(133) Anderson of Quarter House

John Brown acquired the Quarter estate in 1630, but nothing is known of the house that existed here at that time.  It passed to his son, Alexander Brown (d. 1709), grandson, John Brown (d. 1744) and great-grandson, Alexander Brown (d. 1776), and the present house was built after the latter's son, Alexander Brown (d. 1830) inherited.  Alexander and his sister Elizabeth Brown (d. 1832) both died unmarried and childless, and so the estate passed to their distant kinsman, John Harvie (1801-80) of Shirgarton, who took the additional name of Brown.  It was probably after he moved into Quarter that the tripartite windows were inserted on the ground floor.  But only five years after he inherited Quarter his wife inherited the much larger Dunipace House nearby, and that became their principal seat.

Dunipace House, c.1890, during the building work
for the addition of the library wing.

John Alexander Harvie Brown (1844-1916) of Dunipace and Quarter was a keen field sportsman and ornithologist.  Although he shot birds and collected their skins and eggs in the Victorian tradition, he was also a serious and industrious scholar in the field, making some of the earliest scientific studies of bird migration which were based in part on his own observations from his yacht and on the observations of lighthouse keepers around Scotland. He published extensively on natural history, and was editor of the Annals of Scottish Natural History and of a series of books on The vertebrate fauna of Scotland, many of which he wrote himself. He added a new wing to Dunipace House in the 1890s to accommodate his library, but unfortunately a few years later the house was seriously damaged by fire.  Although the library itself was saved, his ornithological collections in the main house were destroyed.  The house was later restored and continued to be his home until his death in 1916, after which it was sold. A full account of Dunipace House is reserved for a future post.

Quarter House passed at his death to his cousin, Harvie Anderson (1841-1921), a Glasgow merchant.  His son, Thomas Alexander Harvie Anderson (1872-1953) was a Glasgow solicitor, but also much occupied with the work of the Territorial Army, in which he had taken an active part between 1889 and 1907.  His only child was his daughter, Betty Harvie Anderson (1913-79).  She served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) as a Company Commander during the Second World War and later became a County Councillor for Stirlingshire. Finding politics to her liking, she became the Conservative MP for East Renfrewshire in 1959 and held that position for twenty years.  In the early 1970s she was the first woman to hold the office of Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. When she retired from Parliament in 1979 she was created Baroness Skrimshire of Quarter, but died a few weeks later from an asthma attack. Quarter House passed to her husband, Dr. John Skrimshire (1918-90) and was sold after his death.  The present owners operate the house as a country house bed & breakfast business.

Quarter House, Dunipace, Stirlingshire

Quarter House

A two storey house with a hipped roof and central chimneyed pediment, built in the late 18th century for Alexander Brown, who inherited in 1776. The entrance front has a three-light window with a hoodmould on either side of the Tuscan porch and five regularly spaced sashes above, of which the second and fourth are dummies. The ground floor windows are probably an alteration of the 1830s by John Harvie Brown.  Inside, the entrance hall opens through an elliptical arch ointo the cantilevered staircase, and this space is flanked by the drawing and dining rooms.

Quarter House: the entrance hall and staircase

Descent: sold 1630 to John Brown (d. 1655); to son, Alexander Brown (d. 1709); to son, John Brown (d. 1744); to son, Alexander Brown (d. 1776); to son, Alexander Brown (d. 1820); to sister, Elizabeth Brown (d. 1832); to kinsman, John Harvie (later Brown) (1801-80); to son, John Alexander Harvie Brown (1844-1916); to cousin, Harvie Anderson (1841-1921); to son, Thomas Alexander Harvie Anderson (1872-1953); to daughter, Margaret Betty Harvie Anderson (later Skrimshire) (1913-79), Baroness Skrimshire of Quarter; to husband, Dr. John Francis Penrose Skrimshire (1918-90)... Mr & Mrs Robin Maclean (fl. 2014).

The Brown (later Harvie Brown) family of Quarter House

Brown, John (d. 1655) of Quarter. He married Barbara Young and had issue including:
(1) Alexander Brown (d. 1709) (q.v.).
He acquired the Quarter estate in 1630.
He died in 1655.

Brown, Alexander (d. 1709) of Quarter. Son of John Brown (d. 1655) of Quarter and his wife Barbara Young. He married and had issue including:
(1) John Brown (d. 1744) (q.v.);
(2) William Brown of Aikenhead; married, 1749, Elizabeth, daughter of James Campbell;
(3) Alexander Brown;
(4) Margaret Brown (fl. 1732).
He inherited the Quarter estate from his father in 1655.
He died in 1709.

Brown, John (d. 1744) of Quarter. Son of Alexander Brown (d. 1709) of Quarter. He married, 1721, Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Forrester of Arngibbon (Stirlingshire) and had issue including:
(1) Alexander Brown (1723-76) (q.v.);
(2) John Brown (b. 1725);
(3) Andrew Brown (b. 1726);
(4) William Brown (b. 1727);
(5) James Brown (b. 1730);
(6) John Brown (b. 1732);
(7) Robert Brown (b. 1745), born posthumously.
He inherited the Quarter estate from his father in 1709.
He died in 1744.

Brown, Alexander (1723-76) of Quarter.  Son of John Brown (d. 1744) of Quarter and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Forrester of Arngibbon (Stirlingshire), born 1723.  A sugar refiner in Glasgow. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Stephenson of Paisley, and had issue:
(1) Alexander Brown; died in infancy;
(1) Alexander Brown (1752-1830); died unmarried, 4 August 1830;
(2) Elizabeth Brown (1756-1832); died unmarried, 24 February 1832.
He inherited the Quarter estate from his father in 1744.  After his death it passed to his son, who rebuilt the house, and, when he died unmarried, to his daughter.  At her death in 1832 it passed to her kinsman, John Harvie, who was a relation through the Forresters of Arngibbon.
He died in 1776.

Harvie (later Harvie Brown), John (1801-80) of Quarter and Dunipace. Son of John Harvie (1723-1806) of Arnfinlay and later of Shirgarton House, Kippen, and his wife Marion, daughter of Thomas Forrester of Arngibbon, born 13 June 1801.  He assumed the additional name of Brown in 1832 on succeeding to the Quarter estate.  He married, 1837, Elizabeth (d. 1888), daughter of Thomas Spottiswood of Dunipace (Stirlingshire) and had issue:
(1) John Alexander Harvie Brown (1844-1916) (q.v.).
He inherited the Quarter estate from his kinswoman, Elizabeth Brown, in 1832. His wife inherited the Dunipace estate in 1837.
He died 14 October 1880. His widow died in 1888.

J.A. Harvie Brown

Harvie Brown, John Alexander (1844-1916) of Dunipace and Quarter. Only son of John Harvie Brown (1801-80) of Quarter and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Spottiswood of Dunipace, born 27 August 1844. He was educated at Merchiston College and Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities (LLD).  JP for Stirlingshire. Ornithologist; Fellow of the Zoological Society and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Editor of The Annals of Scottish Natural History and author of The Capercaillie in Scotland; Report on the Migration of Birds; The wonderful trout (1898); A vertebrate fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides; A vertebrate fauna of the Outer Hebrides; Travels of a naturalist in northern Europe (1905), and other works. He built his own yacht, Shiantelle, on which he sailed the Scottish coast making observations of bird migrations; a lighthouse keeper reinterpreted his initials as "John Always Hunting Birds"! He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited the Quarter and Shirgarton estates from his father in 1880 and the Dunipace House estate from his mother in 1888.  He built a new library wing onto Dunipace House in the 1890s, but the rest of the house was largely destroyed by fire in 1897, taking with it a large part of his collection of birds and eggs. The house was subsequently restored. At his death the Quarter estate passed to his cousin, Harvie Anderson (see below) and Dunipace House was sold, becoming a boarding school in the 1920s and being demolished in 1947.
He died at Dunipace House, 26 July 1916.

