The Monuments in All Saints Church at Weston, Bath, Part 4. The Monument to Dr William Oliver MD.

 

William Oliver MD FRS (1695 - 1764). (the younger)

He was born at Ludgvan, Cornwall, and baptised on 27 August 1695, described as the son of John Oliver the owner of the Trevarno Estate. 

His family, originally seated at Trevarnoe in Sithney, resided afterwards in Ludgvan, and the estate of Treneere in Madron, which belonged to him, was sold in 1768 after his death. 

When he decided to erect a monument in Sithney churchyard to the memory of his parents, Alexander Pope wrote the epitaph and drew the design of the pillar. 

He was admitted a pensioner of Pembroke College, Cambridge on 17 September 1714, graduated M.B. in 1720, and M.D. in 1725, and to complete his medical training, entered at Leiden University on 15 November 1720. 

On 8 July 1756 he was incorporated at Oxford, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 22 January 1729–30

After qualification he practised for a time at Plymouth, where he introduced inoculation for smallpox.

 In about 1725 he settled in Bath and remained there for the rest of his life, obtaining in a very short time the leading practice of the city. 

He came to Bath with his cousin Rev. Walter Borlase. This was perhaps due to his friendship with Ralph Allen (a fellow Cornishman, who introduced him to Pope, Warburton, and members of the Prior Park set), and with Dr. William Borlase, his ‘friend and relation,’ 

Dr Oliver was one of the founders of the Royal Mineral Water Hospital.

He was elected physician to the Hospital on 1st May, 1740, and retired on 1st May, 1761, dying three years later in 1764.

 On arrival in Bath, he probably resided in Westgate Street.

When completed in 1734, the west side of Queen Square (below) consisted of three separate houses, with Dr Oliver occupying the centre one. In 1830 the house was demolished to be replaced by the building that now bears the plaque - 

The house was designed and built by the elder Wood for Sir John Buckworth, who paid rates on it from 1736 to 1754. 

However, Dr. Oliver did pay rates in 1742 for the house now numbered 19, and by 1754 he was rated for the three houses now numbered 18a, 19 and 20 on the north side of Buckworth's house

In 1755 he leased the site for a new house at No. 17 Gay Street on the west side next to the first house in the Circus.

In 1746 Oliver acquired a country cottage near Bathford which he named Trevarno to remind him of his childhood residence. The cottage has disappeared but the water mill which was on his land and was rebuilt in the last century and now a paper manufactory was called Trevarno Mill.

Towards the end of his life Oliver acquired the lordship of the manor of Weston with all the obligations that title bestowed on the holder. His descendants remained Lords of the Manor until 1882 when the title passed to the Carr family. 

It is uncertain how much time Oliver spent in the Manor House - it has been suggested that he may have died there because he was buried in the parish church along with his wife and other family members.

........................

He did not write a great deal about his medical cases, though he published an essay on gout in 1751, which ran to three editions. In 1753 he published a “pastoral” called Myra and he was the anonymous author of A faint sketch of the life, manner and character of the late Mr. Nash which was praised by Goldsmith as “written with much good sense and still more good nature.” Oliver’s “compassionate and benevolent nature” motivated his interest in founding the Bath General Hospital (now Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases) with Ralph Allen, John Wood and Richard (Beau) Nash

 

He was elected physician to the Hospital on 1st May, 1740, and retired on 1st May, 1761, dying three years later in 1764. He is buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Weston (where he owned the Manor House with members of his family). He is said to have bequeathed to his coachman Atkins the recipe for the famous Bath Oliver biscuit, together with a sack of flour and a sum of money. Atkins set up in business at 13 Green Street and became rich by making the biscuit

 

Later the business passed to a man named Norris who sold out to a baker called Carter. At length, after two further changes of ownership and a period of 120 years, the Oliver biscuit recipe passed to James Fortt. In 1952 the Fortt family business was still baking 80,000 biscuits a day in Bath.

...................

Alexander Pope - Dr Oliver and George Cheyne

"I was forced hither & to Bristol on account of a Complaint I formerly mentiond to you. I believe the Bristol waters at the Hot Well would be serviceable, could I stay long enough, for they are apparently softer & as warm as New Milk, there, & known to be excellent in all Inflammatory Cases.

But the Rigor of the Season & the Want of all Conveniencies to guard against it, of Coaches, chairs, & even warm Lodging, is too great to bear without hazard of Colds &c., which would do me, ev’n inthis Complaint, more harm than I could expect benefit. I have therfore after a Fortnights tryal returnd to Bath where Dr Oliver & Cheyne advise me to mix Bristol water with a small quantity of Bath at thePump, & with some other Medicines, which Dr Mead prescribd me to add".

