Robert James Petre, 8th Baron Petre

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Robert, 8th Lord Petre (1713 – 02/07/1742). When the 7th Lord Petre died, he left his unborn son, born in June 1713, to be brought up by his widow, the redoubtable Catherine, heiress of the Walmesley family of Lancashire. The 8th Lord spent his childhood at Ingatestone Hall since his grandmother, the 6th Lord’s widow, remained in residence at Thorndon. He developed an interest in botany and horticulture, In 1727, when he was 14, he received, as a Christmas gift from Ralph Howard, one of his mother’s suitors, a specially made pruning knife and saw, which, it is recorded, was “well taken”. As a teenager, he was rubbing shoulders with the most eminent botanists, horticulturists and landscapers of the day – Philip Miller, Keeper of the Chelsea Physic Garden, Philip Southcote, son of his guardian and a leading pioneer of landscape design and, above all, Peter Collinson, the Quaker haberdasher turned horticulturist who was to remain a lifelong friend and colleague. Robert’s interest in botany and horticulture was practical as well as academic. By 1729, it seems that, at least in part, he had taken over the management of his grandmother’s gardens at Thorndon. The old lady herself evidently had a keen interest in horticulture, growing orange trees, ‘jesamines’ and myrtles in her greenhouses. John Martin, visiting in that year, was amazed by what he saw; he confessed he had never witnessed the like of the ‘stoves’ or hothouses and found in them some species that he, a professional botanist, had never seen before. The raising of exotic species from seed was a particular passion of the time, encouraged by the work of Philip Miller in developing the technique of using beds of tanner’s bark to achieve safely and efficiently the high soil temperatures required and Robert had adopted the technique to spectacular effect. Writing to Linnaeus some years later, Collinson exclaims, “Such stoves the world never saw, nor may ever again”. The Great Stove, reputed to be the largest hothouse in the world, was fully 30 feet high and contained trees and shrubs 10 to 25 feet tall including specimens of guava, papaw, plantain, hibiscus, hernandia (Jack-in-a-Box), Cereus cactus, Sago Palm, Anotta (a red berry used for edible dye) and bamboo cane. The walls were hung with trellises covered with passionflowers, a wide variety of clematis and creeping cereus. There were also two other stoves maintained at a slightly lower temperature for more temperate plants, a house 60 feet long exclusively for the cultivation of bananas and pineapples and another the same size for storing apples. From these stoves came the first camellia to flower in this country and, in 1739, a gift of bananas sent to Sir Hans Sloane (along with ‘2 uncommon fowls of the widgeon kind’). Nonetheless, there were failures too; Robert was particularly fond of the white lilac and, on one occasion, culled sufficient seed to raise in his nursery 5,000 new plants. Unfortunately, the principles of plant genetics and cross-pollination were then little understood; all but twenty of them bore purple blossom.

When Robert was 18, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society – not in itself an exceptional honour since peers of the realm had an automatic right to membership but it is a mark of the esteem in which he was already held that his sponsor was John Martin, future Professor of Botany at Cambridge. Furthermore, less than two years later, a Caribbean genus of the verbena family, which the plant collector, Dr. William Houston had identified, was named Petrea in Robert’s honour. With the help of the American plant collector, John Bartram (described by Linnaeus as “The greatest natural botanist in the world”), he was responsible for the first extensive planting of North American trees in this country. Robert engaged Bartram to send him regular consignments of seed from the new world at five guineas per box. He also used the Dutch botanist J.F. Gronovius. Between 1740 and 1742, some 60,000 trees of at least 50 different species were planted at Thorndon. For the most part, these were arranged in mixed thickets, with dark green foliage contrasting with light green and blue green with yellow green, the whole set off by highlights of white bark or leaves with white undersides. This style of planting was not in itself a new idea but was made, in this case, particularly striking by the variety of effects achieved by the wide range of species including:

Acacias Acer, Virginia Camphor Tree Cedar, Lebanon Cedar, Red Cherry, Pennsylvanian Maple, Virginia Oak, Carolina Tulip trees

On 2nd May 1732 at St Paul’s Cathedral, Robert married Henrietta Anna Maria Barbara Radcliffe (1716 – 1760), only daughter of the 3rd Earl of Derwentwater (1689 – 24/02/1716) (arrested and beheaded for his part in the 1715 Jacobite uprising) and Anna Maria Webb (1690 – 1723) and great granddaughter of Charles II and Moll Davis. He had four children; Catherine Anne (born 26/8/1736), Barbara (born 10/11/1738), Juliana (born 21/12/1739) and Robert Edward (born 19/10/1741).

