George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont
George Wyndham | |
---|---|
3rd Earl of Egremont | |
Born | Petworth House, Sussex, England | 18 December 1751
Died | 11 November 1837 Petworth House, West Sussex | (aged 85)
Spouse(s) |
Elizabeth Ilive (m. 1801) |
Issue | 40+ illegitimate children, including: George Wyndham, 1st Baron Leconfield General Sir Henry Wyndham |
Father | Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont |
Mother | Hon. Alicia Maria Carpenter |
Occupation | agriculturist |
George O'Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont
He was a great patron of art and the painter
Though Wyndham had more than 40 children, the only legitimate one died in infancy. Lord Egremont was succeeded in the earldom by his nephew
Early life
Wyndham was born on 18 December 1751 the eldest son and heir of Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710-1763) of Orchard Wyndham and Petworth House, by his wife Hon. Alicia Maria Carpenter, daughter of George Carpenter, 2nd Baron Carpenter of Killaghy, by his wife Elizabeth Petty.[1]
In 1763 at the age of 12, he succeeded to his father's titles and estates at Petworth in Sussex, Egremont in Cumbria, Leconfield with further land in Wiltshire and also the large estates at Orchard Wyndham in Somerset, the family's oldest possession. He later inherited the lands of the Earl of Thomond in Ireland.
He was educated at Wandsworth and
Patron of the arts
Wyndham was a patron of painters such as
Canal builder
The earl was an enthusiast for canal building, which would allow for agricultural improvement on his Petworth estates by bringing in chalk from
In 1796, the earl purchased 36 per cent of the shares in the Arun Navigation Company, saving it from bankruptcy when it was burdened with the £16,000 cost of building the
A number of vessels were named Egremont, including a barge on the
Promoter of emigration
War with France and population growth made famine an ever-present danger in the early nineteenth century and there was an urgent need to maximise food production using any land that could be cultivated. In the 1820s, emigration, mostly to Canada, was promoted as a means of relieving rural unemployment and poverty. Thomas Sockett, Rector of Petworth and Wyndham's protégé, promoted the Petworth Emigration Scheme, which sent 1,800 people from Sussex and neighbouring counties to Upper Canada between 1832 and 1837. The earl encouraged those living on his land to join the scheme by offering to pay the £10 per head cost of passage.[12][13]
Agriculture
The Reverend Arthur Young stayed at Petworth House while conducting his surveys of English agriculture. The earl established a pedigree herd of Sussex cattle from the local breed which was commended by Young who wrote that they "must be unquestionably ranked among the best of the kingdom".[14] A herd descended from these animals is maintained at Stag Park at the present day. Devon and Hereford cattle were also kept, together with crossbreds. Different breeds of sheep were tried and exotic Tibetan Shaul goats, which produced fine wool for hatters.[15]
Stag Park model farm was created in the northern part of Petworth Park on land cleared of scrub and gorse, consisting of between 700 and 800 acres divided into fields and drained.[16] Land previously used for producing wood fuel could then be released for food production as wood had been replaced by coal delivered by the new canal system. Crop rotations including turnips, tares, wheat, barley, oats and grass were introduced. Potatoes were grown at Petworth and rhubarb as medicine. More unusually Young describes opium production at Petworth, with juices from the incised poppy heads being scraped into earthenware bowls and dried in the sun. The 1797 crop was the largest grown in England and was said to be purer than imported opium.[17]
The 24,000-acre estates in Yorkshire at Wressle and Leconfield in the East Riding, Catton and Seamer in the North Riding, and Spofforth and Tadcaster in the West Riding were also greatly improved with £26,000 spent on drainage and fencing alone between 1797 and 1812.[18]
As well as breeding horses and introducing improved machinery, the earl was keen to continue using draught-oxen when they were going out of favour elsewhere. Young records that by experiment traditional wooden yokes were found to be superior to horse-style collars.
John Ellman, writing in The History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex by Thomas Walker Horsfield (1835), writes of Wyndham:
Horses—This county must not boast of their breed. The Earl of Egremont, with a spirit of liberality which pervades all his actions, gives to farmers, in the neighbourhood of Petworth, the opportunity of breeding from his valuable stud; his lordship also affords the eastern part of the county the same opportunity, by giving the use of one of his best bred horses to Mr. Brown, the venerable training groom at Lewes; his lordship also gives annual premiums to the breeders of the best colts, shewn at Egdean fair, near Petworth.
In 1800, Wyndham bought land at
Other enterprises
Paper mills were established at Duncton, south of Petworth and at Iping, west of Midhurst.[20] Near Northchapel a government factory was set up to produce high-quality charcoal for making gunpowder from alder wood in coal-heated iron cylinders.
