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Abstract
An eighteenth-century canopy of state, made for John Hobart, second earl of Buckinghamshire and used on his embassy to the court of Catherine the Great, was converted into a state bed for a newly created grand apartment at Blickling Hall, Norfolk. It is a very rare survival in situ and reveals how such outward accoutrements of diplomatic service could be adapted to demonstrate an aristocrat’s status and pedigree of service to the monarch, and be displayed in an architectural setting to promote personal success and family lineage.
Notes
1 http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/354320 (state bed) and 355711(tapestry).
2 ‘Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary’ was the highest-ranking ambassadorial appointment, tasked with a special mission and power to sign treaties.
3 Jeremy Black, British Diplomats and Diplomacy 1688–1800 (Exeter, 2001), pp. 98-100; Black quotes the earl of Newcastle describing the appointment of an ambassador to the Hague in the 1740s.
4 This research springs out of work by Jeremy Musson on a 2019–2020 Conservation Management Plan for the National Trust, by Caroe Architecture Ltd, and advice from Annabel Westman on the state bed there.
5 Caroline Stanley-Millson and John Newman, ‘Blickling Hall: The Building of a Jacobean Mansion’, Architectural History 29 (1986), pp. 1-42.
6 Stanley-Millson and Newman, ‘Blicking Hall’, p. 5.
7 These drawings are now in the Norfolk Record Office, and listed in John Maddison, ‘Architectural Drawings at Blickling Hall’, Architectural History 34 (1991), pp. 75-135, there p. 76.
8 Maddison, ‘Architectural Drawings’, p. 76.
9 John Maddison, Blickling Hall (London, 1989), p. 30. These sculptures have long since been dispersed, see http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2015/05/another-page-about-plaster-busts-of.html.
10 London, Soane Museum: Journal of William Freeman (1745), shelf 46a.
11 Tracy Borman, King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant: The Life and Times of Henrietta Howard (London, 2010), pp. 99-122.
12 W.S. Lewis (ed.), The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole’s Correspondence (New Haven, 1954), vol. XIX, p. 263.
13 James Kelly, ‘Hobart, John, 2nd earl of Buckinghamshire, (1723–1793)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [ODNB] (2008 edn), accessed 2 November 2020.
14 www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/hobart-john-1723-93, accessed 28 October 2020.
15 J.W. Croker (ed.), Letters to and from Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk, and her husband, the Hon George Berkeley (London, 1924), vol. II, pp. 305-06.
16 Maddison, ‘Architectural Drawings’, p. 77.
17 Ibid., p. 78.
18 Ibid., p. 76.
19 Society of Antiquaries, Minute Books, 1784; his proposal/election is recorded in the meeting of 1 April 1784, but only says: ‘The president also proposed for election into this Society John Earl of Buckingham — & his Lordship being put forthwith to the Ballot, according to the Statutes, was thereupon declared unanimously elected a Fellow of this Society.’ He was formally admitted to the Society in the meeting of 20 May 1784; with thanks to Becky Loughead of the Society of Antiquaries Library for supplying these details and for confirming that no further details of his recommendation were noted. It appears that at this time noblemen were admitted without formal recommendations and by invitation of the President of the Society.
20 John Maddison, ‘Blickling Hall, Norfolk – I’, Country Life (17 March 1988), pp. 104-09, there p. 109.
21 Borman, King’s Mistress, Queen’s Servant, p. 264.
22 Ibid, pp. 131-8; Howard Colvin, Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 (London and New Haven, 2008), pp. 156, 514, 707.
23 Colvin, Biographical Dictionary, p. 122.
24 Maddison, ‘Architectural Drawings’, pp. 76-7.
25 Croker, Letters, vol. II, pp. 305-06.
26 Maddison, ‘Architectural Drawings’, p. 77.
27 Croker, Letters, vol. II, pp. 305-06.
28 Croker, Letters, vol. II, pp. 305-06. Wilkes was a radical orator, Shebbeare a Tory satirist, etc.
29 Croker, Letters, vol. II, pp. 306-07.
30 Maddison, ‘Blickling Hall’, p. 108.
31 William Roberts (ed.), Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More (New York, 1834), vol. I, pp. 65-6.
32 Croker, Letters, vol. II, p. 307.
33 Maddison, ‘Architectural Drawings’, p. 77.
35 Adelaide D’Arcy Collyer (ed.), The Despatches and Correspondence of John, Second Earl of Buckinghamshire, Ambassador to the Court of Catherine II of Russia 1762–1765 (2 vols, London, 1900), vol. I, pp. 75 and 88: Letters to the countess of Suffolk, Moscow: 21 October and 9 November 1762.
