Dudmaston Hall
Encyclopedia
Dudmaston Hall is a 17th century country house in the care of the National Trust
in the Severn Valley
, Shropshire
, England
, United Kingdom
.
Dudmaston Hall is located near the village of Quatt
, a few miles south of the market town
of Bridgnorth
, just off the A442 road
.
and an example of a traditional Shropshire country estate, in that it comprises the main hall, the landscaped gardens, parkland, managed woodlands, lakeside, farmland and the estate cottages, for example at Quatt
, a model village designed by London architect John Birch in 1870 for the workers and tenants of the estate.
acquired it by marriage to the heiress of the former owners, Margaret de Dudmaston. It is likely that the medieval house was replaced by a structure on the site of the present building in the 16th century. This is shown in a stylised way on old maps as a fortified manor house. It is likely that the main source of income was sheep raising, an important part of the late medieval economy, in which the wool trade played a central role. Unlike many of the Shropshire and Staffordshire gentry, the Wolryches accepted the Reformation
and became stalwart Anglicans, but were royalists, as loyal to the House of Stuart
as to their Tudor
predecessors.
Francis Wolryche (1563–1614) was wealthy enough to have himself and his wife, Margaret Bromley, buried under elaborate effigies in Quatt church. Their son, Sir Thomas Wolryche (1598–1668), was the first of the Wolryche Baronets
- a dignity he achieved not by the usual route of purchase, but through his enthusiastic support for Charles I
, who knighted him July 1441 and raised him to the baronetcy a few weeks later. On the outbreak of the English Civil War
, he raised troops for the king and was appointed governor of Bridgnorth Castle
. When Parliamentary forces arrived at Bridgnorth in 1646, Wolryche's garrison set fire to the town, which was largely destroyed, before retreating into the castle, only to surrender shortly afterwards. Sir Thomas Wolryche was fined £730 14s by Parliament and was one of the few royalists not to recover his money at the Restoration (1660)
in 1660.
, but died in 1685, before work was finished.
John's son, Sir Thomas Wolryche (1672–1723) inherited his uncle's baronetcy and his father's determination to rebuild. However, he embarked on a much more ambitious project, replacing the old manor house with a new sandstone building, the core of the present Dudmaston Hall. The architect appears to have been Francis Smith of Warwick
, who provided a substantial, well-built, but not grand residence. Modelled on Belton House
in Lincolnshire, it has an H-plan lay-out, a large central entrance hall, backed by a saloon, and flanked by three-roomed wings. Construction probably began before 1700, but Thomas died in 1701 before it was complete.
Management of the estate passed to Sir Thomas's widow, Elizabeth Weld. However, their son, Sir John Wolryche (1691–1723), the fourth baronet, came to maturity in 1712 and took over the reins. For a decade he spent heavily on gambling, horses and hunting. In 1723, attempting to ford the Severn after attending races at Chelmarsh
, directly opposite Dudmaston, he drowned, leaving no male heir. The estate was burdened by heavy debts and was passed to Sir John's sister, Mary, only on payment of £14,000. She, her mother Elizabeth, and her uncle, Colonel Thomas Weld, resided at Dudmaston, and over the next half century, largely restored it to a sound financial footing by frugal management.
Whitmore also commissioned the gardener and landscape designer William Emes
to produce a scheme for the grounds. Emes came up with a formal plan but it was never executed. Instead, Whitmore left his wife, Frances Lister, and his own gardener, Walter Wood, to develop the grounds. Wood had previously worked on a Picturesque
-style garden for the poet William Shenstone
at The Leasowes
, near Halesowen
, then also part of the county of Shropshire
. Carefully controlling the Quatt Brook, a small tributary of the Severn to the south of the hall, he now reshaped its course through the Dingle, a small, wooded valley, which was itself artfully quarried and sculpted. His small cliffs, waterfalls and rustic bridges created a framework for the winding paths and seating areas, laid out by Frances. It is unclear which Dingle came first, but it is likely there were cross-influences with that at Badger, Shropshire
, where Emes certainly was involved in the design, and where the squire, Isaac Hawkins Browne
was an associate of Whitmore. (Browne was soon to take a seat in the House of Commons for Dudmaston's pocket borough of Bridgnorth.)
