A visit to Kelmarsh Hall

On 21 May we drove from our B&B near Bury St Edmunds to Kelmarsh Hall, ten miles or so from Northampton, where portraits of my Champion de Crespigny forebears hang on the walls.

travelling to Kelmarsh Hall

Kelmarsh Hall was once owned by George Granville Lancaster (1853-1907) and Cicely Lancaster née Champion de Crespigny (1874-1946). Cicely was a daughter of the fourth baronet, Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny (1847-1935) and his wife Georgiana (1849-1935). George and Cicely Lancaster had two children, Claude and Valencia. Between 1948 and 1953 Claude was married to Nancy Keene Perkins (1897-1994), whose first husband was Ronald Tree (1897-1976). The Trees rented Kelmarsh in the 1920s and Nancy, who became a noted interior designer, redecorated the Hall. Neither Claude nor Valencia had children. In 1982 to help conserve Kelmarsh Hall Valencia in accordance with her brother’s wishes set up a trust, called the Kelmarsh Trust.

My cousin Stephen Champion de Crespigny (1930 – 2019), an enthusiastic researcher of Champion de Crespigny family history, was a director of the Kelmarsh Trust, and for some years he lived at the Hall in the Coachmans Cottage and served as a volunteer guide. We had hoped to call on Stephen when we were in England. Sadly, in poor health for some time, he died on 18 May.

Kelmarsh Hall and its gardens looked lovely in the bright spring sunshine. Though I had seen reproductions of the family portraits I was very pleased to see the originals. The guides were friendly and helpful.

Kelmarsh Hall

The Great Hall

looking up in the Great Hall

Dining room

The Yellow Room

Claude CdeC (1734 – 1818), the first baronet; Philip (1704 – 1765) my 6th great grandfather and father of the first baronet; Claude CdeC of the South Sea House (1706 – 1782) brother of Philip

Claude CdeC 1620 – 1695 my 8th GGF

Philip CdeC 1738 – 1803 my 5th GGF portrait by Opie

Anne or Betsy?

Heaton CdeC 1796 – 1858 my 2c5r

Claude and Valencia Lancaster

rear of Kelmarsh Hall overlooking terrace

pedigree herd of British White cattle

stables

I had hoped our visit to Kelmarsh would be a highlight of our trip, and it was certainly a great pleasure to be there.

We had lunch in Kettering, a not very exciting town in Northamptonshire. Greg notes that one of its claims to fame is that it was the home of a well-known lichenologist, who was once President of the British Lichen Society.

In the afternoon visited Houghton Mill, a restored National Trust flour mill on the Great Ouse near Cambridge. One of Greg’s ancestors was a miller. It was fun to learn about milling, and I now know why people with the surname ‘Miller’ often have ‘Dusty’ for a nickname.

Houghton

Houghton Mill

River Ouse

We drove into Bury St Edmunds for dinner. The Abbeygrounds has a very pretty park. The town has no famous lichenologist, and has to do with Messenger Monsey, ‘a man notorious in London society for his bad manners’.

Abbey gate

Abbey ruins now form a setting for gardens

West Front, Bury St Edmunds The historic conversion is now complete of the medieval remains of the flint coTimber-framed houses were constructed within the walls in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral

Bury St Edmunds

Related posts

• P is for portraits
• V is for Valencia
• A portrait of Betsy or of Anne?

A portrait of Betsy or of Anne?

In 1912 pastel portraits of four members of the Champion de Crespigny family were sold by the art-auction firm Christie’s. The unnamed artist was listed as ‘British school’.

Without offering any authority for its identifications, Christie’s sale catalogue names the sitters as:

• Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, Bart., in grey coat and plum coloured vest
• Susanna, sister of the above, and wife of Sir Richard Sutton, Bart,. in white flowered cloak and straw hat
• Sarah, wife of Sir William Champion de Crespigny, Bart., in yellow dress with blue scarf
• Anne, wife of Philip de Crespigny, Esq., in white flowered dress, oval

The portrait of Anne is now considered to have been the work of an eighteenth-century Scottish portrait-painter, Katherine Read (1723 – 1778). It was sold most recently by Sotheby’s auction house in 2018. The other three portraits are probably by the same artist.

Katherine Read PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN, PROBABLY ANNE CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY (1739-1797), BUST LENGTH, WITHIN A DRAWN OVAL sold by Sotheby’s lot 54 29 October 2018

Last year on a visit to Kelmarsh Hall, the Northamptonshire country residence of the Lancaster family who were cousins of the Champion de Crespigny family, I took the opportunity to view the various de Crespigny and other family portraits on display.

