight family appeared in the 1682 Heralds' Visitation of Warwick. The future 1st Earl purchased Barrells from a cousin in 1730. When Henrietta St John was banished to Barrells in 1736 it was still a relatively simple house, in very poor condition. When his son married in 1750 he commissioned the Italian architect Joseph Bonomi the Elder
Joseph Bonomi the Elder
Joseph Bonomi the Elder was an Italian architect and draughtsman notable for his activity in England.Born in Rome, he made his early reputation there, then moved to London in 1767....
to build an imposing extension, which thereafter became the main house. On Henrietta’s death in 1756 her husband rebuilt large parts of it.
Luxborough House
Luxborough House stood about 1 mile from Chigwell church on the road south-west to Woodford. Following the death of Sir Edward Hughes, KB, in 1794, it was demolished some time after 1796 by his widow.Sources
}}}}