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Elmley Foundation
Madresfield Court is a country house in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. The home of the Lygon family for nearly six centuries, it has never been sold and has passed only by inheritance since the 12th century; a line of unbroken family ownership reputedly exceeded in length in England only by homes owned by the British Royal Family. The present building is largely a Victorian reconstruction, although the origins of the present house are from the 16th century, and the site has been occupied since Anglo-Saxon times. The novelist Evelyn Waugh was a frequent visitor to the house and based the family of Marchmain, who are central to his novel ''Brideshead Revisited'', on the Lygons. Surrounded by a moat, the Court is a Grade I listed building. History Early history: 1086–1746 The origin of the name of the court is Old English, 'maederesfeld', mower's field. Madresfield is not recorded in the Domesday Book but is mentioned in the Westminster Cartulary of 1086 as a possession o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Charles Hardwick
Philip Charles Hardwick (London 1822–1892) was an English architect. Life Philip Charles Hardwick was born in Westminster in London, the son of the architect Philip Hardwick (1792–1870) and grandson of architect Thomas Hardwick (junior) (1752–1825). His mother was also from an eminent architectural family, the Shaws. Philip Charles Hardwick's maternal grandfather was John Shaw Senior (1776–1832) and his uncle was John Shaw Jr (1803–1870). Hardwick trained under his father and also Edward Blore. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy between 1848 and 1854. Philip Charles worked in the City of London, where he became the leading architect of grandiose banking offices, mainly in an Italianate manner. He designed five City banks, including Drummond's in Trafalgar Square (1879–81), and was architect to the Bank of England from 1855 to 1883. He was employed outside London designing branch offices at Hull (1856) and Leeds (1862–65). His best known work was th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheriff Of Worcestershire
This is a list of sheriffs and since 1998 high sheriffs of Worcestershire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere or are now defunct, so that its functions are now largely ceremonial. Under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 the office previously known as Sheriff was retitled High Sheriff. Under the same act Herefordshire and Worcestershire were merged to form the new county of Hereford and Worcester, therefore the office of Sheriff of Worcestershire was replaced by that of High Sheriff of Hereford and Worcester. However, in 1998 the new county was dissolved, restoring Herefordshire and Worcestershire and creating the offices of High Sheriff of Herefordshire and High Sheriff of Worcestershire. Medieval Early Norman Henry II (25 October 1154 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Nicolson
Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West. Early life Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the youngest son of diplomat Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock. He spent his boyhood in various places throughout Europe and the Near East and followed his father's frequent postings, including in St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Madrid, Sofia, and Tangier. He was educated at The Grange School in Folkestone, Kent, followed by Wellington College. He attended Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1909 with a third class degree. Nicolson entered the Foreign Office that same year, after passing second in the competitive exams for the Diplomatic Service and Civil Service. Diplomatic career In 1909, Nicolson joined HM Diplomatic Service. He served as attaché at Madrid from February to Septemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp
William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, (20 February 1872 – 14 November 1938), styled Viscount Elmley until 1891, was a British Liberal politician. He was Governor of New South Wales between 1899 and 1901, a member of the Liberal administrations of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith between 1905 and 1915, and leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords between 1924 and 1931. When political enemies threatened to make public his homosexuality he resigned from office to go into exile. Lord Beauchamp is often assumed to be the model for the character Lord Marchmain in Evelyn Waugh's novel ''Brideshead Revisited''. Background and education Beauchamp was the eldest son of Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp, by his first wife, Lady Mary Catherine, daughter of Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, University of Oxford, where he showed an interest in evangelism, joining the Christian Social Union. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Lygon, 4th Earl Beauchamp
General Henry Beauchamp Lygon, 4th Earl Beauchamp DL (5 January 1784 – 8 September 1863), styled The Honourable Henry Lygon from 1806 until 1853, was a British Army officer and politician. Background Beauchamp was the third son of William Lygon, 1st Earl Beauchamp, by his wife Catharine, the only daughter of James Denn. A younger brother was Edward Pyndar Lygon, who also became a General. Military career Beauchamp was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford and entered the British Army in 1803 as a cornet in the 13th Dragoons. Made a captain in the 16th Light Dragoons, Beauchamp served with the regiment during the Peninsular War from 1809 until its end in 1814. He took part in the First Battle of Porto and then in the Battle of Talavera. After the Battle of the Côa in 1810, he was wounded in the Battle of Bussaco. Beauchamp was promoted to major in the 1st Life Guards in 1815, to major-general in 1837 and received the colonelcy of the 10th Royal Hussars f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Lygon, 5th Earl Beauchamp