Whitmore's son, also William, added the old family name of Wolryche to his own. A man of enormous energy, he not only had an active career as a reforming M.P., but also greatly modified the house and grounds. In the hall his improvements include a fine Regency
staircase, new windows, and a large new dining room - now the modern art gallery. He also completely reshaped the landscape to the west, which forms the main view from the hall. The Big Pool was formed by combining three small lakes and terraces constructed, with small flights of steps and walls. To the south he broke the formality with the American Border, an area that was then planted mainly with rhododendrons but today contains a wide range of Asian and American plants.
and Barbara Hepworth
plus an extensive collection of mid-20th century Spanish paintings and pottery, collected by former resident Sir George Labouchere during his diplomatic service.
Fishing permits to some of the estate's pools are available from Kinver Freeliners angling club.
Other than that, there is lots of activities going on around the estate - pig farming, asparagus growing, Hampton Loade.
Dudmaston also features in its very own traditional way of "tushing" using a horse to pull logs in the woods where a tractor can not reach. This is done with a Fell Pony, which were originally used as pack ponies for carrying lead from the mines.
(1787–1858) was an important reforming politician. He was the son of William Whitmore, who inherited Dudmaston from a distant cousin, the last of the Wolryche Baronets
, and Frances Lister. In 1810 he married Lady Lucy Bridgeman, daughter of the Earl of Bradford
. The young couple set out on a Grand Tour
, which included a visit to Napoleon Bonaparte, exiled on Elba
. On the death of his father in 1815, William inherited Dudmaston and five years later he took up the family's parliamentary seat of Bridgnorth
.
William quickly became a major spokesman for the liberal
causes of Parliamentary Reform and Catholic Emancipation
. He spoke against the power of the West Indian sugar planters and looked forward to the ending of Caribbean slavery. He warned of the disastrous consequences for the Indian economy of British colonialism. After the Reform Act of 1832, he won the new parliamentary seat of Wolverhampton
for the Whigs after a bitterly-contested campaign. One of his major concerns was providing new opportunities for working class people through emigration, and he strongly opposed the use of convict and slave labour everywhere. His last contribution in parliament was on the subject of emigration to South Australia.
Despite the fact that it could be considered against the interest of himself and his class, he campaigned long and hard for repeal of the Corn Laws
. The great majority of his contributions in parliament were on this subject. He continued to campaign even after he left parliament. His successor in the Wolverhampton seat was Charles Pelham Villiers
, another radical Whig who continued his anti-Corn Law work. The repeal was not achieved until 1846, when the Tory leader, Robert Peel
, split his party to force the measure through with Whig support.
While continuing his political campaigns, William remodelled the house and the estate on more modern lines, diversifying the economic activities and improving conditions for his workers and tenants. This was at great cost, however, and he left mortgage
s totalling £60,000 to his nephew, Francis Laing, who inherited the estate on his death.
. Babbage lived at Dudmaston Hall for significant periods and even engineered the central heating system. Their son Henry Prevost Babbage's 1910 Analytical Engine Mill was on display at Dudmaston Hall until the 1980s, after which it was moved to the Science Museum
in London.
. She was bequeathed the estate by her uncle, Geoffrey, on condition that it should pass to the National Trust. She met George Labouchère
(1905–1999), scion of a Huguenot
family, while working at the Admiralty in 1942 and was to marry him the following year. They agreed that she would accompany him to his diplomatic postings and that he would then retire to Dudmaston with her.
George's first posting was as ambassador
to Sweden
, and Rachel had to fly over the North Sea
to marry him there, forced to turn back once when the cloud cleared and left the aeroplane exposed to German attack. Subsequent postings were in China, from 1946 to 1948, and then in Argentina, Austria, Hungary and Belgium. George was knight
ed in 1955 and appointed ambassador to Francoist Spain in 1960. It was there that the Lachoucheres acquired an important group of artworks, produced by artists of the left-wing opposition to the regime - a significant component of the collection they would install at Dudmaston.
