# Once a Week (magazine)/Series 1/Volume 5/The worthies of Twickenham

THE WORTHIES OF TWICKENHAM.
We know of no place in the United Kingdom, the metropolis excepted, in which there have resided such a number of distinguished persons as Twickenham. We can trace amongst its former inhabitants statesmen, poets, philosophers, painters, authors, ecclesiastics, military and naval men, as well as many women of historical eminence. In the lapse of years it would become difficult to point out the residences and characteristics of these Twickenham worthies, and therefore it is thought that short notices of them would not be found uninteresting as a literary record. It should be stated that Whitton, being a hamlet of Twickenham, such celebrated persons as have resided in that place will be included in the list now about to be given.
Let us begin with Pope and his villa, of which now, alas! but little is left. Here Pope resided with his father and mother about the year 1715. His garden, lawns, and pleasure-grounds consisted of five acres. Horace Walpole tells us in one of his letters that this space Pope twisted, and twirled, and rhymed, and harmonised till it appeared two or three sweet little lawns opening and showing beyond one another, and the whole surrounded with thick impenetrable woods. Here was his grotto, his willow, and the beauteous Thames, on which Pope delighted to be punted on fine days. At Pope’s death, his villa and grounds were sold to Sir William Stanhope, who hacked and hewed the trees, added to and spoilt the house, and desecrated the whole place. His friend, Lord Nugent, wrote the following sycophantic lines to him on what he called his improvements of Pope’s grounds:
And fancy now displays a fairer scope, And Stanhope’s plans unfold the soul of Pope.
Should we not rather read—
And Stanhope’s wealth destroys the taste of Pope?
Not far from Pope’s villa was the lath-and-plaster house built by Horace Walpole in a charming situation, which he called Strawberry Hill. He himself has sufficiently described it in his letters, with its outside appearance and its internal decorations. Here was his printing-press, and here he wrote those letters which will be read probably as long as the English language lasts. At the end of a verdant meadow Walpole purchased a comparatively small house, in which the celebrated Kitty Clive, the actress, resided. He would trip across that field accompanied by his pet spaniel, in order to enjoy the society of that fascinating woman. At his death he left the house to the two beautiful sisters, the Misses Berry, who may be reckoned amongst the Twickenham worthies.
Near to Pope’s villa was the residence of Thomas Hudson, an eminent portrait painter, and who married the daughter of Richardson, the painter. Hudson had for his pupils Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Mortimer, Wright of Derby, and many other celebrated painters, who first studied under him.
The extravagant Philip Duke of Wharton, whom Pope satirised as “the scorn and wonder of the age,” had a house at Twickenham, pulled down a few years ago. A solitary cedar marks the spot, with a pond near it. A life of him, with his poems, speeches, and letters, was published in two volumes, after his death. He died in 1731, in a convent at Tarragona in Spain.
Lady Mary Wortley Montague lived in a house on the left-hand side of the road leading to Twickenham Common; it may still be known by two finely-carved stone vases on each side of the gateway. At one time she lived on terms of great intimacy and friendship with Pope; but they quarrelled, and hated each other cordially for the rest of their lives. She died in 1762. She deserves the gratitude of her country for having introduced inoculation into it.
That charming actress, Mrs. Pritchard, resided at a small house near the Thames, called Ragman’s Castle, and so called from its having been an alehouse and the great resort of beggars. She enlarged it considerably. At her death, in 1758, it became the residence of George Hardinge, Esq., who had been Attorney-General to Queen Charlotte, and afterwards a Welsh judge. Mr. Justice Hardinge was a man of learning, a good lawyer, and of infinite pleasantry and wit. He wrote a series of letters to Burke on his impeachment of Hastings, and many other works. He was the father of that brave Captain Hardinge who lost his life and his ship in fighting an American frigate of far superior force. Mr. Justice Hardinge died in 1816, and his speeches at the bar and in the House of Commons, with his miscellaneous works, and a life of him, have been collected and published.
Close to Ragman’s Castle is that fine villa now called Orleans House, from the late King of the French, Louis Philippe, having lived in it when Duke of Orleans. It was built in the reign of Queen Anne by Mr. Secretary Johnstone, a man whom Pope satirised most bitterly. At his death it was purchased by George Pitt, Esq., better known by the name of Diamond Pitt. It is now the residence of the Duke d’Aumale. This reminds us of the following anecdote. When Louis Philippe was staying at the Star and Garter, Richmond, he walked one day by himself to Twickenham for the purpose, as he said, of seeing ​some of the old tradesmen who had served him when he resided there. As he passed along that place a man met him, pulled off his hat, and hoped His Royal Highness was well.
“What’s your name?” inquired the ex-king. He was told it. “I do not recollect it,” said the king. “What were you when I lived here?”
“Please your Royal Highness,” replied the man, “I kept the Crown,” an ale-house close to the entrance of Orleans House.
“Did you?” said Louis Philippe. “Why, my good fellow, you did what I was unable to do.”
