page_title: East Close House
section_title: The Tapps-Gervis-Meyrick family
hierarchical_section_title: East Close House / The Tapps-Gervis-Meyrick family
caption_attribution_description: English: Ordnance Map of East Close, Hinton, Hampshire 1872
context_page_description: East Close House in Hinton, Hampshire, near Christchurch, Dorset, is a building of historical significance and a grade II listed building on the English Heritage Register. A mansion house stood on the site by 1742, which may be that crudely illustrated on Taylor's Hampshire map of 1759. Many notable people resided here before its conversion to a hotel in the 1930s. It was announced in August 2018 that the hotel would close later in the year.
context_section_description: George William Tapps, 2nd Baronet bought the property in 1835. His father, Sir George Ivison Tapps, 1st Baronet, already owned nearby Hinton Admiral House and had been tenant of East Close Farm since 1815. When his father died in 1835 George William inherited this house and added East Close to his estate. At this time he also changed his name to Tapps-Gervis in keeping with this father's will.
  George William Tapps was born in 1795. He was educated to be a lawyer but he did not practise. Instead he became a Member of Parliament in 1826. He is also credited with having a large input into the development of Bournemouth. In 1825 he married Clara Fuller but unfortunately she died only six years later at the age of 29. The couple had four children.
  When George purchased East Close he was aged 39 and a widower. He also died at a young age being only 47 and leaving four young children. The eldest son George Elliott Tapps-Gervis, 3rd Baronet was only 15 when he inherited his father's estate in 1842.
  Sir George Elliott Tapps-Gervis was born in 1827 in Dover. In 1849 he married Fanny Harland who was the daughter of Christopher Harland of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The couple had four children.
  George became the owner of a very large number of properties. Besides Hinton Admiral and East Close he also owned Bodorgan Hall, Anglesey and was said to be landlord of almost the whole of Bournemouth. In 1876 he assumed the name of Meyrick. He died in 1896 and left his estate to his eldest son.
  East Close remains within the Meyrick Estates, and has been leased by many notable people. For example, Baroness Frances Louisa Somerville leased the property for about twenty years after her husband Lord Kenelm Somerville died in 1864. A painting of the rear of East Close House in 1868 is included in an album of watercolours by their daughter, Julia F. Somerville.
caption: Map of East Close 1872 showing garden walls.
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