Memorials of Old Lincolnshire

by Unknown

The Long Gallery, Doddington Hall.

Between these two rooms the main staircase is carried in a projection of the house on the north, a broad flight to the first landing, returning in narrower flights on either side to the first floor. Its plain banisters and heavy mahogany rail show that it is of later date than the house, and, in fact, it was put up by Lord Delaval in 1761. On the landing on either side are portraits of Mr. Edward Hussey-Delaval, and of his daughter, Mrs. Gunman. The former, taken in 1813, represents him at the age of eighty-five as a white-haired old man, seated at the window of his house in Parliament Place, looking out on the Thames, with St. Paul’s in the distance, and on the table before him many of his scientific works, including his report on the best means of preserving St. Paul’s from lightning, and its translation into Italian in 1779, which was done by the order and at the expense of the Emperor Joseph II. Following the returns of the staircase, we have on the one side portraits of Rhoda Apreece, the heiress of Doddington, as a girl with a goldfinch, and in later life as Mrs. Rhoda Blake-Delaval. Next beyond is the seated figure of her aunt Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Sir Thomas Hussey, and wife of Richard Ellys, Esq. of Nocton (died 1724), painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller, probably the picture of her “sister Betty,” bequeathed by Rebecca Hussey to her niece, Rhoda Apreece, in 1714. On the opposite flight of stairs are ranged portraits of Colonel G. R. P. Jarvis, to whom Mrs. Gunman left the Doddington estate in 1825; of George Eden Jarvis, Esq., his grandson, and its present owner; of Martha Lowth (b. 1710, d. 1796), sister of Bishop Lowth, as a girl, and of her future husband, Dr. Robert Eden (b. 1702, d. 1759), Archdeacon of Winchester.

On the landing between these flights of stairs is one of the most pleasing pictures in the house, representing a family group of the three youngest sons and three youngest daughters of Francis and Rhoda Blake-Delaval. We may notice that the heads have been painted separately and inserted in the canvas. These were painted by the eldest sister, Rhoda, who married Edward, afterwards Sir Edward Astley, Bart., while the background and figures and draperies were added by Van Hacken, a celebrated painter of the day. The seated figure of the boy with portfolio is George, and the two with musical instruments are Henry and Ralph, who were twins, and so alike as scarcely to be known apart. These three died young, Henry only surviving till 1760, when he was killed in India. Of the daughters, the standing figure is Ann, afterwards the wife of Sir William Stanhope, K.B.; the next Elizabeth, who died young; and the least Sarah, afterwards Countess of Mexborough, who died the last survivor of her generation of the family, at the age of eighty, in 1821.

From this landing we enter the drawing-room, which is on the first floor, above the hall and of the same dimensions with it, with windows opening to the east and west. Here on all sides are portraits of the Delaval family. Over the mantel itself is the portrait of Mrs. Rhoda Blake-Delaval, with a corresponding one of her husband, Captain Francis Blake-Delaval, opposite. Another picture of her at full length, seated, painted by Arthur Pond, occupies the south part of the eastern wall, while the two ends of the room are filled with groups by the same artist, one of four, the other of seven figures of her sons and daughters; the taller lady in the centre is said to have been a cousin. Similar pictures exist also at Seaton-Delaval. On either side of the fireplace are full-length seated figures, also painted by Pond, of the second of these sons, John Hussey-Delaval, Lord Delaval, who inherited Doddington from his mother in 1759, and died in 1808, and of his wife Susannah, Lady Delaval, who died in 1783. The remaining space on the east wall is occupied by the likeness of the eldest son, Sir Francis Blake-Delaval, K.B., by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who has represented him in his red Volunteer uniform, standing musket in hand on the French coast, with villages burning in the background. Similar portraits of him are found at Seaton-Delaval, and Methley Park, Yorkshire, and at Ford Castle, and it has been engraved in a series of portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, published in 1865. Over the doorways are four smaller portraits, one representing Edward Hussey-Delaval, in his tufted college cap; and a second, the eldest sister, Rhoda, Mrs. Astley; whilst a third, if it is rightly said to represent Lady Tyrconnel, is the only one of Lord Delaval’s children now at Doddington.

Beyond the drawing-room on the south is a bedroom which still retains its ancient tapestry. On it are depicted scenes from the Trojan War, but with its former bright colours sadly faded. To the picture of a dog over the door the following story is attached. It belonged to Mr. Henry Stone, of the adjoining parish of Skellingthorpe, and it is said to have pulled his master three times away from a tree under which he had taken shelter from a thunderstorm. At the third time the tree was struck by lightning, and a pheasant pictured on it was killed. Mr. Stone died in 1693, leaving his estate at Skellingthorpe of more than 3000 acres to Christ’s Hospital, London. He was buried just inside the churchyard at Skellingthorpe, and his dog, it is said, close to him, just outside the consecrated ground.

Returning through the drawing-room to the north wing, we find two other bedrooms with their original tapestry hangings. One is known as the Holly Room, from the great holly tree on which its windows open; the other as the Tiger Room, from the wild beasts depicted on its Flemish tapestry, dating from about 1600. This has retained more of its original bright colouring than the other, which is of English manufacture, made probably at Mortlake, temp. Charles I., in the costume of whose time the figures on it are represented. In the Holly Room the ancient crewel work of the bed hangings deserves attention; while the lofty four-post bedstead in the Tiger Room, upholstered in crimson damask, is said to have been that occupied by Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, when entertained by Lord Delaval at Seaton-Delaval in 1771. A quaint picture over the mantelpiece represents Nebuchadnezzar in his state of degradation grazing among the beasts.