The Anderson family of Quarter House

Anderson, Rev. Thomas (1780-1869) of Crawfurd (Lanarks). Born 15 March 1780. He married, 23 October 1832, Elizabeth (d. 1882), daughter of John Harvie (1723-1806) of Arnfinlay and later of Shirgarton House, Kippen, and had issue:
(1) William Anderson (1833-46), born 21 August 1833; died young, 13 May 1846;
(2) John Harvie Anderson (1835-37); died in infancy, 31 March 1837;
(3) Thomas Alexander Anderson (1837-97); solicitor in Glasgow; married, 1882, Euphemia (1842-1915), daughter of Rev. Gordon Mitchell of Kilmadock (Perths), but died without issue;
(4) Harvie Anderson (1841-1921) (q.v.).
He died 25 May 1869. His widow died 26 April 1882.

Anderson, Harvie (1841-1921) of Hillhead.  Younger son of Rev. Thomas Anderson (1780-1869) of Crawfurd (Lanarks) and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Harvie of Arnfinlay and later Shirgarton House, Kippen, born 2 November 1841. Educated at Glasgow High School and Glasgow University. Merchant in Glasgow. He married, 1867, Jessie (d. 1889), daughter of James Carmichael of Sandyford House, Glasgow, and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Anderson (b. 1868);
(2) Janet Helen Anderson (1870-1923); died unmarried;
(3) Thomas Alexander Harvie Anderson (1872-1953) (q.v.).
He inherited the Quarter estate from his cousin, John Alexander Harvie Brown, in 1916.
He died 5 January 1921; will proved 31 March 1921.  His wife died in 1889.

Anderson, Col. Thomas Alexander Harvie (1872-1953). Only son of Harvie Anderson (1841-1921) of Quarter, and his wife Jessie, daughter of James Carmichael of Sandyford House, Glasgow, born 17 April 1872. Educated at Glasgow Academy and Glasgow University (MA 1893; BL 1896; LLB 1898).  Served with the Glasgow Highlanders from 1889-1907 (Capt., 1902; Hon. Colonel of 1st and 2nd Bttns, 1938-46); Secretary, Territorial and Auxiliary Air Force Assoc., Glasgow, 1907-37 and of Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers, 1916-53. Partner in firm of Anderson, Fyfe, Littlejohn & Co. of Glasgow, solicitors. County Councillor for Stirlingshire, 1940-43, JP and DL for Glasgow; appointed CB and TD 1919.  He married, 29 November 1905, Nessie Wilson (d. 1938), daughter of Sir John Shearer, and had issue:
(1) Margaret Betty Harvie Anderson (1913-79) (q.v.).
He inherited the Quarter estate from his father in 1921.
He died 1 May 1953.  His wife died 2 July 1938.

Anderson (later Skrimshire), (Margaret) Betty Harvie (1913-79), Baroness Skrimshire of Quarter. Only child of Col. Thomas Alexander Harvie Anderson (1872-1953) and his wife Nessie Wilson, daughter of Sir John Shearer, born 12 August 1913. Educated at St. Leonards School, St. Andrews (Fife). Served in WW2 as Company Commander, ATS. County Councillor for Stirlingshire; MP for Renfrewshire East, 1959-79; Deputy Speaker of House of Commons, 1970-73.  Appointed OBE 1956, TD 1959; created Baroness Skrimshire of Quarter, 1979.  She married, 5 May 1960, Dr. John Francis Penrose Skrimshire (1918-90) MRCS LRCP MB BChir MRCP MD FRCP, but had no issue.
She inherited the Quarter estate from her father in 1953. At her death the estate passed to her husband and was sold after his death.
She died of an asthma attack, 9 November 1979. Her husband died 28 April 1990.

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, pp. 40-41; J. Gifford & F.A. Walker, The buildings of Scotland: Stirling and Central Scotland, 2002, pp. 639-40; obituary of J.A. Harvie Brown in British Birds, 1 November 1916.

Location of archives

No significant archive is known to survive.

Coat of arms

None recorded.

Revision & Acknowledgements

This account was first published on 27th April 2014 and revised 4th April 2015. I am grateful to David Erskine for additional information.

(132) Anderson of Pendley Manor, baronets

Anderson of Pendley Manor

The founder of this family was Sir Henry Anderson (d. 1605), who appears to have been the only son of Thomas Anderson (d. 1553) of London, grocer, and his wife, Katharine Hopton. He was Warden of the Grocers Company in 1589 and 1590 and later became an Alderman of the City corporation and Sheriff of London; he was knighted by King James in 1603. When he died two years later he left property in London, Chiswick, Kensington and Shropshire. His son, Sir Richard Anderson (1585-1632) bought the manor of Pendley in Hertfordshire in 1607 and may have partly rebuilt the house there.  He also acquired further estates at Norton (Glos) and Corringham (Essex).  Sir Henry's children married well, cementing the family's place among the landed elite of the country.  Sir Richard himself married Mary, the youngest daughter of Robert Spencer (1570-1627), 1st Baron Spencer of Wormleighton, and they had a large family with thirteen known children.  Some of the family's outlying properties seem to have been sold to pay legacies and dowries in the 1630s, but the manor of Pendley passed to their eldest son, Sir Henry Anderson (c.1608-53), who was a strong if passive supporter of the Royalist cause in the Civil War.  This secured him a baronetcy in the early 1640s, but he paid a substantial penalty for his loyalty during the Commonwealth, when his estates were sequestrated.  Despite this he was able to purchase the Fleet Marston estate in Buckinghamshire.  

Pendley passed in 1653 to Sir Henry's only son, Sir Richard Anderson (c.1636-99), 2nd bt., whose two sons both predeceased him, although the younger, Richard Anderson (1659-95), lived long enough to create a separate house at Fleet Marston, marry and serve briefly as MP for Aylesbury in 1685-87.  When Sir Richard died, the Pendley estate therefore passed to the widower of his eldest daughter, Simon Harcourt (d. 1724), and so passed out of the Anderson family.  The baronetcy should have died with Sir Richard, but was claimed by Richard Anderson (d. 1724) of East Meon (Hants), who stated he was the son of an otherwise unrecorded younger brother of Sir Robert, and thus a grandson of Sir Henry Anderson.  The baronetcy title was used by him and his sons Kendrick (1705-35), Richard (d. 1738) and Francis (d. c.1760) until the latter's death, but not continued by future generations. It is more probable that Richard (d. 1724) was a grandson of one of Sir Henry's brothers, and thus not entitled to inherit the baronetcy unless by a special remainder.  Since the patent for the baronetcy was not enrolled in the troubled circumstances of the Civil War, however, there is no evidence to show whether there was such a remainder or not; it must be presumed not, as this was not the basis on which the title was claimed.

Pendley Manor, Tring, Hertfordshire

The manor of Pendley can be traced to the early middle ages, and Robert Whittingham had licence to impark 200 acres in the parish of Tring in 1440, which involved demolishing the village of Pendley. It is probable that the house developed as a gentry seat after that date.

Pendley Manor , as drawn by John Oliver for Chauncy's Hertfordshire, 1700.

Little is known for certain about the Pendley Manor that existed in the Andersons' day. The only illustration I have been able to find is the view above, which appears to show the outer court of a two-courtyard house with a view through the range facing the artist to a cloister of some sort in the inner courtyard, and ranges of service accommodation and lodgings enclosing the outer court. The form suggests a 16th century date but there is a tradition that the house was largely rebuilt by Sir Robert Anderson after he bought the estate in 1607. Apart from the first-floor sash windows in the cross-range, nothing in the details suggests the house was much altered later in the 17th century, but there were later changes.  In 1707 a visitor wrote "the alterations at Pendley are truly admirable and the new wife a piece of rich furniture; friend Simon [Harcourt] is much to be commended for labouring for his family" and by the mid 18th century the principal elevation to the north was of eleven bays and had a Palladian appearance, although some older work may have been incorporated behind the facade and in the wings projecting to the south.  In the late 18th century the house was let to the eminent physician, Dr. Richard Warren (d. 1797), but it was later occupied by the Harcourt family again.

Pendley Manor following the Palladian remodelling. Image: Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies, DE/Of/1, p.58

When the Grand Union Canal was built in the early 19th century, it passed uncomfortably close to the house, and Henry Harcourt is said to have abandoned the house in the 1820s as a result. In about 1835 it was burned down and the ruins were demolished in 1847.

