the Duke of Newcastle, is of considerable antiquity in the county of
Hertford, deriving the name from the manor or lordship of Pelham, in
that county, which, in the reign of Edward I., belonged to Walter de
Pelham. He died in 1292, leaving two sons—William, who died without
issue, and Walter, who was succeeded by his son, Thomas de Pelham.
John de Pelham, the grandson of this latter, “was a person of great
fame in the reign of King Edward III.; and in memory of his valiant
acts, his figure, in armour, with the arms of the family on his breast,
was painted on glass in the Chapter-house at Canterbury, being (’tis
probable) a benefactor to the cathedral, or was buried there.” At the
battle of Poictiers he shared the glory of taking the French king
prisoner with “Lord la Warr, and in memory of so signal an action,
and the king’s surrendering his sword to them, Sir Roger la Warr,
Lord la Warr, had the crampet or chape of his sword for a badge of
that honour, and John de Pelham (afterwards knighted) had the buckle
of a belt as a mark of the same honour, which was sometimes used by
his descendants as a seal manual, and at others the said buckle on
each side a cage, being an emblem of the captivity of the said King
of France, and was therefore borne as a crest, as in those times was
customary.” The “Pelham buckle” is still the badge of the family. Sir
John married Joan, daughter of Vincent Herbert, or Finch, ancestor of
the Earls of Winchelsea and Nottingham, and was succeeded by his son,
John de Pelham, who was no less famous than his father for many great
achievements and honourable exploits. He was Constable of Pevensey
Castle, Treasurer to the King, Ambassador to the French King, and
held many other important offices, and was knighted. Dying in 1428,
Sir John was succeeded by his son, Sir John de Pelham, who also held
many offices. He married twice: first, Joan, co-heiress of Sir John
d’Escures; and, secondly, Joan de Courcy, by whom he had issue, with
others, his son and successor, Sir John de Pelham, who married Alice,
daughter of Sir Thomas Lewknor, but died without male issue, when the
estates passed to his brother, William de Pelham, who also died without
issue, and was succeeded by his brother Thomas.
Thomas Pelham was consecutively succeeded by his sons, John and Sir
William, the latter of whom married, first, Mary, daughter of Sir
Richard Carew; and, secondly, Mary, daughter of William, Lord Sands
of the Vine, Lord Chamberlain to Henry VIII. By his first wife he
had issue, with others, a son Nicholas, of whom hereafter; and by
his second, with others, a son William, who became famous: from him
descended the Pelhams of Brocklesby. Sir Nicholas Pelham married Anne
Sackville, and, at his death in 1559, was succeeded by his son, Sir
John Pelham, who married Judith, daughter of Oliver, Lord St. John of
Bletsoe, by whom he had a son, Oliver, who died young four years after
his father. He was succeeded by Thomas, brother to Sir John, who was
created a baronet in 1611. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas
Walsingham, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Thomas Pelham, as second
baronet, who married three times, and left issue by his first and third
wives. The eldest of these was his successor, Sir John Pelham, Bart.,
who married the Lady Lucy, daughter of the Earl of Leicester, by whom
he had a family of three sons and three daughters. He died in 1702-3,
and was succeeded by his eldest son, Sir Thomas Pelham, Bart., who,
in 1706, was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Pelham of
Laughton, in Sussex.
Lord Pelham married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Jones,
Attorney-General, and, secondly, the Lady Grace Holles, youngest
daughter of Gilbert, Earl of Clare, and sister of John Holles, fourth
Earl of Clare, created Duke of Newcastle (who had married the Lady
Margaret Cavendish, daughter and co-heiress of Henry Cavendish,
second Duke of Newcastle), by whom he had issue two sons—Thomas and
Henry—and five daughters. He died in 1711-12, and was succeeded by his
eldest son, Thomas, as second Baron Pelham.
