|
Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire
Hartwell House is a country house in the parish of Hartwell in Buckinghamshire, southern England. The house is owned by the Ernest Cook Trust, has been a Historic House Hotel since 1989, and in 2008 was leased to The National Trust. The Grade I listed house is Jacobean with a Georgian front and Rococo interiors, set in a picturesque landscaped park, and is most famous as the home of exiled French king Louis XVIII in the early 19th century. Location The house is in the village of Stone along the A418, about from the centre of Aylesbury, the nearest large town, which is about from the centre of London via the A41. History The property was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and belonged to William Peverel. The core of the present house was constructed in the early 17th century for the Hampden family and then the Lee family. The Lees, an old Buckinghamshire family, acquired Hartwell c.1650 by marriage into the Hampdens. Bourbon Court Between 1809 and 1814 the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Country House
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the landed gentry who ruled rural Britain until the Reform Act 1832. Frequently, the formal business of the counties was transacted in these country houses, having functional antecedents in manor houses. With large numbers of indoor and outdoor staff, country houses were important as places of employment for many rural communities. In turn, until the agricultural depressions of the 1870s, the estates, of which country houses were the hub, provided their owners with incomes. However, the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the swansong of the traditional English country house lifest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia and immediately south of the French island of Corsica. It is one of the five Italian regions with some degree of domestic autonomy being granted by a special statute. Its official name, Autonomous Region of Sardinia, is bilingual in Italian and Sardinian: / . It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city. The capital of the region of Sardinia — and its largest city — is Cagliari. Sardinia's indigenous language and Algherese Catalan are referred to by both the regional and national law as two of Italy's twelve officially recognized linguistic minorities, albeit gravely endangered, while the regional law provides ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect. One such decorative treatment consists of small grooves achieved by the application of a metal comb. Generally used only on softer stone ashlar, this decoration is known as "mason's drag". Ashlar is in contrast to rubble masonry, which employs irregularly shaped stones, sometimes minimally worked or selected for similar size, or both. Ashlar is related but distinct from other stone masonry that is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacobean Architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign there was little stylistic break in architecture, as Elizabethan trends continued their development. However, his death in 1625 came as a decisive change towards more classical architecture, with Italian influence, was in progress, led by Inigo Jones; the style this began is sometimes called Stuart architecture, or English Baroque (though the latter term may be regarded as starting later). Courtiers continued to build large prodigy houses, even though James spent less time on summer progresses round his realm than Elizabeth had. The influence of Flemish and German Northern Mannerism increased, now often executed by immigrant craftsmen and artists, rather than obtained from books as in the previous reign. There continued to be very little build ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chequers
Chequers ( ), or Chequers Court, is the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A 16th-century manor house in origin, it is located near the village of Ellesborough, halfway between Princes Risborough and Wendover in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, at the foot of the Chiltern Hills. It is about north-west of central London. Coombe Hill, once part of the estate, is located northeast. Chequers has been the country home of the serving Prime Minister since 1921 after the estate was given to the nation by Sir Arthur Lee by a Deed of Settlement, given full effect in the Chequers Estate Act 1917. The house is listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England. Origin of the name The name "Chequers" may derive from an early owner of the manor of Ellesborough in the 12th century, Elias Ostiarius (or de Scaccario). The name "Ostiarius" meant an usher of the Court of the Exchequer and ''scacchiera'' means a chessboard in Italian. Elias Ostiarius's coat of ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finishing School
A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, with classes primarily on deportment and etiquette, with academic subjects secondary. It may consist of an intensive course, or a one-year programme. In the United States it is sometimes called a charm school. Graeme Donald claims that the educational ladies' salons of the late 19th century led to the formal, finishing institutions evidenced in Switzerland around that time. At their peak, thousands of wealthy young women were sent to the dozens of finishing schools available. A primary goal was to teach students to acquire husbands. The 1960s marked the decline of the finishing school. This can be attributed to the shifting conceptions of women's role in society, as well as succession issues within the typically family-run schools and so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exist and are described in the section about different types. The branch of economic theory dealing with auction types and participants' behavior in auctions is called auction theory. The open ascending price auction is arguably the most common form of auction and has been used throughout history. Participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid being higher than the previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, while bidders submit bids vocally or electronically. Auctions are applied for trade in diverse contexts. These contexts include antiques, paintings, rare collectibles, expensive wines, commodities, livestock, radio spectrum, used cars, real estate, online advertising, vacation packages, emission trading, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernest Cook (philanthropist)
