1.
New Alresford
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New Alresford or simply Alresford is a small town and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. It is 12 kilometres north-east of Winchester and 20 kilometres south-west of the town of Alton, in the 2001 census, Alresford had a population of around 6,000. There is evidence of a grant to the Church at Winchester sometime before the 9th century, Alresford was listed in the Domesday Book but this probably refers to what is now Old Alresford as there is no evidence of a settlement south of the river at this time. Old Alresford as with Farnham, Guildford, Dorking and Maidstone adjoins the Pilgrims Way between Canterbury and Winchester, New Alresford was founded in the 12th/13th century, the idea originally being that of Henri de Blois, the Bishop of Winchester and brother of King Stephen of England. The design of the T-shaped town was followed by de Blois successor Godfrey de Lucy, Alresford was one of the Bishops six new towns and was his most profitable plantation—his palace was situated in nearby Bishops Sutton, perhaps less than a mile distant. The medieval stone bridge he built at this time is still in place and this expansion also involved the construction of the Great Weir between New Alresford and Old Alresford, creating Old Alresford Pond. This remarkable period in the towns included the construction of one of the oldest canal systems in England. Alresford sent two members to parliament until the population was reduced by the Black Death, defeated Royalists set fire to houses in the town as they withdrew. Much of the town was destroyed by a fire in 1689/90 that destroyed 117 houses in the town as well as the church and Market House, another in 1710. Much of the town was rebuilt in the 18th century, with many of the Georgian buildings remaining today, during the late 18th century, Alresford Cricket Club was one of the strongest sides in England. The 13th-century church was, save the mostly 14th century tower, the top third of the tower is of 16th century red crenalated parapet brickwork pictured. The town is crowned by its large T-shape main street conservation area, the town is an attractive art, rail and tourist destination, with its classical, dense two Georgian streets situated near Winchester and the South Downs National Park. Here are the Swan Hotel, Bell Hotel, Pink House Hotel, jewellers, wine merchants, butchers, flower shops, toy shop, dress shops, there are three other public houses, the larger being the Globe Inn by one of the stream channels and play area. Alresford is at the end of the Watercress Line. This heritage railway line runs steam and diesel trains, and gains its name from the fact that it used to be the line that took watercress up to London, accordingly, the town council provide 115 hanging baskets every summer. Brandy Mount House holds the National Plant Collection of Snowdrops in their grounds, the gardens are open to the public during the season. The Itchen Valley brewery was founded in New Alresford in 1997, the brewery produces a range of cask ales and a selection of beers which until early 2006 were bottle conditioned by Gales Brewery. 200 metres west along the path is a house with mill race underneath
2.
Hampshire
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Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the capital city of England. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000, Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, the southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England and it now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres, and measures about 86 kilometres east–west and 76 kilometres north–south. Hampshires tourist attractions include many seaside resorts and two parks, the New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a maritime history and two of Europes largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, roughly meaning village-town, the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation Hants derives. From 1889 until 1959, the county was named the County of Southampton and has also been known as Southamptonshire. The region is believed to have continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time Britain was still attached to the European continent and was covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants came overland from Europe, these were anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, and with it a neolithic culture, some deforestation took place at that time, although it was during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, that this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. It is maintained that by this period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, which was a major port. There is a Museum of the Iron Age in Andover, the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, and Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia very quickly
3.
Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset
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Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex, KG was an English poet and courtier. Sackville was born 24 January 1643, son of Richard Sackville and he succeeded to his fathers estates and title in August 1677. He was educated privately, and spent some time abroad with a private tutor, in King Charles IIs first Parliament he sat for East Grinstead in Sussex. He had no taste for politics, however, but won a reputation as courtier and he bore his share in the excesses for which Sir Charles Sedley and Lord Rochester were notorious. In 1662 he and his brother Edward, with three other gentlemen, were indicted for the robbery and murder of a tanner named Hoppy, the defence was that they were in pursuit of thieves, and mistook Hoppy for a highwayman. In 1665 he volunteered to serve under the Duke of York in the Second Anglo-Dutch War and his famous song, To all you ladies now at Land, was written, according to Prior, on the night before the victory gained over foggy Opdam off Harwich. Dr Johnson, with the remark that seldom any splendid story is wholly true, in 1667 Pepys laments that Sackville had lured Nell Gwyn away from the theatre, and that with Sedley the two kept merry house at Epsom. Next year the king was paying court to Nell, and her Charles the Second, in 1678 he narrowly escaped death at the hands of the deranged Earl of Pembroke, with whom he was engaged in a lawsuit. On Jamess accession, therefore, he retired from court and he concurred in the invitation to William of Orange, who made him a Privy Counsellor, Lord Chamberlain, and Knight of the Garter. During Williams absences in 1695–1698 he was one of the Lord Chief Justices of the Realm, in 1699 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society He was a generous patron of men of letters. When Dryden was dismissed from the laureateship, he made him an equivalent pension from his own purse, drydens Essay on Satire and the dedication of the Essay of Dramatick Poesie are addressed to him. He was three times married, he married his first wife Elizabeth Bagot, widow of Charles Berkeley, Earl of Falmouth and daughter of Hervey Bagot and Dorothy Arden and he fathered an illegitimate daughter, also named Mary Sackville. The fourth act of Pompey the Great, a tragedy translated out of French by certain persons of honor, is by Dorset. The satires for which Pope classed him with the masters in that kind seem to have been short lampoons, with the exception of A faithful catalogue of our most eminent ninnies. The Works of the Earls of Rochester, Roscommon and Dorset and his poems are included in Andersons and other collections of the British poets. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Archival material relating to Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, portraits of Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset at the National Portrait Gallery, London
4.
Whigs (British political party)
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The Whigs were a political faction and then a political party in the parliaments of England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Between the 1680s and 1850s, they contested power with their rivals, the Whigs origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute monarchy. The Whigs played a role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and were the standing enemies of the Stuart kings and pretenders. The Whigs took full control of the government in 1715, and remained dominant until King George III, coming to the throne in 1760. The Whig Supremacy was enabled by the Hanoverian succession of George I in 1714, the Whigs thoroughly purged the Tories from all major positions in government, the army, the Church of England, the legal profession, and local offices. The Partys hold on power was so strong and durable, historians call the period from roughly 1714 to 1783 the age of the Whig Oligarchy. The first great leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government through the period 1721–1742, his protégé was Henry Pelham, who led from 1743 to 1754. Both parties were founded on rich politicians, more than on votes, there were elections to the House of Commons. The Whig Party slowly evolved during the 18th century, later on, the Whigs drew support from the emerging industrial interests and wealthy merchants, while the Tories drew support from the landed interests and the royal family. The term Whig was originally short for whiggamor, a term meaning cattle driver used to describe western Scots who came to Leith for corn. In the reign of Charles I the term was used during Wars of the Three Kingdoms to refer derisively to a faction of the Scottish Covenanters who called themselves the Kirk Party. It was then applied to Scottish Presbyterian rebels who were against the Kings Episcopalian order in Scotland, Whig was a term of abuse applied to those who wanted to exclude James on the grounds that he was a Roman Catholic. The fervent Tory Samuel Johnson often joked that the first Whig was the Devil, the Whigs, under Lord Shaftesburys leadership, wished to exclude the Duke of York from the throne due to his Catholicism, his favouring of monarchical absolutism and his connections to France. They believed the Duke, if allowed to inherit the throne, would endanger the Protestant religion, liberty, the first Exclusion Bill was supported by a substantial majority on its second reading in May 1679. In response, King Charles prorogued Parliament and then dissolved it and this new parliament did not meet for thirteen months, because Charles wanted to give passions a chance to die down. When it met in October 1680, an Exclusion Bill was introduced and passed in the Commons without major resistance, Charles dissolved Parliament in January 1681, but the Whigs did not suffer serious losses in the ensuing election. The next Parliament first met in March, at Oxford, but Charles dissolved it only after a few days, when he made an appeal to the country against the Whigs, and determined to rule without Parliament. In February, Charles had made a deal with the French King Louis XIV, without Parliament, the Whigs gradually crumbled, mainly due to the Rye House Plot
5.
