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Stapleford
Hall in the early 20th century. The house was rebuilt
in 1788 and demolished in 1935. |
Mr. Charles Ichabod Wright, best known as Colonel Wright, of
Stapleford Hall, in this county, and of Watcombe Park, Devonshire,
is the head of a family which has every claim to be numbered
amongst the representatives of the great houses of this county.
The Wrights of Mapperley
are represented on the male side by four brothers, of whom
the late Colonel of the Robin Hoods is the eldest. The other
brothers, who are well known here, are Mr. Henry Smith Wright,
of Park Hill, in Hampshire; Mr. Frederick Wright, of Lenton
Hall, a place which, generations ago, was occupied by his
ancestors; and Mr. George Howard Wright. The two elder brothers
have, to some extent, at any rate, been identified with local
politics ; the two younger have taken a very useful part in
movements for the improvement of the moral and social condition
of the people.
In his early life Colonel
Wright probably enjoyed advantages which do not come within
the reach of all sons of the wealthy. His father was not only
a ripe scholar but a thoroughly practical man. He combined
with a cultivated intellect and the possession of high scholastic
acquirements, a genuine spirit of business. Such a combination
is rare; the scholar may become an ascetic; the business man
may sacrifice his finer faculties on the shrine of Mammon,
or in the idle pursuit of profitless forms of pleasure.
In any reference to Colonel
Wright and to his antecedents, one must say something of his
father, because he was a distinguished man who is yet very
well remembered, though the introduction of his name in this
part of the article is somewhat out of chronological order.
The late Mr. Ichabod Charles Wright, whose Christian names
the Colonel bears, joined his father in the banking business
in the year 1825, after he had become a fellow of his college.
In the year of his entrance into business he married the daughter
of the first Lord Denman, who afterwards became Lord Chief
Justice of England. His after life was spent most industriously
between business and study. He translated the “Inferno,”
“Purgatorio,” and “Paradise” of Dante,
which translations were published by Messrs. Longmans, in
1833, 1836, and 1840. A second edition of these translations
was published in 1845, and their value may be gathered from
the verdict of a critic who, writing in one of the leading
journals said: “Lord Denman may well be proud of his
son-in-law, who has converted into his lordship’s vernacular
one of the grandest works of the human imagination, making
the English peasant familiar with the loftiest dreams of genius
that ever swept the eyelids of the Italian poet.
These translations may be
placed amongst the worthiest of the kind we possess in our
own language.” In 1841 Mr. Wright published “Thoughts
on Currency,” and in 1847, “Evils of the Currency,”
subjects on which he was well qualified to write. In 1865
he published a translation of the Iliad of Homer in blank
verse, which may take its place with the translations of Pope
and Lord Derby. Mr. Wright’s last issue from the Press
was in 1857, and consisted of a selection from the Psalms,
in verse, which was written when he was partially blind. Of
this distinguished and respected gentleman, whose remains
were laid in Carrington Churchyard only nine years ago, Colonel
Wright is the eldest son, and it is more than probable that
to his early training are now due, in a measure, those qualities
which have made him so popular in this town, and which leave
such a pleasant impression upon those with whom he comes in
contact, whether in the relations of business, or within the
hospitable walls of either of his country residences.
The lineage of the Wrights
of Mapperley starts with a Thomas Wright, of Nottingham, who,
born in 1724, had sons, Ichabod, of Mapperley, and John Smith,
of Rempstone Hall, who was High Sheriff of this county in
1815. The third son lived at Upton Hall, near Newark, and
was also in turn High Sheriff of the county. His son was Joseph
Banks Wright, who married into the Dashwood (Stanton Hall)
family. Then we come to Ichabod Wright, grandfather to the
four brothers who now represent the Nottinghamshire branch
of the family, who married Miss Harriet Day, of Yarmouth,
by whom he had fourteen children, amongst them nine daughters,
most of whom married into families of distinction, whilst
one of his sons married a daughter of Archbishop Howley, the
then Primate, and another a near relative of Lord Ellenborough’s.
One of the daughters, of whom Colonel Wright and his brothers
are nephews, married a son of Lord Boston; another married
Sir John Shaw Lefevre, a man of considerable distinction,
and brother to Lord Eversley; a third married one of Lord
Carlisle’s sons, who became Dean of Lichfield; and a
fourth became Lady Overstone, when her husband, Mr. Samuel
Jones Lloyd, was raised to the peerage.
