(172) Arkwright of Hampton Court and Kinsham Court

Arkwright of Hampton Court

The 6,220 acre Hampton Court estate was bought in 1810 for the princely sum of £226,535 by Richard Arkwright (1755-1843) of Willersley Castle (Derbys). Richard inherited substantial wealth from his father, Sir Richard Arkwright (1732-92), kt., who first developed and patented cotton spinning and carding machines for the textile industry and developed the factory system at his mill at Cromford (Derbys). Richard had independently made a fortune from cotton spinning before his father died, and he further grew his fortune throughout a long life by judicious investment and careful accountancy; by the time he died he was the richest commoner, and one of the richest men, in England. From 1792 he began investing capital in the acquisition of landed estates, apparently because agriculture was producing good returns during the long period of war with France up to 1815, and land was therefore a good investment; although as matters worked out these estates also ended up providing homes for his six sons, four of whom founded gentry families that endured over several generations. Hampton Court was the largest of Richard's acqusitions.

In 1814 his fourth son, John Arkwright (1785-1858), who was still unmarried but wished to settle down, asked his father if he might live at Hampton: "of all the situations I know, there is none which suits my tastes so well as Hampton Court... I should like a small farm, grazing or breeding, with liberty to preserve, Shoot and Fish". His father agreed and John settled into the medieval mansion which had been much altered in the early 18th century and more recently modernised in the 1790s. Until his father's death in 1843, however, John had to ask his father for, and justify, expenditure on the estate, and occasionally to persuade his father to soften some decisions which while financially advantageous were not consistent with what was expected of the owner of a landed estate. This no doubt provides the context for Repton's criticism of some very un-Picturesque 'improvements' at Hampton Court which he illustrated by before and after views in his Fragments on the theory and practice of landscape gardening. These show the ancient pleasure ground replaced by a closely planted mass of conifers while across the road the old deer park has been ploughed up.

In 1830, the 45 year old John married Sarah (known as Tally), the pretty daughter of Sir Hungerford Hoskyns bt. of Harewood Park (Herefs), who was half his age, and they produced seven sons and five daughters in eighteen years. Accommodating this large family in modern comfort encouraged the Arkwrights to embark on changes to the house, using first John Atkinson and from 1834 the gentleman amateur, Charles Hanbury-Tracy, as architect. Work proceeded under his direction until 1843, but the relationship was soured by disagreements between Hanbury-Tracy and Tally over the location of the nurseries and other matters. Hanbury-Tracy was also not very sympathetic to the 'domestic Gothic' of the 15th century house and as both Hampton Court and his own house, Toddington Manor (Glos) demonstrate, his interiors could be rather bleak. By the end of his life, John wished he had 'never touched a stone' at Hampton Court.

On his father's death in 1843, John inherited the Hampton estate, a personal legacy of £50,000, and a share in the residual estate of over a quarter of a million pounds. Over the next fifteen years he expanded the estate so that by 1883 it extended to 10,559 acres, worth some £15,000 a year. He was, however, always conscious of his position as an 'incomer' to county society, and was careful to avoid ostentatious displays of his wealth. He sought to earn his position among the county elite through his personal contributions in public affairs and his private subscriptions, and by the end of his life he was widely accepted by the established families of Herefordshire as 'one of us'. 

When John Arkwright died in 1858, he left the house and estate in trust for his eldest son, Johnny Arkwright (1833-1905) to whom he also bequeathed him a share of his cash wealth, which was distributed among John's twelve children. This, combined with large borrowings in the 'High Farming' years of the 1860s and early 1870s meant that, when the estate was hit by the Agricultural Depression of the 1870s and 1880s, Johnny neither had sole power to dispose of parts of his estate to realise capital nor the cash reserves to cover his losses and maintain his family in the style to which it was accustomed. It was a seriously indebted estate which he passed on to his son John (later Sir John Stanhope Arkwright (1872-1954), kt) in 1905. 

Sir John, who was MP for Hereford, took the measure of his new responsibilities and the changed times, and decided that his only course was to sell the Hampton estate and buy somewhere smaller. He was perhaps fortunate to take this course before the First World War when there were still buyers available for large estates. He bought Kinsham Court near Presteigne from the executors of his brother-in-law, Francis Lyndon Evelyn, in 1911 and sold Hampton Court the following year. Kinsham was a smaller house  with a much smaller but still notably Picturesque estate, where he was able to devote himself to poetry, fishing and gardening; and particularly the breeding of daffodils. Kinsham passed at his death to his surviving son, the publisher David Lyndon Arkwright (1911-83), who was unmarried.  It is still in the family, having passed to a great-niece of Lady Arkwright.

Hampton Court, Herefordshire

Hampton Court in 1979. Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Licenced under this Creative Commons licence

Seen from a distance, Hampton Court is almost unimaginably picturesque and romantic; a perfect quadrangular medieval manor house complete with battlements, towers, turrets and Gothic windows, apparently dropped into the farming landscape of 21st century north Herefordshire through some freak temporal dislocation.  And it is indeed essentially medieval; Sir Rowland Leinthall was given licence to crenellate in 1434 and the size and layout of the house he built largely coincide with the present building. But the house has been through many vicissitudes, and what stands today owes something to a remodelling between c.1680 and 1710 and another of the early 1790s, and a great deal more to the changes made by John Atkinson and Charles Hanbury-Tracy for John Arkwright in 1832-43. The house captures perfectly the romantic spirit of the Eglinton Tournament of 1839; it was designed to be, and remains, a powerfully evocative stage set, and one that has captivated successive owners since it was completed.

Hampton Court: plan showing how much of the structure is medieval. Image: Historic England.

The four ranges around a courtyard which Sir Rowland Leinthall built in the 1430s form the core of the present building, but almost all the details have been altered. Only the central tower on the north front and the chapel at the north-east angle preserve any significant medieval work, and even on the tower the archways, vaulting and the tall window over the entrance are of 1841-42, as the Turner drawing below makes clear.  Across the courtyard from the gatehouse is the 15th century porch to the former great hall, now embraced by the 19th century corridors added to the south and east sides of the courtyard. The fine 15th century chapel projects from the east end of the north front, and has three large Gothic windows on the north side, and another in the east end. Inside, it has a fine painted ceiling only the eastern half of which is preserved.

Hampton Court by J.M.W. Turner c.1806. Comparison with the photo above shows the extent of Victorian changes. Image: Tate Gallery.

Known alterations to the medieval fabric began with a remodelling for Thomas, Lord Coningsby, in about 1680. A bird's-eye view of the house by John Stevens dated to c.1705 suggests that this work involved the almost complete classicising of the exterior, the insertion of sash windows, and the addition of a new block at the south-west corner of the house. Catherine Beale suggests the work may have been influenced, and perhaps even paid for, by Coningsby's father-in-law, Ferdinando Gorges of Eye Manor (Herefs), whose own house bears points of similarity to the new block.

Hampton Court from the south, by John Stevens, probably c.1705.

Hampton Court from the north, by Leonard Knyff, 1699 (detail)

The north front was altered again between 1706 and 1710, perhaps to the designs of William Talman, who was certainly consulted about the work in 1703. What may have been the executed design was published in the third volume of Vitruvius Britannicus in 1725. 

Hampton Court: elevation of the north front, from Vitruvius Britannicus, 1725.

The architect gave the facade greater regularity by balancing the tower at the east end of the facade with another at the west end, and a more dramatic skyline by building new turrets to flank the central tower. That to the west of the tower houses a fine early 18th century cantilevered stone staircase with a scrolling wrought iron balustrade. Little else survives of the interiors of the 18th century house, but the fireplace now in the large room between the the gatehouse and the chapel, which was formed in the 19th century and called the Coningsby Hall, gives some idea of the scale and monumentality of the scheme.

The fireplace in the Coningsby Hall is a survivor of the interior decoration of the early 18th century remodelling. Image: © Paul Larsen

Further remodelling was undertaken for the 5th Earl of Essex in the early 1790s. It has been suggested that this was the work of James Wyatt who was working at Hereford Cathedral in the 1790s and who later remodelled Cassiobury (Herts) for the Earl in 1800-05, but whether or not this is so the changes were much in Wyatt's style. Views by James Wathen suggest that a major element of his work was the remodelling of a late 17th century range with dormer windows at the south-west corner of the house, which was raised to three storeys and given battlements and a big round bow window.  No doubt changes were made elsewhere in the house too.

