Henry Hoare
Henry Hoare II (1705–1785), known as Henry the Magnificent, was an English banker and garden owner-designer.
Family
Henry's grandfather, Richard Hoare was a goldsmith-banker and Lord Mayor of London. His father, Henry Hoare I bought the ancestral estate of the Stourtons and built a Palladian villa designed by Colen Campbell.[1] When his father died, Henry Hoare II was 20 years old. He was educated at Westminster School.[2]
Career
Henry dominated the Hoare family through his wealth and personal charisma.[3] He was a partner for nearly 60 years in C. Hoare & Co. His nickname, "Henry The Magnificent", derived in part from his influence as a great patron of the Arts, but more particularly because he laid out the gardens at Stourhead in Wiltshire, an estate bought by his father.[4] In the thirty years after his mother died in 1741, he worked on the gardens at Stourhead, planning and planting what became a "masterpiece" of European garden design. In the 'school' of Poussin, it was said to be "more beautiful than any landscape put on canvas".[1] The gardens were admired as a showplace[5] and Capability Brown, the renowned landscape gardener, was well known to Henry.[6] In 1734 he was elected Member of Parliament for Salisbury.[7]
He died in 1785 leaving Stourhead to the son of his daughter Ann (1734–1759), Richard Colt Hoare.[8]
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References
Further reading
- Hoare, Henry Peregrine Rennie, Hoare's Bank: A Record 1672-1955, 1932, new edition 1955
- Hutchings, Victoria, Messrs Hoare, Bankers: A History of the Hoare Banking Dynasty, 2005
Parliament of Great Britain | ||
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Preceded by Anthony Duncombe Thomas Lewis |
Member of Parliament for Salisbury 1734–1741 With: Peter Bathurst |
Succeeded by Sir Jacob Bouverie Sir Edward Seymour |