The Kelmarsh collection includes oil-on-canvas copies of all four of the portraits sold in 1912. However, there are discrepancies between the names attributed to the sitters of the pastel portraits and those of the oil copies.

Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny (1734–1818), 1st Bt British (English) School Kelmarsh Hall Medium oil on canvas Measurements H 74 x W 62 cm

Susan (1735–1776), Sister of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 1st Bt George Romney (1734–1802) (circle of) Kelmarsh Hall Medium oil on canvas Measurements H 75 x W 62 cm

Mary Clarke (1749–1812), Wife of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 1st Bt British (English) School Kelmarsh Hall Medium oil on canvas Measurements H 75 x W 62 cm

Betsy Hodges (d.1772), Second Wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny George Romney (1734–1802) (circle of) Kelmarsh Hall Medium oil on canvas Measurements H 75 x W 62 cm

Kelmarsh Hall oil on canvas portraits of Claude, Susan, Mary, and Betsy de Crespigny

The first two portraits, Claude (1734 – 1818), the first baronet, in a plum-coloured waistcoat and Susan wearing a straw hat, are clearly copies of the pastels and there is no discrepancy as to who the sitters were.

Susan, Claude’s sister, was born 1735 and died in 1766, which means that her portrait was probably drawn before 1766. In 1765 Susan married Richard Sutton. It seems reasonable to suppose that this portrait was done about the time of her wedding.

The sitter of the third pastel portrait was identified in the 1912 Christie’s catalogue as Sarah (1763 – 1825), wife of Sir William Champion de Crespigny (1765 – 1829).

Kelmarsh Hall has a oil portrait said to be of Sarah, and in this she is wearing a blue dress with a yellow shawl not, as in the pastel, a yellow dress with blue scarf. She is very much younger than the other sitters.

Kelmarsh Hall also has a portrait of Mary (1747 – 1812), wife of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny the first baronet. She is wearing a yellow dress with a blue shawl, as described in the 1912 catalogue. I think it more likely based on the description that the third pastel portrait in the 1912 catalogue is the portrait hanging at Kelmarsh and now said to be of Mary de Crespigny née  Clarke.

Lady Sarah Windsor (1763–1825) British (English) School Kelmarsh Hall Medium oil on canvas Measurements H 74 x W 61 cm

Mary Clarke (1749–1812), Wife of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 1st Bt British (English) School Kelmarsh Hall Medium oil on canvas Measurements H 75 x W 62 cm

Kelmarsh Hall: Lady Sarah Windsor (1763–1825) and Mary Clarke (1749–1812), Wife of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 1st Bt

Claude and Mary married in 1764. I think perhaps the first and third portraits were done not long after their wedding, maybe about 1765, at the time when Susan’s portrait was done. It seems likely that the 1912 catalogue misidentified the sitter as the wife of the second baronet. She was in fact Mary, wife of the first baronet. The Kelmarsh Hall portrait of Mary seems to be a better match to the other three portraits and thus likely to be a copy of the third pastel sold in 1912.

There is another possibility: the third portrait is of Sarah Champion de Crespigny née Cocksedge, the first wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny who was the brother of Claude and Susan. Sarah de Crespigny died in 1768. It may be that the 1912 catalogue description correctly identified the sitter as Sarah de Crespigny but misattributed the husband as William de Crespigny (1765 – 1829) instead of his uncle Philip de Crespigny (1738 – 1803). I know of no other portrait of this Sarah de Crespigny.

The fourth portrait, of Anne, has been offered for sale several times since 1912, most recently in 2018. This portrait was probably of Anne Champion de Crespigny, the sister of Philip and Claude, not of her mother, Anne Champion Crespigny née Fonnereau (1704 – 1782), wife of Philip (1704 – 1765). The woman in the portrait, probably drawn in the 1760s, is too young to be the senior Anne de Crespigny.

Katherine Read PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN, PROBABLY ANNE CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY (1739-1797), BUST LENGTH, WITHIN A DRAWN OVAL sold by Sotheby’s lot 54 29 October 2018

Betsy Hodges (d.1772), Second Wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny George Romney (1734–1802) (circle of) Kelmarsh Hall Medium oil on canvas Measurements H 75 x W 62 cm

The pastel portrait sold most recently by Sotheby’s in 2018 and thought to be of Anne de Crespigny, and the Kelmarsh oil on canvas portrait said to be of Betsy de Crespigny née Handly. I am reasonably certain the painting at Kelmarsh Hall is a copy of the pastel portrait and is thus of the same woman – so is the portrait of Anne or of Betsy?

However, the copy of the portrait identified in 1912 and 2018 as Anne de Crespigny is identified at Kelmarsh as being of Betsy Hodges née Handly formerly Borradale, second wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny brother of Claude and Susan and Anne.

Betsy was born in 1743. In 1765 she married George Borradale, a clergyman. They were divorced in 1769 and Borradale died shortly afterwards. In 1770 or 1771 Betsy married again, to Philip Champion de Crespigny, who had been widowed in 1768. Betsy died in May 1772, not long after the birth of her son Charles Champion de Crespigny (1772 – 1774).

It is hard to know if the pastel portrait with a copy at Kelmarsh Hall is of Anne or her sister-in-law Betsy.

At the time of the 2018 sale of the pastel through Sotheby’s, the description of the work stated that there was an indistinct inscription on the reverse. The lot includes a photo of the reverse but I am unable to make out any inscription. Perhaps in the early 20th century the inscription was clearer and thus the attribution of the sitter as Anne de Crespigny was based on that inscription.

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803) had four wives: Sarah died 1768, Betsy died 1772, Clarissa died 1782 and Dorothy died 1837. Clarissa and Dorothy had their portraits painted by the fashionable artist George Romney. Philip was interested in portrait painting and it seems plausible that his first wife would have had her portrait done.

If the inscription on the reverse of the fourth portrait could be deciphered it might give more certainty as to who the sitter was. Similarly if the third portrait re-appears, an inscription would also give some certainty as to who the sitter might be.

I suspect that the 1912 catalogue was correct in the names of the sitters, that is the four portraits were of Claude, Susan, Sarah and Anne de Crespigny. Confusion may have arisen because the 1912 catalogue was incorrect as to who were the husbands of Sarah and Anne de Crespigny. It also may be that Kelmarsh Hall has misattributed the sitters of the portraits of Mary de Crespigny née  Clarke and Betsy de Crespigny née  Handley. Without further documentation I don’t think it is possible to be certain.

P is for portraits

I look forward to seeing my family’s Champion de Crespigny portraits at Kelmarsh Hall in Northamptonshire when we visit England next month.

Kelmarsh Hall and its 3,000 acre estate was bought in 1902 by George Granville Lancaster (1853-1907) and Cicely Lancaster née Champion de Crespigny (1874-1946).

Kelmarsh Hall from page 160 of volume 3 of “Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.“, by John Preston Neale. Published 1820.

 

Cicely was the second child and oldest daughter of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny (1847-1935) and his wife Georgiana (1849-1935). She married George Lancaster on 19 March 1896 at Maldon, Essex, where the de Crespigny family lived at Champion Lodge.

George and Cicely Lancaster had two children: Valencia (1898 – 1996) and Claude (1899 – 1977). (I wrote about Valencia in last year’s A to Z challenge.)

Claude Lancaster inherited Kelmarsh when he turned 25. Not long afterwards, the Hall was leased, a ten year repairing lease, to Ronald Tree and his wife Nancy Tree nee Perkins formerly Field. Ronald Tree was a journalist and investor and later a politician. The Trees redecorated Kelmarsh. Nancy later become well known for helping to create the English Country House look.

When the Trees purchased a different house in 1933, Claude Lancaster moved back to Kelmarsh Hall, where he became an enthusiastic gardener. In 1948 he married the then-divorced Nancy Tree. Five years later, in 1953, the Lancasters were divorced. Despite the short marriage Nancy is best known by her third married surname, Lancaster.

At present times, Kelmarsh Hall is renowned for its gardens and for the interior decoration of Nancy Lancaster.

Claude Lancaster’s grandfather, Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny the fourth baronet, died in 1935. The title passed to one of his sons, Claude Raul Champion de Crespigny (1878-1941). When Raul died in 1941 the title passed to Raul’s cousins. None of the baronets had sons and the title was passed on three more times in the 1940s. The title became extinct in 1952 with the death of the eighth baronet.

At some stage, presumably in the 1940s, Kelmarsh Hall became the repository for a number of Champion de Crespigny portraits and family documents. The contents of Champion Lodge, including the pictures, were sold in January 1947 after the death of the sixth baronet, Henry Champion de Crespigny (1882 – 1946).

Chelmsford Chronicle January 17, 1947 advertisement from page 2 retrieved from FindMyPast from newspapers digitised by the British Library Board

 

 

The pictures in the sale are not specified. Perhaps Claude Lancaster bought the family pictures at the auction; perhaps Raul or Henry had given the pictures to Claude Lancaster to be hung at Kelmarsh Hall. After Champion Lodge was sold, Kelmarsh Hall was the only home in the family that would be large enough to hang the pictures.

