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Question
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Do you have any information on a house called Tedworth near Marlborough as shown on a painting by Keyl dated 1861 which shows Edward and Dora Studd? I should also be grateful if you have any information on the sitters.
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Question asked on
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04 July 2011
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Answer
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Edward Studd was a wealthy indigo planter of Bihar, India. Dorothy Sophia, daughter of John Thomas, a Calcutta merchant of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, was his second wife by whom he had 4 sons. Studd had been M.F.H. in Leicestershire when he lived at Hallaton Hall and did not take the lease of Tedworth House and its Home Farm until 16 June 1871. He does, however, seem to have been in Wiltshire at some period before this as his eldest son, Sir (John Edward) Kynaston Studd, first baronet of Netheravon, was born in the village of Netheravon on 26 July 1858. At this time Tedworth House was leased from Francis Sloane Stanley by Lord Broughton who was definitely in residence in 1861 and is recorded as being the occupier in Kelly's Directory of 1867. In the 1861 census Edward Studd is at Spratton Hill House (now Spratton Grange)in Northamptonshire.
It may be that Edward Studd occupied Tedworth House during the tenancy of Lord Broughton and the lease was not transferred until after the latter's death. It is a fact that Edward created a racing establishment at Tedworth with around 20 horses in training and a purpose built training track in the Park. In 1866 he won the Grand National with Salamander (at 40-1). Besides being a keen huntsman and racehorse owner he was interested in the theatre and card playing. All these interests were given up in 1874 after he and his wife attended an evangelical meeting featuring D.L. Moody and D. Sankey. After this Tedworth House became an evangelical centre until Edward's unexpected death in 1876.
Three sons were famous as cricketing brothers - Kynaston, George and Charlie (C.T.). All 3 captained both Eton and Cambridge while C.T. became one of England's greatest cricketers and later became an internationally known missionary in China and Africa.
Tedworth House itself had been rebuilt by 1830, for Thomas Assheton-Smith III (1776-1858), and in 1878-1880 extensive restructuring took place. The house and estate were taken over by the War Office in 1897 and is now the officer's mess for the Tidworth Garrison.
From the above it seems unlikely that Edward Studd was at Tedworth House in 1861 but it seems most likely that he was there prior to 1866.
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Bibliography
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C. T. Studd: cricketer and pioneer, by Norman P. Grubb. Lutterworth Press, 1933