It is somewhat remarkable
that this large family comprised three sets of twins. After
this gentleman, came the distinguished man who translated
the wondrous Tale of Troy, and now Colonel Wright perpetuates
the favourite forenames which for generations have been borne
by the head of the Wrights of Nottinghamshire. As the Wrights
of Swanwick, in Derbyshire, are another branch of the family,
it would perhaps be well to glance at such parts of their
pedigree as affect the Colonel’s family.
We are now enabled to go
back two centuries earlier than the house of Thomas Wright,
of Nottingham, and to trace the family to a John Wright, of
Stow-market, in Suffolk, whose will was made in 1557, and
who assumed the alias Camplyon—a rather picturesque
patronym, by the way.
His first son was Captain
John Wright, who suffered eight years’ imprisonment
in Newark Castle for his attachment to the Parliamentary cause,
and it was very natural that he should never be able to understand
why be was incarcerated. He afterwards acquired property in
several parts of Nottinghamshire, and in a certain part of
Suffolk, and at his death he was buried in St. Peter’s
Church, in this town.
The second son of this gentleman
settled at Bingham, and was interred in St. Mary’s Church,
Nottingham, where there is a monument to his memory. He left
two sons, Samuel and Ichabod, the first named of whom was
born about the year 1697. Ichabod, the second son, born in
1700, is described as a banker, who owned lands in Lincolnshire
and Nottinghamshire. This member of the family, so far as
I have been able to make out, was originally engaged in the
Baltic trade, and late in his life, about the year 1760, he
devoted a portion of his wealth to the establishment of Wright’s
Bank, taking his two sons into partnership. This, the first
of the family, who was christened Ichabod, is also buried
in the precincts of St. Mary’s Church. John, the heir
of Ichabod, was also a banker in Nottingham; he married a
daughter of John Sherbrooke, of this town, and left issue
several children, one of whom, Samuel, of Gunthorpe, married
a daughter of Lord Coventry.
His eldest son, John Wright,
banker, of Langar and Lenton Hall, principal proprietor of
the Butterley Works, married a daughter of Mr. Berresford,
of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. His eldest son, also of Lenton Hall,
died in Naples, in 1828, and left a daughter, who became the
wife of the Earl of Buckinghamshire. One of the sons of this
John Wright was the late Mr. Frank Wright, of Osmaston Manor,
a magistrate for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire,
and High Sheriff of the first-named county in 1842, who married
a daughter of Sir Henry Fitzherbert, of Tissington.
From documents in the possession
of Colonel Wright, and from other sources, I have selected
such portions of this pedigree as bore more directly upon
the family of bankers.
Colonel Wright is undoubtedly
one of the most popular of our local public men. Yet he is
no orator as Brutus was ; his public speeches are delivered
in a hesitating manner, and they convey to the listener the
impression, which is rightly founded, that public demonstrations
are not in his line, and that be would very much prefer to
be away from the glare of that fierce light which beats about
the life of a public man. Yet Colonel Wright’s public
career may be described as eminently successful.
He got into Parliament twelve
years ago with very little trouble; he simply put himself
in nomination at the eleventh hour, and the people returned
him with Nottingham, and to trace the family to a John Wright,
of Stow-market, in Suffolk, whose wlll was made in 1557, and
who assumed the alias Camplyon—a rather picturesque
patronym, by the way.
His first son was Captain
John Wright, who suffered eight years’ imprisonment
in Newark Castle for his attachment to the Parliamentary cause,
and it was very natural that he should never be able to understand
why he was incarcerated. He afterwards acquired property in
several parts of Nottinghamshire, and in a certain part of
Suffolk, and at his death he was buried in St. Peter’s
Church, in this town.