Claude died in 1977. On his death his sister Valencia inherited Kelmarsh. Claude and Valencia established an independent charitable trust dedicated to preserving the Hall and the landscape around their childhood home as a traditional agricultural estate with the pastoral lifestyle of the countryside.

Claude and Valencia as children

 

For a number of years many images from the Kelmarsh collection have been able to viewed online through artuk.org. At present there are 88 works that can be viewed through that website.

I am pleased to be able to see images of my forebears on the Internet, but I look forward to seeing the originals of the portraits and paintings at Kelmarsh Hall.

Claude Champion de Crespigny 1620 – 1695, my 8th great grandfather. Portrait at Kelmarsh Hall.

Related posts

• V is for Valencia
• Extinction of the de Crespigny baronetcy

Sources

• Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens website
• Lecture by Martin Wood on Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style https://youtu.be/AN7PJA4aq_g

V is for Valencia

Cicely Valencia Lancaster (1898-1996), known as Valencia, was my sixth cousin once removed. Although ‘sixth cousin’ sounds quite distant, the acquaintance was a little closer. Because of our shared Champion de Crespigny family heritage,  my family knew her well and my father stayed with her in London several times when he was studying at Cambridge in the 1950s. In 1986 my parents visited her at her home at Kelmarsh Hall, Northhamptonshire.

Cicely Valencia Lancaster (1898–1996) painted by Oswald Hornby Joseph Birley (1880–1952) (circle of). Portrait in the collection of Kelmarsh Hall.

Valencia was the oldest daughter of George Granville Lancaster (1853-1907) and Cicely Lancaster née Champion de Crespigny (1874-1946), who was the second child and oldest daughter of Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny (1847-1935) and  his wife Georgiana (1849-1935). Cicely married George Lancaster on 19 March 1896 at Maldon, Essex, where the de Crespigny family lived at Champion Lodge. Valencia was born on 26 March 1898 at London and her brother Claude Granville Lancaster was born, also at London, on 30 August 1899.

At the time of the 1901 census, when Valencia was three, the family was living at Marston Hall, Shropshire. George Lancaster lived on his own means; the Lancaster wealth came from iron and coal. The household included ten live-in servants: a butler, footman, cook, housemaid, lady’s maid, two laundry maids, children’s maid and an under-nurse. At Marston Lodge, nearby lived a coachman and his wife and a groom and his wife. These too were probably associated with the Lancaster household.

In 1902 George bought Kelmarsh Hall and its 3,000 acre estate in Northamptonshire. There he established a herd of British white cattle. Cicely’s brothers took advantage of the hunting opportunities at Kelmarsh. Her brother Claude (1873-1910) kept hunters there.

 

Claude and Valencia as children

George Granville Lancaster died on 20 March 1907 at his rooms in the Albany, Picadilly, London. The Essex Newsman reported he had suffered a long and painful illness. Valencia was 8 and her brother 7.

Northampton Mercury March 29, 1907 page 9 retrieved from the British Newspaper Archive through FindMyPast

 

Northampton Mercury May 24, 1907 page 6 retrieved from the British Newspaper Archive through FindMyPast (Note George Lancaster had only two children although his will had provided for more)

 

At the time of the 1911  census Valencia was living with her mother in a flat in Bentinck Mansions, Marylebone, London. The household included a butler, cook, housemaid and German governess. Claude was at school in Kent

Bentinck Mansions from Google maps

Valencia never married, though it appears she attended the weddings of her friends and relations. There are a number of newspaper reports of her acting as bridesmaid at society weddings.

By 1921 she was driving a car. There is a newspaper report of an accident.

Northampton Mercury November 11, 1921 page 6 retrieved from the British Newspaper Library through FindMyPast

 

In 1939 Valencia received a large inheritance from her uncle Claude Philip Champion de Crespigny (1880-1939). A newspaper article describes her as

She is a cheerful countrywoman, in the middle thirties, who wins prizes at flower shows and, like her late uncle, takes a keen interest in racing.

During the Second World War Valencia served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British Army. She was gazetted in 1940 with a seniority date of 24 November 1938. From 30 May 1941 she was promoted second Subs, the equivalent of second lieutenant.

In 1946 Valencia’s mother Cicely died.  It was reported at the time that for the entire war Cicely had lived with her daughter at North Audley Street, London. She was awarded the Civil Defence Medal for serving for five years as an Air Raid Precautions Warden (A.R.P.), in Westminster.