Excerpt from The Correspondence of Alexander Pope, ed. G.Sherburn. 5v. (Oxford, 1956)), v.4, p.206, Pope to Hugh Bethel, Bath, 27 Nov 1739.

............................

The Memorial to William Oliver (the Elder)d 14 April 1716 in Bath Abbey.

In Memory of/WILLIAM OLIVER , M.D. F.R.S./He was descended from the/Family of TREVARNOE, in the County of Cornwall./While he was prosecuting the Study of Physic in Foreign Universities./The Miseries of his Country called aloud for a Deliverer./He was ambitious of contributing his Mite to so great a Work;/He came into England an Officer in King Williams Army in 1688;/He was appointed Physician to the Fleet in 1693,/And continued in that Station till the Year 1702./He was appointed Physician to the Hospital for/Sick and Wounded Seamen at Chatham 1709;/And in the year 1714,/He had the Pleasure to have his Old Fellow Sailors committed to his Care/He being then appointed Physician to the Royal Hospital at Greenwich/In which honourable Employment he died a Bachelor,/April 4th: 1716:/His Love to this City, where he practised Physic many Years/Appears in his Writings./

The Monuments in All Saints Church at Weston, Bath, Part 3. The Monument to George Cheyne MD.

George Cheyne MD.(1673 - 1743).

Some notes

Scottish Physician. Elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1702.

Died 13 April 1743.

His monument is on the South Wall of the nave.

An executor of his will was George Middleton whose monument is also on the south wall of the nave at Weston.

An excellent starting place to discover more about Dr Cheyne -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cheyne_(physician)

For Cheyne in Bath see - https://historyofbath.org/images/documents/Spa%20Medicine%20-%20An%20anthology.pdf

"Riding is certainly the most manly, the most healthy, and the least laborious and expensive of Spirits of any[exercise]; shaking the whole Machine, promoting an universal Persiration and Secretion of all the Fluids...and thereby, twitching the nervous Fibres, to brace and contract them, as... new Scenes amuse the Mind."

"George Cheyne was a Newtonian physician and Behmenist, deeply immersed in mysticism". 

He was born in 1672 in Methlick, near Aberdeen in Scotland, he was baptized in Mains of Kelly, Methlick, Aberdeenshire, on 24 February 1673. Son of James Cheyne.

Margaret Middleton married George Cheyne, son of James Cheyne and Marie Maitland, in about 1705.

They had three surviving children, Francis, who was baptized on 23 August 1713 at St Michael's parish in Bath, Peggy (Margaret), and John, possibly born in 1717. John became vicar of Brigstock in Northamptonshire

His many famous clients included Alexander Pope, John Gay, Samuel Richardson and the Goldsmith and Banker George Middlton who is also buried at Weston. (see my previous post)

"Cheyne did not believe that the present state of things is "from all Eternity". Using the metaphor of "a Piece of Clock-work",[5] he argues that when a thing depends upon another thing as its cause, this implies that “the first thing exists that the second may exist”. He adds: "remove the sun and there will be no fruit, take away the moon and the seas would stagnate, destroy our Atmosphere and we should swell like poison´d Rats". Therefore, it is absolutely impossible, according to Cheyne, that “any of the Species of Animals or Vegetables should have existed from all Eternity”.

Cheyne also wrote on fevers, nervous disorders, and hygiene. In 1740 he wrote The Essay on Regimen and this work is often quoted by vegetarians and animal rights activists, particularly the following passage:

 

"To see the convulsions, agonies and tortures of a poor fellow-creature, whom they cannot restore nor recompense, dying to gratify luxury and tickle callous and rank organs, must require a rocky heart, and a great degree of cruelty and ferocity. I cannot find any great difference between feeding on human flesh and feeding on animal flesh, except custom and practice"

 

George Cheyne M.D. aged 59.

1732

from a painting by van Diest (died c. 1757)

Mezzotint John Faber. First State Sold at the Great Toy Shop in Bath?

Second State here sold by Overton at the White Hart without Newgate (London)

Johan van Diest was the son of London-based Dutch landscape painter Adriaen van Diest (1655-1704), and was probably a pupil of Sir Godfrey Kneller, whose work he copied. 