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
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Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, two of her realms, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, united as a sovereign state known as Great Britain. She continued to reign as Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until her death, Anne was born in the reign of her uncle Charles II, who had no legitimate children. Her father, James, was first in line to the throne and his suspected Roman Catholicism was unpopular in England, and on Charless instructions Anne was raised as an Anglican. Three years after he succeeded Charles, James was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Annes Dutch Protestant brother-in-law and cousin William III became joint monarch with his wife, Annes elder sister Mary II. Although the sisters had been close, disagreements over Annes finances, status and choice of acquaintances arose shortly after Marys accession, William and Mary had no children. After Marys death in 1694, William continued as sole monarch until he was succeeded by Anne upon his death in 1702, as queen, Anne favoured moderate Tory politicians, who were more likely to share her Anglican religious views than their opponents, the Whigs. The Whigs grew more powerful during the course of the War of the Spanish Succession and her close friendship with Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, turned sour as the result of political differences. Anne was plagued by ill health throughout her life, from her thirties onwards, she grew increasingly lame and obese. Despite seventeen pregnancies by her husband, Prince George of Denmark, she died without any surviving children and was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. Anne was born at 11,39 p. m. on 6 February 1665 at St Jamess Palace, London, the child and second daughter of James, Duke of York. At her Anglican baptism in the Chapel Royal at St Jamess, her sister, Mary, was one of her godparents, along with the Duchess of Monmouth. The Duke and Duchess of York had eight children, but Anne, as a child, Anne suffered from an eye condition, which manifested as excessive watering known as defluxion. For medical treatment, she was sent to France, where she lived with her grandmother, Queen Henrietta Maria. Following her grandmothers death in 1669, Anne lived with an aunt, Henrietta Anne, on the sudden death of her aunt in 1670, Anne returned to England. Her mother died the following year, as was traditional in the royal family, Anne and her sister were brought up separated from their father in their own establishment at Richmond, London. On the instructions of Charles II, they were raised as Protestants, placed in the care of Colonel Edward and Lady Frances Villiers, their education was focused on the teachings of the Anglican church. Henry Compton, Bishop of London, was appointed as Annes preceptor, around 1671, Anne first made the acquaintance of Sarah Jennings, who later became her close friend and one of her most influential advisors
6.
Glorious Revolution
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The crisis facing the king came to a head in 1688, with the birth of the kings son, James Francis Edward Stuart, on 10 June. This changed the line of succession by displacing the heiress presumptive with young James Francis Edward as heir apparent. The establishment of a Roman Catholic dynasty in the kingdoms now seemed likely, stadtholder William, the de facto head of state of the Dutch United Provinces, feared a Catholic Anglo–French alliance and had already been planning a military intervention in England. After consolidating political and financial support, William crossed the North Sea and English Channel with an invasion fleet in November 1688. After only two minor clashes between the two opposing armies in England, and anti-Catholic riots in several towns, Jamess regime collapsed, however, this was followed by the protracted Williamite War in Ireland and Dundees rising in Scotland. In Englands distant American colonies, the led to the collapse of the Dominion of New England. By threatening to withdraw his troops, William in February 1689 convinced a newly chosen Convention Parliament to make him, the Revolution permanently ended any chance of Catholicism becoming re-established in England. The Revolution led to limited tolerance for Nonconformist Protestants, although it would be some time before they had political rights. Internationally, the Revolution was related to the War of the Grand Alliance on mainland Europe and it has been seen as the last successful invasion of England. It ended all attempts by England in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century to subdue the Dutch Republic by military force, the expression Glorious Revolution was first used by John Hampden in late 1689, and is an expression that is still used by the British Parliament. The Glorious Revolution is also termed the Bloodless Revolution, albeit inaccurately. Jamess greatest political problem was his Catholicism, which left him alienated from both parties in England. The low church Whigs had failed in their attempt to pass the Exclusion Bill to exclude James from the throne between 1679 and 1681, and Jamess supporters were the high church Anglican Tories. In Scotland, his supporters in the Parliament of Scotland stepped up attempts to force the Covenanters to renounce their faith, when James inherited the English throne in 1685, he had much support in the Loyal Parliament, which was composed mostly of Tories. His Catholicism was of concern to many, but the fact that he had no son, Jamess attempt to relax the Penal Laws alienated his natural supporters, however, because the Tories viewed this as tantamount to disestablishment of the Church of England. The majority of Irish people backed James II for this reason, by allying himself with the Catholics, Dissenters, and Nonconformists, James hoped to build a coalition that would advance Catholic emancipation. In May 1686, James decided to obtain from the English courts of the law a ruling that affirmed his power to dispense with Acts of Parliament. He dismissed judges who disagreed with him on this matter as well as the Solicitor General Heneage Finch, eleven out of the twelve judges ruled in favour of dispensing power
7.