Pendley Manor: the house of 1872-75. Image: Richard Croft. Licenced under this Creative Commons licence.

A new house was built on a different site, further from the canal, for Joseph Grout Williams in 1872-77. His architect was Walter Fitzgerald Knox Ryan, and the grounds were landscaped by William Marnock. It is a loosely neo-Tudor house of brick with lavish stone dressings and displays the excessive busyness of much Victorian design. The aesthetic impact has not been improved by the positive congregation of wastepipes in the centre, which were no doubt added after the Second World War, when the last of the Williams family owners, Dorian Williams, who was a showjumping commentator for the BBC, developed the house as an adult education centre and inaugurated the Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival in the grounds; the stables became the permanent Court Theatre in 1978. The theatre and festival continue, but the house was sold in 1983 and converted into an hotel in 1989.

Descent: Robert Whittingham; under attainder 1461-72, when returned to his daughter, Margaret, wife of John Verney (d. 1505); to son, Sir Ralph Verney (d. 1525); to son, Ralph Verney (d. 1546); to son, Edmund Verney (1528-58); to younger brother, (also) Edmund Verney (d. 1600); to sons, Sir Francis Verney (d. 1615) and Edmund Verney, who sold 1607 to Sir Richard Anderson, kt. (c.1585-1632); to son, Sir Henry Anderson, 1st bt. (c.1608-53); to son, Sir Richard Anderson (c.1636-99); to daughter, Elizabeth (d. 1694), first wife of Simon Harcourt (1653-1724); to son, Henry Harcourt (d. 1741); to son, Richard Bard Harcourt; to son, Henry Harcourt; to sister, Elizabeth, wife of Col. Charles Amadees Harcourt, Marquis d'Harcourt (d. 1831); to son, William Bernard Harcourt (d. 1847); to three daughters, who sold 1868 to Rev. James Williams (d. 1871); to son, Joseph Grout Williams (1848-1923); to widow (d. 1944) and then nephew, Vivian Dunbar Stanley Williams; to son, Dorian Williams (1914-85), who sold 1983.

Anderson family of Pendley Manor, baronets

Anderson, Sir Henry (d. 1605), kt. Son of Thomas Anderson of Shropshire and his wife Katherine Hopton. A London grocer; Warden of the Grocers Company, 1589, 1590; alderman of Aldersgate Ward, 1601-05; Sheriff of London, 1602. Knighted, 26 July 1603. He married, 11 February 1576/7, Elizabeth (b. 1561), daughter of Francis Bowyer of London, grocer, and sister of Sir William Bowyer, kt. and is said to have had eight children, including:
(1) Katharine Anderson (1581-1616), baptised 8 October 1581; married Sir Thomas Dereham (d. 1645), kt. of West Dereham (Norfolk); buried at West Dereham, 21 June 1616;
(2) George Anderson (1582-97), baptised 7 December 1582; died young and was buried 23 August 1597 at St Olave, Old Jewry;
(3) Sir Richard Anderson (c.1585-1632), kt. (q.v.);
(4) Elizabeth Anderson (b. 1587), baptised 31 July 1587; married Thomas Cowley esq. of London but died without issue;
(5) Frances Anderson (d. by 1630); married Robert Needham (d. 1653), later 2nd Viscount Kilmorey, of Sharington Hall (Shropshire);
(6) Sarah Anderson (c.1592-1615); married, about 1610, Sir Charles Wilmot, kt., 1st Viscount Athlone and had issue three sons and one daughter; buried 8 December 1615;
(7) Mary Anderson (b. 1595/6; fl. 1630), baptised 29 February 1595/6; married, c.1618, Sir John Spencer (d. 1633), 1st bt. of Offley (Herts) and had issue a daughter, Alice (who married Sir James Altham (1614-76)).
He owned the manor of Knotting Barnes at Kensington (Middx) and also property at Bitterley (Shropshire) and Chiswick (Middx).
He died 13 April and was buried at St Olave, Old Jewry, 15 April 1605 where he was commemorated by a monument; his will was proved 23 May 1605. His wife died 9 July 1599 and was buried at St Olave, Old Jewry, London.

Anderson, Sir Richard (c.1585-1632), kt. Only son of Sir Henry Anderson (d. 1605), kt. and his wife Elizabeth, sister of Sir William Bowyer, kt, baptised 23 January 1585/6 at St. Olave, Old Jewry, London. The date of his knighthood is unknown. He married, about 1606, Mary (1588-1658), daughter of Robert Spencer, 1st Baron Spencer of Wormleighton, and had issue including:
(1) Elizabeth Anderson (c.1607-59); married, 6 June 1633 at St Gregory by St Pauls, London, Robert Peyton (d. 1658) of Doddington (Cambs) but died without issue, 26 April 1659;
(2) Sir Henry Anderson (c.1608-53), 1st bt. (q.v.);
(3) Robert Anderson (1609-88) of Chichester (Sussex), baptised at Aldbury (Herts), 2 November 1609; educated at Lincolns Inn (admitted 1628; called to bar); barrister-at-law; married, 1st, Katherine, daughter and co-heir of Nicholas Tompson, and 2nd, 16 July 1659 at St Bride, Fleet St., London, Anne (1616-97), daughter of Sir Henry Astrey, kt., of Harlington Woodend (Beds) and widow of Col. Thomas Peart; his will was proved 18 May 1688;
(4) Mary Anderson (b. 1610; fl. 1630); baptised 21 February 1610; married [forename unknown] Warren;
(5) John Anderson (fl. 1653);
(6) William Anderson (fl. 1630); probably died young;
(7) Richard Anderson (fl. 1630); died young;
(8) Frances Anderson (fl. 1630); under 21 in 1630;
(9) Margaret Anderson (b. 1614; fl. 1630), baptised 10 March 1614; died unmarried;
(10) Katherine Anderson (b. 1616; fl. 1630), baptised 23 October 1616;
(11) Penelope Anderson (c.1617-52); died unmarried in 1652; will proved 9 July 1652;
(12) Ann Anderson (b. c.1618; fl. 1630); under 21 in 1630; married, c.1639, Thomas Seymour, son of Sir Edward Seymour, 2nd bt., of Berry Pomeroy (Devon), and had issue two sons and three daughters;
(13) Bridget Anderson (b. c.1623; fl. 1653); under 21 in 1630; married, 11 October 1643, Sir Joseph Seymour, sixth son of Sir Edward Seymour, 2nd bt., of Berry Pomeroy (Devon), and had issue one son and one daughter (but she is named as Bridget Anderson in the wills of her sister, 1652 and brother, 1653, suggesting she was then unmarried).
He purchased the Pendley Manor estate in 1607 and also owned the manors of Bitterley (Shropshire), Bishop Norton (Glos) and Corringham (Essex), as well as house property in London. After his death his widow lived at Richmond (Surrey).
He died 3 August 1632; his will was proved 27 August 1632. His widow died in 1658; her will was proved 1 July 1658.

Anderson, Sir Henry (c.1608-53), 1st bt.  Son of Sir Robert Anderson (c.1585-1632), kt. and his wife Mary, daughter of Robert Spencer, Baron Spencer of Wormleighton, born about 1608. Educated at Pembroke College, Oxford (matriculated 1625) and Lincolns Inn (admitted 1628). He was an ardent but passive Royalist, and was created a baronet, 3 July 1643; during the Commonwealth his estate was sequestrated and he was obliged to pay £1,730 to recover it, besides other fines. He married 1st, about December 1632 in the Rolls Chapel, London, Jacomina (1615-39), daughter of Sir Charles Caesar, kt. of Benington (Herts), Master of the Rolls, 2nd, c.1642?, Mary (b. 1620), daughter of Sir William Lytton, kt. and 3rd, Gertrude (d. 1669), daughter of Ambrose Elton of Hazel, Ledbury (Herefs) and widow of Abraham Blackleech (d. 1639) and had issue including:
(1.1) Sir Richard Anderson (c.1636-99), 2nd bt. (q.v.);
(1.2) Elizabeth Anderson (c.1637-1707); married, 8 April 1656 at Benington (Herts), John Hatcher; buried at Stamford (Suffolk), 30 November 1707;
(1.3) Anne Anderson (b. c.1639); probably died in infancy;
(1.4) Mary Anderson (b. c.1639); probably died in infancy.
He inherited the Pendley Manor estate from his father in 1630. Despite his Civil War fines, he was able to purchase a secondary estate at Fleet Marston (Bucks) which became the home of his grandson.
He died 7 July 1653, aged 45, and was buried at Tring; his will was proved in PCC, 12 August 1653. His first wife died in October 1639 and was buried at Tring. His widow died in 1669 and was buried with her first husband under a splendid monument attributed to Epiphanius Evesham or Edward Marshall in Gloucester Cathedral; her will was proved in the PCC 15 February 1669/70.

