Henry William Eaton, 1st Baron Cheylesmore (13 March 1816 – 2 October 1891) was a British businessman,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

politician, and art collector.

Life

The son of Henry Eaton, he was head of William Eaton & Sons, China-silk brokers. He was also

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

from 1865 to

1880 Events January–March * January 22 – Toowong State School is founded in Queensland, Australia. * January – The international White slave trade affair scandal in Brussels is exposed and attracts international infamy. * February � ...

, and from 1881 to 1887. The latter year, in Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Honours, Eaton was raised to the peerage as Baron Cheylesmore, of Cheylesmore in the City of Coventry and County of Warwick. He took the title to match the Manor House he had bought; see below. In 1871 he bought the medieval

Cheylesmore Cheylesmore is a suburb in the southern half of the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England. It is one of Coventry's largest suburbs, sharing borders with Whitley and Stivichall (also spelt Styvechale) in the South, extending into Coventry c ...

Manor House and park, then just outside

, now a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

used as a

Registry office A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in England, ...

in the suburb built on the historic park.

Art collecting

Cheylesmore was a significant art collector, mainly of contemporary British painting. The star of his collection, and his posthumous sale at Christie's in May 1892 (lot numbers and prices realized noted), was undoubtedly ''The Monarch of the Glen'' (lot 42, £7,245) by Sir

Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the lion sculptures at the bas ...

, one of the most popular paintings of the age. Altogether 31 of the 86 lots were by Landseer, many bought at his studio sale in 1874. Other artists with several works included

William Powell Frith William Powell Frith (9 January 1819 – 2 November 1909) was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1853, presenting ''The Sleep ...

, lots 19–21, the Biblical Orientalist

Frederick Goodall Frederick Goodall (17 September 1822 – 29 July 1904) was an English artist. Life Frederick Goodall was born in London in 1822, the second son of steel line engraver Edward Goodall (1795–1870). He received his education at the Wel ...

, lots 22–28,

David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...

, lots 71–73, and the American sculptor

Hiram Powers Hiram Powers (July 29, 1805 – June 27, 1873) was an American neoclassical sculptor. He was one of the first 19th-century American artists to gain an international reputation, largely based on his famous marble sculpture ''The Greek Slave''. ...

, with three busts as lots 84–86. Though the ''Monarch'', which in 1916 passed into company ownership for exploiting in advertising, was perhaps too expensive, his son William bought back four paintings which he bequeathed to the National Gallery, London in 1902. These included two of the next most expensive works, ''

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey ''The Execution of Lady Jane Grey'' is an oil painting by Paul Delaroche, completed in 1833, which is now in the National Gallery in London. It was enormously popular in the decades after it was painted, but in the 20th century realist historica ...

'' (1833) by

Paul Delaroche Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche (17 July 1797 – 4 November 1856) was a French painter who achieved his greater successes painting historical scenes. He became famous in Europe for his melodramatic depictions that often portrayed subjects from English ...

(lot 78, £1,575), and ''Cromer Sands'' by William Collins (lot 15, £2,205). ''Sunday in the Backwoods'' by

Thomas Faed Thomas Faed RSA (1826–1900) was a Scottish painter who is said to have done for Scottish art what Robert Burns did for Scottish song. Life Faed was born on 8 June 1826, at Barlay Mill in Gatehouse of Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire, and was th ...

and now in

Wolverhampton Art Gallery Wolverhampton Art Gallery is located in the City of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. The building was funded and constructed by local contractor Philip Horsman (1825–1890), and built on land provided by the municipal aut ...

(lot 18, £1,785), and the second most expensive painting in the sale was ''Saint Michael's Mount, The Morning after the Storm'', by

Clarkson Frederick Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (3 December 179318 May 1867) was a prominent English painter (often inaccurately credited as William Clarkson Stanfield) who was best known for his large-scale paintings of dramatic marine subjects and landscapes. ...

(lot 74, £3,150). Five other Landseers fetched between £892 and £1,680, this for lot 60, ''Flood in the Highlands'', also in his son's bequest but refused by the National Gallery, and now

Aberdeen Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery is the main visual arts exhibition space in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1884 in a building designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, with a sculpture court added in 1905. In 1900, it received the art ...

. An 1869 window in the Parish Church of St. Michael, Coventry, depicting the life of Solomon, was the gift of Eaton. As Coventry Cathedral, the church was destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Eaton also donated land at Cheylesmore for the church's vicarage, in 1871.

Family and death

Cheylesmore mausoleum in Highgate Cemetery

Eaton married in 1839 Charlotte Gorham Harman, only daughter of Thomas Leader Harman of

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. They had three sons and one daughter. His wife died in 1877 and his eldest son Henry Enderby two years later. Cheylesmore died on 2 October 1891, aged 75, and was buried on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

in a vault (no.9863) later covered in 1926 by the mausoleum built for his third son, Herbert Eaton. He was succeeded in the barony by his second son

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. The third son Herbert Francis became the 3rd Baron in 1902.

Notes

References

* Christie's, ''Catalogue of the important collection of modern pictures and sculpture formed by the late Rt. Hon. Lord Cheylesmore'', auction catalogue, London, 7 May 1892
online copy with prices realized added by hand
*''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1968 edition) *Antony Griffiths (ed), ''Landmarks in Print Collecting - Connoisseurs and Donors at the British Museum since 1753'', 1996, British Museum Press,
www.thepeerage.com
* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, William Henry 1816 births 1891 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Cheylesmore, Henry William Eaton, 1st Baron Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs who were granted peerages British art collectors Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Coventry Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria