Hyde House is a

Grade II 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 Ire ...

listed early 18th-century

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 Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...

near

Hyde Heath Hyde Heath is a village in the civil parish of Little Missenden, in the Buckinghamshire district of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, around northeast of the village of Little Missenden and ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

, England. It had previously belonged to

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors ...

and was known as Chesham Woburn Manor. Hyde House was owned by the politician and barrister

Robert Plumer Ward Robert Ward, or from 1828 Robert Plumer Ward (19 March 1765 – 13 August 1846), was an English barrister, politician, and novelist. George Canning said that his law books were as pleasant as novels, and his novels as dull as law books. Life H ...

in the early 19th century. In 1811, Ward anticipated the dismissal of the government in the wake of the passing of the

Regency Act The Regency Acts are Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed at various times, to provide a regent in the event of the reigning monarch being incapacitated or a minor (under the age of 18). Prior to 1937, Regency Acts were passed only ...

, and looked forward to "...being at Hyde House in a fortnight. My garden, farm, plantations and library are the prevailing ideas, and every purchase I have lately made, whether books or pruning-knives are all with a view to my long wished retreat." Ward retired to Hyde House in 1823 to write his novel ''Tremaine, or The Man of Refinement''. The writer and scholar

Isaac D'Israeli Isaac D'Israeli (11 May 1766 – 19 January 1848) was a British writer, scholar and the father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. He is best known for his essays and his associations with other men of letters. Life and career Isaac ...

rented the house during the autumn of 1825, and his son, Benjamin Disraeli, the future

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...

, later claimed that he wrote his novel ''

Vivian Grey ''Vivian Grey'' is Benjamin Disraeli's first novel, published by Henry Colburn in 1826. Originally published anonymously, ostensibly by a so-called "man of fashion", part 1 caused a considerable sensation in London society. Contemporary review ...

'' at the house before his 21st birthday in December 1825. However, that has been considered unbelievable considering the short time and the large size of the novel. ''Tremaine'' has subsequently been claimed as a model for ''Vivian Gray''. Architectural historian

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...

, in the Buckinghamshire edition of his ''

Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published b ...

'' describes Hyde House as having the "proportions of a late c17 or c18 house hidden behind the stucco and sashes of the early c19." Pevsner also believed that some "antiquarian flourishes" such "heraldic glass, lattice glazing and shields of arms" might have dated from Plumer Ward's occupancy of the house. Pevsner noted that a long wing had been built on the house in 1929, and an early 18th-century staircase was also highlighted. During the

Second World War 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the patients of the pioneering

plastic surgeon Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes cranio ...

Archibald McIndoe Sir Archibald Hector McIndoe (4 May 1900 – 11 April 1960) was a New Zealand plastic surgeon who worked for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He improved the treatment and rehabilitation of badly burned aircrew. Early life Archi ...

recuperated at Hyde House. After the war, Hyde House was a school before being converted into apartments in 1965. It was subsequently bought in 2000 and converted back from apartments into a single house. The gardens at Hyde House featured in '' Country Life'' magazine in June 2012. The grounds of Hyde House also contain a Grade II listed

granary A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animal ...

and

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or ba ...

, which is now a

summer house A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden ...

. It is believed to date from the 17th or 18th century.

References

{{Reflist, 33em Houses completed in the 18th century Country houses in Buckinghamshire Grade II listed houses in Buckinghamshire Dovecotes Chiltern District Grade II listed agricultural buildings