The second son of this gentleman
settled at Bingham, and was interred in St. Mary’s Church,
Nottingham, where there is a monument to his memory. He left
two sons, Samuel and Iehabod, the first named of whom was
born about the year 1697. Ichabod, the second son, born in
1700, is described as a banker, who owned lands in Lineolnshire
and Nottinghamshire. This member of the family, so far as
I have been able to make out, was originally engaged in the
Baltic trade, and late in his life, about the year 1760, he
devoted a portion of his wealth to the establishment of Wright’s
Bank, taking his two sons into partnership. This, the first
of the family, who was christened Ichabod, is also buried
in the precincts of St. Mary’s Church. John, the heir
of Ichabod, was also a banker in Nottingham; he married a
daughter of John Sherbrooke, of this town, and left issue
several children, one of whom, Samuel, of Gun-thorpe, married
a daughter of Lord Coventry. His eldest son, John Wright,
banker, of Langar and Lenten Hall, principal proprietor of
the Butterley Works, married a daughter of Mr. Berresford,
of Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
His eldest son, also of
Lenton Hall, died in Naples, in 1828, and left a daughter,
who became the wife of the Earl of Buekinghamshire. One of
the sons of this John Wright was the late Mr. Frank Wright,
of Osmaston Manor, a magistrate for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire,
and Staffordshire, and High Sheriff of the first-named county
in 1842, who married a daughter of Sir Henry Fitzherbert,
of Tissington. From documents in the possession of Colonel
Wright, and from other sources, I have selected such portions
of this pedigree as bore more directly upon the family of
bankers.
Ill health, combined perhaps
with some little dislike of the stormy atmosphere of political
life, induced Colonel Wright to give up his seat after a few
months of senatorial experience, but he continued to command
the Robin Hood Rifles for a long period after his resignation,
and no one questioned the prudence or the policy of the step
he had taken. He was as popular as ever, and at the head of
the famous regiment in whose welfare he took, and still takes,
such a thorough interest, and on the occasion of his rare
attendance at public gatherings, whether political or social,
his presence was equally acceptable, and he bad still that
hold upon public estimation which he has always maintained.
Such is the picture, imperfect, perhaps, in some of its lines,
but truthful so far as it goes, of the high-minded English
gentleman who divides his time between Stapleford Hall and
Watcomb Park—between Nottinghamshire and Devonshire.
A river, from which the
Valley of the Erewash takes its name, turgid when there has
been much rain, tolerably bright under ordinary conditions,
has been forced to take its course close to the house, which
has a low situation. Running water, whether in the volume
of a river, or in the form of a thread-like brook, always
gives picturesqueness to a landscape, and the only regret
with regard to the Erewash at Stapleford is that it contributes
this element at a point which is rather too near the mansion.
The grounds have been very
much expanded by the present owner, who has taken in large
pieces of what was open field beyond the boundaries of the
grounds, and placed them under the hands of his gardener.
They are now part of the garden, and set with a very fine
collection of shrubs, chiefly of the fir kind. Colonel Wright,
I may mention, is a great admirer and a successful grower
of coniferae, and has discovered that a ball shot straight
from a small rifle will remove a superfluous “leader”
from the summits of the tall ones, which cannot well be reached
by ordinary appliances.
The other portions of the
garden are planted with flowers, which seem to have been chosen
for the brightness and beauty of their colours. There is a
still brighter collection in the spacious copper-roofed and
copper-framed conservatory attached to the house, and built,
I believe, necessarily at great expense, by the late Lady
Warren, who formerly lived here. A broad gravel terrace runs
parallel with the house, and terminates at a small group of
Scotch firs, which is immediately approached by a flight of
grass steps. The Stapleford mansion itself does not represent
any distinct type of architecture. It has been in all probability
added to and altered by successive owners. One portion of
it dates back many generations, and presents the solid conventionalism
which certain architects of the sixteenth century observed.
The inner walls of this part of the house are almost unnecessarily
substantial, and the mullioned windows, through which light
is still admitted into several of the rooms, furnish still
further evidence of the antiquity of the building.
The manor has been successively
owned by the Staplefords, the Tevereys,
and at a later period by that celebrated Admiral, Sir
John Borlace Warren, who performed many important services,
which are fully recorded in the naval histories of the period,
and who represented the borough of Nottingham in Parliament
from 1796 to 1806. During the American War Sir John occupied
the important post of Commander-in-Chief of her Majesty’s
ships on the North American station. At the close of that
contest he returned to his country, and spent most of his
time at Stapleford Hall, taking an active part in the magisterial
business of the county. His widow resided at Stapleford until
a comparatively recent date. Lady Warren died, I believe,
in 1839.