Hampton Court from the south-west by James Wathen, 1791. This view shows the house before the Wyatt style alterations. Image: © Hereford City Library

Hampton Court from the south by James Wathen, 1795, after the 'Wyatt' alterations. Image: © Hereford City Library

The house as it exists today, however, is largely the result of work done between 1832 and 1843 at an astonishing total cost of some £46,000. John Arkwright was married in 1830, and the desire to create a family home no doubt provided the stimulus for remodelling, although by the time he had finished he reputedly wished that ‘he had never touched a stone’. Work began in 1832-33 under the direction of John Atkinson (c.1799-1856), the architect son of a London contracting mason, who also rebuilt Bodenham church (Herefs) for Arkwright. By 1834, however, Arkwright had turned to the amateur architect, Charles Hanbury-Tracy (later 1st Lord Sudeley), who had just finished building his own Gothic house at Toddington Manor (Glos) and who in 1835 became chairman of the Parliamentary committee that chose Barry and Pugin's scheme for rebuilding the Houses of Parliament. Hanbury-Tracy was largely responsible for the work undertaken in 1835-43, although John Atkinson was kept on as a professional adviser and exerted a restraining influence, urging Arkwright to preserve original features and to avoid too eccleasiastical a character in the alterations: 'Do not make Hampton Court a cell to the Abbey of Toddington' he advised. Arkwright's friend, John Gray (County Surveyor from 1842) acted as clerk of works.

Hampton Court from the south-east, as remodelled in 1836-45. Image: © Paul Larsen.

The south and east fronts were radically altered by Hanbury-Tracy. The south front was rebuilt in 1836-37 and avoids symmetry by the placing of its square bay windows, and also by mixing windows of different types along the facade. A projecting drawing room at the south-east angle was added c.1838-39 and a conservatory, designed by Sir Joseph Paxton in 1845-46, was built onto the south-west corner.

At the centre of the house is a substantial courtyard, in which Hanbury-Tracy constructed cloister-like corridors on the south and east sides which were first suggested by John Atkinson in 1833. They improved the circulation to the main rooms of the house, and with their four-centred rib vaults, contributed to the medievalising effect of the remodelling. On the south side, they incorporate the 15th century porch of the great hall and a contemporary projection into the courtyard which housed a staircase from the hall (perhaps to the solar) in the medieval building.

Hampton Court: the dining room created by Charles Hanbury-Tracy for John Arkwright. Image: © Paul Larsen.

Inside the house, Hanbury-Tracy created a series of major new interiors, including the Coningsby Hall, noted above, which has a typical panelled ceiling of the period; the dining room and library which occupied the site of the great hall and parlour (both marked as great hall on the plan above) and a new main staircase in the south-east corner of the house, which has a pierced stone balustrade and octagonal skylight. The drawing room, which was built out from the medieval house on the east side, has an elaborate plaster ceiling with cusped diamond patterns. Altogether, as at Toddington, the interiors disappoint: Hanbury-Tracy lacked the ability to create interiors with the same intensity of medieval feeling as he evoked in his picturesquely-composed external elevations.

Hampton Court from the south by Leonard Knyff, c.1699, showing the extensive garden layout.

At the same time as Sir Rowland Leinthall was given licence to crenellate in 1434 he was given licence to empark 1,000 acres around his house. Sir Thomas Coningsby (d. 1625), who visited Italy with Sir Philip Sidney in 1573 and was a noted Italophile, made a garden at Hampton Court, and a drawing of his fountain in the courtyard - presumably the central courtyard of the house - was published in 1684: this was a fine Doric column with an obelisk finial. A portrait of the 1st Lord Coningsby painted in 1692 has a romanticised view of the landscape at Hampton in the background and gives some impression of the appearance of the estate at that time.

Coincidentally, 1692 was the year when George London, the greatest landscape gardener of the years around 1700, was paid £80 for his designs for a much grander formal garden. His layout is recorded in the paintings by Knyff, 1699 and Stevens, c.1705 reproduced above, and in the garden plan published in Vitruvius Britannicus in 1725 (below). William Talman may also have played a role in the design, since he and London frequently worked together, and are both recorded as working for Lord Coningsby at Hampton Court. The Court is shown surrounded by a series of formal enclosures of different sizes, each treated in a different way, but displaying strong French influence in the elaborate parterres of topiary and coloured gravels.

