Henry Thomas Hope

Henry Thomas Hope (30 April 1808 – 4 December 1862) was a British MP and patron of the arts.

The Flemish Picture Gallery, Henry Thomas Hope's home Duchess Street, by R.W. Billings

Biography

Henry Thomas Hope was born in London on 30 April 1808, the eldest of the three sons of the connoisseur Thomas Hope (1769–1831) and his wife Louisa de la Poer Beresford. However, he was estranged from his brothers (including Alexander James Beresford Hope) when he inherited their father's art collections, wealth and property along with those of their uncle Henry Philip Hope (died 1839). Part of Hope's inheritance from his uncle included the Hope Diamond.[1]

He entered a political career after studying at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge (1825–29).[2] He was briefly a Groom of the Bedchamber to Kings George IV and William IV between March and November 1830.[3]

He also founded the Art Union of London and the Royal Botanic Society, as well as serving as vice-president of the Society of Arts and president of the Surrey Archaeological Society. Displaying his old masters collection to the public at his London house on Duchess Street, a mansion at 116 Piccadilly and at Deepdene House in Surrey. He was also a patron to idealists such as Young England and the Spanish Carlists and helped organise the 1851 Great Exhibition. From 1851 to 1858 he chaired the Eastern Steam Navigation Company for Isambard Kingdom Brunel, with Henry having been the Great Eastern's chief fundraiser.

In 1853, he purchased Blayney Castle in Castleblayney, County Monaghan, Ireland, from The 12th Baron Blayney. He renamed the country house as Hope Castle.

Death

Hope died on 4 December 1862 at 116 Piccadilly, London.

Personal life

In 1851 Hope married Anne Adele Bichat, having already had a daughter named Henrietta Adela with her in 1843. The marriage legitimised Henrietta, who in 1861 married Lord Lincoln (later sixth Duke of Newcastle).[4] After her first husband's death, Henrietta married Thomas Theobald Hohler.[5]

Constituencies

References

  1. Robert J. Girod (2008). Infamous Murders and Mysteries: Cold Case Files and Who-Done-Its. iUniverse. p. 152.
  2. "Hope, Henry Thomas (HP825HT)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. http://courtofficers.ctsdh.luc.edu/Index-H.pdf
  4. Edward Walford (1869). The County Families of the United Kingdom Or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland. United Kingdom: R. Hardwicke. p. 717. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  5. J. Robert Maguire (24 January 2013). Ceremonies of Bravery: Oscar Wilde, Carlos Blacker, and the Dreyfus Affair. OUP Oxford. p. 12.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
James Buller-Elphinstone
William Lascelles
Member of Parliament for East Looe
1829–1832
With: William Lascelles to 1830
Thomas Arthur Kemmis from 1830
constituency abolished
Preceded by
Maurice Berkeley
John Phillpotts
Member of Parliament for Gloucester
1833–1841
With: John Phillpotts to 1835
Maurice Berkeley 1835–37
John Phillpotts from 1837
Succeeded by
John Phillpotts
Maurice Berkeley
Preceded by
John Phillpotts
Maurice Berkeley
Member of Parliament for Gloucester
18471852
With: Maurice Berkeley
Succeeded by
Maurice Berkeley
William Philip Price
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