SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



HAMPTON 



the stock, 89 but he knew very little about horses, 

 and a story is told that when Edwards his trainer 

 asked what horses were to go to Goodwood, the 

 king said ' Take the whole fleet ; some of them 

 will win, I suppose.' Three of his horses started 

 for the Goodwood Cup on n August 1830, and 

 came in first, second, and third in the race, 90 there 

 being six other starters. On the death of William 

 IV in 1837, the entire stud was sold for 15,692 

 guineas. 91 



General, then Colonel, Peel and Mr. Charles 

 Greville were then allowed to keep a breeding stud 

 in the paddocks. General Peel sold his stock in 

 1 844, and Mr. Greville remained in possession, 

 after 1851 conjointly with Queen Victoria. Her 

 Majesty's first managers were Major Groves and 

 Mr. Lewis. The royal stud was afterwards under 

 the skilful and successful management of Colonel 

 Sir George Maude, K.C.B., Crown Equerry, and 

 became famous and lucrative. Large sums were 

 realized from very early days by the sale of year- 

 lings. In the reign of George IV and William IV 

 they were generally sold at Tattersall's on the 

 Monday in Epsom week for sums varying from 

 150 to .200 apiece. 91 The sale afterwards took 

 place on Saturday in the week after Ascot in one 

 of the Bushey Park paddocks, and the highest 

 prices reached were in 1889 and 1890. In 1889 

 twenty-eight yearlings were sold for 1 1,745 guineas, 

 an average of 420 guineas apiece. In 1890 

 twenty yearlings fetched over 14,000 guineas, an 

 average of 700 guineas each. The famous La 

 Fleche was sold to Lord Marcus Beresford for 

 5,500 guineas at this sale. 



The racing stud was eventually sold in 1 894, 

 and there now only remains a small establishment 

 for carriage horses and the famous cream-coloured 

 ponies which draw the king's state coach. They 

 are descended from horses brought over by George I 

 from Hanover, and the breed has been carefully 

 preserved. They are showy and powerful animals ; 

 and some of them have lived to a great age. 93 



The STUD HOUSE in the Home Park was 

 originally the official residence of the Master of 

 the Horse. It was at one time granted to 

 Mrs. Keppel, the illegitimate daughter of Sir 

 Edward Walpole, and widow of the Hon. and 

 Rev. Frederick Keppel, fourth son of the second 

 Earl of Albemarle, Dean of Windsor and Bishop of 

 Exeter. 935 Afterwards it was held by the Master 

 of the Horse, or Master of the Buckhounds, of the 

 period. From 1853 to 1865 it was granted to 

 Lord Breadalbane, K.T., Lord Chamberlain, and in 

 1865 to Col. Sir George Ashley Maude, K.C.B., 

 Crown Equerry. He died in May 1 894, and the 



house was given to Colonel Sir Alfred Mordaunt 

 Egerton, K.C.V.O., C.B., Treasurer to the House- 

 hold and Equerry to the Duke of Connaught, who 

 relinquished it in 1907, and it is now held by 

 Lady Sarah Wilson, daughter of the seventh Duke 

 of Marl borough, and wife of Major G. C. Wilson, 

 Royal Horse Guards. Besides this house there are 

 only cottages and keepers' lodges in the Park. 



Henry Wise laid out BUSHETPJRK in its pre- 

 sent form, making the great central road through the 

 park, which is a mile long and 60 ft. wide. Near 

 the Hampton Court gate it forms a circle, round 

 the great ' Diana ' fountain, 400 ft. in diameter, 

 and only 5 ft. in depth. The fountain itself was 

 removed from the ' Privy Garden ' in 1712-13, 

 and was mentioned by Evelyn as being designed 

 by Fanelli. In the inventory of Cromwell's goods 

 made in 1659 the statue is said to be of 

 Arethusa. Mb 



The great avenue of horse chestnuts, flanked 

 by four rows of lime trees, borders this main 

 road through the park, and there are two other 

 avenues, each originally about three-quarters of 

 a mile long, one leading towards the paddocks 

 and the Kingston road and one to Hampton. 

 The number of trees planted was 732 limes and 

 274 chestnuts. The whole cost only 4,300." 

 The idea of this magnificent avenue was of course 

 that it should form part of the grand north 

 approach to the palace designed, but never carried 

 out, by Wren. 96 Fishponds and decoys were also 

 made in the park, and Luttrell says that the deer 

 were to be removed for the sake of the hare warren 

 and pheasantry. 90 



The house now know as BUSHET HOUSE, 

 on the west side of the park, behind the chestnut 

 avenue, near the Teddington Gate, was originally 

 known as the ' Upper Lodge ' and was rebuilt in 

 tht reign of Charles II by Edward Progers. 97 The 

 existing house was built in the reign of George II 

 by Lord Halifax. The Rangers of the park appear 

 to have inhabited, or at all events had possession 

 of, this house. William IV, then Duke of Clarence, 

 was appointed Ranger in 1797, and lived almost 

 entirely at Bushey House until his accession to 

 the throne. He amused himself by looking after 

 a farm he had made in the park and took a leading 

 part in all the interests and amusements of the 

 neighbourhood. Queen Adelaide was granted the 

 house after his death in 1837, and lived there 

 quietly till she herself died in 1849. One of 

 the rare visits paid by the late Queen Victoria to 

 Hampton Court was in 1 844, when she and the 

 Prince Consort, the King and Queen of the French, 

 the King and Queen of the Belgians, the King of 



89 Colonel Wemyss was in charge of 

 the stud. 



90 Day, The Horn and kov> to Rear 

 Him, p. 48 (cit. Law). 



Christie Whyte, Hitt. of the Brit. 

 Turf, ii, 288. 



9a List of prices in June issue of 

 Nevi Sporting Mag, 1836 (cit. Law). 



98 Law, op. cit. iii, 339-40. 



Ma Horace Walpole, Lettert, iii, 155. 

 She was the sister of Lady Waldegrave, 

 afterwards Duchess of Gloucester, the 



mother of the three beautiful Ladies 

 Waldegrave, whose famous portrait by 

 Sir Joshua Reynolds is known to all 

 the world. Lady Waldegrave occupied 

 The Pavilions ' at the time that her 

 sister was at the Stud House. Law, 

 op. cit. iii, 314-15- 



*> Cat. Treas. Paf. clattii, 18 ; S.P. 

 Dom. Commonw. cciii, 41, also Evelyn 

 Diary, June 1662. 



M Cal. Treas. Bh. Ixvii, no. 14. 



95 See facsimile of plan from H.M. 



387 



Office of Works in Law, op. cit. iii, 



79- 



91 A plantation opposite Bushey 

 House ; Luttrell, Relation of Affairs of 

 State. 



'" See p. 356. Vidt Law.op. cit. ii,2o6. 

 for a picture of the house as it appeared 

 at that time. S.P. Dom. Chas. II. 

 The keeper of Bushey Park had rooms 

 in the Palace, after the new building 

 had been completed. Law, op. cit. iii, 

 465. 