He was a protégé of Ralph Allen

Army officer and road builder General George Wade (1673-1748) MP for Bath (1722 - 47)commissioned van Diest to paint several works, including ‘The Wise Men’s Offerings’ (c.1725; now destroyed), part of an elaborate altarpiece which Wade presented to Bath Abbey,

He painted portraits of 28 ? Bath Councillors (commissioned 1728; seven now in the Council Chamber of the Guildhall, Bath) and a full-length portrait of Wade (1731; Council Chamber of the Guildhall, Bath).

Ralph Allen (1693-1764) Mayor in 1742 (BATVG 1984.9)

Thomas Atwood senior (d.1732) Mayor in 1728 (BATVG 1984.10)

Thomas Atwood junior (1709-1770) Mayor in 1753, 1760 and 1769 (BATVG 1984.11)

James Atwood (d.1760) Mayor in 1734 and 1748 (BATVG 1984.12)

Unknown councillor (BATVG 1984.13)

Henry Atwood (d.1763) Mayor in 1741, 1750 and 1758 (BATVG 1984.14)

William Chapman (d.1729) Mayor in 1727 (BATVG 1984.15)

 Despite numerous Bath commissions, van Diest remained London-based probably coming to Bath for the season and produced decorative work for the London home of poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744).

...................

Ralph Allen (1694 - 1764).

Johan van Diest (1695 - 1757).

117 x 95 cms.

Oil on Canvas.

 c Late 1720's

A Gift to the Corporation of Bath by General George Wade in 1728.

 on display in the Guildhall. Bath.

Image courtesy Art uk website

......................

George Cheyne MD and Bath.

In the spring of 1706 Cheyne travelled to Bath to continue his cure with a course of the waters. The waters worked only too well, for he found himself again slipping into his old bad habits of excess. 

Exchanging Bath water for Bristol water helped, but on his next return to Bath in the spring of 1707 he heard of a "wonderful Cure" administered by another self medicating doctor, a Dr. Taylor of Croydon, who had cured himself in an Epileptick Case" by a milk diet. In the winter of 1707—8 he visited Taylor at Croydon and became a convert to his dietary therapy. 

He ate abstemiously and exercised regularly, usually by riding. Cheyne's resolutions, however, were characteristically short-lived, and his health and weight for the next decade seesawed back and forth with depressing regularity"

Cheyne nonetheless found in Bath a place where he could remake himself and, at last, build a medical practice. He followed the increasingly popular migration to Bath in the summer and back to London in the winter for the next dozen years, finally settling in Bath in 1718.

 Keith wrote of him in that year, "Dr. Ch. is indeed extreamly fat but yet has pretty good health. He writes that he has for ever bid an adieu to London." During this period, Cheyne wrote, "1 followed the Business of my Profession, with great Diligence and Attention," and he began to specialize in the "low and nervous Cases" with Which he had gained close familiarity from his own sufferings."

From 1705—6, Cheyne lived quietly for a decade, assiduously avoiding controversy. 

He settled into family life with his marriage to Margaret Middleton, daughter of a nonjuring Scottish Episcopalian clergyman, Patrick Middleton (1662—1736). 

Middleton was related to George Middleton (1645—1726), principal of King's College, Aberdeen, from 1684 to 1717, when he was removed for Jacobitism. The Aberdeen Middletons were also related to the Gardens, whose mother was Isobel Middleton; George Middleton was probably their first cousin.

Margaret Middleton migrated to England with her brother John, a physician who settled in Bristol. 

Another brother, George, was a London goldsmith. The Cheynes had three surviving children: two daughters, Frances and Margaret (known as Peggy), and the youngest, a son, John, born about 1717."

 Although Oliver was his usual physician at Bath, (Alexander) Pope consulted Cheyne in the 1730s and was an ardent admirer. Chronically poor health, Pope followed a Cheynean regimen of little wine, few suppers,and much mineral water. He recommended the doctor to others, writing of him, "there lives not an Honester Man, nor a Truer Philosopher."" He often asked his Bath friend Ralph Allen to convey his "Religious Respects" to Cheyne, describing him in 1739 as "yet so very a child in true Simplicity of Heart," comparing him to Don Quixote?'

1763 Beau Nash averse to the cabbage and carrot cure

 It is well known, that Mr. Nash and Dr. Cheney had frequent Disputes about the non-Naturals and a vegetable Diet; in short, they often reasoned about Health till they made all the Company sick. 

Nash was for curing all Complaints with the Bath Water, and Cheney with Cabbage and Carrots; and their disputes, which sometimes began with Temper and Joke, were frequently heightened to Clamour and quarrelling… However… I have known Nash in his cooler Moments do Cheney the Honour to say, That he was the most sensible Fool he ever knew in his Life; 

and the Doctor with equal Justice observed, That Nash was less of a Blockhead than he used to be.