Jonathan Swift
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Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin. Swift is remembered for such as A Tale of a Tub, An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, Gullivers Travels. He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language and he originally published all of his works under pseudonyms – such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, Drapiers Letters as MB Drapier – or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles and his deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed Swiftian. Jonathan Swift was born on 30 November 1667 in Dublin, Ireland and he was the second child and only son of Jonathan Swift and his wife Abigail Erick of Frisby on the Wreake. Swifts father died in Dublin about seven months before he was born, Swifts family had several interesting literary connections. His grandmother Elizabeth Swift was the niece of Sir Erasmus Dryden, the same grandmothers aunt Katherine Dryden was a first cousin of Elizabeth, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh. His great-great grandmother Margaret Swift was the sister of Francis Godwin and his uncle Thomas Swift married a daughter of poet and playwright Sir William Davenant, a godson of William Shakespeare. Swifts benefactor and uncle Godwin Swift took primary responsibility for the young man and he attended Dublin University in 1682, financed by Godwins son Willoughby, from which he received his B. A. in 1686 and developed his friendship with William Congreve. Temple was an English diplomat who arranged the Triple Alliance of 1668 and he had retired from public service to his country estate to tend his gardens and write his memoirs. Gaining his employers confidence, Swift was often trusted with matters of great importance, within three years of their acquaintance, Temple had introduced his secretary to William III and sent him to London to urge the King to consent to a bill for triennial Parliaments. Swift took up his residence at Moor Park where he met Esther Johnson, then eight years old, Swift was her tutor and mentor, giving her the nickname Stella, and the two maintained a close but ambiguous relationship for the rest of Esthers life. In 1690, Swift left Temple for Ireland because of his health, the illness consisted of fits of vertigo or giddiness, now known to be Ménières disease, and it continued to plague him throughout his life. During this second stay with Temple, Swift received his M. A. from Hart Hall, then he left Moor Park, apparently despairing of gaining a better position through Temples patronage, to become an ordained priest in the Established Church of Ireland. He was appointed to the prebend of Kilroot in the Diocese of Connor in 1694, with his parish located at Kilroot, Swift appears to have been miserable in his new position, being isolated in a small, remote community far from the centres of power and influence. While at Kilroot, however, he may well have become involved with Jane Waring, whom he called Varina. A letter from him survives, offering to remain if she would marry him and promising to leave and she presumably refused, because Swift left his post and returned to England and Temples service at Moor Park in 1696, and he remained there until Temples death. There he was employed in helping to prepare Temples memoirs and correspondence for publication, during this time, Swift wrote The Battle of the Books, a satire responding to critics of Temples Essay upon Ancient and Modern Learning, though Battle was not published until 1704
8.