The young couple took up residence at Thorndon Hall. Anna Maria had her father’s remains put in the mausoleum at Thorndon. There is no entry about the funeral in the register; Rector Ewer was then an old man, and there are only four burials entered for that year. Perhaps the burial was secret. The sympathies of the Petre family may well have been with the old and young Pretenders, and although he had the bells of Ingrave Church cast at Ingatestone, their success would have meant the supremacy once more of the Roman hierarchy; but it does not appear that they took any active part in the risings. He did maintain four missions, beside the one at Thorndon; Lord Petre maintained three at Ingatestone Hall, Writtle Park and Crondon Hall. In 1732 released from guardianship, his mother handed over to him by special permission the family estates. Now in complete control of Ingatestone and Thorndon Halls, Robert was able to give full expression to his enthusiasms and immediately embarked on an ambitious plan to remodel both the house and the park, which had been held in Trust for him since his father’s death. (No. 189 Petition 53 Catherine, Lady Petre to Robert James Lord Petre her son 29th July 1732 makes over to him ‘all the fumiture, plate, jewells & books, pictures and other goods and Chattles £8,527’). Lord Petre was responsible in the late 1730s for the layout of the gardens at Worksop Manor in Nottinghamshire for his kinsman Edward, 9th Duke of Norfolk (1686-1773). The plans extended over 1,700 acres and included some garden buildings, an obelisk, a hemicycle and a Palladian Bridge. The links between the Petre and Norfolk families endured. In 1763, the Duke of Norfolk stood sponsor at the baptism of Hon Robert Edward Petre, eldest son of 9th Lord Petre. Joseph Spence wrote Petre ‘understood the colour of every tree, and always considered how he placed them one by another’. Robert, who had travelled extensively on the Continent, must have been acutely aware that the appearance of the house was quite out of tune with the classical influence of the day. Although the Renaissance was late coming to England, he must have taking to heart Count Magalotti’s remarks about the house’s “tendency rather to the gothic and the rustic than to any chaste style of architecture”. Accordingly, in 1732, he engaged a Venetian architect, Giacomo Leoni, who worked in the style of Palladio and had done much to establish classical style, and a French surveyor Sieur Bourginion to assist him with the design of the garden. We cannot be sure of how much of the all the work at Thorndon was completed for, like his father, Robert succumbed at an early age to smallpox but the chapel had been completed and consecrated by Bishop Benjamin Petre in 1739. There is a record of the consecration of the chapel (D/DP F 185A). He died on 2nd July 1742, soon after his 29th birthday and was buried in the family vault at Ingatestone. His son being but an infant, there was no one else to carry forward his plans and his widow then resided at Ingatestone Hall, where she died in 1760. She is the last Dowager Lady Petre who has lived in the old family mansion. At his death, Robert’s nurseries contained some 219,925 plants and his personal catalogue, now in the Passmore Edwards Museum, lists 696 species. On his death, the following poem, signed by Janus the Younger (probably a pseudonym for Philip Southcote), appeared in the Daily Advertiser:

Ye lilies rise, your sweets disclose. Arise both hyacinth and rose. Vi’lets in fragrant carpet spread, Ye amaranths lift up your head, Ye woodbines hung with pearly dew, Carnations with your richest hue, Spontaneous rise, rise ev’ry flower. And form a monumental bower. With sweets, with bloom, eternal rise. To mark the ground where Petre lies.

Less sentimentally, his friend, Peter Collinson wrote of Petre in 1744.

