Early life
He was the eldest son ofMr. Sneyd had been a great courtier when he was a boy at Eton. His parents lived at Windsor when his father was attached to the court. George III. had given him a Latin Grammar, and he was quite an ardent admirer of that Monarch.Sneyd matriculated at
We had a good deal of literary conversation, as Mr Sneyd has a very pretty smattering of literary topics and a good deal of taste, though a little affected ../blockquote> In 1817,Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville (''née'' Lady Henrietta Elizabeth Cavendish; 29August 178525November 1862) was a British society hostess and writer. The younger daughter of Lady Georgiana Spencer and the 5th Duke of Devonshire, she ...wrote to Georgiana Morpeth that "Ralph Sneyd is very entertaining. He has drawn me a head ofRogers Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) *Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated community ...upon the body of a wasp that is the best thing I ever saw." In an 1823 by-election for , Sneyd was pressed byLord Dudley Baron Dudley is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created circa 1440 for John Sutton, a soldier who served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The title descended in the Sutton family until the 17th century when Frances Sutton, the heir app ...to stand as a Tory. His father was unconvinced of the wisdom of the move, and in the end Sir John Wrottesley was elected unopposed. In in the 1826 general election, Sneyd did stand in a tight politically complex contest, with the backing of local independents Christopher Flood and Philip Mules. He came third in the two-member constituency, toJohn Josiah Guest Sir Josiah John Guest, 1st Baronet (2 February 1785 – 26 November 1852), known as John Josiah Guest, was a Welsh engineer, entrepreneur and politician. Early life Guest was born on 2 February 1785 in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. He wa ...andHarry Baines Lott Harry Baines Lott (1781–1833), of Tracey House, Awliscombe, Devon, was an English politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otte .... At this period his friendsGeorge Agar-Ellis George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover PC FRS FSA (14 January 179710 July 1833) was a British politician and man of letters. He was briefly First Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord Grey between 1830 and 1831. Background ...and George Fortescue were both in parliament, with more liberal views. Sneyd did, however, favour Catholic emancipation.
Landowner
Sneyd inherited the Keele Hall estate from his father in 1829. Walter Sneyd had brought down a heavy burden of encumbering debt on the land from the beginning of the 19th century. Ralph brought inEdward Blore Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. Early career He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore. Blore's backg ...to work on buildings that are now part of Keele University, in 1830–1833. He developed the garden from about 1830, planting on a large scale, and was noted particularly for his use of crosses of ''Rhododendron arboreum ''Rhododendron arboreum'', the tree rhododendron, is an evergreen shrub or small tree with a showy display of bright red flowers. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Thailand. It is the national flower of ...''. He brought in William Sawrey Gilpin from the start to advise on his gardens, as he wrote to Agar-Ellis in September 1829. Charles Adderley encountered Sneyd around the end of 1840 as a guest at Sandon, at the time when he was recruited as a candidate for . He commented on the Tory trio, made up by Lord Sandon and Sir Charles Bagot, of "most highly cultivated and refined companions". Buying further land, Sneyd had purchased over by 1848, taking on debt. The land of the village of Keele was all in his hands by 1841, and he embarked there on building, displaying a monogram RS on works. He went into business mining coal, but without financial success. The death in 1848 of his agent Samuel Peake revealed poor administration of the coal company, which supplied Sneyd's ironworks at Knutton Heath, and a fresh start was made for theSilverdale Colliery Silverdale is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, west of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is a self contained ward of Newcastle Borough Council returning 2 Councillors. Historically, the village was dom .... In 1848 Sneyd on the recommendation of Charles Arbuthnot hired Andrew Thompson to run his estate, who over the following 21 years introduced improved farming methods. Mid-century, he spent on "seeding down" — the process of investing in turf better for cattle grazing — by providing seeds to his tenants. In 1850 he hired William Hill as head gardener, on the advice of George Fleming of Trentham Hall, the Sutherland property some away. He also backed out of active management of business, as an ironmaster. In 1848 he leased to Francis Stanier the older (died 1856), a solicitor ofNewcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ..., his coal mines and ironworks. Stanier went on to develop them atApedale Apedale is a village in Staffordshire, England. The population at the 2011 census can be found under the Holditch (Ward) of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The village is home to the Apedale Community Country Park. The park is unusual for the area as it ..., Knutton and Silverdale. Sneyd as landlord built a private railway line from Silverdale to Newcastle, in 1849. Then in 1852 theNorth Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based i ...built a line that made a junction with Sneyd's at Knutton. Sneyd had Anthony Salvin remodel Keele Hall over the period 1854–1860, a well-regarded conversion in line with Sneyd's bachelor tastes. In 1858 he recommended Wheatstone's House Telegraph to a friend.
Collector
Sneyd was a client of the antique furniture dealer Edward Holmes Baldock of London. He bought around 1835 an annotated copy of ''Johnson's Dictionary ''A Dictionary of the English Language'', sometimes published as ''Johnson's Dictionary'', was published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson. It is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language. The ...'', a sought-after first edition that later went via Maggs Bros Ltd to the collectorRichard Gimbel Richard Gimbel (July 26, 1898 – May 27, 1970) was an American businessman, World War I and World War II veteran, and book collector who served as president of curator of aeronautical literature at the Yale University Library.. At the Strawberry Hill House sale in 1842, he boughtHorace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...'s copy of William Maitland's ''History of Edinburgh''. He was a keen collector of manuscripts. In common with Lord Francis Egerton and Richard Ford, Sneyd used the art dealer Alessandro Aducci in Rome.
Legacy
Sneyd was unmarried, and on his death, the Keele Hall estate passed to his brother Walter; and then to his nephew Ralph Sneyd (1863–1949). The Hall was rented by Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia from 1901 to 1910. The Keele Hall library was put up for auction in 1903, as Walter Sneyd's collection of illuminated manuscripts and early printed books. Many of the manuscripts passed toCharles Fairfax Murray Charles Fairfax Murray (30 September 1849 – 25 January 1919) was a British painter, dealer, collector, benefactor, and art historian who was connected with the second wave of the Pre-Raphaelites. Early years The youngest of four children, .... The Johnson's Dictionary came up for sale in 1927.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sneyd, Ralph 1793 births 1870 deaths English landowners English collectors