Anderson, Sir Richard (c.1636-99), 2nd bt.  Son of Sir Henry Anderson (c.1608-53), 1st bt., and his first wife, Jacomina, daughter of Sir Charles Caesar, kt., born about 1636.  He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 7 July 1653, and was a benefactor to Tring church, paying for the panelling of the chancel. JP for Buckinghamshire. He married 1st, 22 April 1656 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Hewett, bt. of Pishiobury (Herts) and sister and co-heir of George Hewett (1652-89), 1st Viscount Hewett, and 2nd, c.1699, Mary (b. 1673), elder daughter of Rt. Hon. John Methuen, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and widow of Humphrey Simpson (1664-94) of London, merchant, and had issue:
(1.1) Henry Anderson (d. 1677); died unmarried;
(1.2) Richard Anderson (1659-95) of Fleet Marston (Bucks), born April 1659; educated at Lincoln's Inn, 1675/6; JP for Buckinghamshire, 1685-89; Tory MP for Aylesbury (Bucks), 1685-87 but was rejected as a candidate in 1688 'for his morals'; married, 22 July 1679, Elizabeth (1662-1724) (who m2, as his second wife, Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt), daughter of Richard Spencer esq. of London, vintner, but died without issue in the lifetime of his father;
(1.3) Elizabeth Anderson (d. 1694) (q.v.).
He inherited the Pendley Manor estate from his father in 1658. At his death it passed to his daughter and her husband.
He died 16th August* and was buried at Albury, 20th August 1699; his will was proved 5 March 1699/1700.  His first wife died 25 December 1698; his widow married 3rd, c.1700, Sir Brownlow Sherard (1668-1736), 3rd bt.
* On his death the baronetcy became extinct, although it was claimed by Richard Anderson (d. 1724) of East Meon (Hants).

Anderson (later Harcourt), Elizabeth (d. 1694).  Only surviving child of Sir Richard Anderson, 2nd bt., and his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Hewett of Pishiobury (Herts). She married, 3 January 1677/8, Simon Harcourt (1653-1724), Clerk of the Crown, 1704-24, Clerk of the Peace for Middlesex 1689-1724 and MP for Aylesbury 1702-05, 1710-15, son of Ven. Vere Harcourt DD, Archdeacon of Nottingham, and had issue:
(1) Henry Harcourt (d. 1741); married, 17 November 1711 in the chapel of Lincolns Inn, London, Sarah Frances, only daughter and heir of Nathaniel Bard esq. and had issue three sons and six daughters; died and was buried at Aldbury, 9 November 1741;
(2) Richard Harcourt (1680-c.1727), baptised 10 September 1680; married 1st, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Harcourt, kt and had issue one son and one daughter; married 2nd, [forename unknown], daughter of [forename unknown] Bannister and had issue two further daughters;
(3) Elizabeth Harcourt (b. 1681), baptised 4 August 1681; died unmarried;
(4) Margaret Harcourt; died unmarried;
(5) Simon Harcourt; died unmarried;
(6) Arabella Harcourt; died unmarried.
Her husband inherited Pendley Manor from her father in 1699, and on his death in 1724 it passed to their eldest son and descended in the Harcourt family.
She died 29th March 1694 and was buried at Aldbury (Herts). Her husband married 2nd, 9 July 1696, Elizabeth (d. 1706), daughter of John Canon of Kilgetty (Pembs.) and widow of Edward Philipps of Picton Castle (Pembs.); 3rd, 22 July 1707, Elizabeth (d. 1724), daughter of George Morse of Henbury (Glos) and widow of Sir Samuel Astry of Henbury; and 4th, 1724, Mary, daughter of Sir Philip Harcourt of Stanton Harcourt (Oxon); he died 22 March 1724 and was buried at Aldbury, 30 March 1724.

Sources

Burke's Extinct & Dormant Baronetcies, 1841, pp. 9-10; G.E. Cokayne, Some account of the Lord Mayors and Sheriffs of the city of London during the first quarter of the seventeenth century, 1601-1625, 1897, pp. 8-10; J.T. Smith, English Houses, 1200-1800: the Hertfordshire evidence, 1992, p.22; J.T. Smith, Hertfordshire Houses: a select inventory, 1993, pp. 191-2; B. Little, A perspective on Pendley: a history of Pendley Manor, 2014; Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies, C/DE/Of9/65.

Location of archives

No significant archive is known to survive.

Coat of arms

Argent a chevron between three crosses bottonée sable.

Revision and acknowledgements

This account was first published 26 July 2014 and was revised 12 August 2014, and 10 August 2016 and 28 September 2019.

(131) Anderson of Notgrove Manor

In 1918, Sir Alan Garrett Anderson (1877-1952), a shipowner, bought Notgrove Manor in Gloucestershire, which had recently been enlarged for another shipowner, Cyril Cunard. Anderson was the son of two remarkable parents: James George Skelton Anderson (1838-1907), the son of a Scottish clergyman who had built a fortune in the shipping industry, and Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917), the first woman in Britain to qualify as a doctor, founder of a hospital for women, and Britain's first female mayor (at Aldeburgh in Suffolk). Sir Alan himself steered his family business through difficult years either side of the First World War and into a merger with P&O, of which he became a Director. In both world wars he put his expertise in shipping and transport at the service of the Government, and from 1918-46 he was a Director of the Bank of England. Unfortunately in 1938 much of his recently extended house at Notgrove was gutted by fire, but he managed to get it reconstructed before wartime restrictions on materials became too severe.  When he died in 1952 he left Notgrove to his younger son, Sir Donald Anderson, who became Chairman & Managing Director of P&O and managed the company through a period of major change in which it diversified into freight transport and encouraged the adoption of shipping containers.  In 1968 he sold Notgrove Manor to Sir Cyril Kleinwort, the banker and shortly afterwards he retired from P&O; he died from cancer two years later.

Notgrove Manor, Gloucestershire

Notgrove Manor as depicted on the 1883 6" map.

Notgrove Manor is a building that has undergone extensive, often quite dramatic, changes during its long life. A manor house on this site was first recorded in 1231, but the first building of which anything is known was a range running north to south which from photographs in Country Life was probably built in the mid 16th century, and which was therefore probably built for Alexander Whittington. To this building, a later range of c.1600 was attached at the north end, running east towards the nearby church of St Bartholomew, and built roughly in line with its nave: this will have been the work of his grandson, John Whittington. In 1663 the house was taxed on six hearths, but soon afterwards it was divided into two dwellings. In the 18th century the Pyrke family reserved the long east wing for their own use, while the north-south range became the estate farmhouse. The Pyrkes wing was little used, as none of the family seem to have been resident, and slid slowly into decay, so that by the mid 19th century it was in ruins.

The estate was put on the market in 1871 and divided between Christ Church and Corpus Christi Colleges, Oxford. Corpus Christi bought out Christ Church’s interest in 1877, and was probably responsible for reconstructing and shortening the east wing of the manor house in the late 1870s. In 1908 the college sold the manor house and most of the land to the shipping magnate, Cyril Grant Cunard. He embarked on a scheme of considerable enlargement to make this his country house, which was carried out in 1908-11.

A.N. Prentice's design for remodelling Notgrove Manor for Sir Cyril Cunard,
from The Architect's & Builder's Journal, 1911

Cunard’s architect was A.N. Prentice, a choice that may not only have been influenced by his successful work at Willersey Manor, but also by his having designed interiors for ocean liners. Considering the extent of enlargement required, Prentice’s design was extremely sensitive, particularly the way in which he added a new dining room, suite of bedrooms and servants’ offices in a block attached at the north-west junction of the ‘L’ of the existing house, minimising interference with the historic fabric. The earliest part of the house was extended to the south to create a new drawing room with a two-storey bay window on the new gable end, while the recently rebuilt east wing was largely left untouched, apart from some minor internal alterations. 