“The death of the worthiest of men, the Right Hon. Lord Petre, has been the greatest loss that botany or gardening ever felt in this country … his skill in all liberal arts, particularly architecture, statuary, planning and designing, planting and embellishing his large park and gardens, exceeds my talent to set forth”.

And on the fly leaf of his catalogue of the plants in Thorndon Garden is inscribed this tribute:

“He was a fine, tall, comely man. Handsome, had the presence of a Prince, but so happily mixt that Love and Au was begat at the same time. The endowments of his mind are not to be described. Few excelled him in the liberal arts and sciences – a great Mechanic as well as a Mathematician, ready at figures and calculations, a fine taste for architecture, and drew and designed well himself – a great Ardour for every Branch of Botanic Science, – whoever sees his vast Plantations and his Catalogue will not doubt it. In his Religious way an Example of great Piety, Charity and Chastity. Strict in his Morals, of great Temperance and Sobriety, no Loose Word, no Double entendre ever dropt from his lips”.

Lord Petre was commemorated in a stucco monument by the French sculptor Louis Francois Roubiliac which was housed in the Temple of Death in the country garden of Jonathan Tyers, the proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens. The garden was at Denbies, near Dorking. The monument represented an angel blowing the last trump causing a stone pyramid to crumble to pieces and the corpse within it to throw aside the grave clothes and prepare to arise ‘with a mixture of joy and astonishment’. The epitaph was written by Mr. Robson, tutor to Petre’s children:

To the Memory ofmy great and much honoured FRIENDROBERT, Lord PETREOb. 2 Jul. 1742 Aet suae 29 This stone, enobled by a PETRE’s nameChanges its nature and becomes a gem,Bright with the virtue which appear’d in him:Bearing his name, it bears all moral good,And all the ancestry of blood:The saint, the friend, philosopher, and peerIn all their lustre to your eyes appearPerusing PETRE only written here

Over the door of the temple, were further verses written by Robson, warning the reader to prepare for death. Robson was Lord Petre’s chaplain and tutor to his sons. So the Temple of Death at Denbies was a visual representation of the theology celebrated in the newly completed chapel at Thorndon. In an amphitheatre in ‘The Valley of the Shadow of Death’ which was entered through a portico supported by coffins acting as columns surmounted by two human skulls. A statue of Truth, taking off a visor and treading on a mask directed the visitor to two paintings by Francis Hayman of The Good Man at the Hour of Death and the Bad Man at the Hour of Death, only known from engravings.

By 1762, however, Collinson, on a visit to Thorndon, found a scene of desolation: the house was falling down, the nurseries overgrown and the stoves empty, apart from two date palms, a cactus and a few sickly shrubs. The redesign of the estate by his son swept away much of Robert’s work, only traces of the plantings, the two mounts adjacent to the present house and the ruins of the ziggurat by the old mill pond can be found today. The menagerie only survives in the name of Menagerie Plantation. Furthermore Robert’s impressive botanic library, including 17 folio volumes of dried specimens, were sold, together with the rest of the family library by the unworldly 13th Lord and his mahogany cabinet with 20 drawers stuffed with botanic curiosities was turned into a wardrobe and the contents thrown away. It is perhaps because of this that the name of Robert, Lord Petre is so little recorded in the annals of horticulture for he undoubtedly enjoyed the highest reputation among his contemporises and had a plant named after him, Petrea Volubilis. A semi-tropical climbing shrub first discovered by Dr. William Houston in Vera Cruz, Mexico and named by him after his patron, as Robert died young of smallpox and Dr. Houston possibly named it in his memory. The species was also found in St. Vincent (a plant from there was the first of the species to flower in this country in the stove (hothouse) at Vauxhall of a Mr. Woodford) and, according to Jacquin’s Flora, Martinique. The flower has alternative forms; both have a blue calyx but the corolla may be either violet or white. In its natural habitat, it flowers in November.

Rules to be observed in the Chapel, 1741. Mass every morning. On Saturday this was followed by ‘the short Litany of Our Blessed Lady … to obtain thro’ her powerful intercession the blessings of Heaven upon this family’. Night prayers every evening. Attended by the family, the household, and neighbouring Catholics.