36 H. M. Scott, ‘Great Britain, Poland and the Russian Alliance, 1763–1767’, The Historical Journal 19 (1976), pp. 53-74. Buckinghamshire’s mission was made doubly difficult as a result of the upheaval caused by Catherine II’s coup d’état and Russia’s fragile relationship with Poland caused by the ill health and subsequent death of Augustus III.
37 D’Arcy Collyer, Despatches and Correspondence, vol. I, p. vii: Letter to Lord George Germain, 8 July 1780.
38 Information from Dr Myles Campbell, research and interpretation officer, Office of Public Works, Dublin Castle, email communication, 5 November 2020; Myles Campbell (ed.), Vicereines of Ireland: Portraits of Forgotten Women (Dublin, 2021), pp. 238-9.
39 Kelly, ‘Hobart, John’, ODNB.
40 D’Arcy Collyer, Despatches and Correspondence, vol. I, pp. vii-viii.
41 Information from Dr Myles Campbell, research and interpretation officer, Office of Public Works, Dublin Castle, email communication, 5 November 2020.
42 Kelly, ‘Hobart, John’, ODNB.
43 H.M. Stephens, revised A.T.Q. Stewart, ‘Conolly, Thomas (1883–1803)’, ODNB (2004), accessed 5 November 2020. For Lady Louisa Conolly, see Stella Tillyard, Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox, 1740–1832 (London, 1994), although there is no mention of the countess of Buckinghamshire in this book.
44 Information from Myles Campbell; letter from the earl of Huntingdon to the earl of Buckinghamshire, 21 August 1778, quoted in Report on the Manuscripts of the Marquess of Lothian preserved at Blickling Hall, Norfolk (London, 1905), p. 337.
45 While no reference to this gift has been found in the state papers, it is indicated in correspondence. Diplomatic gifts were not always declared in official documentation. It is possible that the set of four new Gobelins tapestries depicting the story of Don Quixote, a matching overdoor panel and a Savonnerie rug were given by Louis XV to the third duke of Richmond in 1766 to mark the conclusion of the Duke’s ambassadorial posting to the French court in 1765–66. See Rosemary Baird, Goodwood, Art and Architecture, Sport and Family (London, 2007), p. 124.
46 A. Polovtsoff and V. Chambers, ‘Some Notes on the St. Petersburg Tapestry Works’, The Burlington Magazine 35, no 198 (September 1919), pp. 110-16. The factory enjoyed its most productive period under Catherine II.
47 Tapestry dimensions: 4.38m (h) x 5.06m (w). Wool and silk with seven warps per cm.
48 Helen Wyld, 2012, http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/355711.
49 The second weaving of the tapestry is on display in the State Russian Museum, St Petersburg. The borders were removed at some point and now survive as fragments in this museum and in the Historical Museum in Moscow.
50 Polovtsoff and Chambers, ‘St. Petersburg Tapestry Works’. It is worth noting that Count Nikita Panin, Catherine II’s adviser on foreign affairs, also supervised the St Petersburg tapestry factory from 1764.
51 Maddison, ‘Architectural Drawings’, pp. 77-8; Norfolk Record Society 19180 33E7 [hereafter NRS].
52 NRS 19180 33E7, Solomon Hudson was based in Great Titchfield Street, London. See Appendix 2.
53 As quoted in François de la Rochefoucauld and Norman Scarfe, A Frenchman’s Year in Suffolk, 1784 (Woodbridge, 2011), p. 201.
54 NRS, MC 3/338-9 (Inventory).
55 John Cornforth, ‘Blickling Hall, Norfolk – III’, Country Life (31 March 1988), pp. 128-31.
56 http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/355506 NRS 14630, cited in Maddison, Blickling Hall, p. 88.