A.N. Prentice's plan for the house, as published in 1911.

Prentice’s main opportunities for architectural invention seem to have been the picturesque composition of projecting chimney stacks and gables on the west elevation of the extended south wing, and the creation of a full-height entrance hall, achieved by eliminating a bedroom and installing a connecting balcony. Here the roof structure was exposed to dramatic effect. Elsewhere in the house plasterwork, panelling and a heraldic chimneypiece were supplied by Martyns of Cheltenham, who had previously worked on Cunard liners. At about the same time Prentice designed a thatched octagonal dairy, standing across the courtyard to the east, and laid out a formal garden with a long pergola to the west of the house.

Notgrove Manor from the 1924 6" map, showing the creation of a park, formal garden, drive and lodge, and the expansion of the house.

Cyril Cunard died in 1914 and his widow sold the house to Sir Alan Garrett Anderson in 1918. Sir Alan (d. 1952) was also a shipowner and a director of the P&O company. In 1920 and 1921 he purchased the parts of the estate retained by Corpus Christi College in 1908, and he also brought back A.N. Prenctice in 1919-20 to design a stable block and a cottage. Further additions were made to the house in 1936, including a small loggia at the west end of the 1910 wing, a new kitchen, and an extension to the north to accommodate garaging. Regrettably, a catastrophic fire in December 1938 gutted most of the earlier part of the house, although it was competently reinstated by Bertram Hume and Raymond Erith. 

Notgrove Manor from the south-east, showing the house as remodelled in 1969. Image: © Mike Hill.

In 1968 Sir Donald Garrett Anderson sold the estate to the banker, Cyril Kleinwort, who settled it on his daughter Elizabeth and her husband David Acland. In 1969 they commissioned a set of reductions and rationalisations from Martin Podd with the builders, George Foster of Broadway. These entailed shortening both rebuilt older wings and modernizing the garaging. The remaining part of the east wing was recast to become the entrance hall with a new staircase at the inner end. The gardens were also simplified at about the same time, and all but one bay of Prentice’s pergola was demolished. In 1995 a conservatory was erected in the south-west angle in front of the dining room. 

Notgrove Manor in 2013. Image: John M. Licenced under this Creative Commons licence

Descent: John Whittington (d. 1525); to son, Alexander Whittington (d. 1579); to grandson, John Whittington (fl. 1579-1637); to son, Edmund Whittington (d. c.1663); to granddaughter, Sarah alias Catherine Talbot (d. 1693), wife of Sir Clement Clerke (d. 1693); to son, Sir Talbot Clerke, who sold 1700 to Thomas Pyrke (d. 1702); to grandson, Thomas Pyrke (d. 1752); to widow, Dorothy Pyrke (d. 1862) and then to his great-nephew, Joseph Watts (later Pyrke) (d. 1803); to son, Joseph Pyrke (d. 1851); to son, Duncombe Pyrke, who sold 1871 to Corpus Christi College, Oxford; sold 1908 to Cyril Grant Cunard (1867-1914); to widow, Beatrice, later wife of W.H. Curran, who sold 1918 to Sir Alan Garrett Anderson (1877-1952); to son, Sir Donald Garrett Anderson (1906-73), who sold 1968 to Sir Cyril Kleinwort (1905-80), who settled it on his daughter Elizabeth, wife of David Alfred Acland (1929-2018); made over to son, Harry Alexander Acland (b. 1963).

Anderson family of Notgrove Manor

J.G.S. Anderson.
Image: Nat. Portrait Gallery

Anderson, James George Skelton (1838-1907). Son of Rev. Alexander Anderson (1808-84) of Aberdeen, born February 1838. A joint founder of the Orient Steam Navigation Co.; President of the UK Chamber of Shipping, 1886; JP for London and Aldeburgh (Suffolk); four times Mayor of Aldeburgh. He married, 1871, Dr. Elizabeth Garrett MD (1836-1917), the first qualified female doctor of medicine in the UK, founder of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital for Women, and mayor of Aldeburgh, 1908-10 (the first woman mayor in England), daughter of Newson Garrett of Aldeburgh (Suffolk), and had issue:
(1) Louisa Garrett Anderson CBE MD BS (1873-1943), born 28 July 1873; educated at St Leonard's School, St. Andrews (Fife) and Royal Free Hospital Medical School for Women; surgeon at Military Hospital, Endell St., London, 1915-19; later surgeon to Roll of Honour Hospital for Children, Harrow Road and consulting surgeon at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital; JP for Buckinghamshire; died unmarried, 15 November 1943;
(2) Margaret Skelton Anderson (1874-75); died in infancy from meningitis;
(3) Sir Alan Garrett Anderson (1877-1952) (q.v.).
He died of a stroke, 25 March 1907; his will was proved 8 May 1907 (estate £165,297). His widow died 17 September 1917; her will was proved 20 March 1918 (estate £24,098).

Anderson, Sir Alan Garrett (1877-1952) of Notgrove Manor. Only son of James George Skelton Anderson (1838-1907) and his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, daughter of Newson Garrett of Aldeburgh, born 9 March 1877. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, but left without a degree to join the family shipping business, Anderson, Anderson & Co. (the Orient Line), which in 1919 became part of the Peninsular & Orient Steam Navigation Co (the P&O Group); he was a Director of Suez Canal Co, P&O Group, Macbraynes Shipping Co., the Midland Railway and later the London, Midland & Scottish Railway. He was a Director of the Bank of England, 1918-46 (deputy Governor, 1924-26). An enthusiastic yachtsman, he was an honorary Captain, Royal Naval Reserve. Vice-Chair of Royal Commission on Wheat, 1916-17; Chairman of Wheat Executive, 1917; Controller of the Navy and member of the Board of Admiralty, 1917-18; Vice-Chair of Food Council and member of sugar supply committee, 1918; High Sheriff of London, 1922; President of UK Chamber of Shipping, 1924; one of HM's Lieutenants for the City of London, 1927; President of Institute of Marine Engineers, 1928; President of Hospital Savings Association; MP for City of London, 1935-40; Chairman of Cereals Control Board, 1939-40; Controller of Railways, 1941-45. Knighted, 1934 and appointed Officer of the Legion d'Honneur (France); Commander of the order of the Crown of Italy and the order of the White Rose of Finland. Tall and vigorous, he was said to have a magnetic personality and a fine sense of humour, and his capacity to absorb details without forgetting their wider context was formidable. He married, 9 June 1903, Muriel Ivy (1883-1971), elder daughter of George William Duncan of Cedar Grove, Richmond (Surrey), and had issue:
(1) Sir Colin Skelton Anderson (1904-80) (q.v.);
(2) Sir Donald Forsyth Anderson (1906-73) (q.v.);
(3) Diana Elizabeth Anderson (b. 1911); county organiser of Women's Land Army in Gloucestershire in WW2; died unmarried;
(4) Hermione Charteris Anderson (1915-99), born 19 February 1915; died unmarried, November 1999.
He purchased Notgrove Manor in 1918. At his death it passed to his younger son.
He died 4 May 1952; his will was proved 31 May 1952 (estate £169,017).  His wife died in 1971.

