The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-09
by La MAnauIsE DE roNTENoy

SPenulnS the week with Earl
Howe. lord chamberlain to hiz
mother' queen Alexandra, is one of
the show places of the United King
dom 1t came into the possession of
his family through marriage. Its
original owner was a BIRMINGHAM
ironmaster OF tho name of Charles
Jennings. whose principal title to fame
OF Handel. who spent much OF his
time as the guest of Jennings at Cop
sal. whore he wrote '"rhe Messiah" and
Israel in Egypt" many of his original
scores being preserved in the library
at Gopsal.
Jennings, on account or the splendor
OF his establishment and OF his equl-
pages. and perhaps. too, by his love of
ostentation used TO be known AZ Solo
mon the Magnificent" and while he
rendered an immense service to music
and literature by his muniiicent patron
age OF Handel. and by his formation of
the superb collection or rare Shakes
peare folios/ (Which were brought un-
der the hammer in 1902 he rendered
himself somewhat ridiculous by pub
fishing towards the close of his life,
an edition OF some of Shakespeare
1t was jennings who built Gopsal
House, in its present form, about 'l6U
years ago. on the site OF medieval
castle which had belonged to the Cur
ION family in the twelfth and thir-
teenth century, but which had passed
out of their possession.
Jennings died without issue and
without leaving any will II seems
that few days before his death. at
the age of ninety-seven. he drov.
down to his lawyers office for the
express purpose of signing his win.
but ON reaching there, found that he
had left his spectaclcs at home, so pu;
off the matter until later date. being
meanwhile overtaken by the Grim De-
stroyer.
His entire property, including Cop
sal House. with all it's literary and
musical treasures. we'll as his
enormous fortune, went in consequence
thereof to his niece Esther, daughter
Of his only sister. Elizabeth, and OF
her husband. William Hammer, or
F'lintshire.
Esther Hammer married the first
Viscount Curzon, whose great-grand-
father, Sir Nathaniel Curzon, had mar
ried Sarah, daughter of William Penn,
cousin and namesakc OF the foun err
of Pennsylvania, and 1t is in this way
that Penn Manor. in Buckinghamshirc.
the ancestral home of the Penn fami-
| ly, is to-day in the possession of Lord
Howe. Bordering on the Penn Manor
estate is the Quakers burial ground,
known as Jordans, in which repose the
ashes of William Penn, the founder Of
Pennsylvania, and his two wives
BY this marriage of Esther Hammer
with the first Viscount Curzon, their
lineal descendant. the present Earl
Howe and Viscount Curzon, is also
master of Gopsal and of the great
Jennings fortune to-day.
Lord Howe, who is an uncle of the
Dukes of Marlborough and of Rox-
buEghe as we'll as of Winston Church
i'll. the Secretary of State for the
Home Department. through his mar
riagc with the late Lady Georgfana
Spencer Churchill. bears title that is
not altogether unknown in this coun-
try. For the third Viscount Howe
served as brigadiergeneral In the
American War of Independence, and
fell at Ticonderosa. His brother, the
fourth viscount, was the celebrated
admiral. who received an earl
dom for his naval victory while
the third brother. WILLIAM, the fifth
viscount, had chief command of tho
British forces in America from 1776
to 1878, after having taken part IN
most of the battles OF the War of
Independence.
All these three brothers were
graRdsons OF George l., their mother,
the wife of the second Viscount Howe,
having been a natural daughter of that
monarch by the Hanoverian Countess
KielmanseGg, whom he created a Brit
ish peerless. with the title of Countess
Darlington. and OF whom Thomas
Carlyle and Thackeray drew such very
nnflattering portraits.
Neither the third nor tho fifth Wis
CONT left any children, while the
fourth viscount, namely. the admiral,
left no son, but several daughters, the
eldest of whom, Sophia, inherited his
Baronyt OF Howe. but not his earidom
which became extinct. Z.
Sophia married Penn curzon, the sou
of that frat .Viscnunt q Curznna uhn Ii,