Little Holland House was the dower house of Holland House in the parish of Kensington, Middlesex, England. [1] It was situated at the end of Nightingale Lane, now the back entrance to Holland Park [2] and was demolished when Melbury Road was made. Number 14 Melbury Road marks its approximate location. [3]
It was occupied from before 1802 [4] until her death in 1845 by Hon. Caroline Fox [5] (3 November 1767 [6] – 12 March 1845 [7] ) who died there unmarried in 1845 aged 78. She was the only daughter of Stephen Fox, 2nd Baron Holland (1745–1774), of Holland House, Kensington, (son of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland (1705–1774) by his wife Lady Caroline Lennox (1723–1774)) by his wife Lady Mary FitzPatrick, a daughter of John FitzPatrick, 1st Earl of Upper Ossory. Hon. Caroline Fox was the only sister [8] of Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland (1773–1840), of Holland House, who owned most of the land within the manor of Kensington, [9] and was a niece of the Whig statesman Charles James Fox (1749–1806), who made Holland House a famous meeting place of prominent Whig politicians. Her brother bequeathed it to her and she called it Paradisino. [10] In 1842, she established a charity school (today Fox Primary School) near the site, "for the education of children of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes" of Kensington. [11] Its original location was near her home of Little Holland House, on the west side of today's Holland Park, to the west of today's number 14 Holland Park Road, a house built for the painter Val Prinsep on the Holland House estate, which is next to Leighton House [12] (12 Holland Park Road) the house built for the painter Lord Leighton. In 1876 it was taken over by the London School Board, which moved it to a new site in Silver Street, today the northern end of Kensington Church Street. [13] In 1877 the original site of the school in Holland Park Road was sold by auction for £2,650, and in its place was built the present Nos. 20–30 (even) Holland Park Road, a group of six two-storey studio residences arranged around a courtyard with an arched entrance, originally called "The Studios". [14] The school moved a third time in 1937 to its present site on Kensington Place. [15]
A large new house completed in 1827 and named for a while "Little Holland House" was first occupied by Charles Richard Fox (1796–1873) (the illegitimate son of Henry Richard Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, through a liaison with Lady Webster, whom Lord Holland later married) and his wife Lady Mary Fox, illegitimate daughter of King William IV. However this was actually at Number 1 Addison Road, at the north-eastern boundary of the Holland House estate, and it is probable he was persuaded to buy the freehold from his father in order to attract other high society occupants to the new development. He also purchased from his father much land surrounding the house. After his death in 1873 Number 1 Addison Road was mostly demolished and built upon, but part of the house survives as the club-house of Holland Park Tennis Club. [3]
In 1850 Henry Thoby Prinsep (1792–1878), a director of East India Company, obtained a 21-year lease on it from Henry Fox, 4th Baron Holland (1802–1859), of Holland House, thanks to the painter George Frederic Watts (1817–1904), a friend of both the Hollands and the Prinseps. Watts, the Prinseps and Henry's sisters-in-law such as Julia Margaret Cameron lived, worked and entertained here for 21 years, making it the centre of their salon.
When the lease expired in 1871, the Prinseps moved out and the Hollands demolished the building. Thoby Prinsep then leased a large plot of land on Melbury Road (abutting the leasehold plot of Lord Leighton) from Henry Fox-Strangways, 5th Earl of Ilchester (the heir of the 4th Baron Holland), part of which he gave to Watts. On his plot, Watts commissioned Frederick Cockerell to build a new house which he named New Little Holland House, and in which he lived from 1876 until his death in 1904. [16] The house was demolished in 1964 after failed attempts by the London County Council to place a building preservation order on it. In its place was built a block of flats designed by Austin Blomfield, named Kingfisher House, which continues to occupy the site.[ citation needed ]
Sir Leslie Stephen was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, mountaineer, and an early humanist activist. He was also the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.
Henry Richard Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland of Holland, and 3rd Baron Holland of Foxley PC, was an English politician and a major figure in Whig politics in the early 19th century. A grandson of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, and nephew of Charles James Fox, he served as Lord Privy Seal between 1806 and 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents headed by Lord Grenville and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 1830 and 1834 and again between 1835 and his death in 1840 in the Whig administrations of Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne.