Henry Lygon, 5th Earl Beauchamp (13 February 1829 – 4 March 1866), styled Viscount Elmley between 1853 and 1863, was a British politician. Background Beauchamp was the second but eldest surviving son of General Henry Lygon, 4th Earl Beauchamp, by his wife Lady Susan Caroline, daughter of William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans. Career Lygon served in the 1st Life Guards. He purchased a commission as a lieutenant on 5 May 1848, succeeding Hon. Dudley FitzGerald-deRos. That year, he became a cornet. He achieved the rank of captain in 1854. In 1853 he succeeded his father as Member of Parliament for Worcestershire West, a seat he held until 1863, when he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. Personal life Lord Beauchamp spent much of his life abroad. A homosexual, he never married.Michael Bloch, ''Closet Queens: Some 20th Century British Politicians'', Little Brown 2015. He died from tuberculosis in London in March 1866, aged 37. He was succeeded i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp
Frederick Lygon, 6th Earl Beauchamp PC DL (10 November 1830 – 19 February 1891), styled The Honourable Frederick Lygon between 1853 and 1866, was a British Conservative politician. Background and education Beauchamp was the third son of Henry Lygon, 4th Earl Beauchamp, and Lady Susan Caroline, daughter of William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans. He was educated at Eton, was President of the Oxford Union in 1851 and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1856 with an MA degree. Political career Beauchamp was Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury from 1857 to 1863 and for West Worcestershire from 1863 to 1866. In 1859 he was appointed Civil Lord of the Admiralty. On 4 March 1866 he inherited the earldom of Beauchamp on the death of his childless brother. He served under Benjamin Disraeli as Lord Steward of the Household between 1874 and 1880 and under Lord Salisbury as Paymaster-General between 1885 and 1886 and again between 1886 and 1887. In 1874 he was sworn of the Priv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bleak House
''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and partly by an omniscient narrator. At the centre of ''Bleak House'' is a long-running legal case in the Court of Chancery, '' Jarndyce and Jarndyce'', which comes about because a testator has written several conflicting wills. In a preface to the 1853 first edition, Dickens claimed there were many actual precedents for his fictional case. One such was probably the '' Thellusson v Woodford'' case in which a will read in 1797 was contested and not determined until 1859. Though many in the legal profession criticised Dickens's satire as exaggerated, this novel helped support a judicial reform movement which culminated in the enactment of legal reform in the 1870s. There is some debate among scholars as to when ''Bleak House'' is set. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today. Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at the age of 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After three years he returned to school, before he began his literary career as a journalist. Dickens edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed readings extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, for education, and for other social re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jarndyce And Jarndyce
''Jarndyce and Jarndyce'' (or ''Jarndyce v Jarndyce'') is a fictional probate case in ''Bleak House'' (1852–53) by Charles Dickens, progressing in the English Court of Chancery. The case is a central plot device in the novel and has become a byword for seemingly interminable legal proceedings. Dickens refers to the case as "Jarndyce and Jarndyce", the way it would be spoken of. The ''v'' in the case title is an abbreviation of the Latin '' versus'', but is normally pronounced "and" for civil cases in England and Wales. Plot ''Jarndyce v Jarndyce'' concerns the fate of a large inheritance; due to the apparent existence of multiple wills and trusts deriving therefrom (with those containing multiple beneficiaries), the heir or heirs cannot be determined. The case has dragged on for many generations before the action of the novel, so that, by the end of the narrative when the correct heirs appear to have finally been established, legal costs have devoured the whole estate, ren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Jennens
William Jennens (possibly Jennings) (1701–1798), also known as William the Miser, William the Rich, and The Miser of Acton, was a reclusive financier who lived at Acton Place in the village of Acton, Suffolk, England. He was described as the "richest commoner in England" when he died unmarried and intestate with a fortune estimated at £2 million, which became the subject of legal wrangles (''Jennens v Jennens'') in the Court of Chancery for well over a century until the entire estate had been swallowed by lawyers' fees. This may have been the stimulus for the fictional case of '' Jarndyce v Jarndyce'' in Charles Dickens' serialised novel ''Bleak House''. ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' reported in 1798 that "A will was found in his coat-pocket, sealed, but not signed; wing toleaving his spectacles at home when he went to his solicitor for the purpose of duly executing it." Biography William was born in 1701 to Ann(e) (née Guidott 1675, daughter of Carew Guidott(i)) and Robert J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl Beauchamp
Earl Beauchamp () was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The peerage was created in 1815 for William Lygon, 1st Baron Beauchamp, along with the subsidiary title Viscount Elmley, in the County of Worcester. He had already been created Baron Beauchamp of Powyke in the County of Worcester, in 1806, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Beauchamp had previously represented Worcestershire in the House of Commons. He was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Earl, who also sat as Member of Parliament for Worcestershire. He never married and was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Earl. In 1813 he assumed by Royal licence the surname of Pyndar in lieu of Lygon. On his death in 1853 the titles passed to his younger brother, the fourth Earl. He was a General in the Army as well as a Member of Parliament. The fourth earl’s second but eldest surviving son, the fifth earl, represented Worcestershire West in Parliament. He died unmarried at an early age and wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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