The Knyff bird's-eye views of the house reproduced above both emphasise its setting in the wider landscape, but an engraving by John Kip, published in Britannia Illustrata in 1707 concentrates more closely on the house and its gardens. This view was probably made in the mid 1690s as it does not show the extension of the canal south of the house into an angular pool which is recorded in the Knyff pictures, nor the elaborate Neptune fountain which had been constructed in it by the time of Stevens' view. A few years later, the influential garden writer Stephen Switzer was also working at Hampton Court, but his contribution seems to have been limited to drainage and irrigation works in the park rather than to any further elaboration of the gardens. He dedicated the second volume of his Iconographia Rustica to Lord Coningsby in 1718.

Plan of the house and gardens at Hampton Court, published in Vitruvius Britannicus, 1725.

The formal gardens were still intact in 1746 and the Neptune fountain was still there in 1758, but they were apparently swept away after Lord Essex inherited the estate in the 1781. By the time Lord Torrington visited in 1784 the gardens had been cleared and timber trees in the park were being felled and sold: "every tree is mark'd; I feel for the dryads of the grove and lament that I cannot suspend the axe". To accompany the remodelling of the house in 1791-95, a new landscaped layout and two walled gardens were created. Humphry Repton supplied designs before 1795, but in a letter to Uvedale Price he regretted that they were likely to be spoilt in execution by Lord Essex's gardener. An account book of 1801 refers to improvements being carried out in the park and elsewhere, but it is not known if this represents the delayed execution of Repton's designs. In the early 19th century the house rose out of a 'spacious lawn of nearly 100 acres', and there was an ornamental conservatory attached to the west side of the house.  Repton did not find Lord Essex an agreeable client: when he worked for him later at Cassiobury, Lord Essex upset his amour propre by treating him like a common tradesman and taking all the credit for the landscaping to himself. 

The present modern formal gardens were designed by Simon Dorrell and David Wheeler with Chedburn Ltd. in 1996-98 within the framework of the old walled gardens. The South Garden has canals, with bridges to a pair of octagonal pavilions of brick with gabled timber roofs. To the east is a maze with a central Gothic tower, then an atmospheric sunken garden with a thatched hermitage. A new north gateway to the estate was built by Chedburn Ltd. in 1996-98, in keeping with the style of the house. The gardens were opened to the public in 2000, and the house has also been open since 2008.

Hampton Court: the new formal gardens of 1996-98.

Image: Nicholas Kingsley. Licenced under this Creative Commons licence 

Hampton Court: the sunken garden and waterfall of 1996-98.
Image: Trevor Rickard. Licenced under this Creative Commons licence.

Descent: granted or acquired through marriage by Sir Rowland Leinthall (1372-1450); to daughter, Elizabeth (c.1424-89), wife of Thomas Cornewall (1407-c.1472); to grandson, Sir Thomas Cornewall (d. 1537), who sold c.1510 to Sir Humphrey Coningsby (d. 1535); to grandson, Humphrey Coningsby (1516-58/59); to son, Sir Thomas Coningsby (1550-1625); to son, Fitzwilliam Coningsby (c.1596-1666); to son, Humphrey Coningsby (b. 1622); to son, Thomas Coningsby (1657-1729), 1st Earl Coningsby; to younger daughter, Frances (1709-81), wife of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams; to grandson, George Capell-Coningsby (1757-1839), Lord Maldon and later 5th Earl of Essex; sold 1810 to Richard Arkwright (1755-1843); to son, John Arkwright (1785-1858); to son, John Hungerford Arkwright (1833-1905); to son, Sir John Stanhope Arkwright, kt. (1872-1954), who sold 1912 to Mrs Nancy Burrell of Carlisle; sold 1924 to Ethel Mildred (d. 1945), wife of Robert Charles Devereux (1865-1952), 17th Viscount Hereford; to grandson, Robert Milo Leicester Devereux (1932-2004), 18th Viscount Hereford; sold 1972 to Trustees of Capt. the Hon. Philip Smith of Campden House (Glos); sold 1974 to Tournament Investments; sold 1975 to George Hughes; sold 1987 to James Folkes; sold 1994 to Sola Scriptorum, a trust founded by Robert van Kampen (d. 1999); sold 2007 to Hampton Court Property Holdings; offered for sale in 2014.