At Spofforth in North Yorkshire, the geologist William Smith was employed to search for coal and iron ore deposits. Between 1803 and 1804 £1,000 was invested in sinking test wells, with the use of steam engines to pump out water. Six thin veins of coal were found but were insufficient to be of commercial value.[18]
Horse racing
Wyndham maintained a racing stud near
Politics
Wyndham was a member of the
While Egremont remained aloof from day-to-day affairs, his secretary Thomas Sockett, Rector of Petworth, was deeply involved with poor relief and emigration, and became engaged in bitter disputes with the commissioner over the provision of relief to Petworth paupers and the running of the Petworth Emigration Scheme. The national press reported the matter and Sockett, together with other witnesses from Petworth, gave evidence to a House of Commons select committee in March 1837.[25]
Military
The county
Petworth
Wyndham financed the building of a market house at Petworth in 1793 on the market square where bulls had previously been tied to a stake for
The earl provided land in 1784 for a new House of Correction, to replace the previous gaol, which had been a squalid place consisting of two unheated rooms and unable to be enlarged to provide the work which was considered essential for the moral improvement of inmates. Delays were caused by petitioning by ratepayers against the costs they would have to bear.[32] Thirty-two cells in two storeys were built over brick arch arcades to prevent tunnelling out, and the institution opened in 1788 near the present police station and courthouse. Prisoners were kept in strict solitary confinement, and never allowed to speak to each other; even when in chapel they were in individual high-sided box pews. Exercise in the outside yards, called "airing", was also done individually.[33]
Town gas was introduced in 1836 when a gas works was built in Station Road, using coal brought to Coultershaw wharf by barge and later by rail to Petworth railway station. A monument which stands at the north end of East Street was given by the townspeople to show their gratitude to the earl.[34]
The second-hand spire which Wyndham bought from a Brighton church for St Mary's Church became crooked and was taken down in 1947. The great wall which he had built around Petworth Park is still a feature of the area. Built of sandstone masonry over two metres tall, some fourteen miles of wall surrounds the park and subdivides it into three parts, the deer park in the south, then a large area of woodland, with farmland and woods in the northern part. The stone road which runs the length of the park to emerge at the junction of the Ebernoe road with the A283 once continued northward, passing to the east of Northchapel and through Frith Wood to rejoin the A283 London road at a pair of gatehouses which still stand to the north of Northchapel village. This road provided a private bypass of the toll gate at Northchapel for the earl's family and friends.
Mistresses
As a young man in London, Egremont gave a gilded coach to Rosalie Duthé, sometimes called "the first officially recorded dumb blonde",[35][36] a French courtesan who had moved to London during the French Revolution, with whom he was frequently seen at the opera. He was later close to Lady Melbourne whose son William Lamb, later Prime Minister, was widely regarded as Wyndham's son and was said to look remarkably like him. Lamb often spent time at Petworth House as a child and continued to visit Egremont until the end of the earl's life.[37] Egremont called off a planned marriage to Lady Maria Walpole, a granddaughter of Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole.[21]
Egremont inherited the recently built London
Egremont maintained around 15 mistresses[41] and fathered more than 40 illegitimate children at Petworth House.[42] It is recorded that the peace of the household was often disturbed by disputes between the children, with their respective mothers joining in. The children, certainly of the more favoured mistresses and especially those of Elizabeth Ilive, were educated by Thomas Sockett, a protégé of the earl whom he appointed Rector of Petworth, who also acted as the earl's secretary. He also had four or five children by Elizabeth Fox and many others by other women.[41]
Illegitimate progeny
- Illegitimate children by Elizabeth Ilive (before their marriage):
- Col. Baron Egremont, thus partly regaining the title lost to his ancestor because of his illegitimacy.
- Frances Wyndham (1789–1848), married Sir Charles Burrell, 3rd Baronet and had issue.
- General Sir Henry Wyndham (12 May 1790 – 3 August 1860)
- Edward Wyndham (1792–1792)
- William Wyndham (1793–1794)
- Charlotte Henrietta Wyndham (1795–1870), married John James King, of Coates Castle, Sussex & afterwards of Preston Candover House, son of John King, of Aldenham House, Herts., and had issue [43]
- Charles Wyndham (1796–1866)
- Col.
- Illegitimate children by Elizabeth (or Eliza) Fox, AKA Elizabeth Crole:
- Mary Wyndham (29 August 1792 – 3 December 1842),[38] married the 1st Earl of Munster, son of King William IV, and had issue
- Capt. Charles Crole (c1795 - 20 September 1850 St James Westminster), buried Highgate Cemetery[44]
- Elizabeth Eleanor Crole (baptised 19 June 1796 Chelsea, London, buried 16 February 1799 St James's Church, Piccadilly)
- Rev. William John Crole Wyndham (baptised 23 July 1797 Chelsea, London, died 16 November 1865 Brighton), buried Highgate Cemetery[44]
- Maj.George Seymour Crole (born 23 August 1799, baptised 31 January 1800 St James's Church, Piccadilly, died 13 June 1863 Chatham, Kent), buried Highgate Cemetery[44] Rumoured to be the son of George IV.
- Laura Crole Wyndham
Marriage
On 16 July 1801, Wyndham married his mistress Elizabeth Ilive, already having had seven illegitimate children by her. After their eighth child, Elizabeth, died in infancy, Elizabeth Ilive left Petworth to live in London.
Legitimate progeny
- Lady Elizabeth Wyndham (1803—1803), died an infant.