This peer was born in 1693, and by the will of his uncle, John Holles,
Duke of Newcastle, “was made his heir, and authorised to bear the name
and arms of Holles.” Besides many other important offices, he was made
Steward, Keeper, and Warden of the Forest of Sherwood and the Park of
Folewood, in the county of Nottingham, and in 1714 was promoted to
the dignity of Earl of Clare and Viscount Haughton, with remainder,
in default of male issue, to his brother, the Hon. Henry Pelham and
his heirs male. In the following year he was created Marquis of Clare
and Duke of Newcastle, with the like remainder, and was made a K.G. He
married, in 1717, Lady Harriet Godolphin, co-heiress of Lord Godolphin,
and granddaughter of John, Duke of Marlborough, but died without issue
in 1768. His brother, Henry Pelham, who had married Lady Catherine
Manners, daughter of the Duke of Rutland, having also died without
surviving male issue, the estates and the titles of Duke of Newcastle
and Baron Pelham passed to Henry Clinton, ninth Earl of Lincoln, who
had married Catherine, daughter of Henry Pelham, and whose mother was
the Lady Lucy Pelham, the Earl assuming the name of Pelham in addition
to that of Clinton. His grace had issue—Henry Pelham-Clinton, Earl of
Lincoln, who died during his father’s lifetime without male issue, and
Lord Thomas Pelham-Clinton, who succeeded to the titles and estates.
Thomas Pelham-Clinton, third Duke of Newcastle, was born in 1752, and
married the Lady Anna Maria Stanhope, daughter of the second Earl of
Harrington, and by her had issue two sons and two daughters. He died in
1795, and was succeeded by his eldest son—
Henry Pelham Pelham-Clinton, fourth Duke of Newcastle and eleventh Earl
of Lincoln, who held many local appointments, and was a man of high
attainments. He married, in 1807, Georgiana Elizabeth, daughter of
Edward Miller Mundy, Esq., of Shipley Hall, Derbyshire, and by her had
issue five daughters—viz. the Ladies Anna Maria, Georgiana, Charlotte,
Caroline Augusta, and Henrietta—and six sons, viz. Henry Pelham,
Earl of Lincoln (who succeeded him), and Lords Charles Pelham, Thomas
Charles Pelham, William, Edward, and Robert Renebald. His grace died in
1864, and was succeeded by his eldest son—
Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton, as fifth duke. This nobleman was born
in 1811, and, as Earl of Lincoln, represented South Nottinghamshire
and the Falkirk burghs in Parliament. His grace, who was a man of the
highest integrity, was the confidential friend of H.R.H. the Prince of
Wales (who visited Clumber in 1861), was successively Lord Warden of
the Stannaries, Chief Secretary for Ireland, Secretary of State for the
Colonies, and Secretary of State for War. He married, in 1832, the Lady
Susan Harriet Catherine, daughter of the tenth Duke of Hamilton (which
marriage was dissolved in 1850, the Duchess in 1860 being married to
M. Opdebeck, of Brussels), and by her had issue three sons and one
daughter. These were—the present duke (of whom directly); Lord Edward
William Pelham-Clinton, born in 1836, married to Matilda, daughter of
Sir W. E. Cradock-Hartopp, Bart.; Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton, M.P.,
born 1840, who died in 1870; Lord Albert Sydney Pelham-Clinton, born in
1845, and married to Frances Evelyn, widow of Captain E. Stotherd; and
the late Lady Susan Charlotte Catherine Pelham-Clinton, born in 1839,
married to Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest, son of
the third Marquis of Londonderry.
The present head of this illustrious house, Henry Pelham Alexander
Pelham-Clinton, sixth Duke of Newcastle, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and
thirteenth Earl of Lincoln, was born in 1834, and educated at Eton and
at Christ Church, Oxford. He sat, when Earl of Lincoln, for Newark, and
was attached to Lord Grenville’s mission to Russia in 1856. In 1861 his
grace married Henrietta Adela, only daughter of the late Henry Thomas
Hope, Esq., of Deepdene, Surrey, and Castle Blaney, county Monaghan (by
his wife, the Hon. Gertrude Elphinstone, daughter of the fourteenth
Lord Elphinstone), by whom he has issue living—Henry Pelham Archibald
Douglas, Earl of Lincoln, born in 1864; Lord Henry Francis Hope
Pelham-Clinton, born in 1866; the Lady Beatrice Adeline Pelham-Clinton,
born in 1862; and the Lady Emily Augusta Mary Pelham-Clinton, born in
1863.