Kinsham Court, Herefordshire

Kinsham Court: the 18th century main block with its late 19th century cornice and roof.
Image: Philip Pankhurst. Licenced under this Creative Commons licence.

An early 18th century T-shaped red brick house, probably built for Thomas Harley of a cadet branch of the Harleys of Eywood, Earls of Oxford. The main block is of five bays and originally had a central entrance doorway on the west front, which was moved in the 19th century to the south side of the house. In the 1760s, alterations were made by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, probably for the Hon. & Rev. John Harley (1728-88), who died here six weeks after becoming Bishop of Hereford. He seems to have added an extra storey to the main front and built a large canted bay on the east side, overlooking the view. Inside, the main rooms are now of the Pritchard period: the drawing room has good plasterwork and a Georgian chimneypiece with a lion's head and foliage; the dining room, at the south-west angle of the house, has a simpler chimneypiece; and there is a third Pritchard chimneypiece in a first floor room which also has a complete set of contemporary panelling.

In 1858, when it was occupied by Lady Dunsany, the house was said to be 'in a most dilapidated condition', and it was still 'partly ruinous' in 1870.  At some point thereafter (perhaps after Lady Dunsany died in 1874, although the house was then let until 1880 during the minority of her nephew and heir) the west front was given a hipped roof above a half-timbered coving and the main entrance was moved to the south side.  The architect is unknown, although James Cranston of Birmingham, who designed estate buildings and cottages at Kinsham in 1858 and worked extensively in Herefordshire, is a possibility.  

Kinsham Court from the south-east in c.1910-20.

The house stands on a naturally dramatic site overlooking a deep wooded valley in which the River Lugg winds over a cascade.  The first improvements may date from the time of Bishop Harley, when the public road to Lingen was diverted to enlarge the grounds, but in 1795 Lady Oxford paid Thomas Corbut the balance of his account for forming the pleasure grounds and making a pond in the stable yard. In the early 19th century the Picturesqueness of the setting was widely appreciated, and Richard Payne Knight, who was an admirer of Lady Oxford, is said to have advised her on improvements.  Lord Byron - who rented the house in 1812-13 and was another admirer of Lady Oxford - is said to have written the first two cantos of Childe Harold under a cedar in the garden, later claiming to have composed them in Italy and Greece; but if so they must have been written on a visit to Lady Oxford, for they were published six months before his tenancy began. The family of Florence Nightingale also rented the house in the 1820s.  In the early 20th century the gardens were extensively planted by Sir John Arkwright with the daffodils of which he was a breeder, and there are still many rare varieties in the gardens.

Descent: Thomas Harley (d. 1685); to son, Thomas Harley (c.1667-1738); to Edward Harley (c.1699-1755), 3rd Earl of Oxford; to younger son, Rt. Rev. John Harley (1728-88), Bishop of Hereford; to nephew, Edward Harley (1773-1849), 5th Earl of Oxford; to creditors, who sold 1824 to Lyndon Evelyn (c.1753-1839); to his adopted son (Francis Evelyn (c.1829-69) and his daughter, Elizabeth (d. 1874), wife of Randall Edward Plunkett (1804-52), 14th/15th Baron of Dunsany; to Francis' son, Francis Lyndon Evelyn (1859-1910), whose executors sold 1911 to his brother-in-law, Sir John Stanhope Arkwright, kt. (1872-1954); to son, David Lyndon Arkwright (1911-83); to first cousin once removed, Mrs. Susan Wood (d. 2020) (a great-niece of Lady Arkwright); for sale 2022.