Uncle Geoffrey moved out in 1966, allowing Rachel and George to retire to Dudmaston. The process of transferring it to the National Trust was completed in 1978, although they continued to reside in the house and to improve both it and the grounds. They established a sizeable collection of modern art, alongside a collection of material inherited from the Wolryche-Whitmores and the Darbys. Following a strong interest in the economic and social history of the region, Rachel campaigned for the preservation and enhancement of the industrial heritage of the Severn valley. She served for fourteen years as president of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
, which was established in 1967. Rachel had trained as a botanical artist at the Flatford Field Studies Centre
and established an important collection of paintings and drawings of plants at Dudmaston. Almost until her death she was active at Dudmaston, frequently engaging visitors in discussion.
The couple had no children and Rachel died in 1996. George outlived her by three years.
Rachel Labouchere left the house to a close family relative, the Hamilton-Russells.
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in the Severn Valley
Severn Valley (England)
The Severn Valley is a rural area of mid-western England, through which the River Severn runs and the Severn Valley Railway steam heritage line operates, starting at its northernmost point in Bridgnorth, Shropshire and running south for 16 miles to Bewdley, Worcestershire in the Wyre...
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Dudmaston Hall is located near the village of Quatt
Quatt
Quatt is a small village in Shropshire, England in the Severn Valley. The civil parish, formally known as Quatt Malvern, has a population of 219 according to the 2001 census.It lies on the A442 south of Bridgnorth....
, a few miles south of the market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
of Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left...
, just off the A442 road
A442 road
The A442 is a main road which passes through the counties of Worcestershire and Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England.-Route:From Droitwich in Worcestershire it runs towards Kidderminster where it meets the A449 from Worcester...
.
History
The property is a late 17th century country mansionMansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
and an example of a traditional Shropshire country estate, in that it comprises the main hall, the landscaped gardens, parkland, managed woodlands, lakeside, farmland and the estate cottages, for example at Quatt
Quatt
Quatt is a small village in Shropshire, England in the Severn Valley. The civil parish, formally known as Quatt Malvern, has a population of 219 according to the 2001 census.It lies on the A442 south of Bridgnorth....
, a model village designed by London architect John Birch in 1870 for the workers and tenants of the estate.
The Wolryche connection
The Dudmaston estate has been in the Wolryche family or the barely-related Wolryche-Whitmore family since 1403, when William Wolryche of nearby Much WenlockMuch Wenlock
Much Wenlock, earlier known as Wenlock, is a small town in central Shropshire, England. It is situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford...
acquired it by marriage to the heiress of the former owners, Margaret de Dudmaston. It is likely that the medieval house was replaced by a structure on the site of the present building in the 16th century. This is shown in a stylised way on old maps as a fortified manor house. It is likely that the main source of income was sheep raising, an important part of the late medieval economy, in which the wool trade played a central role. Unlike many of the Shropshire and Staffordshire gentry, the Wolryches accepted the Reformation
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
and became stalwart Anglicans, but were royalists, as loyal to the House of Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
as to their Tudor
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
predecessors.
Francis Wolryche (1563–1614) was wealthy enough to have himself and his wife, Margaret Bromley, buried under elaborate effigies in Quatt church. Their son, Sir Thomas Wolryche (1598–1668), was the first of the Wolryche Baronets
Wolryche Baronets
The Wolryche Baronetcy, of Dudmaston in the County of Shropshire, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 4 August 1641 for Thomas Wolryche, previously Member of Parliament for Wenlock...
- a dignity he achieved not by the usual route of purchase, but through his enthusiastic support for Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, who knighted him July 1441 and raised him to the baronetcy a few weeks later. On the outbreak of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, he raised troops for the king and was appointed governor of Bridgnorth Castle
Bridgnorth Castle
Bridgnorth Castle is in the town of Bridgnorth, Shropshire beside the River Severn .The castle was founded in 1101 by Robert de Belleme, the son of the French Earl, Roger de Montgomery, who succeeded his father to become the Earl of Shrewsbury...