The arms of the Duke of Newcastle are—quarterly, first and fourth
_argent_, six cross-crosslets, three, two, and one, _sable_, on a
chief, _azure_, two mullets pierced, _or_, for Clinton; second and
third, the two coats of Pelham, quarterly, viz. first and fourth
_azure_, three pelicans vulning themselves, _argent_, second and third
_gules_, two pieces of belts with buckles erect, in pale, the buckles
upwards, _argent_ (being an augmentation in commemoration of the part
Sir William Pelham took in the capture of the French king at the battle
of Poictiers). Crests—first, out of a ducal coronet, _gules_, a plume
of five ostrich feathers, _argent_, banded _azure_, for Clinton;
second, a peacock in pride, _proper_, for Pelham. Supporters—two
greyhounds, _argent_, plain collared and lined, _gules_.
His grace is patron of ten livings—viz. Worksop, Shireoaks, Cromwell,
Elksley, Bothansall, Brinsley, Markham Clinton, East Markham, Kirton,
and Mapplebeck.
It will not be necessary to describe minutely any of the apartments
of this “Home” of the Newcastles—Clumber. The house has been said,
very absurdly, to be “a second Chatsworth,” and that “it embraces
magnificence and comfort more than any other nobleman’s mansion in
England;” but it is not so. It is a noble mansion, some of its rooms
being characterized by great elegance and beauty, and by pureness of
taste, while others are of a more mediocre character. To some of the
apartments and their contents we proceed to direct attention.
The Entrance Hall, with an arcade supporting its ceiling, contains,
among other works of Art, a semi-colossal statue of Napoleon, which has
usually been ascribed to Canova, but has also, with reason, been stated
to be Franzoni’s reproduction of Chaudet’s great work: it was purchased
at Carrara, in 1823, by the then Duke of Newcastle. In the same hall,
besides others, are Bailey’s statue of the poet Thomson, a fine figure
of Paris, and busts of the Duke of Newcastle by Nollekens, Sir Robert
Peel, Cromwell, Verschaffer’s Triton and Dolphins, &c.
The Library, perhaps the finest apartment in the mansion, is a noble
room, of large size and lofty proportions, and fitted in a style of
great magnificence. The geometric ceiling is richly decorated, and
around the upper part of the room is a light and elegant gallery.
Besides the choice collections of rare old books, and those of more
modern times, which are arranged round the walls of the Library and the
Reading-room (to which access is gained by a lofty arch springing from
pilasters of the composite order), they contain Sir R. Westmacott’s
noble statue of Euphrosyne, Bailey’s Thetis and Achilles, many good
bronzes, and an assemblage of objects of _virtu_. From the windows
of these rooms fine views of the Grounds, the Park, and the Lake are
obtained.
The State Dining-room, an elegant apartment, has a richly decorated
geometric ceiling and a recessed buffet, the recess being formed by
well-proportioned Corinthian columns. The rich cornice, the gilt
festoons that adorn the walls, the mirrors between the windows, the
antique Venetian crystal-glass chandelier and side lights, and the
silver-gilt service on the buffets give a sumptuous air to the room,
while the four magnificent Snyders, and the other fine old paintings
which adorn the walls, add materially to its beauty.
The principal Drawing-room, hung with satin damask, and the furniture
of the most costly and elegant character, is a noble apartment, and
contains, besides Lawrence’s portraits of the fourth Duke of Newcastle
and his duchess, good examples of the Carracci, Vandyke, Castiglione,
and others; while in the Crimson Drawing-room are pictures by
Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, Guido Reni, and Canaletti.
The Grand Staircase, with its iron-work railing, originally described
as being “curiously wrought and gilt in the shape of crowns, with
tassels hanging down between them from cords twisted in knots and
festoons,” has stained-glass windows, and is enriched with a number of
portraits and other paintings. Among the portraits are Pitt, Thomson,
Scott, Southey, Campbell, King George II., Queen Caroline, Prince
Rupert, Dante, Cowley, and Hatton; and among the other paintings are
examples of Snyders, Westall, Van Oss, Andrea Sacchi, Lely, Shackleton,
Diepenbeck, and others.