Arkwright family of Hampton Court and Kinsham Court

Arkwright, John (1785-1858) of Hampton Court. Fourth son of Richard Arkwright (1755-1843) of Willersley Castle (Derbys) [for whom see the forthcoming post on the Arkwrights of Willersley Castle] and his wife Mary, daughter of Adam Simpson of Bonsall (Derbys), born 27 August 1785. Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1806; BA 1809; MA 1812). JP for Herefordshire; High Sheriff of Herefordshire, 1831. In an early example of historic building conservation, he was responsible for buying and re-erecting John Abel's Butter Cross in Leominster as a private house (Grange Court) in 1855. He married, 13 April 1830, Sarah (k/a Tally) (1808-69), eldest surviving daughter of Sir Hungerford Hoskyns, 7th bt. of Harewood (Herefs) and had issue:
(1) Caroline Sarah Arkwright (k/a Carey) (1831-1929), baptised 11 April 1831; married, 27 January 1858 at Hope-under-Dinmore (Herefs), Ven. & Hon. Berkeley Lionel Scudamore-Stanhope (1824-1919), Archdeacon of Hereford   and brother of 9th Earl of Chesterfield, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 18 December 1929 aged 98; will proved 26 February 1930 (estate £8,048);
(2) Mary Arkwright (1832-1914), baptised 3 June 1832; married, 7 August 1862, Samuel Courthope Bosanquet (1832-1925) of Dingestow Court (Monmouths) and Forest House (Essex) and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 25 February 1914;
(3) John Hungerford Arkwright (1833-1905) (q.v.);
(4) Richard Arkwright (1835-1918) of Farnham (Surrey) and Herne House, Windsor (Berks), born 23 January 1835; educated at Harrow, Trinity College, Cambridge (admitted 1853; BA 1857; MA 1860) and Lincolns Inn (admitted 1853; called to bar 1859); barrister-at-law on Oxford circuit; revising barrister for Monmouthshire, Cheltenham and Gloucester, 1865; MP for Leominster, 1866-75; DL for Herefordshire; author of Queen Anne's Gate Mystery and Driven Home; married, 22 July 1862, Lady Mary Byng (d. 1933), daughter of 2nd Earl of Strafford, but had no issue; died 14 November 1918; will proved 4 February 1919 (estate £9,884);
(5) Rev. George Arkwright (1836-77), born 29 July 1836; educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1855; BA 1859; MA 1864); rector of Pencombe (Herefs), 1861-77; married, 10 January 1860 at Hanmer (Flints), Hon. Elizabeth (d. 1930), daughter of Lloyd Kenyon, 3rd Baron Kenyon and had issue six sons and two daughters; died 5 October 1877; will proved 25 January 1878 (effects under £25,000);
(6) Capt. Henry Arkwright (1837-66), born 16 December 1837; educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge (matriculated 1857; cricket blue 1858); served in 84th Regiment (ensign 1858; lieutenant 1860; captain 1865); aide-de-camp to Duke of Abercorn as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1866; killed by an avalanche while attempting the ascent of Mont Blanc on holiday, 13 October 1866; his body was recovered 22 August 1897;
(7) Rev. Edwyn Arkwright (1839-1922) of Upton Grove, Slough (Bucks), born 2 May 1839; educated at Harrow and Merton College, Oxford (matriculated 1858; BA 1864; MA 1865); Assistant Chaplain at Hampton Court Palace, 1865-67; curate of Holy Trinity, Twickenham (Middx), 1868; suffered a degree of permanent deafness, probably as a result of childhood illness; he had a broken engagement (to Lady Muriel Campbell, daughter of 2nd Earl Cawdor) and never married; lived mainly at Telemy, Mustapha Supérieur near Algiers from the early 1870s and died there, 3 September 1922; will proved 30 January 1923 (estate £4,406);
(8) Frances Catherine Arkwright (1841-1908), baptised 25 October 1841; married, 21 July 1881 at Hope-under-Dinmore, Lt-Col. William Hill James (1837-1918), late of 38th Regiment, but had no issue; spent some years in Australia in 1880s; died 28 August 1908; will proved 3 September 1909 (estate £23,587);
(9) Lt-Col. Arthur Chandos Arkwright (1843-1916) of Thoby Priory, Mountnessing (Essex) and later Hatfield Place, Witham (Essex), born 8 March 1843; Major in the Life Guards; Major and hon. Lt-Col. of Shropshire Yeomanry, 1889-90; JP for Essex and Shropshire; married, 28 April 1870, Agnes Mary (1844-1932), only daughter of William Michael Tufnell of Hatfield Place, Witham (Essex) and had issue four sons and one daughter; suffered from acute arthritis and depression, and killed himself, 4/5 May 1916; will proved 20 September 1916 (estate £25,843);
(10) Charles Leigh Arkwright (1846-1927), born 6 June 1846; educated at Harrow and Merton College, Oxford (matriculated 1865); died unmarried in Brighton, 21 December 1927; will proved 10 February 1927 (estate £50,138);
(11) Emily Sophia Arkwright (1845-1927), baptised 28 February 1845; certified insane in 1874 and placed in Ticehurst Asylum where she died unmarried, 17 February 1927; administration of goods granted 31 March 1927 (estate £45,409);
(12) Alice Eden Arkwright (1848-1918), baptised 27 August 1848; lived with her brother at Telemy, Algiers, and died there, unmarried, 27 July 1918.
The Hampton Court estate was bought by his father in 1808-10 and he went to live there in 1814. Between 1832 and 1843 spent about £46,000 on remodelling the house. His widow lived at Llanforda Hall (Shropshire), which she rented from the Williams-Wynn family, from 1867 until her death.
He died 27 February 1858 and was buried at Hope-under-Dinmore; his will was proved 1 April 1858 (effects under £300,000); his children paid for the addition of a transept to Hope-under-Dinmore church in his memory. His widow died 19 July 1869 and was buried with her husband; administration of her goods was granted 23 October 1869 (estate under £6,000).