57 Maddison, Blickling Hall, pp. 88-9.
59 Black, British Diplomats and Diplomacy, p. 98.
60 The National Archives [hereafter TNA], LC9/238, no 29. From the Restoration (1660) to the 1830s, state and chapel furnishings were supplied for ambassadors, the expense scaled to the rank of the posting.
61 TNA, SP 91/70, no 160. Also cited in D’Arcy Collyer, Despatches and Correspondence, vol. I, p. 73: Letter to George Grenville, St Petersburg, 24 September 1762.
62 Black, British Diplomats and Diplomacy, p. 101. Several ambassadors complained about the cold and the detrimental effect on their health during their ambassadorial postings to the Russian court.
63 TNA, LC9/307, bill no 87.
64 The same damask pattern on the canopy was used on the state beds at Petworth House, Sussex (1756) and Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire (1768).
65 TNA, LC9/307, bill no 77. Genoa velvet was the finest quality silk velvet with a cut and uncut pile on a voided satin ground. See Appendix 1: TNA, LC9/238, Estimates pursuant to Warrants, 1761–62.
66 TNA, LC9/307, bill no 87. See Appendix 1: TNA, LC9/238, Estimates pursuant to Warrants, 1761–62.
67 TNA, LC9/307, bill no 89. See Appendix 1: TNA, LC9/238, Estimates pursuant to Warrants, 1761–62.
68 TNA, SP 91/70, nos 165-6. Also cited in D’Arcy Collyer, Despatches and Correspondence, vol. I, p. 73: Letter to George Grenville, St Petersburg, 1 October 1762.
69 Thomas Hinchcliff, mercer, supplied the damask for Bedford’s canopy and velvet for the altar cloth, for the same price as Robert Carr (TNA. LC9/307 bill no 79). Otherwise the suppliers were the same for both canopies.
70 Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert (eds), Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660–1840 (Leeds, 1986), p. 638.
71 TNA, LC9/307, bill nos 80 (Vile and Cobb) and 82 (Naish).
72 TNA, LC9/239, bill no 29. The cost of the duke of Bedford’s ambassadorial items was similar at £399.3.2. (bill no 31). Our thanks to John Gandy for confirming that the books cannot be traced in the Blickling library.
73 TNA, LC9/45 fols 196,196v, 202, Jewel Office Delivery book, 1732–96 (See Appendix 1). For a comparison with other officers of state, see James Rothwell, Silver for Entertaining, The Ickworth Collection (London, 2017), p. 34. The duke of Bedford had a similar weight of plate but a slightly different selection of items (see TNA, LC9/45 fols 196,196v, 202).
74 D’Arcy Collyer, Despatches and Correspondence, vol. I, pp. 214-15: Letter to countess of Suffolk, 3 February 1763.
75 Only in Britain was the substantial quantity of plate lent to ambassadors during their tenure subsequently given to them. See Rothwell, Silver for Entertaining, p. 34. Some of the Buckinghamshire silver (Lothian Collection) was sold in 2003. We are grateful to James Rothwell for this information.
76 John Maddison, ‘Blickling Hall, Norfolk – II’, Country Life (24 March 1988), pp. 136-9, there p. 139.
77 Our thanks to Ksynia Marko and Jan Brooks for confirming the height of the head cloth and the later addition of fringe applied directly to the head cloth. The base valances have been removed for conservation and the fringe is no longer attached to the side and foot inner valances (it would have been similar to that now on the head cloth (7.6 cm, 3 in). Spacers, short wooden blocks added to the tops of the posts that would originally have slightly heightened the cornice and levelled the lengths of the inner and outer valances, are also missing.
78 It is unlikely that John Cobb supplied the bedposts as he died in 1778. The surviving bills for Cobb’s work for Buckinghamshire date to 1762.