In the upper part of Twickenham, towards Isleworth, there was a very ancient mansion, formerly the residence of Dr. Corbet, Bishop of Norwich in 1635. Adjoining is a house in which lived Sir Richard Perrin, one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer, and close to it another in which the Duke of Montrose lived in 1797.
We now approach the hamlet of Whitton. In a conspicuous situation is Kneller Hall, built by and the residence of the celebrated portrait painter, Sir Godfrey Kneller. It is said that he painted so fine a full-length picture of Lady Kneller, that leaving the door of his studio open, Lady Kneller’s favourite spaniel got access to it, and seeing, as he thought, his beloved mistress, he jumped up at her likeness and injured the picture, which had been taken from the easel and placed against the wall. The staircase in this fine mansion was painted by Leguerre.
In this hamlet resided Sir William Chambers, whose name will be remembered as long as Somerset House exists. His house was built by Archibald, Duke of Argyle, Effie Deans’ duke, who resided here and planted those noble cedars, which are still the admiration of all who see them.
On approaching Twickenham Common, a very pleasing locality, may be seen the house formerly occupied by General Gunning, brother to those celebrated beauties, the Duchesses of Hamilton and Argyle, and Lady Coventry. The Marchioness of Tweeddale resided in it before General Gunning.
Near Twickenham church is a house formerly called York Place, once the residence of the great Lord Chancellor Clarendon. He tells us that when he attended the king (Charles II.) at Hampton Court, he came home every night to his house at Twickenham. This house, from its name, was probably once the residence of James, Duke of York, afterwards James II., as his two daughters, Mary and Anne, afterwards Queens of England, were nursed in it. When he married Lord Clarendon’s daughter, he is supposed to have resigned the house in favour of his father-in-law.
On the north side of Twickenham church is a house which stood on the site of one to which Queen Katherine of Arragon retired after she was divorced from Henry VIII. A part of this house is still remaining.
Robert Boyle, the celebrated philosopher, at one period of his life lived at Twickenham; but the locality has not been ascertained. He was the fifth son of the great Earl of Cork, and died in 1691.
Henry Fielding, the author of “Tom Jones,” &c., also resided at Twickenham. He died at Lisbon in 1754.
John Donne, the poet, was also an inhabitant of that place. He has been immortalised by Izaac Walton. He died in 1631.
Paul Whitehead, the poet, purchased a villa at Twickenham, where he died in 1774.
But we must not omit to mention amongst the celebrated persons who have resided at Twickenham the Lady Augusta Murray, the unhappy wife of the late Duke of Sussex, and the mother of his two accomplished children. That she supposed her marriage with the duke was a legal, although a clandestine one, cannot be doubted. Well might she exclaim:—
Malus clandestinus est amor, damnum est merum.
That learned divine, the Rev. Dr. Waterland, was vicar of Twickenham. He was the author of many works, and died in 1748. He had for his curate during many years the Jeremiah Seed, whose sermons and other works are still well known. He died in 1747.
Another celebrated vicar of Twickenham was the Rev. George Costard. He wrote and published several works on astronomy, and contributed to the Transactions of the Royal Society, of which he was a member.
We must now notice a house which belonged to Walter, Earl of Essex, the great favourite of Queen Elizabeth. He made a present of it to the famous Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, and Lord Chancellor, during whose disgrace it was sold. He resided much here, and entertained Queen Elizabeth in it.
Marble Hill, a delightful villa on the banks of the Thames, was built by the Countess of Suffolk, Philip Earl of Pembroke being her architect, and the gardens were laid out and planted by the hands of no less a personage than Alexander Pope. Although Lady Suffolk was celebrated as the mistress of George II., she was gentle and engaging in her manners, and much beloved by all who knew her. Horace Walpole, who lived on terms of great intimacy with her in her later years, says that “her mental qualifications were by no means shining—her eyes and countenance showed her character, which was grave and mild. Her strict love of truth, and her accurate memory, were always in unison. She was discreet without being reserved, and having no bad qualities, and being constant to her connections, she preserved no common respect to the end of her life, and from the propriety and decency of her behaviour, was always treated as if her virtue had never been questioned.” Her letters to and from her correspondents, which have been published, prove how much she was respected and beloved. Lady Suffolk died at Marble Hill in 1767, in her 80th year. General Peel, the late Secretary at War, now occupies that place. Mrs. Fitzherbert formerly lived in it.
Richard Owen Cambridge had a beautiful villa on the banks of the Thames, near Marble Hill. He must be well known to the readers of Boswell’s Life of Johnson as a man of literary eminence. Here he entertained Sir Joshua Reynolds, Beauclerk, Dr. Johnson, and other members of the literary club.
But it is time to conclude. We might, ​however, multiply our list of Twickenham worthies to a great extent, by means of the parish register and the numerous monuments in the church and the churchyard, but we could not point out their residences, which it was one of our objects to do. We will give an inscription on one monument, because of its pleasing literary associations.
To the memory of Mary Beach, who died November the 5th, 1725, aged 78,—Alexander Pope, whom she nursed in his infancy, and constantly attended for thirty-eight years, in gratitude to a faithful old servant, erected this stone.
Edward Jesse.