John Hungerford Arkwright

Arkwright, John Hungerford (1833-1905) of Hampton Court. Eldest son of John Arkwright (1785-1858) of Hampton Court and his wife Sarah, daughter of Sir Hungerford Hoskyns, 7th bt., of Harewood (Herefs), born 12 July 1833. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1856; MA 1867). JP and DL for Herefordshire; High Sheriff 1862; Member of Herefordshire County Council, 1889-1905 (Alderman, 1902-05); Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire, 1902-04. Member of Council, 1862-66, 1877-98 and Vice-President, 1898-1905 of Royal Agricultural Society of England; Captain of Leominster Volunteers; Joint MFH of Herefordshire (later North Herefordshire) Hounds, 1858-74; Governor of Christ's Hospital and Foundlings, 1856; established the Herefordshire Philharmonic Society, 1863, and was President of the Three Choirs Festival at Hereford, 1903. As a result of his investment in estate improvements and the agricultural depression he got into serious debt, and was obliged to obtain an Act of Parliament for the rescheduling of his debts in 1887; he still left the estate seriously encumbered at his death. He married, 12 June 1866 at Yazor (Herefs), Charlotte Lucy (d. 1904), daughter of John Davenport of Foxley (Herefs) and Westwood Hall (Staffs) and had issue:
(1) Sir John Stanhope Arkwright (1872-1954), kt. (q.v.);
(2) Geraldine Mary Rose Arkwright (1875-1939) of Cirencester (Glos), born 23 November 1875; married, 13 August 1901 at Hope-under-Dinmore, Maj. Richard Chester-Master DSO (1870-1917), eldest son of Thomas William Chester-Master of The Abbey, Cirencester (Glos) and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 29 October 1939; will proved 30 December 1929 (estate £4,552);
(3) Evelyn Lucy Alice Arkwright (1876-1953), born 16 November 1876; married, 25 April 1905 at Hope-under-Dinmore, Capt. Thomas Percy Prosser Powell MBE (1869-1940), eldest son of Rev. Thomas Powell of Dorstone (Herefs) and had issue two sons and one daughter; died at Barnwood House Hospital, Gloucester, 17 January 1953; will proved 26 March 1953 (estate £3,389);
(4) Olive Katharine Mary Arkwright (1882-1960) of Sheringham (Norfolk), born 25 November 1882; died unmarried, 27 June 1960; will proved 10 November 1960 (estate £32,758).
He inherited the Hampton Court estate from his father in 1858 and increased the size of the estate to some 10,500 acres.  
He died 25 May 1905; his will was proved 19 July 1905 (estate £17,682). His wife died 19 February 1904.

Sir John Arkwright, kt.