. When Parliamentary forces arrived at Bridgnorth in 1646, Wolryche's garrison set fire to the town, which was largely destroyed, before retreating into the castle, only to surrender shortly afterwards. Sir Thomas Wolryche was fined £730 14s by Parliament and was one of the few royalists not to recover his money at the Restoration (1660)
Restoration (1660)
The term Restoration in reference to the year 1660 refers to the restoration of Charles II to his realms across the British Empire at that time.-England:...
in 1660.
The building of the present Hall
Sir Thomas's eldest son, Francis (1627–89), the second baronet, was declared a lunatic. It was his fifth son, John Wolryche, who took over the estate in 1668. He began building a new house at Quatt, now the dower houseDower house
On an estate, a dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the estate-owner. The widow, often known as the "dowager" usually moves into the dower house from the larger family house on the death of her husband if the heir is married, and upon his marriage if he...
, but died in 1685, before work was finished.
John's son, Sir Thomas Wolryche (1672–1723) inherited his uncle's baronetcy and his father's determination to rebuild. However, he embarked on a much more ambitious project, replacing the old manor house with a new sandstone building, the core of the present Dudmaston Hall. The architect appears to have been Francis Smith of Warwick
Francis Smith of Warwick
Francis Smith of Warwick was an English master-builder and architect, much involved in the construction of country houses in the Midland counties of England...
, who provided a substantial, well-built, but not grand residence. Modelled on Belton House
Belton House
Belton House is a Grade I listed country house in Belton near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. The mansion is surrounded by formal gardens and a series of avenues leading to follies within a larger wooded park...
in Lincolnshire, it has an H-plan lay-out, a large central entrance hall, backed by a saloon, and flanked by three-roomed wings. Construction probably began before 1700, but Thomas died in 1701 before it was complete.
Management of the estate passed to Sir Thomas's widow, Elizabeth Weld. However, their son, Sir John Wolryche (1691–1723), the fourth baronet, came to maturity in 1712 and took over the reins. For a decade he spent heavily on gambling, horses and hunting. In 1723, attempting to ford the Severn after attending races at Chelmarsh
Chelmarsh
Chelmarsh is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire. It lies 4 miles south of Bridgnorth on the B4555 road to Highley....
, directly opposite Dudmaston, he drowned, leaving no male heir. The estate was burdened by heavy debts and was passed to Sir John's sister, Mary, only on payment of £14,000. She, her mother Elizabeth, and her uncle, Colonel Thomas Weld, resided at Dudmaston, and over the next half century, largely restored it to a sound financial footing by frugal management.
Development of the gardens
Colonel Weld outlived both his niece and his sister to become the owner of Dudmaston. When he died in 1774, it passed to a distant cousin, George Whitmore, who died shortly afterwards, passing it to his nephew, William Whitmore (1745–1815). He was a seaman from Southampton who had also inherited a number of other large properties, giving him the resources to restore and reshape Dudmaston. He spent large sums on repairs and on refurnishing the hall.Whitmore also commissioned the gardener and landscape designer William Emes
William Emes
-Biography:Details of his early life are not known but in 1756 he was appointed head gardener to Sir Nathaniel Curzon at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. He left this post in 1760 when Robert Adam was given responsibility for the entire management of the grounds. During his time at Kedleston he had...
to produce a scheme for the grounds. Emes came up with a formal plan but it was never executed. Instead, Whitmore left his wife, Frances Lister, and his own gardener, Walter Wood, to develop the grounds. Wood had previously worked on a Picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
-style garden for the poet William Shenstone
William Shenstone
William Shenstone was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes.-Life:...
at The Leasowes
The Leasowes
The Leasowes is a 57 hectare estate in Halesowen, historically in the county of Shropshire, England, comprising house and gardens....
