Sir John Fellowes, 1st Baronet (baptised 1670 – 1724)
was an English merchant who was one of the founding directors of the
South Sea Company
The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in Ja ...
.
Life
He was the fourth son of the London merchant William Fellowes and his wife Susannah Coulson, baptised 15 February 1670;
William Fellowes was his elder brother.
He traded in
cochineal
The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America through North Americ ...
, but came to concentrate on work as a financier.
In 1712 Fellowes gave communion plate to
St Michael Paternoster Royal
St Michael Paternoster Royal is a church in the City of London. The original building, which was first recorded in the 13th century, was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The church was rebuilt under the aegis of Sir Christopher Wr ...
, with his brother William. He was the residual heir of
Thomas Coulson, his mother's brother, who died in 1713.
Coulson was buried in a vault on the north side of the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ov ...
of St Michael Paternoster Royal, built in 1712 by William and John Fellowes.
Seat at Carshalton House
John Radcliffe, who was on good terms with Coulson,
bought a house at
Carshalton
Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalto ...
from Edward Carlton, and died there in 1714. The house came into the ownership of the
Daughters of the Cross The Daughters of the Cross of Liège (french: Filles de la Croix) are Religious Sisters in the Catholic Church who are members of a religious congregation founded in 1833 by the Blessed Marie Thérèse Haze, F.C. (1782–1876). The organizatio ...
. It is now part of
St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls.
Fellowes then purchased Carshalton House, in 1715.
But a legal issue on its title arose: Edward Carlton, a tobacco merchant, had been declared bankrupt. Carlton (or Carleton) owed money to the Crown, on his death in 1713. After the accession in 1714 of
George I of Great Britain
George I (George Louis; ; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first ...
, properties held by Carlton were granted to Fellowes, including a copper mill. The legal and tax position was rectified, for the properties that had come to Fellowes from Carlton, by a device suggested by
Sir William Scawen
Sir William Scawen (c. 1644 – 18 October 1722) was a British MP and Governor of the Bank of England.
Early life
Scawen was born in 1644. His father was Robert Scawen of Horton, Buckinghamshire.
Career
Scawen was knighted in 1692.
After some ...
.
It involved Thomas Scawen buying the house, and selling it on in 1716 to Fellowes.
Fellowes had the Water Tower built there, at his seat, around 1721. Girouard calls it "The best surviving example of domestic water-architecture of this period". The engineer was Richard Cole. It had a
water-wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...
, powered by a mill-stream under the tower coming from an artificial pond. Water was pumped both to the house and to a bathroom in the base of the tower. Above were an
orangery
An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...
, saloon, robing room and a
long gallery
In architecture, a long gallery is a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In Britain, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were normally placed on the highest reception floor of English country hou ...
. The battlements are an example of the
sham medievalism of the time, seen also at
Briggens House, built by Robert Chester, another South Sea Company director.
At Carshalton House, Fellowes also employed the garden designer
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman (1690–1738) was an English garden designer who helped pioneer the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres an ...
, and the nurseryman Joseph Carpenter of
Brompton Park.
The master builder and sculptor Giles Dance worked there in 1720. The architect
Henry Joynes was there around 1720, perhaps being employed on the Water Tower. Christopher Blincoe, a plasterer, worked on the house in 1719–1720. Details of the furnishings were in the 1721 inventories of estates of South Sea Bubble figures. Mentioned were caffaw, a "rich silk cloth similar to damask", and culgee, a "figured Indian silk".
The Painted Parlour at Carshalton House is by
Robert Robinson, a decorative painter and engraver who died in 1706. It therefore dates back to Edward Carlton's ownership. The Oak Parlour had an overmantel wooden carving of Fellowes's coat of arms.
Fellowes added the third storey of the house.
It has been described as "A large, solid block of nine by seven bays, built of yellow and red brick, with two storeys and an attic storey above the cornice".
The Hermitage at Carshalton House may as a building date from Bridgeman's formal garden design for Fellowes. The name isn't attested until the 19th century.
Later life and death
Fellowes was noted by Habakkuk as being, at the time of the
South Sea Bubble speculation, one of the richest of the directors of the South Sea Company.
Sir James Bateman, a Tory ally of
Robert Harley, had the "central role" of sub-governor of the company from around 1711 to his death in November 1718. Fellowes was his successor, and in February 1719 signed a proposal for the South Sea Company going forward, paying down the government debt, with Charles Joye as deputy-governor.
In the
South Sea Company Act 1720, Fellowes was named as "late Sub-Governor", at the head of the group singled out for "many notorious, fraudulent and indirect Practices". He was also the first of the South Sea Company directory to be called before the parliamentary committee of investigation in 1721. He was fined heavily, nearly all of his personal fortune being distrained. He kept the use of Carshalton House, living there until his death in 1724.
[
The sugar refineries owned by Fellowes, about ten around the London area, continued in business in 1723.
]
Estate and legacy
Fellowes and Sir William Scawen contributed, with others, to the building of the galleries in All Saints' Church, Carshalton, at the beginning of the 18th century.
The Norfolk Record Office has an archive of Fellowes family records. A "File of receipts to Edward Fellowes for annuities under will of Sir John Fellowes shows that his brother Edward dealt with the estate of Sir John, acting as executor. He was the principal legatee. Edward Fellowes died in 1731. As executor he had dealings with Coulson Fellowes Coulson Fellowes (1696–1769) was an English landowner and politician, Member of Parliament for from 1741 to 1761.
Life
He was the eldest son of the barrister William Fellowes and his wife Mary Martyn; his maternal grandmother was Susannah Couls ...
, son of William Fellowes, and nephew of Sir John.
Edward Fellowes bought confiscated assets of Sir John's some days before the latter's death in 1724. On his death, his properties passed to his nephew Coulson Fellowes Coulson Fellowes (1696–1769) was an English landowner and politician, Member of Parliament for from 1741 to 1761.
Life
He was the eldest son of the barrister William Fellowes and his wife Mary Martyn; his maternal grandmother was Susannah Couls ...
, who disposed of them piecemeal. The copper mill, known as the Carshalton Lower Mill, went to Thomas Scawen, a nephew of Sir William Scawen.
Fellows baronets, of Carshalton (1719)
The Fellows Baronetcy of Carshalton
Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalto ...
in the County of Surrey, in the Baronetage of Great Britain
Baronets are a rank in the British aristocracy. The current Baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier but existing Baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Great Britain.
Baronetage of England (1611–1705)
King James I ...
was created on 20 January 1719 for John Fellowes. Because Fellowes left no heir, the title became extinct on his death in 1724.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fellowes, John
1671 births
1724 deaths
English merchants
Extinct baronetcies in the Baronetage of Great Britain
1719 establishments in Great Britain