 The Jests of Beau Nash (London, 1763). ***Richard (Beau) Nash –  George Cheyne – see no.22.

From around 1728, although still a big man, he no longer suffered from extreme obesity or the depression that accompanied it. The 1730s were a time of health, happiness and prosperity for Cheyne. He and his family including son John and daughters Frances and Peggy, lived in a grand new house in Monmouth Street adjacent to the Globe Inn, a new street just outside Bath's old west gate.

In the 1730s Monmouth Street was an expensive address near John Wood's contemporary development in Queen's Square. The Churchwarden's Accounts Book of Walcot Parish, in Bath City Archive, records Cheyne as a parish resident in 1735 and at Monmouth Street from 1737 when he paid a rate of ten shillings; by 1738 it was two pounds and in 1742 one pound and twelve shillings.

see Walter Ison, The Georgian Buildings of Bath: 1700-1830 (London: Faber and Faber, 1948), 33.

At the time this house, built by the Bristol architect John Strahan sometime after 1727, was in an expensive, salubrious location on the edge of the city.16 It no longer stands, but six months after Cheyne's death, when his executors advertised the property in a London newspaper as being 'For Lett for a Term of Years, or Sold', they described it as 'A Convenient and well-built House, late in the possession of Dr. Cheyne, deceas'd, three Rooms on a Floor, with a Coach-House, stabling for two Horses, and a Garden, situate without West-Gate.' Rival Bath architect John Wood, who designed nearby Queen's Square, denigrated Strahan's work, but his surviving houses, over four floors, are solid and well designed. Writing to Samuel Richardson, Cheyne refers to the garden - which backed onto the King's Mead — as his 'Paradise' where, weather permitting, he takes the therapeutic walks 'without which there is no Health,

see - Daily Advertiser, November and December 1743 (nos. 4010—23). 

Presumably the house was on the South side of the street

Cheyne's house was demolished having been damaged or destroyed by bombing in World War Il. 

In 1739 Pope wrote -The Correspondence of Alexander Pope, ed. G.Sherburn. 5v. (Oxford, 1956)), v.4, p.206, Pope to Hugh Bethel, Bath, 27 Nov 1739.

" I was forced hither & to Bristol on account of a Complaint I formerly mentiond to you. I believethe Bristol waters at the Hot Well would be serviceable, could I stay long enough, for they are apparently softer & as warm as New Milk, there, & known to be excellent in all Inflammatory Cases.

But the Rigor of the Season & the Want of all Conveniencies to guard against it, of Coaches, chairs,& even warm Lodging, is too great to bear without hazard of Colds &c., which would do me, ev’n in this Complaint, more harm than I could expect benefit. I have therfore after a Fortnights tryal returnd to Bath where Dr Oliver & Cheyne advise me to mix Bristol water with a small quantity of Bath at the Pump, & with some other Medicines, which Dr Mead prescribed me to add".

 

***Alexander Pope – see no.32. William Oliver, 1695-1764, physician to Bath General Hospital 1740-61, wrote on gout and other cases –

see also nos.47, 56, 57, 64, 65, 72, 73, 75. George Cheyne – see no.22. Richard Mead – see no.28.

...............................

Obesity and Depression in the Enlightenment : the Life and Times of George Cheyne by Anita Guerrini, University of Oklahoma Press. 2000.

Partially available on line at - 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=upXHAxsWNhQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Obesity+and+Depression+in+the+Enlightenment:+The+Life+and+Times+of+George+Cheyne+(University+of+Oklahoma+Press,+2000)&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Obesity%20and%20Depression%20in%20the%20Enlightenment%3A%20The%20Life%20and%20Times%20of%20George%20Cheyne%20(University%20of%20Oklahoma%20Press%2C%202000)&f=false

The Works of George Cheyne.

1. 'New Theory of Fevers,' 1st edition, Edinburgh (?), 1702; 2nd edition, London, 1702; 4th edition (with author's name), London, 1724, 8vo (Latin by Vater, Wittemberg, 1711, 4to).

2. 'Philosophical Principles of Religion,' part i., London, 1705, 8vo; both parts, London. 1715, 1726; 4th edition, London, 1734; 6th edition, 1753 (?).