There is an old picture
in the possession of Colonel Wright, which contains a representation
of the original proportions of Stapleford Hall. It is of large
dimensions, and is evidently the work of an artist of more
than average ability. Much of the canvas is occupied by sombre
foliage, which might belong to any locality, but in one corner
appear the conventional proportions of the old hall, and its
identity is fixed more conclusively by the introduction of
the river, and other features peculiar to the village, it
is curious to note how love of, and aptitude in, certain accomplishments
permeates certain families.
I have known families, of
whom each member is practically musical, if one may so speak.
Several of Colonel Wright’s family are painters. The
Colonel himself, is or was, a not unskilful manipulator of
the pencil and brush, and his two sons spend much of their
time at the easel. The elder of them has reproduced very faithfully
two of Niemann’s landscapes, now hanging in the dining
room, which represent that famous and most industrious artist
in his brightest and sunniest mood, and there is more of his
work in the house. There are certain rooms in the house consecrated
to painting, and the younger brother is working at a drawing
this morning. Perhaps they may have inherited this taste from
their ancestors, for in one of the principal rooms there is
a large picture of rare merit by their great-grandmother—a
Mrs. Wright, of Mapperley. The subject is one which might
have been chosen by Gainsborough, and in some of its aspects
the picture reminds one of that master. There are others,
too, of the family, in bygone generations, who painted well.
That Colonel Wright is fond
of good pictures there is abundant evidence within the walls
of his Nottinghamshire residence. In making his art purchases
he does not seem to have been actuated by a mere desire to
possess. After looking at his collection, one is impressed
with a notion that he has bought whnt most appealed to his
taste and sympathies. The more valuable of his large pictures
are exhibited in corners of the house, where they would hardly
be seen by the casual visitor. The brighter specimens adorn
the walls of the drawing room; others, including the two Niemans,
have taken up permanent quarters in the dining room. But the
masters are not altogether excluded from the collection.
Frank Hals’ portrait
of Vandyck, and an example of Guido, entitled “The Assumption,”
take their place on the same walls, with modern landscapes,
seascapes, and river and mountain scenes, not the least meritorious
of which are contributed by Mr. Wake, who has more than once
been a guest of the genial owner of Stapleford. In the same
company is to be seen the fascinating Duchess of Cleveland
as Sir Peter Lely saw her, when her beauty and vivacity won
for her a foremost place in the Court of the Second Charles,
and there are two charming water-colours from Varley’s
facile brush. I believe Colonel Wright’s taste runs
in the direction of water-colours. From his own little room,
used for the purposes of business and study, the graver work
of the painter has been banished, and the walls are covered
with pretty water-colours—bits by Prout, Gastineau,
Bernard Evans, and half a dozen others, whose names stand
high amongst the water-colourists. Several of the pictures
in the dining room came from Mapperley Hall, which was built
nearly a century ago by Mr. Ichabod Wright, “before
I had any idea of being married,” as he says in the
volumnious journal he left behind him, Here are two small
pictures by Von Blumen, the fine examples of Niemann already
mentioned, two, of five or six, works by this great artist
possessed by Colonel Wright ; a meritorious painting by Thomas
Wright, a member of the family, who lived at Upton, in this
county, said to have received finishing touches from the hand
of Wilson ; a Clarkson Stansfield, a Canaletti, and two paintings
by Bussy, representing incidents on the Field of Bosworth,
which possesses local interest.
These two pictures formerly
formed part of a collection at Wartnaby. A representation
of tree trunks, lichen “—covered and knarled,
bears the sign of Salvator Rosa, and at one end of the room
there is a large picture by Sir William Allen, once president
of the Scotch Academy—a canvas from which we learn something
of the generous side of the First Napoleon’s character,
for the Emperor is here distributing money to helpless prisoners.
Upstairs there are several interesting old paintings, which,
it is fair to suppose, have been placed rather out of the
way on account of their size; partly, perhaps, because their
subjects are not the most pleasant to look upon. it is pleasanter
to feast one’s eyes upon Niemann’s grand picture,
“London, from Waterloo Bridge,” which hangs, in
Colonel Wright’s name, on the walls of the Castle Museum,
at Nottingham, than to study Le Brun’s canvas showing
Hercules, of brawny limb, slaying the flesh-fed horses of
Diomedes, which occupies the greater part of one of the upstairs
corridors at Stapleford.
By Leonard Jacks, The
Great houses of Nottinghamshire and the County Families.(1881)
Thanks
to A. Nicholson for the use of
text and pictures: www.nottshistory.org.uk
Weather Nottingham