Ernest Edward Cook (4 September 1865 – 14 March 1955) was an English philanthropist and businessman. He was a grandson of Thomas Cook, the travel entrepreneur. Cook was born in Camberwell, London and educated at Mill Hill School, as were his two brothers Frank and Thomas. He entered the family travel business, and developed its banking operations. In 1928, along with his brother Frank, he sold his business interest in the family firm to the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Following the sale, Cook retired to Bath, and devoted himself to his art collection and the acquisition of country estates. He accumulated a large collection of fine and decorative art, which on his death became the largest bequest ever left to the National Art Collections Fund. In 1931 he acquired Montacute House in Somerset and the Bath Assembly Rooms for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. He became a major benefactor of the National Trust, and encouraged the Trust to acqui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baden Powell (mathematician)
Baden Powell, MA FRS FRGS (22 August 1796 – 11 June 1860) was an English mathematician and Church of England priest. He held the Savilian Chair of Geometry at the University of Oxford from 1827 to 1860. Powell was a prominent liberal theologian who put forward advanced ideas about evolution. Origins Baden Powell II was born at Stamford Hill, Hackney in London. His father, Baden Powell I (1767-1841), of Langton and Speldhurst in Kent, was a wine merchant, who served as High Sheriff of Kent in 1831, and as Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1822. The mother of Baden Powell II was Hester Powell (1776-1848), his father's paternal first cousin, a daughter of James Powell (1737-1824) of Clapton, Hackney, Middlesex, Master of the Worshipful Company of Salters in 1818. The Powell family can be traced back to the early 16th century, where they were yeomen farmers at Mildenhall in Suffolk. Baden Powell II's great grandfather, David Powell (1725-1810) of Homerton, Midd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Henry Smyth
Admiral William Henry Smyth (21 January 1788 – 8 September 1865) was a Royal Navy officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist. He is noted for his involvement in the early history of a number of learned societies, for his hydrographic charts, for his astronomical work, and for a wide range of publications and translations. Origins William Henry Smyth was the only son of Joseph Smyth (died 1788) and Georgiana Caroline Pitt Pilkington (died 1838), the daughter of John Carteret Pilkington and the granddaughter of Laetitia Pilkington and her husband Matthew Pilkington. His father, Joseph Smyth, an United States, American Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalist from New Jersey who served as a lieutenant in the King's Royal Regiment of New York during the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, was the sixth son of Benjamin Smyth (died 1769), a landowner in what is now Blairstown, New Jersey, Blairstown, and his first wife Catherina Schoonhoven (died 1750). Never hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Meteorological Society
The Royal Meteorological Society is a long-established institution that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Associate Fellows can be lay enthusiasts. Its Quarterly Journal is one of the world's leading sources of original research in the atmospheric sciences. The chief executive officer is Liz Bentley. Constitution The Royal Meteorological Society traces its origins back to 3 April 1850 when the British Meteorological Society was formed as "a society the objects of which should be the advancement and extension of meteorological science by determining the laws of climate and of meteorological phenomena in general". Along with nine others, including James Glaisher, John Drew, Edward Joseph Lowe, The Revd Joseph Bancroft Reade, and Samuel Charles Whitbread, Dr John Lee, an astronomer, of Hartwell House, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire founded in the library of his house the Bri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Lee (astronomer)
John Lee LL.D, FRS (28 April 1783 – 25 February 1866), born John Fiott, was an English philanthropist, astronomer, mathematician, antiquarian, barrister, and numismatist. Family He was the eldest son of John Fiott and Harriet, daughter of William Lee, of Totteridge, MP for Appleby, of the family of the Lee baronets of Hartwell. His father was involved in the family counting house business and was a failed East India merchant. He was orphaned when young and was brought up by his maternal uncle, William Lee Antonie. Education Lee read Mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge between 1802 and 1806, graduating fifth wrangler in his year. He was elected a fellow in 1808. Following his studies from 1807–1815 he travelled extensively in the Middle East and Europe as a travelling bachelor. During this time he gained an interest in antiquities. Personal life He took the name Lee in 1816 following the death of his uncle William Lee Antonie in 1815. In 1833 Lee married Cecilia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> English Country House")
._Wellcome_V0003461.jpg "Click for more on -> John Lee (astronomer)")