KINGSTON HUNDRED 



KL.W 



mentioned in 1 6th and 17th-century documents, 

 in which case the present palace was most likely that 

 which was known as the Dairy House. These two 

 buildings are often mentioned together, first in the 1 6th 

 century, when there were belonging to them two 

 gardens or orchards, a barn, and a stable that had been 

 a chapel. 34 The capital messuage was probably 

 the one held by Henry Courtenay," Earl of Devon, 

 afterwards Marquess of Exeter, 37 and then by 

 his son Edward, 38 who apparently conveyed it to Sir 

 Miles Partridge, a follower of the Duke of Somerset." 

 Partridge was involved with Somerset in the charge 

 of conspiring against Northumberland, and was exe- 

 cuted in February I55I-2. 40 In the same year the 

 capital messuage and the house adjacent called the 

 Dairy House passed into the possession of Sir Henry 

 Gate." Some six years later Elizabeth granted them 

 to Lord Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leices- 

 ter," who apparently sold them to Thomas Gardiner, 

 a goldsmith of London, who inhabited the house." 

 Gardiner, who was one of four numerators of the 

 receipt of the Exchequer, became heavily indebted to 

 the Crown," and in 1575 he released the property to 

 the queen," who then granted it to Thomas Hand- 

 ford and Kenard Delaber, the sureties for Thomas 

 Gardiner." At the begin- 

 ning of the following century 

 the houses were amongst the 

 possessions of Sir Hugh Port- 

 man," and passed at his death 

 in 1604 to his brother and 

 heir, John Portman." Sir 

 Henry Portman, son of John, 

 died seised of them in 

 1621-2," and was succeeded 

 by his brother John, who, 

 dying three years later under 

 age, was succeeded by the 

 third brother Hugh, then aged nineteen. 40 Hugh 

 died in 1630 ; a funeral sermon on him is extant. 

 His will was proved in 1632." It was probably 

 a few years after this that the capital messuage 

 and the Dairy House became separate estates, the 

 capital messuage being acquired by Richard Bennet, 

 who was dwelling there in 1645, at which date he 

 was presented to Parliament as a delinquent." He 

 was acquitted, however, and discharged from seques- 

 tration in November 1647." In the following year 

 he bought various lands in Kew from Robert Kerr, 

 Earl of Ancram, who had purchased them from 

 Sir William Portman in 1633." 



Richard Bennet's daughter, Dorothy, inherited the 

 Kew estate which she brought in marriage to Henry, 

 Lord Capell of Tewkesbury. 64 In 1683 John 

 Evelyn came to visit his friend Sir Henry Capell 



at Kew. At that time ths house had been repaired ; 

 an artificial fountain played in a niche in the hall, 



PORTMAN. 



df Hi azure. 



Or ajteur 



CAPILL. Gules a lion 

 between three croitlets 

 ftchy or. 



BENNET. Gulei t 

 bexant between three 

 Jemi-lions argent. 



which was roofed with a kind of cupola. Neverthe- 

 less Evelyn describes the room as melancholy, and 

 suggests that it would be improved if painted freica. 

 Capell had also contrived a cupola in the garden 

 between two elms. This was made of poles 'which 

 being covered by plashing the trees to them is 

 very pretty.' M Lord Capell died without children 

 in 1696 and his wife survived him twenty-five years, 

 dying at Kew in 1721. Her husband's great-miece 

 Lady Elizabeth Capell was her heir. She had married 

 in 1717 Samuel Molyneux, the astronomer, Secretary 

 to George II, then Prince of Wales, M.P. and Privy 

 Councillor, who arranged a private observr.tory in the 

 house at Kew, from which he and James Bradley 

 made the observations that led to the discovery by the 

 latter of the aberration of light. The sundial in the 

 garden marks the site of the palace, and commemo- 

 rates the observations made there." 



Mr. Molyneux predeceased his wife by a couple of 

 years in 1728. Shortly after her death Kew House 

 was leased to Frederick, Prince of Wales. He also 

 appears to have found the observatory a siurce of 

 much interest, and during the winter of 17378 

 Dr. Desagulier read lectures on astromony every day 

 to the household. His observatory was then de- 

 scribed as a large room at the top of the house, 

 where he had all his mathematical and mechanical 

 instruments at one end and a Planetarian at the 

 other. 58 After the death of the Prince of Wales, the 

 dowager Princess Augusta continued to spend much 

 of her time here, bringing up her children in great 

 seclusion. The palace, which was also called Kew 

 House, had been flamboyantly decorated by William 

 Kent, who was much in fashion at that period. 1 * 

 The drawing-room and ante-chamber of the common 

 apartment on the ground floor were hungwith tapestry ; 

 the cabinet was ornamented with ' panels of Japan," 

 designed by Kent, who was also responsible for a blue 

 and gilt wainscot in the gallery. The state rooms 

 were on the first floor, and here the gallery was 



"Add. MS. 4705, fol. 114; Pat. < 



Eliz. pt. iv, no. 17. 



" L. and P. Hen. VIII, ix, 479 ; xiii 



(2), 801. 



8 ' G.E.C. Peerage. 



88 Terrier of land in Surrey. Add. 

 MS. 4705 ; Pat. I Eliz. pt. iv, no. 17. 



89 Diet. Nat. Sing. ; Pat. I Eliz. pt. iv, 

 no. 17. 



< Ibid. 



Add. MSS. 4705, fol. 1 14. 



n Pat. i Eliz. pt. iv, no. 17. 



48 Ibid. 17 Eliz. pt. vi, no. 31. 



44 Ibid. 



44 Feet of F. Surr. Mich. 17 4 18 Eliz. 



" Pat. 17 Eliz. pt. vi, no. 31. 

 4 ? Of Orchard Portman in Somerset, 

 not 'a Dutch merchant' as Bradley says. 



48 Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. z), cclxxxiii, 86. 



49 Ibid, ccccvi, 67. 

 " Ibid. 



61 G.E.C. Baronetage. 



" Cat. Com. for Comf. i, ion. 



" Ibid. 



64 Egerton Chart. 306. 



55 G.E.C. Peerage. 



M Evelyn, Diary (ed. Bray), 45 1. When 

 Evelyn visited Capell on 18 Aug. 1678, 

 he described the house at ' an old timber 

 house.' It it difficult not to believe that 



483 



the ' repairs ' must have meant consider- 

 able rebuilding. The hall, with the 

 fountain and cupola, was not part of a 

 timber house. The house when Frederick, 

 Prince of Wales, lived there was apparently 

 of brick and stone. 



' Diet. Nat. Biog. 



M Hist. MSS. Com.Ref. xv, App. vi, 190. 



59 It was probably rebuilt by him for 

 the Prince of Wales. Sir William Cham- 

 bers in Plans, Elevations, &c., at Ke t w t 

 1763, gives north and south elevations of 

 the palace at Kew, designed and executed 

 by the late Mr. Kent. They are ogljr 

 enough to carry conviction. 



