The Castle, from the Bridge.
In 1618 the title of Earl of Warwick was conferred by James I. on Robert, Lord Rich, but, not being descended from the former earls, the estates did not fall into his hands. Dying in a few months after his creation, he was succeeded by his son, Robert Rich, Lord High Admiral for the Long Parliament, whose son (afterwards Earl of Warwick) married Frances, the youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell. After passing through five other members of this family, the title again became extinct, on the death of the last earl of that name, Edward Rich, in 1759.
In November of that year (1759) the title was conferred upon Francis Greville, Lord Brooke, of the long and illustrious line of the Grevilles, and a descendant of Fulke Greville, the “servaunt to Quene Elizabeth, Concellor to King James, and Frend to Sir Philip Sidney,” to whom we have alluded in our account of Penshurst. Francis, Lord Brooke, succeeded his father in the barony, when only eight years of age. In 1746 he was raised to the dignity of Earl Brooke, of Warwick Castle; and in 1759 was created Earl of Warwick, with patent to bear the ancient crest of the earls—the bear and ragged staff. He married a daughter of Lord Archibald Hamilton, by whom, besides others, he had a son, George Greville, who succeeded him as second earl of that line. His lordship married, first, Georgiana, only daughter of Lord Selsey, who died soon after the birth of her only child, a year after marriage; the child, a son, living to the age of fourteen. He married, secondly, Henrietta, daughter of R. Vernon, Esq., and his wife, the Countess of Ossory, and sister of the Marquis of Stafford. By that lady he had three sons and six daughters. Dying in 1816, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry Richard Greville, as Earl Brooke, Earl of Warwick, &c., who, in 1816, married Lady Sarah Elizabeth Saville, daughter of the Earl of Mexborough, and widow of Lord Monson: she died in 1851. By this lady his lordship (who died in 1853) had an only son, the present peer.
George Guy Greville, Earl Brooke, Earl of Warwick, and Baron Brooke of Beauchamp’s Court, all in the peerage of the United Kingdom, was born in March, 1818, and was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he took his degrees. In 1853 he succeeded his father as fourth Earl of Warwick, of that line, and in the previous year (1852) married the Lady Ann Charteris, eldest daughter of the Earl of Wemyss, by whom he has issue living, four sons and one daughter, viz.:—the Hon. Francis Richard Charles Guy Greville (Lord Brooke), born in 1853, his heir-presumptive; the Hon. Alwyn Henry Fulke Greville, born in 1854; the Hon. Louis George Greville, born in 1856; the Hon. Sidney Robert Greville, born in 1866; and the Hon. Eva Sarah Louisa Greville, born in 1860. His lordship, who sat in Parliament for South Warwickshire from 1846 to the time of succeeding to the title in 1853, is Lieutenant-Colonel of the Warwickshire Yeomanry, a Trustee of Rugby School, and is patron of five livings.
The arms of the present peer are—sable, on a cross within a bordure, all engrailed, or, five pellets. Crests—first, out of a ducal coronet, gules, a demi-swan with wings expanded and elevated, argent, for Brooke; second, a bear sejant, supporting a ragged staff, argent, muzzled, gules, for Beauchamp, &c. Supporters—two swans, wings inverted, argent, ducally gorged, gules. Motto, “Vix ea nostra voco.”
The Castle, from the Island.
Having thus glanced at the history of the place, and spoken of the long line of noble and illustrious owners, both of the estates and the title, let us turn to the castle itself, as it stood and was furnished, at the time of our visit. Alas! that we should have to write this in a past sense, and say “stood” in place of “stands.” Alas! that within a few short weeks of our visit, and of our writing these notes, a great part of the building was “gutted” by fire, and many of its most important and interesting features destroyed. It is, however, being rapidly and wisely restored, and doubtless will, ere long, rise “phœnix-like” from the ashes, with renewed beauty. We give our notes as we wrote them before this calamity occurred.