Anderson, Sir Colin Skelton (1904-80). Elder son of Sir Alan Garrett Anderson (1877-1952) of Notgrove Manor and his wife  Muriel Ivy, daughter of George William Duncan of Richmond (Surrey), born 15 July 1904. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford (Hon. Fellow, 1963); hon. LLD (Aberdeen, 1963).  Chairman of Anderson Green & Co. Ltd. and Grey, Dawes, Westray & Co. Ltd.; director of P & O Steam Navigation Co., Midland Bank Ltd., Orient Steam Navigation Co., Marine Insurance Co. Ltd., Australia and New Zealand Bank Ltd. and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Ltd. President of UK Chamber of Shipping, 1949-50 and chairman of General Council of British Shipping, 1949-50; President of International Chamber of Shipping, 1949-63, British Employers' Confederation, 1956-58 (vice-president, 1952-56); Chairman of National Association of Port Employers, 1947-48 and 1950-54; Chairman of Trustees of Tate Gallery and of Royal Fine Art Commission; member of Council of Royal College of Art (chairman, 1952-56 and later Provost); Prime Warden of Worshipful Co. of Fishmongers, 1963-64.  Knighted 1950 and appointed KBE 1969 and Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau, 1948 (Holland). Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, 1953; hon. FRIBA, 1957. He married, 31 March 1932, Morna Campbell (1906-82), daughter of Sir Alexander Campbell MacCormick KCMG MD of Kilmory Point, Piper, Sydney (Australia) and had issue:
(1) Airlie Garrett Anderson (b. & d. 1933), born January 1933; died in infancy, October 1933;
(2) Catriona Garrett Anderson (b. 1935), born 10 July 1935; married, 9 August 1958, John Williams, architect, only son of W.E. Williams of Bath, and had issue two sons and two daughters;
(3) Rose Ferlina Garrett Anderson (b. 1943), born 24 June 1943; educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College and Sorbonne, Paris (France); married, 6 October 1964, John Humphrey Robertson Carver, eldest son of Humphrey Carver of Dunstisbourne Leer (Glos) and had issue two sons and one daughter.
He died 16 October 1980. His wife died 24 February 1982.

Anderson, Sir Donald Forsyth (1906-73) of Notgrove Manor. Younger son of Sir Alan Garrett Anderson (1877-1952) of Notgrove Manor and his wife  Muriel Ivy, daughter of George William Duncan of Richmond (Surrey), born 3 September 1906. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford (BA 1928; MA 1931). Employed by Anderson Green & Co., later P&O Steam Navigation Co., 1928-39 and 1943-71 (assistant manager, 1936; director, 1943; managing director, 1946; deputy chairman, 1950; chairman, 1960-71) and was responsible for diversifying the business and developing the container shipping industry in the 1950s and 1960s; served in Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of War Transport, 1939-43 and as part of British Shipping Mission in Washington DC (USA), 1941-43; Director of National Provincial Bank Ltd., Australia & New Zealand Bank Ltd. and other companies. Chairman of British Shipping Federation, 1950-62; President of International Shipping Federation; and joint Chairman of National Maritime Board; President of UK Chamber of Shipping, 1953-54, Institute of Shipping & Forwarding Agents, 1955 and Institute of Marine Engineers, 1956-57; Chairman of British Liner Committee, 1957-58; President of Institute of Export, 1961-63; Hon. Treasurer of Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine. Knighted 1954; DL for Gloucestershire, 1960. He married, 28 February 1935, Margaret Elaine (1913-2002), daughter of Sir David Richard Llewellyn, 1st bt.. and had issue:
(1) Gillian Elizabeth Anderson (b. 1936), born 15 January 1936; educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College and Royal Free Hospital Medical School, Univ. of London (MB, BS 1962); MRCS, LRCP; Tribunal Member, Guardianship Board of New South Wales, 1989-96; married, 24 May 1965 (div. 1984), William Peter Grant Davies, son of William Grant Davies, and had issue one son and two daughters; lived in Sydney, Australia;
(2) Jennifer Forsyth Anderson (b. 1937), born 10 November 1937; educated at Southern Manor School; married, 7 August 1965, Anthony David Loehnis CMG of Houghton House, Churchill (Oxon), son of Sir Clive Loehnis KCMG, and had issue three sons;
(3) Lindsay Garrett Anderson (b. 1942), born 4 December 1942; educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College and Sorbonne, Paris (France); DL for Hampshire; High Sheriff of Hampshire, 1997-98; married, 6 September 1962, Robert Trench Fox CBE of Cheriton House (Hants), son of Waldo Trench Fox MC of Penjerrick (Cornwall) and had issue two sons and two daughters;
(4) Susan Elaine Anderson (b. 1945), born 4 September 1945; JP and DL for Hampshire; married, 14 October 1965, Adam Ivo Stuart Bligh, 11th Earl of Darnley of Netherwood Manor, Tenbury Wells (Worcs) and had issue one son and one daughter.
He inherited Notgrove Manor from his father in 1952 but sold it in 1968; he also had a farm near Moreton-in-Marsh and a London home at 105 Park Lane.
He died of cancer, 20 March 1973. His widow died 4 December 2002.

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry: the Kingdom of Scotland, 2003, pp. 18-19; The Architects’ and Builders’ Journal, 1 March 1911, p. 220; Country Life, 21 November 1914, pp. 678-83; A. Stuart Gray, Edwardian Architecture, 1988, p. 294; L. Archer, Raymond Erith, Architect, 1985, p. 113; D. Verey & A. Brooks, The buildings of England: Gloucestershire - The Cotswolds, 1999, p. 525; N.W. Kingsley & M.J. Hill, The country houses of Gloucestershire: vol. 3, 1830-2000, 2001, pp. 196-97; VCH Gloucestershire, vol. 9, 2001, pp. 148-49.

Location of archives

Anderson, Sir Alan Garrett (1877-1952): papers relating to Government posts and membership of trade missions, 1917-36 [The National Archives, PRO30/68]
Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett (d. 1917): personal and family correspondence and papers, c.1861-1918 [Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich, HA436]; legal papers, 1871-1918 [London School of Economics, Women's Library, 7/EGA]; letters, papers, photographs and ephemera, c.1883-1903 [London Metropolitan Archives, H72/EGA]

Coat of arms

Argent, a saltire between two mullets in the flanks and a crescent in base gules, on a chief azure three ganders volant proper over a sea undy of the first and third.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 20 July 2014, and was updated 23 September 2018.

(130) Anderson of Newcastle and Little Harle Tower

Anderson of Littleharle

Some of the leading merchants of Newcastle in the late 16th and early 17th century bore the name Anderson, but the relationships between different branches of the family are obscure and appear to have defeated antiquarian and genealogical authors over the last two centuries. One branch of the family provided the town with MPs at fairly frequent intervals over a century or so: Henry Anderson (d. 1559) being succeeded by Bertram Anderson (c.1505-71), Henry Anderson (1545-1605) and Sir Henry Anderson (1582/3-1658/9). The second leading branch can be traced from Francis Anderson (fl. 1581-1612), through Roger Anderson of Jesmond, to Sir Francis Anderson (1614-79), kt., who was MP for Newcastle after the Restoration.  There appears not to be a simple connection between the two branches, and in neither does the forename Robert appear: yet it was a Robert Anderson who built Greyfriars House in Newcastle out of the monastic ruins in 1580 and the property undoubtedly descended to Sir Francis Anderson (d. 1679), who sold it in 1675 to Sir William Blackett.  If any reader knows more, and can untangle these relationships, I should be very pleased to hear from them, and to expand this account.

In 1782 Greyfriars House was sold to a self-made bricklayer and builder called George Anderson (d. 1798), who may have claimed or assumed some relationship with the earlier prominent citizens of that name. He appears to have divided the house into three dwellings and to have shared it with other members of his family. After he died in 1798 the house passed to his son, Maj. George Anderson (1760-1831), who retired from the army shortly afterwards, married, and altered the house in 1801. By 1821 he apparently aspired to something more modern, and employed the leading Newcastle architect, John Dobson, to build him a Gothic house on the coast of Co. Durham at Hawthorn.  When he died in 1831, his real estate was left to his first cousin once removed, Thomas Anderson (d. 1872), who had apparently been brought up in another part of Anderson Place. Hawthorn Cottage was included, but subject to a life interest held by George's widow.

Within a few years, Thomas Anderson had sold all his inherited property. Anderson Place was sold in 1833 or 1834 to Richard Grainger and provided much of the land for the latter's ambitious rebuilding of Newcastle as a classical city. Hawthorn Cottage was sold in 1836 to his kinsman, Richard Pemberton, subject to Lucy Anderson's life interest, which she continued to enjoy until the mid 1850s, when she retired to York.  Anderson Place is said to have brought Thomas a capital of £50,000, a vast sum for the time, and he invested this in the purchase of the Littleharle Tower estate in Northumberland and, a few years later, the adjoining Kirkharle estate.  These properties have remained with his descendants to the present day. Thomas made Littleharle the principal seat of the estate and demolished most of Kirkharle Hall* leaving only one wing, which became a farmhouse.  By way of compensation to posterity for this vandalism, he designed and built major extensions to Littleharle Tower, which were carried out in 1860-61.
* An account of Kirkharle Hall is reserved for a future post on the Loraine family.