1. The Litany of the Saints. 2. The Ave Maris Stella. 3. Two collects. 4. Night prayers and examination of conscience. 5. The Confiteor – ‘Dignare Domine Visita De Profundis’. 6. The Blessing of the Priest – a Meditation and the Martyrology. 7. On Fridays, the devotions of the Bona Mors were added.

On Sunday two or more Masses and in the evening Vespers and the usual night prayers with monthly Benediction. The Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on certain feasts including Epiphany.

HOLY WEEK SERVICES. The Rules explain that on the first Sunday of every month Benediction is to be given after the Litany of the Saints. The little step must be placed on the altar and six silver candlesticks placed on it; the candles must always be white for Benediction. Whenever Benediction is given the hymn ‘Pange Lingua’ with the prayer must be said before the incense is used. My Lord’s chaplain always says the last Mass upon Sundays and holydays. Epiphany: Exposition day. The Altar must be dressed with flowers. A canopy is set on the tabernacle. More candles were needed in Winter; candles supported on stands, set in pairs, two near the great carved stands, two near the sides of the kneeling desks and two between the out angle of the steps and the rails. Further plain stands without the rails and two branches in the gallery. In the summer, only Candles bum on the altar. On Exposition days the best chalice cruets, books and cards were used with the best vestments and linen. In summer, only 14 candles burn upon the altar and two flowerpots set upon the great stands. In winter, six additional stands with candles on them. Two flowerpots are specified for Exposition on Corpus Christi, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin; the best chalice and cruets were to be used on Candlemas day. Candles to be blessed are to be laid in a basket and set upon a little table covered with clean white cloth; these small white wax candles are given to all the people according to custom. The best chalice was not used for Annunciation, Nativity or Conception of our Blessed Lady. On the Saturday before Passion Sunday, the Picture must be covered, the crucifix, the Tabernacle and the steps with purple. In Holy Week on Palm Sunday the six silvered candlesticks with yellow candles must be set upon the altar instead of the gilt ones and remain till Thursday. On Wednesday in Holy Week, the triangular candlestick must be prepared for ‘Tenebrae’ when only six yellow wax candles were used. After ‘Tenebrae’ the place for a Sepulchre must be prepared and the purple cover removed from the Tabernacle and steps. On Maundy Thursday, the best Chalice must be set in the Canopy with a crown upon it with the best book and cards but not the best Cruets. Two candles upon the altar, the full number is not to be lighted until after the communion. Incense is used when the Venerable is put in the Canopy. After Mass the marble steps must be covered with black and the curtains let down. Six small silver candlesticks to be placed on the marble steps, three on each side. At Tenebrae, these must be set upon the altar and put out as the office shows. Total number of candles 14 on the altar; six in the silver candlesticks; two in the great stands; two in the Gallery. On Good Friday, the Blessed Sacrament remains in the Canopy on the Altar, until after the kissing the Cross. The crucifix is laid on cushions on the altar steps for this purpose. For the priest and the most worthy of the laity. Two candlesticks with yellow candles stand up the altar. The crucifix is then carried without the rails and laid upon a cushion and a black cloth until all the people have done. Incense used when the Blessed Sacrament is taken down. After prayers, the Sepulchre is removed; the black cloth removed from the altar steps, the tabernacle and altar steps covered with purple. Six silver candlesticks with yellow candles set upon the altar steps. On Holy Saturday a procession from the Vestry led by the Priest and accompanied by one carrying the Cross, one carrying the thurible, one with the Holy Water, one with the Grains, another with the Trinity Candles to bless the fire in the little room at the lower end of the chapel used to light the candles. The altar remains dressed with the purple cover upon the tabernacle and steps till the Priest returns to vest for Mass, when the covers are taken away and instead of yellow, six white candles in gilt candlesticks are placed upon the altar. On Easter Sunday at Exposition if daylight only the candles upon the Altar and instead of candlesticks set two flower pots in the great urns. The Canopy must be removed after the service of Benediction.

Peerage of England
Preceded by Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre	Baron Petre 1713–1742	Succeeded by Robert Edward Petre, 9th Baron Petre