, near Halesowen
Halesowen
Halesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
, then also part of the county of Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
. Carefully controlling the Quatt Brook, a small tributary of the Severn to the south of the hall, he now reshaped its course through the Dingle, a small, wooded valley, which was itself artfully quarried and sculpted. His small cliffs, waterfalls and rustic bridges created a framework for the winding paths and seating areas, laid out by Frances. It is unclear which Dingle came first, but it is likely there were cross-influences with that at Badger, Shropshire
Badger, Shropshire
Badger is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about six miles north-east of Bridgnorth. The parish had a population of 134 according to the 2001 census....
, where Emes certainly was involved in the design, and where the squire, Isaac Hawkins Browne
Isaac Hawkins Browne (coalowner)
Isaac Hawkins Browne was a British Tory politician, industrialist, essayist, and a lord of the manor of Badger, Shropshire.-Family and education:...
was an associate of Whitmore. (Browne was soon to take a seat in the House of Commons for Dudmaston's pocket borough of Bridgnorth.)
Whitmore's son, also William, added the old family name of Wolryche to his own. A man of enormous energy, he not only had an active career as a reforming M.P., but also greatly modified the house and grounds. In the hall his improvements include a fine Regency
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
staircase, new windows, and a large new dining room - now the modern art gallery. He also completely reshaped the landscape to the west, which forms the main view from the hall. The Big Pool was formed by combining three small lakes and terraces constructed, with small flights of steps and walls. To the south he broke the formality with the American Border, an area that was then planted mainly with rhododendrons but today contains a wide range of Asian and American plants.
Features and amenities
The hall contains an outstanding art collection, described by the National Trust as "one of Britain's most important public collections of modern art", including sculptures by Henry MooreHenry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
and Barbara Hepworth
Barbara Hepworth
Dame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...
plus an extensive collection of mid-20th century Spanish paintings and pottery, collected by former resident Sir George Labouchere during his diplomatic service.
Fishing permits to some of the estate's pools are available from Kinver Freeliners angling club.
Other than that, there is lots of activities going on around the estate - pig farming, asparagus growing, Hampton Loade.
Dudmaston also features in its very own traditional way of "tushing" using a horse to pull logs in the woods where a tractor can not reach. This is done with a Fell Pony, which were originally used as pack ponies for carrying lead from the mines.
William Wolryche-Whitmore
William Wolryche-WhitmoreWilliam Wolryche-Whitmore
William Wolryche-Whitmore was a Shropshire landowner and British Whig politician. He held a seat in the House of Commons from 1820 to 1835, representing first Bridgnorth and later Wolverhampton.-Background:...
(1787–1858) was an important reforming politician. He was the son of William Whitmore, who inherited Dudmaston from a distant cousin, the last of the Wolryche Baronets
Wolryche Baronets
The Wolryche Baronetcy, of Dudmaston in the County of Shropshire, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 4 August 1641 for Thomas Wolryche, previously Member of Parliament for Wenlock...
, and Frances Lister. In 1810 he married Lady Lucy Bridgeman, daughter of the Earl of Bradford
Earl of Bradford
Earl of Bradford is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created in 1694 for Francis Newport, 2nd Baron Newport. However, all the Newport titles became extinct on the death of the fourth Earl in 1762. The...
. The young couple set out on a Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
, which included a visit to Napoleon Bonaparte, exiled on Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
. On the death of his father in 1815, William inherited Dudmaston and five years later he took up the family's parliamentary seat of Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left...
.
William quickly became a major spokesman for the liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
causes of Parliamentary Reform and Catholic Emancipation
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...
. He spoke against the power of the West Indian sugar planters and looked forward to the ending of Caribbean slavery. He warned of the disastrous consequences for the Indian economy of British colonialism. After the Reform Act of 1832, he won the new parliamentary seat of Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
for the Whigs after a bitterly-contested campaign. One of his major concerns was providing new opportunities for working class people through emigration, and he strongly opposed the use of convict and slave labour everywhere. His last contribution in parliament was on the subject of emigration to South Australia.