When Thomas died in 1872 the Littleharle estate passed to his son, George Anderson (1843-1927), who was trained as a barrister but did not practice. He in turn was succeeded by his son, Maj. George Denis Anderson (1885-1971), who was also trained as a barrister and became Chairman of the Northumberland bench, 1955-60. His only child was a daughter, Elizabeth Mary Anderson (b. 1927), who married Capt. Philip Claud Palmer (1918-77) and produced three sons and two daughters. The eldest son, John Philip Palmer, changed his name to Anderson in 1973 and is the present owner of the conjoined Littleharle and Kirkharle estates. 

Kirkharle Hall: Capability Brown's landscaping plan from the 1730s.

Kirkharle was the boyhood home of the 18th century landscape gardener, Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, and was the estate on which he was first employed as a gardener.  In 1980, Mr. Anderson chanced upon an unexecuted design by Brown for creating a lake at Kirkharle amongst the family papers, and with the support of Northumberland Council he realised Brown's design in 2010-11.

Greyfriars House (later Anderson Place), Newcastle-on-Tyne

Anderson Place, Newcastle, as engraved by Knyff in 1733. Image: Government Art Collection.

In 1580 Robert Anderson, a wealthy Newcastle merchant, built a fine house out of the offices, and nearly on the site of, the former Greyfriars building. It is shown on Speed’s map of the town in 1610 as the “Newe House”, and occupied a 13-acre site within the city wall. Gray in his Chorographia describes it as a “princely house built out of the ruins of the friars”. Three years earlier in 1646 King Charles I had been kept prisoner there by the Scots. Later engravings show a two-storey house with five gables, on a shallow E-plan. There were square bays under the end gables and a two-storey porch, all topped with balustrades.

Detail of an uncoloured copy of the Kynff engraving, showing the three-storey wings added to the original house.
Image: Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums

In 1675 Sir Francis Anderson sold New Place to Sir William Blackett of Matfen who added two large wings of brick, with sash windows, one of the earliest astylar Classical buildings in the north-east. The mansion later came into the possession of Sir Walter Blackett, of another branch of the family. He was one of the most important merchants in Newcastle during the 18th century and died in 1777. In 1736 the house was described as “surrounded with a vast quantity of ground: that part of it which faces the street is thrown in walks and grass-plots, beautified with images, and beset with trees, which afford a very pleasing shade; the other part of the ground on the west side of it is all a garden, exceedingly neat and curious, adorned with many and the most beautiful statues, and several other curiosities”.

Greyfriars House from an aquatint of 1790. Image: British Library, K.top XXXII.

Sir Walter’s successor, Sir Thomas Blackett offered the house and grounds to the Newcastle corporation, who declined because they lacked the necessary finance. But in 1782 it was purchased by George Anderson, a wealthy Newcastle builder whose family had no connection with the original builder. He was the son of a tailor at Benwell and was apprenticed to a bricklayer in 1715. By thrift and hard work he had amassed a fortune, but the house was too large for him, so he converted it into three dwellings. In 1801 his son, Major Anderson, came to live in the house. He changed the name from New Place to Anderson Place, and replaced the wooden gates which had prevented passers-by seeing the house with wrought iron ones; other changes included removing the main staircase, which was intended to be re-erected at Brinkburn Priory (Northbld) but remained stored there in sections until rediscovered in 2001. In 1827 the house was said to contain a number of curious and well-painted ceilings. In 1834 it was sold to Richard Grainger for £50,000 and it was demolished the following year as a key part of his plan to rebuild the city. The Andersons moved to Little Harle Tower, taking one fireplace with them from the old house.

Descent: Robert Anderson...Sir Francis Anderson (d. 1679), kt., who sold 1675 to Sir William Blackett (1657-1705), 1st bt.; to son, Sir William Blackett (1690-1728), 2nd bt.; to cousin, Sir Walter Calverley (later Blackett) (1707-77), 2nd bt.; to kinsman, Sir Thomas Blackett, who sold 1782 to George Anderson; to son, Thomas Anderson (d. 1821); to son, Thomas Anderson (d. 1872), who sold 1834 to Richard Grainger.

Hawthorn Towers (formerly Hawthorn Hive Cottage), Co. Durham

Hawthorn Towers, from an old postcard.

Hawthorn Dene is a narrow ravine running down to the sea between Easington and Seaham, and belonged in the 18th century to the Milbanke family of Seaham and Halnaby (Yorks). At the mouth of the Dene, Admiral Milbanke (d. 1805) built a summer house called Sailor's Hall in 1787, which was ruinous by 1816. Maj. George Anderson acquired the site and in 1821 built a substantial Gothic mansion to the designs of John Dobson of Newcastle.  The new house was originally called Hawthorn Hive Cottage and later Hawthorn Dene House or Hawthorn Tower. It was a convincing composition of towers, gables, Gothic windows, and an oriel, and was originally rendered, although the render was later removed.  After Anderson's widow died in the 1850s the house was sold to the Pembertons, who enlarged it. The house was mainly let after 1910 and sold in 1949. It then changed hands several times fairly quickly and slid into dereliction, helped on by the attention of vandals. It was demolished in 1969 after a man was killed when part of the house collapsed.

Hawthorn Towers in the early 20th century.

The estate also included a simple castellated folly tower, Kilney Hill Tower, which was inhabited in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It later became ruinous and partially collapsed, but has recently been restored as holiday accommodation.

Descent: built 1821 for Maj. George Anderson (c.1760-1831); to widow, Lucy Anne Anderson (d. 1865) for live with remainder to Thomas Anderson (d. 1872), who sold it subject to the life interest to Richard Pemberton (1782-1843); to son, Richard Lawrence Pemberton (1831-1901); to son, John Stapylton Grey Pemberton (d. 1940); to son, Richard Laurence Stapylton Pemberton (d. 1963), who sold 1949.

Little Harle Tower, Northumberland

The garden front of Little Harle Tower from an old postcard, showing the Victorian range which has been partly demolished.

The development of the house is best appreciated on the garden side. The earliest part of the house is the three storey medieval tower at the left hand end, which has a vaulted ground floor room that would originally have been entered by the blocked arched door. Adjoining this tower to the right is a five bay two-storey range which now looks early 18th century, but which is at least partly medieval and contains a stone newel stair. The sash windows in this part of the house still have their thick early 18th century glazing bars. To the right of this again is the part of the house designed and built by Thomas Anderson for himself in 1861-62, but which again has earlier origins: it contains a mid 18th century staircase and one rather splendid room with a plaster ceiling of c.1745 in the style of the Italian plasterers who worked at Wallington nearby. Externally, however, this wing is Victorian in appearance, and has a large two-storey canted bay window with cinquefoil windows on the first floor and panels of blank tracery above. The entrance front is entirely of 1861-62, including the large Gothic porte-cochere, and was truncated in about 1980 when part of the Victorian additions was taken down.

Anderson family of Anderson Place and Little Harle Tower

Anderson, George (d. 1798). Reputedly the son of a tailor from Benwell, born about 1705, and apprenticed to a bricklayer in 1715, although these dates seem improbably early; he became a prominent and wealthy Newcastle builder.  He married and had issue including:
(1) Major George Anderson (1760-1831) (q.v.).
In 1782 he purchased Greyfriars House alias New Place alias The Nuns and divided it into three dwellings, which may have been occupied by relatives.
He died about August 1798; his will (in which he described himself as an architect) was proved at Durham, 8 September 1798.