Arkwright, Sir John Stanhope (1872-1954), kt. of Hampton Court and Kinsham Court. Only son of John Hungerford Arkwright (1833-1905) of Hampton Court, and his wife Charlotte Lucy, daughter of John Davenport of Foxley (Herefs), born 10 July 1872. Educated at Eton, Christ Church, Oxford (Newdigate Prize, 1895; MA 1926) and Inner Temple (called to bar 1898). Barrister-at-law; MP for Hereford, 1900-12; acted as unpaid private secretary to Gerald Balfour as President of the Board of Trade, 1902-05; Private Secretary to Alfred, Lord Milner during World War I; Chief Steward and Freeman of the City of Hereford; JP and DL for Herefordshire; knighted 1934; author of the poem, The supreme sacrifice which honoured the fallen of WW1 and which is more familiar as the Remembrance Day hymn O valiant hearts!. A keen gardener from childhood, he became a noted breeder of daffodils from about 1920 and was Chairman of the Midland Daffodil Society, 1937-39; Fellow of the Linnean Society, 1925. He married, 21 December 1905, Helen Muriel Stephanie (1884-1947), youngest daughter of Stephen Robinson of Lynhales, Lyonshall (Herefs) and had issue:
(1) John Richard Stephen Arkwright (1907-43), born 13 January 1907; educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1930; BSc 1937); served in Herefordshire Regiment, 1939-40 but was dismissed after court martial, and then joined the Royal Navy as an Able Seaman in the submarine service; killed when HMS Untamed sank during a training exercise in the Clyde, May 1943; he was unmarried and without issue;
(2) David Lyndon Arkwright (1911-83) (q.v.).
He inherited the Hampton Court estate from his father in 1905, but let the house from 1908 (to Maj. & Mrs. Evelyn Atherley) and sold the whole estate in 1912. He bought Kinsham Court in 1911.
He died 19 September 1954; his will was proved 9 February 1955 (estate £247,513). His wife died 4 January 1947; her will was proved 20 May 1947 (estate £1,809).

Arkwright, David Lyndon (1911-83) of Kinsham Court. Younger but only surviving son of Sir John Stanhope Arkwright (1872-1954), kt., and his wife Helen Muriel Stephanie, daughter of Stephen Robinson of Lynhales (Herefs), born 15 September 1911. Educated at Bruton and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Publisher in London during his father's lifetime, and had a keen interest in poetry, the theatre and antiques; author of The church plate of the archdeaconry of Ludlow, 1961. He was shy and reclusive as a result of a disfiguring skin condition, and was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited Kinsham Court from his father in 1954 but subsequently sold off several farms, reducing the estate. After his death the house passed to his mother's great niece.
He died 10 October 1983; his will was proved 15 November 1983 (estate £1,176,645).

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1965, p. 20-21; C.J. Robinson, A history of the mansions and manors of Herefordshire, [1872], reprinted 2009, pp. 162-69, 198-200; J. Harris, ‘Pritchard Redivivus’, Architectural History, 1968, pp. 17-24; J. Harris, William Talman: maverick architect, 1982, pp. 39, 43; D. Whitehead & R. Shoesmith, James Wathen's Herefordshire, 1770-1820, 1994, unpag.; J. Ionides, Thomas Farnolls Pritchard of Shrewsbury, 1999, pp. 110-12; D. Whitehead, A survey of historic parks and gardens in Herefordshire, 2001, pp. 188-90, 235-6; C. Beale, Champagne & Shambles: the Arkwrights and the country house in crisis, 2009; A. Brooks & Sir N. Pevsner, The buildings of England: Herefordshire, 2012, pp. 258-61, 411; T. Mowl & J. Bradney, The historic gardens of Herefordshire, 2012, pp. 57-74, 236-38; J.M. Robinson, James Wyatt: architect to George III, 2012, p. 327.

Location of archives

Arkwright family of Hampton Court: deeds, estate papers, legal and household papers and family correspondence, 15th-20th cents. [Herefordshire Archives A63, B76];
Harley, Evelyn and Arkwright families of Kinsham Court: deeds, legal and estate papers, 17th-19th cents. [Herefordshire Archives]

Coat of arms

Argent, on a mount vert, a cotton tree, fructed proper, on a chief azure between two bezants, an escutcheon of the field, charge with a bee volant proper.

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Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 20 June 2015, and updated 17 September 2022. I am most grateful to Catherine Beale for her assistance with this account.