Despite the fact that it could be considered against the interest of himself and his class, he campaigned long and hard for repeal of the Corn Laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
. The great majority of his contributions in parliament were on this subject. He continued to campaign even after he left parliament. His successor in the Wolverhampton seat was Charles Pelham Villiers
Charles Pelham Villiers
Charles Pelham Villiers was a British lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1835 to 1898, making him the longest-serving Member of Parliament .-Background and education:...
, another radical Whig who continued his anti-Corn Law work. The repeal was not achieved until 1846, when the Tory leader, Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
, split his party to force the measure through with Whig support.
While continuing his political campaigns, William remodelled the house and the estate on more modern lines, diversifying the economic activities and improving conditions for his workers and tenants. This was at great cost, however, and he left mortgage
Mortgage
A mortgage is a security interest in real property held by a lender as a security for a debt, usually a loan of money. A mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is the lender's security for a debt...
s totalling £60,000 to his nephew, Francis Laing, who inherited the estate on his death.
Charles Babbage
In 1814, Georgiana Whitmore, a daughter of William Whitmore and sister of the budding politician, married computing pioneer Charles BabbageCharles Babbage
Charles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
. Babbage lived at Dudmaston Hall for significant periods and even engineered the central heating system. Their son Henry Prevost Babbage's 1910 Analytical Engine Mill was on display at Dudmaston Hall until the 1980s, after which it was moved to the Science Museum
Science Museum (London)
The Science Museum is one of the three major museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. The museum is a major London tourist attraction....
in London.
George and Rachel Labouchere
Rachel Hamilton-Russell (1908–1996) was the daughter of Olive, who was herself the daughter of Francis Wolryche-Whitmore and Alice Darby of CoalbrookdaleCoalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides...
. She was bequeathed the estate by her uncle, Geoffrey, on condition that it should pass to the National Trust. She met George Labouchère
George Labouchère
Sir George Peter Labouchere, , a descendant of a Huguenot family exiled in the XVII Century to England, CMG 1951, KCMG 1955, GBE 1964, was a British diplomat and a notorious modern art collector...
(1905–1999), scion of a Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
family, while working at the Admiralty in 1942 and was to marry him the following year. They agreed that she would accompany him to his diplomatic postings and that he would then retire to Dudmaston with her.
George's first posting was as ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and Rachel had to fly over the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
to marry him there, forced to turn back once when the cloud cleared and left the aeroplane exposed to German attack. Subsequent postings were in China, from 1946 to 1948, and then in Argentina, Austria, Hungary and Belgium. George was knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed in 1955 and appointed ambassador to Francoist Spain in 1960. It was there that the Lachoucheres acquired an important group of artworks, produced by artists of the left-wing opposition to the regime - a significant component of the collection they would install at Dudmaston.
Uncle Geoffrey moved out in 1966, allowing Rachel and George to retire to Dudmaston. The process of transferring it to the National Trust was completed in 1978, although they continued to reside in the house and to improve both it and the grounds. They established a sizeable collection of modern art, alongside a collection of material inherited from the Wolryche-Whitmores and the Darbys. Following a strong interest in the economic and social history of the region, Rachel campaigned for the preservation and enhancement of the industrial heritage of the Severn valley. She served for fourteen years as president of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is an industrial heritage organisation which runs ten museums and manages 35 historic sites within the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, widely considered as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution....
, which was established in 1967. Rachel had trained as a botanical artist at the Flatford Field Studies Centre
Flatford Mill
Flatford Mill is a Grade I listed 18th century watermill built in 1733 in Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. Attached to the mill is a 17th century miller's cottage which is also Grade I listed....
and established an important collection of paintings and drawings of plants at Dudmaston. Almost until her death she was active at Dudmaston, frequently engaging visitors in discussion.
The couple had no children and Rachel died in 1996. George outlived her by three years.
Rachel Labouchere left the house to a close family relative, the Hamilton-Russells.