79 While the number of beds made from state canopies is not known, it is likely that most would have had two foot posts added to support the tester to make it easier to display. This was the case with the duke of Bedford’s canopy, which no longer survives. Like Buckinghamshire’s canopy, it was converted into a bed with foot posts, following the return from his ambassadorial posting, and was listed as ‘A four post Bedstead with carved mahogany feet posts and cornices, Crimson silk lustring furniture embroidered with His Majesty’s Arms on the Headcloth, Valence fringed with Gold and Gold Tassells … ’ in ‘An Inventory of Household Furniture, Plate, Linnen China and other Effects of His Grace the Duke of Bedford deceased … ’, P. Saunders and Richard Ireland, February to March 1771 (Bedford Estates Archive MF2-1). Our thanks to Matthew Hirst for this information.
80 Townshend was appointed ambassador during the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. When the canopy was converted into a bed, the original head cloth was mostly cut away, leaving a small section behind the embroidered coat of arms, which was reapplied onto new damask of similar design. A headboard was made for the bed frame. When converted back into a state canopy for Kensington Palace new damask, again of similar design, was woven to extend the head cloth at the bottom. We are grateful to Maria Jordan and Mike Takami for these details.
81 Francis Seymour Conway, earl of Hertford, was ambassador to the French court after the duke of Bedford and before the duke of Richmond.
82 West Sussex Record Office, Goodwood MS 241, fol.18. A curtain was purchased for the ‘canopy bed’ in 1776, cited from Baird, Goodwood, p. 124; see p. 128 for an image of the bed in 1930. Our thanks to James Peill for bringing the restored bed in the private apartments at Goodwood to our attention.
83 TNA, LC9/332, bill nos 53 (Russell) and 54 (Smith). The bed is part of the Sackville private collection.
84 TNA, LC9/331, bill no 5. Lucy Smith also supplied the state furnishings for the 5th earl of Chesterfield, ambassador to Spain, 1784–87.
85 Martin Drury, ‘Two Georgian Chairs of State and a State Canopy at Knole’, Furniture History, vol. XXI, 1985, pp. 243-49; Christopher Rowell and Wolf Burchard, ‘From Paris to Knole: The third Duke of Dorset and the first Earl Whitworth as Diplomatic patrons and Collectors’, National Trust Historic House & Collections Annual 2016, published in association with Apollo, pp. 42-52.
86 Another example is the throne canopy from the House of Lords, 1761, a perquisite of Lord Gwydir (Deputy Great Chamberlain), which is now at Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire. It was converted into a bed using the velvet head cloth embroidered with the royal coat of arms, but the valance has been replaced and the national emblems redisplayed. See Hugh Roberts, ‘Royal Thrones, 1760–1840’, Furniture History, vol. XXV (1989), pp. 61-85.
87 https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/355719.2 also Sarah B. Sherrill, Carpets and Rugs of Europe and America, Abbeville Press 1995, pp. 196-199.
88 Maddison, Blickling Hall, pp. 89-90.
89 NRS, MC 3/338-9 (Inventory).
90 A few alterations have been made, but the structure is complete with its original damask and curtains (see note 77).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jeremy Musson
Jeremy Musson
Jeremy Musson is an architectural historian specialising in the history of the British country house. He is an author and an independent specialist architectural consultant working on conservation plans for historic estates including, with Caroe Architecture Ltd, Blickling Hall, Norfolk. Musson was an assistant curator for the National Trust in East Anglia in 1992–95, before joining Country Life, and was architectural editor of Country Life from 1997 to 2008. His books include Country House Interiors (2011), The Drawing Room (2014), Robert Adam (2018), and, with David Cannadine as co-editor, The Country House: Past, Present and Future (2019). Musson also lectures, supervises and examines on Master’s degree programmes at Cambridge and Buckingham universities. He is a trustee of the Historic Houses Foundation and a former trustee of the Stowe House Preservation Trust.
Annabel Westman
Annabel Westman
Annabel Westman is director emeritus of The Attingham Trust for the study of historic houses and collections, an educational charitable trust, and was its executive director from 2005 to 2020. She is also an independent textile historian and consultant, specializing in the reinstallation of historic interiors for heritage bodies in UK and overseas. She lectures widely and has published extensively on furnishing textiles, including Fringe Frog and Tassel: The Art of the Trimmings-Maker in Interior Decoration (2019). She is a trustee of Stowe House Preservation Trust and member of its Interior Workings Group.