The other apartments—the Breakfast-room, Billiard-room, Smoking-rooms,
Ante-rooms, and what not—as well as the bed-room suites, are mostly
elegant in their fittings, convenient in their appointments, and
replete with choice works of Art. We, however, pass them over, simply
remarking that among these Art treasures are striking examples of
Gainsborough (the “Beggar Boys”), Gerard Douw, Poussin, Borgognone,
Neefs, Van der Meulin, Carlo Dolce (the “Marriage of St. Catherine”),
Vandyke, Titian, Rembrandt, Breughel, Ruysdael, Teniers, Lely,
Rubens (his wife), Andrea del Sarto, Salvator Rosa, Claude Lorraine,
Wouvermans, Hogarth (portraits of himself and wife), Reynolds, Jansen,
Holbein, Van Loo, Creswick, Dahl, Domenichino, Dobson, Rigaud,
Cranach, Kneller, and others. Many of these are gems of Art of a high
order of excellence.
[Illustration]
At Clumber, too, are preserved four highly interesting Roman sepulchral
altars, which were thus described by the Rev. Archdeacon Trollope,
with the accompanying engravings:[53]—“No. 1 bears the following
inscription on the two small front panels: M. CAEDICI . FAVSTI .
NEGOTIATOR . DE . SACRA . VIA . CAEDICIA . SYNTYCHE . CONLIBERTA—one
that is interesting as bearing reference to a tradesman of the
celebrated _Via Sacra_ at Rome. The birds pecking at a basket of fruit
between them would seem to claim a Christian origin for this work of
Art, had not the ox’s head and pendent sacrificial garland in addition
to the heads at the angles—apparently of Jupiter Ammon—pointed to
heathenism; the garland intermixed with birds, below the inscription,
is both rich and graceful. No. 2 rises from an enriched plinth,
bearing, first, on the pediment of its coped lid, the inscription: D.
M. M. IVNI . IVNIANI, and, on a panel below, D. M. ANTONIA . TARENTINA
. CONIVGI . BENE . MERENTI . FECIT, forming a short but affectionate
epitaph from a wife to a husband, worthy in these respects of modern
imitation. Four masks are placed at the corners of the lid, and on
another part of the lid appears a boar, for which animal Tarentum was
famous. The figures sculptured in front perhaps represent one of the
funereal games. No. 3 is a well-designed coped urn, both its form and
details having received much careful attention. Within a long panel,
surrounded by an enriched moulding, is the inscription, TI . IVLIO
. FELICI . MANNEIA . TREPTEETTI . IVLIVS . PHILONICVS . HEREDES .
FECERVNT. No. 4 is a longer and lower urn than the others, having two
small panels prepared for inscriptions, which never appear to have been
filled up. Small fanciful pillars, or candelabra, surmounted by birds,
form the angles of the urn, from which depend rich garlands of fruit.”
[Illustration]
Adjoining the mansion, but apart from it, is the unfinished Chapel—a
design of much elegance, the work of Messrs. Hine, of Nottingham—which
forms a prominent and pleasing feature from the grounds and lake. It
consists of a nave and chancel, with chancel-screen and semicircular
apse, and has on its north side an organ loft, and on its south a
sacristy; and it has an elegant bell-turret and spire.
[Illustration]
The Pleasure-grounds of Clumber are very extensive, and laid out with
much taste. The terrace, which runs along by the lake, is of vast
length, and is beautifully diversified with statuary, vases, lovely
beds of flowers, and shrubs and trees; from it flights of steps lead
down to the lake, and other steps give access to the Italian Gardens. A
great feature of the grounds is the enormous size and singular growth
of the cedars: some of these are said to be unsurpassed in England both
for their girth and for their magnificently picturesque and venerable
appearance. Some of the conifers, too, are of extraordinary size and
beauty.
The Kitchen Gardens are extensive and well arranged, and the Park well
stocked.