Baron Holland, of Holland in the County of Lincoln, and Baron Holland of Foxley, of Foxley in the County of Wiltshire, were two titles in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first barony was created on 7 March 1762 for Lady Caroline Fox, the daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and the eldest of the famous Lennox sisters. The second barony was created on 17 April 1763 for her husband, the prominent Whig politician Henry Fox. Lord and Lady Holland were both succeeded by their eldest son, the second Baron. He had previously represented Salisbury in Parliament. On his early death in 1774 the titles passed to his only son, the third Baron. He was also an influential Whig politician and notably served as Lord Privy Seal from 1806 to 1806 in the Ministry of All the Talents. He was succeeded by his eldest legitimate son, the fourth Baron. He sat as Member of Parliament for Horsham. He had four daughters but no sons and on his death in 1859 the titles became extinct.
Earl of Ilchester is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1756 for Stephen Fox, 1st Baron Ilchester, who had previously represented Shaftesbury in Parliament. He had already been created Baron Ilchester, of Ilchester in the County of Somerset in 1741, and Baron Ilchester and Stavordale, of Redlynch, in the County of Somerset, in 1747. These titles were also in the Peerage of Great Britain. All three peerages were created with remainder, failing heirs male of his own, to his younger brother Henry Fox, who was himself created Baron Holland in 1763. The brothers were the only sons from the second marriage of the politician Sir Stephen Fox.
George Frederic Watts was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical works, such as Hope and Love and Life. These paintings were intended to form part of an epic symbolic cycle called the "House of Life", in which the emotions and aspirations of life would all be represented in a universal symbolic language.
Valentine Cameron Prinsep was a British painter of the Pre-Raphaelite school.
Prinsep may mean any of several notable members of the British Prinsep family.
Fox Primary School is a primary school in London for children between the ages of 4 and 11, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is located on Kensington Place, between Kensington Church Street and Notting Hill Gate.
Stephen Fox, 2nd Baron Holland of Holland and 2nd Baron Holland of Foxley of Holland House in Kensington, Middlesex, was a British peer.
John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory FRS DL, styled 'Lord Gowran' from 1751 to 1758, was an Irish peer and member of parliament.
John Allen was a prominent eighteenth and nineteenth century political and historical writer, and Master of the College of God's Gift in Dulwich. More than one street in Kensington, London, is named after him.
Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Baroness Holland was an English political hostess and the wife of Whig politician Henry Vassall-Fox, 3rd Baron Holland. With her husband, and after his death, she hosted political and literary gatherings at their home, Holland House.
The Holland Park Circle was an informal group of 19th-century artists based in the Holland Park district of West London, England, especially in Melbury Road and Holland Park Road. George Frederic Watts, Frederic Leighton, Valentine Prinsep, Luke Fildes, Hamo Thornycroft and William Burges are considered key members of the group.
Woodland House is a large detached house at 31 Melbury Road in the Holland Park district of Kensington and Chelsea, West London, England. Built from 1875 to 1877 in the Queen Anne style by the architect Richard Norman Shaw, it is a Grade II* listed building. Commissioned by the painter Luke Fildes, Woodland House is next to William Burges's Grade I listed Tower House.
Debenham House at 8 Addison Road is a large detached house in the Holland Park district of Kensington and Chelsea, W14. Built in the Arts and Crafts style by the architect Halsey Ricardo, it is a Grade I listed building.
8 Melbury Road is a large detached house at the Holland Park district of Kensington and Chelsea, W14 in England. Built in the Queen Anne style by the architect Richard Norman Shaw, it is a Grade II* listed building.
Henry Thoby Prinsep was an English official of the Indian Civil Service, and historian of India. In later life he entered politics, and was a significant figure of the cultural circles of London.
Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean country house in Kensington, London, situated in a country estate that is now Holland Park. It was built in 1605 by the diplomat Sir Walter Cope. The building later passed by marriage to Henry Rich, 1st Baron Kensington, 1st Earl of Holland, and by descent through the Rich family, then became the property of the Fox family, during which time it became a noted gathering-place for Whigs in the 19th century. The house was largely destroyed by German firebombing during the Blitz in 1940 and today only the east wing and some ruins of the ground floor and south facade remain, along with various outbuildings and formal gardens. In 1949 the ruin was designated a grade I listed building and it is now owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Melbury Road is a residential road in the Holland Park area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. It is known for houses owned by the Victorian Holland Park Circle, an informal group of 19th-century artists, including William Burges, Luke Fildes, Frederic Leighton, Valentine Prinsep, Hamo Thornycroft, and George Frederick Watts.
Holland Park Road is a residential road in the Holland Park district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England. It is especially known for Leighton House, owned by the artist Lord Frederic Leighton, President of the Royal Academy and leading light of the Victorian Holland Park Circle, an informal group of 19th-century artists, including William Burges, Luke Fildes, Frederic Leighton, Valentine Prinsep, Hamo Thornycroft, and George Frederick Watts, who lived in the area.
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