Anderson, Maj. George (1760-1831) of Anderson Place. Son of George Anderson (fl. 1782), baptised 20 November 1760 at St John, Newcastle. Served in the 34th Infantry Regiment (Major, 1797; retired, 1800); JP and DL for Northumberland. Visited Iceland in 1807. He married, 15 June 1801, Lucy Anne, daughter of Stephen Croft of Stillington Hall (Yorks), but had no issue.
He inherited Greyfriars House from his father, renamed it Anderson Place, and made alterations to it in 1801. In 1821 he built Hawthorn Hive Cottage (later Hawthorn Towers) in Co. Durham. At his death Anderson Place passed to his first cousin once removed, Thomas Anderson (d. 1872) and Hawthorn Cottage to his widow, who sold it before her death.
He was buried at St. Nicholas, Newcastle, 10 September 1831; his will was proved at Durham, 19 September 1831 (estate value £5,000) and in PCC, 3 November 1831, and by it he left bequests for building spires at the churches of St Andrew and St John, Newcastle and money for a large bell at St. Nicholas. His widow died in York, 27 November 1865; her will was proved 28 December 1865 (estate under £5,000).

Anderson, Thomas (c.1808-72) of Littleharle Tower. Son of Thomas Anderson (d. 1821), apparently of Anderson Place, who was the first cousin of Maj. George Anderson, and his wife Ann Bell, born c.1810.  JP and DL for Northumberland; High Sheriff of Northumberland, 1843. He married, 20 April 1841, Emily (d. 1877), daughter of Rev. John Fisher of Wavendon (Bucks) and had issue:
(1) Emily Anderson (1842-58), baptised Apr-June 1842;
(2) George Anderson (1843-1927) (q.v.);
(3) Mary Anderson (c.1844-1916), baptised 14 March 1846; died unmarried, 5 May 1916;
(4) Eleanor Anderson (c.1846-1925), baptised 14 March 1846; lived in London; died unmarried, 1 October 1925; will proved 7 December 1925 (estate £8,530)
(5) John Anderson (c.1847-1930), baptised 13 January 1848; lived in London; died unmarried and without issue, 19 April 1930; administration of goods granted 11 June 1930 (estate £571);
(6) Mabel Anderson (1849-1915), born Apr-June 1849; lived in London; died unmarried, 19 May 1915; will proved 21 June 1915 (estate £1,268).
He inherited Anderson Place from his kinsman, Maj. George Anderson, in 1831, but sold it in 1834 to Richard Grainger for redevelopment. To replace it he purchased Littleharle Tower and Kirkharle Hall in 1836. He enlarged Littleharle Tower in 1860-61 and demolished most of Kirkharle Hall.
He died 28 October 1872; his will was proved 16 January 1873 (estate under £50,000). His widow died 20 December 1877; her will was proved 14 February 1878 (estate under £4,000).

Anderson, George (1843-1927) of Littleharle Tower. Elder son of Thomas Anderson (c.1810-72) and his wife Emily, daughter of Rev. John Fisher of Wavendon (Bucks), born 16 August 1843. Educated at Eton; Christchurch, Oxford (matriculated 1863; BA 1868; MA 1869); and Inner Temple (called to the bar, 1872); barrister-at-law; JP and DL for Northumberland; High Sheriff of Northumberland, 1886. He married, 2 February 1885, Alice Mildred (1858-1927), daughter of Cadogan Hodgson Cadogan of Brinkburn Priory (Northbld) and had issue:
(1) Maj. George Denis Anderson (1885-1971) (q.v.);
(2) Katherine Florence Anderson (1887-1975), born 31 January 1887; lived at Orchard Farm, Maybole (Ayrshire); died Jul-Sept 1975;
(3) Lt-Col. Francis Anderson (1888-1925), born 15 March 1888; served in WW1 with the Black Watch (mentioned in despatches; awarded DSO, MC and Order of the Crown of Italy); married, 15 April 1916, Vera Maud, only daughter of Frederick Vere Allfrey and had issue one son and one daughter; died 17 May 1925;
(4) Capt. John Frederick Anderson (1889-1915), born 7 May 1889; served in WW1 with 2nd Battn, Highland Light Infantry and died unmarried on active service in France, 14 July 1915;
(5) Mary Eleanor Anderson (b. 1890; fl. 1969), born Jul-Sept 1890; lived at Orchard Farm, Maybole (Ayrshire);
(6) Maj. Philip Anderson (1893-1968), born 19 July 1893; served in WW1 with Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders; married, 18 June 1928, Margaret Elsie, daughter of Somerset Edward Molyneux Butler of Bishops Lydeard (Somerset) and had issue one son; died as a result of a motor accident, 4 February 1968.
He inherited Littleharle Tower and Kirkharle Hall from his father in 1872.
He died 21 May 1927; his will was proved 25 July 1927 (estate £142,857). His widow died 11 December 1927; her will was proved 16 February 1928 (estate £1,210).

Anderson, Maj. George Denis (1885-1971) of Littleharle Tower. Eldest son of George Anderson (1843-1927) of Littleharle Tower and his wife Alice Mildred, daughter of Cadogan Hodgson Cadogan of Brinkburn Priory, born 15 November 1885. Educated at Eton; Christchurch, Oxford (BA 1908; MA 1963) and Inner Temple (called to the bar, 1912). Barrister-at-law; JP for Northumberland; Deputy Chairman of Quarter Sessions, 1939-55 and Chairman, 1955-60; High Sheriff of Northumberland, 1935. Served with Royal Field Artillery in WW1 and in Egypt, 1918-21. He married, 14 June 1926, Mary Pamela MBE (d. 1968), daughter of Francis Myddelton Evans of Llynbaried (Radnors) and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Mary Anderson (b. 1927) (q.v.).
He inherited Littleharle Tower and Kirkharle Hall from his father in 1927.
He died 13 October 1971. His wife died in 1968.

Anderson (later Palmer), Elizabeth Mary (b. 1927) of Kirkharle Hall. Only child of Maj. George Denis Anderson (1885-1971) of Littleharle Tower, and his wife Mary Pamela, daughter of Francis Myddelton Evans of Llynbaried (Radnors), born 19 July 1927. She married, 14 June 1947, Capt. Philip Claud Palmer MC (1918-77), son of Claud Harold Palmer of Claybury Manor, Bushey (Herts) and had issue:
(1) John Philip Palmer (later Anderson) (b. 1948) (q.v.);
(2) Carolyn Lisette Palmer (b. 1951), born 6 June 1951;
(3) David George Palmer (b. 1953), born 27 August 1953;
(4) Vanessa Michele Palmer (b. 1955), born 18 February 1955;
(5) Geoffrey Michael Palmer (b. 1956), born 10 October 1956.
She inherited Littleharle Tower and Kirkharle Hall from her father in 1971.
Now living?

Palmer (later Anderson), John Philip (b. 1948), of Littleharle Tower. Eldest son of Capt. Philip Claud Palmer and his wife Elizabeth Mary, daughter of Maj. George Denis Anderson of Littleharle Tower, born 24 June 1948. He changed his name to Anderson by deed poll in 1973, and received royal licence to bear the Anderson arms the following year. High Sheriff of Northumberland, 2001. He married, 1976, Katharine Jean, daughter of Dr. E.A. Spriggs of River House, Wylam (Northbld), and had issue including:
(1) Thomas Philip Anderson (b. 1978);
(2) Katharine Mary Anderson (b. 1980);
(3) Juliet Helen Anderson (b. 1984);
(4) George Edmund Philip Anderson (b. 1988).
He received the Littleharle Tower and Kirkharle Hall estate from his mother, and was responsible for carrying into effect Capability Brown's unexecuted plans for the landscaping of Kirkharle Hall to mark the tricentenary of Brown's birth.
Now living.

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1969, p.10; Sir N. Pevsner, I. Richmond et al., The buildings of England: Northumberland, 2nd edn., 1992, p.378; P. Meadows & E. Waterson, Lost houses of County Durham, 1993, p. 58; T. Faulkner & P. Lowery, Lost houses of Newcastle and Northumberland, 1996, p. 8.

Location of archives

Family papers are presumed to remain in family custody. In 2013 it was noted that Capability Brown's plan for Kirkharle had gone on permanent display at Newcastle University.

Coat of arms

Anderson of Little Harle Tower: Gules, three martlets fesseways or, between as many oak trees eradicated argent.