The Lake is one of the glories of Clumber. It is a splendid sheet of
water, covering some eighty or ninety acres of ground, and beautifully
diversified on its banks with woods of tall forest trees and rich
verdant glades. On the bosom of the Lake rest two ships—one a fine
three-master, forming a striking feature in the view.
The neighbourhood of Clumber is rich in places of interest and
in lovely localities;[54] and its near proximity to Sherwood
Forest—indeed, it is itself a part of that forest reclaimed—to
Thoresby, to Hardwick Wood, to Welbeck, to Osberton, to Worksop and
its manor, to Bilhagh, to Rufford, and to a score of other inviting
localities, renders it one of the pleasantest, most desirable, and most
enjoyable of “Homes.”
WELBECK.
WELBECK, which we have chosen as the subject of our present chapter,
has a history, a character, an appearance, and an interest that are
entirely and peculiarly its own. In its external character it differs
very materially in many points from any other mansion yet built; while
its internal arrangements and means of access from one part to another
are so original, and so entirely distinct from what has anywhere else
been adopted, as at once to prove its noble owner, his Grace the Duke
of Portland, by whom it has been planned, and is being carried out, to
be a man of enlarged mind, of princely ideas, of noble conceptions,
of high engineering skill, and of great constructive ability. It is a
place, as we have said, entirely to itself, by itself, and of itself;
it is a place many of whose features, both in general plan and in
minute detail, might with advantage be taken as examples for others
to follow. Vying in extent with some of the largest mansions of the
kingdom, Welbeck cannot, like them, be all seen on the surface, for
many of its noblest and grandest features, and much of the finest and
most complicated parts of its constructive skill, are hidden away from
the general observer, and only flash upon him as brilliant creations
of genius when he is permitted to approach them by descending into the
“bowels of the earth;” then, and then only, does the magnificence of
the design of the noble owner become apparent, and then only does the
vastness of the work become manifest. But of these features we shall
speak presently; first let us say a few words upon its past history and
the changes it has undergone.
[Illustration: _Welbeck, West Front and Oxford Wing._]
Welbeck, with its broad domain, is situated in Nottinghamshire, about
four miles from Worksop, and close to the borders of the county of
Derby. Its parks are one grand succession of fine old forest trees,
and its herds of deer—for it has its herd of white deer, its herd
of fallow deer, and its separate herds of red and other deer—are of
great extent and of fine and noble quality. Before the Conquest Welbeck
was held by the Saxon Sweyn, but afterwards it passed to the Flemangs
as part of the manor of Cuckney. By Thomas de Cuckney (grandson of
Joceus de Flemang) the Abbey was founded, and here, in the reign of
Henry II., he planted a settlement of Præemonstratensian or White
Canons from Newhouse, in Lincolnshire, the first house in which they
were established in England. The Abbey was dedicated to St. James, and
endowed with grants of lands. These were from time to time considerably
augmented, and “in 1329 the Bishop of Ely bought the whole of the
manor of Cuckney, and settled it upon the Abbey on condition of their
finding eight canons who should enjoy the good things and pray for
Edward the Third and his queen, their children and ancestors, &c.; also
for the bishop’s father and mother, brother, &c.; ‘but especially for
the health of the said lord bishop whilst he lived, and after his death
for his soul, and for all theirs that had faithfully served him or done
him any good;’ to which was added this extraordinary injunction, that
they should observe his anniversary, and on their days of commemorating
the dead ‘should absolve his soul by name;’ a process whose frequent
repetition might naturally be considered as needless, unless the pious
bishop supposed that he might perhaps commit a few additional sins
whilst in purgatory.”
In 1512, it is stated, the Abbey at Welbeck was made the head of the
order. At the dissolution it was granted to Richard Whalley, and
later on, after other changes, passed to Sir Charles Cavendish, of
whom we shall speak presently. By him the Abbey was converted into a
noble mansion, but little of the original religious house being left
standing, and these parts only used as cellars, or here and there a
wall, for the new building. The present mansion is said to have been
commenced in 1604, and was afterwards much altered and enlarged, the
riding-house being built in 1623, and the stables two years afterwards,
from the designs of John Smithson. By the late Duke of Portland many
alterations in the mansion were effected, and the grounds were also
much improved.