Death
The earl died at Petworth House on 11 November 1837. In earlier centuries a horse fair was held at Egdean in early September. It was one of the last occasions on which Wyndham was seen in public before his death.[45] The earl gave a £20 prize for the best three-year-old colt or filly.[46]
Succession
As he left no legitimate progeny he was succeeded in the earldom by his nephew
References
- ^ Wyndham, Hugh (1950). A family history, 1688–1837: the Wyndhams of Somerset, Sussex, and Wiltshire. Oxford University Press. p. 123.
- ^ Wyndham, Hugh (1950). A family history, 1688–1837: the Wyndhams of Somerset, Sussex, and Wiltshire. Oxford University Press. p. 217.
- ^ Jerrome, p. 62.
- ^ with upraised arms and with their legs flanked by seated gryphons holding up the ends of their tunics so as to reveal their feet
- ^ Peter Hughes (September 2008). "French fashion at Petworth". Apollo. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011.
- ^ Vine, p.
- ^ Vine Lost Route to Midhurst, pp. 64–67.
- ^ Vine, Arun navigation, p. 7.
- ISBN 0-906520-24-X.
- ^ Vine, Arun navigation, p. 59.
- ^ Cuthbert, Ted (1988). Portsmouth's Lost Canal. Environmental Education Project. p. 30.
- ^ Wright, Debates
- ^ Haines and Lawson, p. 159
- ^ Young, p. 226
- ^ Jerrome, p. 65.
- ^ Young, pp. 188–189.
- ^ Jerrome, p. 64.
- ^ a b Sarah Webster (2006). "PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS AND THE EGREMONT ESTATES, 1796–1805". University of Nottingham. Archived from the original on 29 November 2012.
- ^ Vine, Arun navigation, p. 54.
- ^ Haines and Lawson, p. 99.
- ^ a b Jerrome, p. 63.
- ^ Weatherby, Edward and James (1801). "COLOURS WORN BY THE RIDERS OF THE FOLLOWING NOBLEMEN, GENTLEMEN, &c". Racing Calendar. 28: 52.
- ISBN 9780436521010.
- ^ Jerrome, p. 134.
- ^ Haines and Lawson, pp. 173–180.
- ^ Rogers, p. 145.
- ^ Barlow & Smith, pp. 1–4.
- ^ Maj A. McK, Annand, 'George O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Egremont, as Colonel of the Sussex Yeomanry, 1798', Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol XLVI, No 185, Spring 1968, pp. 31–2.
- ^ Haines and Lawson, p. 59.
- ^ Arnold, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Arnold, p. 93.
- ^ Royall, p. 35.
- ^ Royall, p. 94.
- ^ Arnold, p. 97.
- ^ Joanna Pitman. On Blondes, Bloomsbury USA, 2004, p. 129.
- ^ Victoria Sherrow. Encyclopedia of hair: a cultural history. Page 149
- ^ Jerrome, pp. 62–63.
- ^ a b Haines and Lawson, p. 45.
- ^ Haines and Lawson, p. 65.
- ^ Collis, p. 177.
- ^ a b Haines and Lawson, p. 24.
- ^ Anne Campbell Dixon (27 July 2002). "UK: Nine centuries of grand mastery". The Telegraph.
- ISBN 978-5-87194-361-8.
- ^ a b c Cansick, Frederick Teague (1872). The Monumental Inscriptions of Middlesex Vol 2. J Russell Smith. p. 105. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ Haines and Lawson, p. 191.
- The library of agricultural and horticultural knowledge1830, pp. 274–275.
External links
- The Right Honourable George O'Brien Wyndham, Earl of Egremont., in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1838. Short article with portrait by T Phillips, engraved by H Cook.
Bibliography
- Arnold, F H (1864). Petworth: a sketch of its History and Antiquities, with notices of objects of archaeological interest in its vicinity. Petworth: A J Bryant.
- Collis, Rose (2010). The New Encyclopaedia of Brighton. (based on the original by Tim Carder) (1st ed.). Brighton: Brighton & Hove Libraries. ISBN 978-0-9564664-0-2.
- Jerrome, Peter (2006). Petworth. From 1660 to the present day. Petworth: The Window Press.(Limited edition)
- Haines, Sheila; Lawson, Leigh (2007). Poor Cottages & Proud Palaces. The Hastings Press. ISBN 978-1-904109-16-7.
- Vine, P A L (2000). Images of England The Arun Navigation. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7524-2103-4.
- Vine, P A L. London's Lost Route to Midhurst The Earl of Egremont's Navigation.
- Royall, Michael (1999). The Petworth House of Correction. ISBN 0-9534846-0-2.
- Young, Arthur (1813). General View of the Agriculture of the County of Sussex.
- Wright, Glenn (1813). Moving Here, Staying Here: The Canadian Immigrant Experience. Library and Archives Canada – "Right of Passage: Debates".
- L. Barlow & R.J. Smith, The Uniforms of the British Yeomanry Force 1794–1914, 1: The Sussex Yeomanry Cavalry, London: Robert Ogilby Trust/Tunbridge Wells: Midas Books, ca 1979, ISBN 0-85936-183-7.
- Col H.C.B. Rogers, The Mounted Troops of the British Army 1066–1945, London: Seeley Service, 1959.