Gilbert Burnet
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Gilbert Burnet was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academic, a writer and a historian. He was always associated with the Whig party, and was one of the few close friends in whom King William III confided. His father was his first tutor until he began his studies at the University of Aberdeen and he studied law briefly before changing to theology. He did not enter into the ministry at that time, and he visited Oxford, Cambridge, London, the United Provinces and France. He studied Hebrew under a Rabbi in Amsterdam, by 1665 he returned to Scotland and was ordained in the Church of Scotland by the bishop of Edinburgh. In 1664 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and he began his ministry in the rural church at East Saltoun, East Lothian, and served this community devoutly for four years. In 1669, without his asking or even consent, he was named to the vacant chair of Divinity at the University of Glasgow. At first he declined, since his congregation unanimously asked him to remain, but and he was later offered, but declined, a Scottish bishopric. In 1672 or 1673 he privately married Lady Margaret Kennedy, daughter of the Earl of Cassilis, the great differences between the couple in age, rank and fortune caused them to keep the marriage secret for a considerable time. The marriage seems to have happy, despite their lack of children. He was to have children by later marriages. With the unsettled times, he left the University in 1674. In London, his political and religious sentiments prompted him to support the Whigs and his energetic and bustling character led him to take an active part in the controversies of the time, and he endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation between Episcopacy and Presbytery. Going to London he gained the favour of Charles II, from whom he received various preferments and he thinks the world is governed wholly by interest. He also recorded some of the Kings most memorable sayings, such as Appetites are free, Burnet himself was neither a sceptic about, nor a convinced believer in the Plot. In the mid-1670s, a French translation of Nicholas Sanders De origine et progressu schismatio Anglicani libri tres appeared, Sanders attacked the English Reformation as a political act carried on by a corrupt king. Several of Burnets friends wished him to publish a rebuttal of the work and this covered the reign of Henry VIII, the second volume covered the reign of Elizabeth and the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, the third volume consisted of corrections and additional material
9.
Alexander Pope
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Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet. He is best known for his verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the second-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations after Shakespeare, Alexander Pope was born to Alexander Pope Senior, a linen merchant of Plough Court, Lombard Street, London, and his wife Edith, who were both Catholics. Ediths sister Christiana was the wife of the miniature painter Samuel Cooper. Pope was taught to read by his aunt, and went to Twyford School in about 1698/99 and he then went to two Catholic schools in London. Such schools, while illegal, were tolerated in some areas, in 1700, his family moved to a small estate at Popeswood in Binfield, Berkshire, close to the royal Windsor Forest. This was due to strong anti-Catholic sentiment and a statute preventing Catholics from living within 10 miles of either London or Westminster, Pope would later describe the countryside around the house in his poem Windsor Forest. He also studied languages and read works by English, French, Italian, Latin. After five years of study, Pope came into contact with figures from the London literary society such as William Wycherley, William Congreve, Samuel Garth, William Trumbull, at Binfield, he also began to make many important friends. One of them, John Caryll, was twenty years older than the poet and had many acquaintances in the London literary world. He introduced the young Pope to the ageing playwright William Wycherley and to William Walsh, a minor poet and he also met the Blount sisters, Teresa and Martha, both of whom would remain lifelong friends. From the age of 12, he suffered health problems, such as Potts disease. His tuberculosis infection caused other problems including respiratory difficulties, high fevers, inflamed eyes. He grew to a height of only 1.37 m. Pope was already removed from society because he was Catholic, although he never married, he had many female friends to whom he wrote witty letters. Allegedly, his lifelong friend Martha Blount was his lover, in May,1709, Popes Pastorals was published in the sixth part of Tonsons Poetical Miscellanies. This brought Pope instant fame, and was followed by An Essay on Criticism, published in May 1711, around 1711, Pope made friends with Tory writers John Gay, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Parnell and John Arbuthnot, who together formed the satirical Scriblerus Club. The aim of the club was to satirise ignorance and pedantry in the form of the fictional scholar Martinus Scriblerus and he also made friends with Whig writers Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. In March 1713, Windsor Forest was published to great acclaim, during Popes friendship with Joseph Addison, he contributed to Addisons play Cato, as well as writing for The Guardian and The Spectator
10.