Mounting thence to the third storey, we find on the uppermost landing another portrait of Mr. Edward Hussey-Delaval, as a young man, seated, with a greyhound by his side—one doubtless of the breed for which Seaton-Delaval was famous in his brother Sir Francis’s time. On either side the bedrooms, above those just described, retain their original plaster floors. In one is the portrait of Admiral Sir Ralph Delaval, “coasting admiral in the time of Charles II.,” painted in armour, with flowing wig, who died in 1691. In the same room a naval picture, brought from the Gunman mansion at Dover, represents the royal yacht, the Anne, Captain Christopher Gunman, passing the Castle of Kronenborg at Elsinore, without striking topsails, and receiving the cannon-fire of the castle, as recorded by Captain Gunman’s log-book under 23rd September 1670. Yet another represents the wreck of Sir Cloudesley Shovel in his flagship, the Association, on the Scilly Isles, on the night of 22nd October 1707. This also was brought from Dover, Captain James Gunman, R.N., having been with the fleet in command of the Weasel sloop, but happily escaping the wreck.

Here we enter the Long Gallery, 96 feet long by 22 feet wide. It has two fireplaces, and windows only on the western side, and fills the whole centre of the house, extending over the drawing-room and two bedrooms beyond. As we enter let us turn, and, beginning at the north-west corner, let us note the more interesting pictures in their order. This white-haired old man, painted on panel, in blue coat and buff sword-belt, is said to represent John, Lord Hussey of Sleaford, beheaded at Lincoln in 1537 for complicity in the Lincolnshire rising. Occupying the centre of this northern end of the gallery is the full-length figure of Captain Christopher Gunman, in a rich costume. In the background is represented the royal yacht, of which he was captain, as well as of several ships of war. We may notice the empty sleeve of his left arm, which he lost in an engagement with the Dutch, while in command of the Orange frigate, 3rd August 1666. A picture of this sea-fight with two Dutch men-of-war is in one of the bedrooms. Higher up on this same wall is the portrait of Thomas Tailor, registrar to the Bishops of Lincoln, who bought Doddington in 1593, and built the hall before his death in 1607. He is characteristically represented as dressed in brown, with wide lawn collar and cuffs, seated at a table with a pen in his hand and an official document before him. On either side, over the doors, are the portraits of Sir Thomas Hussey, the second baronet, who died 1706, and of Sarah (Langham) Lady Hussey, his wife, who died 1697.

Turning now to the long eastern wall, and passing pictures of Lady Frances Howard, by Sir Peter Lely, and of Charles XII. of Sweden, perhaps by David Kraft, we come to the full-length figure of Mrs. Sarah Hussey-Delaval, died 1829, the wife of Edward Hussey-Delaval, Esq. It was painted in 1815 by G. F. Joseph, A.R.A., who has represented her in a crimson velvet dress, with a macaw by her side. Next to her is the likeness of Rebecca Hussey, daughter of Sir Thomas Hussey, Bart., painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller. She died unmarried in 1714, but her name is still well known as the foundress of Rebecca Hussey’s Charities. The boy, in a red dress trimmed with silver, is shown by the coat-of-arms to have been a son of Sir John Delaval, of Dissington, who died 1632, by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir George Selby, whom he married in 1612. Passing the central door which opens into the little room in the projection over the entrance porch, we have yet another portrait of Mrs. Rhoda Blake-Delaval, died 1759, a duplicate of which is at Ford Castle. Near her is one of Charles I., and beyond these, as a companion picture to that of Rebecca Hussey, also painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller, the full-length likeness of her sister Sarah, daughter of Sir Thomas Hussey, Bart., and wife of Robert Apreece, Esq. She was born at Doddington in 1672, and died 1749, having become the sole heiress of her father’s estates after her sisters’ death. The next picture in all probability represents Mary of Modena, the Queen of James II. Beyond it, the lady in black is Ann Hussey-Delaval, sister of John, Lord Delaval, and of Edward Hussey-Delaval. We have seen her before as a girl in the family groups, but she is here represented in the character of the Fair Penitent, which she acted with other members of the family, and Edward, Duke of York, at their private theatre at Westminster in 1767. She married in 1759, at the age of twenty-two, Sir William Stanhope, next brother to the Earl of Chesterfield, who was fifty-seven; and Horace Walpole writes of the match: “I assure you her face will introduce no plebeian charms into the faces of the Stanhopes.” Naturally the ill-assorted marriage turned out badly, and in 1763 Horace Walpole writes again to his correspondent in Paris: “We sent you Sir William Stanhope and my lady, a fond couple; you have returned them to us very different. When they came to Blackheath, he got out of the chariot to go to his brother, Lord Chesterfield’s, made her a low bow, and said, ‘Madame, I hope I shall never see your face again.’ She replied, ‘Sir, I will take all the pains I can, you never shall.’” She had been brought up by her grandmother, Mrs. Apreece, of Honington and Doddington, and a share of Doddington had been settled upon her, but she sold her reversion of it to her brother Edward in 1810.