June-July

History hangout
gambler and womaniser.
The fine neo-Palladian mansion
and surrounding estate with
its fabulous trees had been
designed and laid out by two of
the most successful authorities
of their era, Scottish architect
Colen Campbell, who designed
Blenheim Palace, and garden
designer George London, who
laid out the Hampton Court and
Castle Howard gardens among
others.
Catherine Tylney-Long inherited
Wanstead House in 1805,
making her, after royalty, the
richest person in England with
an annual income of £80,000.
In 1812, aged 23, she married
the notorious rake William
Wellesley-Pole, nephew of
the Duke of Wellington, thus
relinquishing her entire
entitlement to the estate.
He secured a mortgage for
£250,000 with the marriage
settlement and proceeded to
gamble away the entire
estate within just ten
years.
His main
creditor was
a building
company
which sold off
every single
item within
the property.
The house was
demolished and
the contents sold
for just £10,000.
It was said that Catherine
died aged only 35, perhaps
of a broken heart. She was
penniless.
Pastoral scene of the house by William Havell, 1815, and below, Wellesley-Pole
Her story is told in a book by
Geraldine Roberts, The Angel
and the Cad – Love, Loss and
Scandal in Regency England.
Nearly a century after it was laid
out by London, Wellesley-Pole
engaged landscaper Humphry
Repton to relook at the gardens
and some of his work can still
be seen today.
After Catherine's death,
Wellesley-Pole
sought control
over his children,
especially the
oldest, William,
who was in the
care of her two
sisters.
Catherine's
fortune had
now devolved to
William and The
Duke of Wellington
intervened to keep him
from his father's clutches.
When found in contempt of
court, Wellesley-Pole Snr was,
as a result, committed to the
Fleet prison by Lord Brougham
in July, 1831.
For some time later he was in
and out of court on charges of
libel, and various other matters
relating to his quest for custody
of his children.
He lived for a time in Brussels to
avoid creditors, and later back
in England on a small pension
of ₤10 a week. From 1842 he
was styled Viscount Wellesley,
and succeeded his father as
Earl of Mornington in 1845.
He died from heart disease in
his London lodgings in 1857.
His obituary read: "A
spendthrift, a profligate, and
a gambler in his youth, he
became debauched in his
manhood... redeemed by
no single virtue, adorned by
no single grace, his life gone
out even without a flicker of
repentance".
LOVEEAST JUNE-JULY 2017 35