Leslie Stephen
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Sir Leslie Stephen KCB was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, and mountaineer, and father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell. Stephen was born at Kensington Gore in London, and son of Sir James Stephen and his father was Colonial Undersecretary of State and a noted abolitionist. He was the fourth of five children, his siblings including James Fitzjames Stephen and his family had belonged to the Clapham Sect, the early 19th century group of mainly evangelical Christian social reformers. At his fathers house he saw a deal of the Macaulays, James Spedding, Sir Henry Taylor. He recounted some of his experiences in a chapter in his Life of Fawcett as well as in less formal Sketches from Cambridge. These sketches were reprinted from the Pall Mall Gazette, to the proprietor of which, George Murray Smith, the family connections included that of William Makepeace Thackeray. His brother, Fitzjames had been a friend of Thackerays and assisted in the disposition of his estate when he died in 1863 and his sister Caroline met Thackerays daughters, Anny and Minny when they were mutual guests of Julia Margaret Cameron. This led to an invitation to visit from Leslie Stephens mother, Lady Stephen and they also met at George Murray Smiths house at Hampstead. Minny and Leslie became engaged on December 4,1866 and married on June 19,1867. After the wedding they travelled to the Swiss Alps and northern Italy, and on return to England lived at the Thackeray sisters home at 16 Onslow Gardens with Anny, in the spring of 1868 Minny miscarried but recovered sufficiently for the couple to tour the eastern United States. Minny miscarried again in 1869, but became pregnant again in 1870 and on December 7 gave birth to their daughter, Laura was premature, weighing three pounds. In March 1873 Thackeray and the Stephens moved to 8 Southwell Gardens, the couple travelled extensively, and by 1875 Minny was pregnant again, but this time was in poor health. On November 27 she developed convulsions, and died the day of eclampsia. After Minnys death, Leslie Stephen continued to live with Anny, Leslie Stephen and his daughter were also cared for by his sister, the writer Caroline Emelia Stephen, although Leslie described her as Silly Milly and her books as little works. Meanwhile, Anny was falling in love with her younger cousin Richmond Ritchie, Ritchie became a constant visitor and they became engaged in May 1877, and were married on August 2. At the same time Leslie Stephen was seeing more and more of Julia Duckworth and his second marriage was to Julia Prinsep Duckworth. Julia had been born in India and after returning to England she became a model for Pre-Raphaelite painters such as Edward Burne-Jones, in 1867 she had married Herbert Duckworth by whom she had three children prior to his death in 1870. Leslie Stephen and Julia Duckworth were married on March 26,1878 and they had four children, Vanessa married Clive Bell Thoby Virginia married Leonard Woolf Adrian In May 1895, Julia died of influenza, leaving her husband with four young children aged 11 to 15
11.
Godfrey Kneller
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Kneller was born Gottfried Kniller in the Free City of Lübeck, the son of Zacharias Kniller, a portrait painter. Kneller studied in Leiden, but became a pupil of Ferdinand Bol, the brothers came to England in 1676, and won the patronage of the Duke of Monmouth. He was introduced to, and painted a portrait of, Charles II, in England, Kneller concentrated almost entirely on portraiture. His portraits set a pattern that was followed until William Hogarth, nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When Sir Peter Lely died in 1680, Kneller was appointed Principal Painter to the Crown by Charles II, in the 1690s, Kneller painted the Hampton Court Beauties depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received his knighthood from William III. He produced a series of Kit-cat portraits of 48 leading politicians and his paintings were praised by Whig luminaries such as John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and Alexander Pope. On the landing in Horsham Museum hang works of art from the Museums extensive painting collection, featuring a large 18th-century portrait of Charles Eversfield and his wife, in the painting Eversfield is giving his wife some violets which signifies fidelity, love and honesty. It is likely that the picture was cut down at some time as it was unusual to stop just below the knee and he married a widow, Susanna Grave, on 23 January 1704 at St Brides Church, London. She was the daughter of the Reverend John Cawley, Archdeacon of Lincoln and Rector of Henley-on-Thames, Kneller died of fever in 1723 at Great Queen Street and his remains were interred at Twickenham. He had been a churchwarden at St Marys, Twickenham when the 14th-century nave collapsed in 1713 and was active in the plans for the reconstruction by John James. His widow was buried at Twickenham on 11 December 1729, a memorial was erected in Westminster Abbey. Knellers will gave a pension of £100 a year to his assistant Edward Byng, Byng also inherited the drawings in Knellers studio. Kneller and his wife had no children together, the site of the house Kneller built in 1709 in Whitton, near Twickenham, became occupied by the mid-19th century Kneller Hall, home of the Royal Military School of Music. As to thinking better or worse of mankind from experience, some cunning people will not be satisfied unless they have put men to the test, there is a very good story told of Sir Godfrey Kneller, in his character of a Justice of the peace. In his hometown Lübeck there are works to be seen in the St. Annen Museum and his former works at St. Marys Church were destroyed by the Bombing of Lübeck 1942. A large oil portrait of James VII of Scotland hangs on the staircase of private members Club, The Caledonian Club, in Belgravia
12.
Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland
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Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, KG, PC was an English nobleman and politician of the Spencer family. An able and gifted statesman, his temper and belief in absolute monarchy nevertheless made him numerous enemies. He was forced to flee England in 1688, but later established himself with the new regime after the Revolution of that year, subsequently, he took on a more disinterested rôle as an adviser to the Crown, seeking neither office nor favour. He evinced no party loyalty, but was devoted to his countrys interests, by the notoriously lax standards of the Restoration Court, his private life was remarkably free from scandal, which won him favour in the more sober post-Revolution state. Robert Spencer was born in Paris in 1641 and his father was Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland, and his mother was the Lady Dorothy Sidney, daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester. At the age of three he inherited his fathers dignities, becoming Baron of Wormleighton and Earl of Sunderland, Lady Spencer had him educated after his fathers death, first engaging a Calvinist tutor for him, Dr Thomas Pierce, and afterwards sending him to Christ Church, Oxford. After quitting school he joined the British Army, rising to the rank of captain in Prince Ruperts Regiment of Horse, on 10 June 1665 he was married to Anne Digby. She was the daughter of the second Earl of Bristol, Sunderland then served successively as ambassador to Madrid, Paris, and the United Provinces. He was Gentleman of the Bedchamber from 1673 to 1679, before being invested a Privy Councillor, at the same time he served as Ambassador Extraordinary to Paris. He was accused by some of seeking and clinging to office simply for the salary, despite his otherwise blameless life he had a weakness for gambling, which often involved him in debt, and a passion for Art. He was a collector of paintings, and made alterations to Althorp, but his private life was sober. Sunderlands professed mission was to aggrandise England in the European community and he laboured from 1679 to 1681 to conjoin an alliance against France, but apart from a treaty with Spain in 1680, little came of it. Sunderland’s relations with Paul Barillon, whose tenure as Ambassador from Louis XIV produced many memorable exchanges between the twain, were tenuous and strained. To prevent Barillon from gaining too much influence, Sunderland intercepted and leaked an unusually indiscreet dispatch where the Ambassador boasted of having blocked an Anglo-Dutch treaty. Charles II was predictably furious, and Barillon was for a time forbidden the Court, Sunderland remarked that if Barillon would behave himself so, Lord Sunderland also served as Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire during the minority of Lord Shrewsbury until 1681. Presently Sunderland regained the Kings confidence, the same year he openly embraced the Roman Catholic faith, insincerely, it would seem, and merely to please the King. Later that year he was made a Knight of the Garter, Sunderlands unpopularity was now almost universal, Burnet wrote that it was the wonder of all mankind that James continued to employ him. He was summarily dismissed at last in October 1688, with the remark, You have your pardon, I hope you will be more faithful to your next master than you have been to me
Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1891). "Henley, Anthony". Dictionary of National Biography. 25. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1891). "Henley, Anthony". Dictionary of National Biography. 25. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