 

Kelmarsh Hall

 

When he turned 25 Valencia’s brother Claude inherited Kelmarsh Hall. For a time the Hall was rented out but afterwards he lived there and gardened enthusiastically. Between 1948 and 1953 Claude was married to Nancy Keene Perkins (1897-1994), who previously had been married to Ronald Tree (1897-1976). The Trees had rented Kelmarsh in the 1920s with a ten-year repairing lease and Nancy, who became a noted interior designer, had redecorated the Hall.

Claude died in 1977 and Valencia inherited Kelmarsh. In 1982 she established a charitable trust  to facilitate its conservation.

Kelmarsh Hall contains many notable portraits of the Champion de Crespigny family and documents. I am not sure when these were passed to the Lancasters. The baronetcy became extinct in 1952, Valencia’s uncles died without male heirs, and the baronetcy passed through cousins, but in the end there were no descendants in the male line.

The home of the fourth baronet was Champion Lodge at Essex. The sixth baronet Henry died in 1946 at Champion Lodge. By 1949 Champion Lodge was sold and no longer in the family.  By then the former Champion Lodge was a country club. Amongst the family there were a few houses which could have been used to house the portrait collection.

On 29 November 1996 Valencia died, aged 98. Her funeral service was held at Kelmarsh on 9 December.

In 1997 it was reported that Valencia’s estate was worth over two million pounds. She left money to the RSPCA and other animal charities.

Sources:

• Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901. Class: RG13; Piece: 2551; Folio: 9; Page: 9. Retrieved through ancestry.com
• 1911 England census Class: RG14; Piece: 524 Retrieved through ancestry.com
• “The Death Of Captain Claude Champion De Crespigny.” Times [London, England] 20 May 1910: 10. The Times Digital Archive.
• “Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries.” Essex Newsman [Chelmsford, England] 23 Mar. 1907: 3. British Library Newspapers.
• Valencia’s inheritance from her Uncle Philip: Edinburgh Evening News June 15, 1939, p. 8.
• Kelmarsh Lady’s Death, Mrs C. Lancaster of The Hall Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail June 28, 1946, p. 12
• “Police Raid Country Club.” Derby Daily Telegraph, 12 Sept. 1949, p. 1. British Library Newspapers.
• Valencia’s will is included in “Latest wills.” Times, 6 Mar. 1997, p. 20. The Times Digital Archive, http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/6PzKZ3.

Related posts

• Extinction of the de Crespigny baronetcy
• Champions from Normandy – this family history explains who is who in the many portraits at Kelmarsh Hall

R is for Rosydyon Tower the seat of Sir W. de Crespigny Bt

Among a collection of images relating to the Champion de Crespigny family, I came across an image of a drawing of Rosydyon Tower, the seat of Sir W. de Crespigny Bt. The drawing is said to have been done by Mary Catherine Champion de Crespigny (1810-1858), the youngest of Sir William and Lady Sarah de Crespigny’s ten children. Mary married John Brigstocke (1791-1858).

Sir William de Crespigny (1765-1829) was the second baronet, succeeding in 1818 to the baronetcy on the death of his father Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny (1734-1818).  In 1786 William  married the Right Honourable Lady Sarah Windsor (1763-1825), a daughter of the 4th Earl of Plymouth.

Sir William’s entry in Burke’s Peerage of 1830 mentions Rhosydyon Tower, Carmarthenshire in Wales, as one of Sir William’s three country seats. His town residence was Champion Lodge at Camberwell.

Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, Volume 3, 1830, page 204

Rhosduon Tower is mentioned in Buildings of Wales,  referring to a plaque memorialising Lady Sarah de Crespigny:

Her husband built Rhosduon Tower in the parish c. 1820, a castellated toy fort, long demolished.

Rhosduon Tower was near the village of Pencarrag, in south-west Wales.

In 1825 Lady Sarah de Crespigny died at Rhosdyon Tower.

“FASHIONABLE ARRIVALS.” Morning Post, 27 Sept. 1825. British Library Newspapers, tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/4bRUr9. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.

Sir William de Crespigny died on 28 December 1829 in London.  The estate was advertised for sale a few months later.

“Multiple Classified ads.” Morning Post, 22 May 1830, p. 4. British Library Newspapers, tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/4bRXy0.

Notes

I have spelt the name of the tower in the various ways it appears in each of the sources.

Kelmarsh Hall is in Northamptonshire. It is presently operated by a trust set up in 1982 by Valencia Lancaster (1898-1996),  Valencia was the grand daughter of the fourth baronet. Many Champion de Crespigny pictures and records are held at Kelmarsh Hall.  Some of the pictures can be viewed at https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/search/collection:kelmarsh-hall-713

Carmarthenshire and CeredigionVolume 6 of Buildings of Wales by Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach, Robert Scourfield published by Yale University Press, 2006.  page 363.