Hampton Court House
So named in the 1890s
1757
1757 Built by George Montague Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax. Architect Thomas Wright of Durham. Halifax acquired the land, part of Hampton Court Green only in 1761 when he applied to himself for admission as a tenant of the Manor.
1767 3 acres added. Conversion of gravel pit to lake and creation of grotto and ice house.
1771 Death of Lord Halifax. House left in trust to Mrs Donaldson, his mistress and on her death to their daughter Anna.
1772 Trustees became tenants
1773 house mortgaged to Lord Perham.
1780 House restored to Trustees.
1772 Deputy Earl Marshal, 12th Earl of Suffolk, tenant.
1775 4th Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty.
1780 Countess of Lincoln (Horace Walpole's cousin).
1782 Mrs Donaldson retumed; now Mrs Lumor.
1784 Lieut-Colonel Thomas Gardner, tenant.
1797 Anna Maria Archdall (d1805), daughter of Halifax and Mrs Donaldson.
1805 Richard Archdall (Anna's son) inherited.
1799 Admiral Lord Keith, Duke of Clarence's Controller of Household tenant.
1807 Archdall surrendered copyhold to Henry Frail.
1811 Enclosure. It was agreed that there should be no building on the Green. Estate enclosed by shrubbery bounded by Ha-ha.
1816 Let to 3rd Earl of Kerry (1740-1818)
1818 Mrs Golding
1818 James Campbell of Whitton Dean; bought copyhold for £4,800. Member of Toy Club. Road leading to house named Campbell Road. James died in 1847 intestate. John Campbell, junior, inherited.
1862 James Campbell junior mortgaged house to John and Joseph Greathead -redeemed in 1866.
1866 Copyhold sold to Archibald Campbell Scott.
1868 Mrs Anne Huntley, tenant.
1871 House enfranchised. Sold to Marmaduke Blake Sampson, city correspondent of the Times and Argentine Consul in London. He built the Picture Gallery, later a ballroom and subsequently concert room and finally theatre used by Teddington Theatre Club.
1883 House bought by Thomas Twining III for his daughter, Augusta and her husband Auguste de Wette, a Swiss banker. Mr de Wette restored the house.
1887 House conveyed to Mrs de Wette.
1895 alterations to interior
1903 House put up for auction - unsold
1905 ditto
1910 ditto
1912 Announced that house to be demolished.
1912 Mary Clarke bought the house but never lived in it.
1915 House for sale. Bought by Hubert Gore-Lloyd, who made the grand hall and gallery.
1923 Used by Cardinal Operatic and Dramatic Society.
1931 Death of Hubert Gore-Lloyd
1936 Mrs Gore-Lloyd.
1945 Edmond Gore Lloyd sold house to Middlesex County Council. WVS used theatre for food and clothing storage during the war. House became home for Elderly Ladies and with the formation of the Outer London Boroughs continued under Richmond upon Thames. Richmond tried to sell, without success and it was let to Save the Children Fund as a home for refugee Vietnamese Boat Children.
1986 Grotto restored by Diana Reynell, having been upgraded to Grade 2*, the cost met by Richmond Council and English Heritage. The house now belongs to an off-shore company, Fredic, and since September 2001 a school for children between the ages of 3 and 16 has been established.
Further reading:
Gerald Heath (ed Kathy White & Joan Heath), HAMPTON COURT - the story of a village, The Hampton Court Association, 2002
