Sambrooke Freeman
Encyclopedia
Fawley Court
Fawley Court is a country house standing on the banks of the River Thames at Fawley in the English county of Buckinghamshire, just north of Henley-on-Thames. The former deer park extended over the border into Oxfordshire...
near Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
, 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...
. He was a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, for Pontefract
Pontefract (UK Parliament constituency)
Pontefract was an English parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Pontefract in the West Riding of Yorkshire, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons briefly in the 13th century and again from 1621 until 1885, and one member from 1885 to 1974.-In the unreformed...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
from 1754–61 and Bridport
Bridport (UK Parliament constituency)
Bridport was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1868, and then one member from 1868 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.-History:...
in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
from 1768–74.
Sambrooke Freeman was the son of John (Cooke) Freeman, a successful businessman. His first name derived from the Sambrooke family. Due to the Freeman family's rising fortune, Sambrooke Freeman was educated at University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
, graduating in 1739, followed by an expensive 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...
of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
on two trips over nearly four years from 1744.
Freeman lived at Fawley Court, a large house close to the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
north of Henley-on-Thames and just in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
. He inherited the house on the death of his father in 1752. Capability Brown
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...
was commissioned to work on the grounds of the estate surrounding the house between 1764 and 1766.. Freeman also had the house remodelled by the architect James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
during the early 1770s is a Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
style. Wyatt also designed the "temple" (a fishing lodge) on Temple Island
Temple Island
Temple Island is an island in the River Thames in England just north of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. The island is on the reach above Hambleden Lock between the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire banks, and is part of Remenham in Berkshire...
on the river close to Fawley Court in 1771 for Freeman, with Etruscan
Etruscan art
Etruscan art was the form of figurative art produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 9th and 2nd centuries BC. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta and cast bronze, wall-painting and metalworking .-History:The origins of...
-style murals inside.
Edward Cooper sold Phyllis Court
Phyllis Court
Phyllis Court is a private members club in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, situated by the River Thames.The Club was founded in 1906 and is located in a Georgian-style building set within its own elegant grounds, close to the town centre...
to Sambrooke Freeman in 1768. He also bought the manors of Henley
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
and Remenham
Remenham
Remenham is a village and civil parish on the Berkshire bank of the River Thames near Henley-on-Thames in southern England.-Rowing:The parish covers the starting point of the Henley Royal Regatta course. Remenham Club is a private members club for rowers, with a good view of the river halfway along...
in the same year.
Freeman worked on a pagoda
Pagoda
A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist,...
fountain
Fountain
A fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
project for Prior Park
Prior Park Landscape Garden
Prior Park Landscape Garden is an 18th-century landscape garden, designed by the poet Alexander Pope and the landscape gardener Capability Brown, and now owned by the National Trust. It is south of Bath, Somerset, England by Ralph Allen Drive, and 3/4 mile from the Kennet and Avon canal path...
south of the city of Bath that was never realized.
Sambrooke Freeman was twice an MP, for Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
and Bridport
Bridport
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England. Located near the coast at the western end of Chesil Beach at the confluence of the River Brit and its Asker and Simene tributaries, it originally thrived as a fishing port and rope-making centre...
. He joined the Society of Arts in 1756, two years after its formation, and encouraged the involvement of Humphrey Gainsborough
Humphrey Gainsborough
Humphrey Gainsborough was a non-conformist minister, engineer and inventor.Humphrey Gainsborough was pastor to the Independent Church in Henley-on-Thames, England. He was the brother of the artist Thomas Gainsborough. He invented the drill plough , winning a prize of £60 from the Royal Society for...
the inventor and Thomas Powys
Thomas Powys
Thomas Powys was an Anglican clergyman of the later 18th century.He was the son of Philip Powys,of Hardwick House, Oxfordshire. He matriculated at St John's College, Oxford in1753; B.A. in 1757,and M.A. in 1760. He was...
.
Freeman tried to change the position (to the end of New Street, Henley) and style of the new stone Henley Bridge
Henley Bridge
Henley Bridge is a five-elliptical-arched stone road bridge built in 1786 at Henley-on-Thames over the River Thames, between Oxfordshire and Berkshire. The bridge links Hart Street in Henley with White Hill leading up a steep hill to Remenham Hill...
so it could form a pleasing view from his house, but was unsuccessful.
On his death in 1782, Fawley Court passed to his nephew, Strickland Freeman. After his death, his wife lived in Henley Park
Henley Park
Henley Park is a country house and landscape garden in Bix and Assendon civil parish in the Chiltern Hills of South Oxfordshire, England. The house is about north of Henley-on-Thames. The park adjoins the county boundary with Buckinghamshire....
, a dower house
Dower 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...
in the deer park of the Fawley Court Estate. She died on 2 October 1806.