Henry Hoare

For other people named Henry Hoare, see Henry Hoare (disambiguation).
Henry Hoare The Magnificent of Stourhead (1705-1785) (William 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

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hyams, Edwards (1971). A History of Gardens and Gardening. New York, Washington: Praeger Publishers. p. 240.
  2. ↑ Hutchings, V. p 49
  3. ↑ Hutchings, V. p 49
  4. ↑ Hutchings, V. p 51
  5. ↑ Hutchings, V. p 55
  6. ↑ Hutchings, V. p 70
  7. ↑ Hutchings, V. p 50
  8. ↑ Hutchings, V. p 85

Further reading

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by
Anthony Duncombe
Thomas Lewis		 Member of Parliament for Salisbury
1734–1741
With: Peter Bathurst		 Succeeded by
Sir Jacob Bouverie
Sir Edward Seymour