3. 'Observations on the Gout,' London, 1720;

An essay of the true nature and due method of treating the gout ... : together with an account of the nature and quality of Bath-waters, the manner of using them, and the diseases in which thry are proper as also of the nature and cure of most chronical distempers, not published before / by Geo. Cheyne. 1723

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/frhy8hf2/items

4. 'Essay of Health and Long Life,' London, 1724; 7th edition, 1726; 9th edition, 1754, 8vo; also London, 1823, 1827, 12mo. In Latin, 'Tractatus de Infirmorum sanitate tuendâ,' &c., London, 1726 (translated by John Robertson, M.A.) In French, Brussels, 1726, 8vo. In German, Frankfort, 1744, 8vo (Haller).

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/agffke2z/items

5. 'De Natura Fibræ, ejusque laxæ sive resolutæ morbis tractatus, nunc primum editus' (Latin by J. Robertson). London, 1725, 8vo; Paris, 1742, 8vo (Haller).

6. 'The English Malady,' London, 1733, Pub Strahan, London and Leake, Bath 8vo, Dublin, 1733; 6th edition, London, 1739.

https://archive.org/details/englishmaladyort00cheyuoft/page/n5/mode/2up?q=Bath

7. 'Essay on Regimen,' London, 1740, 8vo; 3rd edition, London, 1753. In Italian, Padua, 1765, 8vo (Haller).

8. 'The Natural Method of Cureing Diseases,' &c., in three parts, London, 1742, 8vo; 5th edition, London, 1753. In French, Paris, 1749, 2 vols. 12mo. dedicated to Lord Chesterfield

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/dnx8tduf/items?canvas=5

9. 'Historical Character of the Hon. George Baillie, Esq.,' by G. C., M.D., F.R.S., in 'Gent. Mag.' viii. 467 (1738).

Dr. Cheyne's own account of himself and his writings / faithfully extracted from his various works. 1743

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/qgscfnyh/items?canvas=10

 For Further Biographies of George Cheyne see -

[Biog. Brit. (Kippis), iii. 494; Haller's Bibliotheca Med. Pract. 1778, iv. 436; Cheyne's Account of himself and his writings, extracted from his various works, London, 1743; Life of Dr. George Cheyne (by Dr. W. A. Greenhill), Oxford and London, 1846.]

..................

Correspondence with Samuel Richardson  - Shuttleton and Dussinger Pub Cambridge 2013 truncated version on line

The Letters of Dr. George Cheyne to the Countess of Huntingdon, ed. Charles F. Mullett

(San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library, 1940.

The Hoburne Museum Marble Bust of Ralph Allen by Prince Hoare.

 

Post under construction.

This post is part of a series about sculpture in Bath in the 18th Century.

It was in part prompted by a visit to All Saints Church at Weston on the western outskirts of Bath.

All Saints' Church is a Church of England parish church which stands on a hill at the centre of Weston, a small village on the outskirts of Bath, England. 

The current Gothic church was designed by Bath architect John Pinch the Elder and completed in 1832, although it retains the 15th-century tower of its predecessor, All Hallows Church.

The many monuments which must have covered the walls of the old Church, were all carefully taken down and later refitted in the new Church, the cost of this operation being £51. 16s. 0d.

The Church has recently been refurbished and reopened in 2024.

There are several very interesting monument including the monument to the banker George Morrison, Jacob Barclay d.1750 inscribed by Prince Hoare, the Cotton Monument by John Ford II and George Cheyne MD d. 1743.

Ralph Allen (1693 - 1764).

The Marble Busts from the workshop of Prince Hoare (1711 - 69).

 

Life Size.

I have posted previously on the two other versions of busts of Ralph Allen.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/08/bust-of-ralph-allen-by-prince-hoare.html

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/08/bust-of-ralph-allen-by-prince-hoare_14.html

....................

The Marble Bust of Ralph Allen recently acquired by the Hoborne Museum.

It is inscribed at the back across the top of the dress on the shoulders R. Allen.

It is also curiously inscribed at the base on the side of the integral prop P I Sculp.

............................

The Bath Guildhall Bust of Ralph Allen.

The Mineral Water Hospital Marble Bust of Ralph Allen

Signed and dated Hoare Sculp:t. 1757.

Life size.

 Commissioned by William Warburton.

Until recently situated in the main reception room of the Mineral Water Hospital, Upper Borough Walls, Bath.

Bibliography -

B. Boyce, The Benevolent Man. A Life of Ralph Allen of Bath, Cambridge, Mass., 1967, p 242, citing hospital minute and inscription on bust; also R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, 1953, pp 176, 204.

..........................

Ralph Allen's Town House.

Much has been written about his mansion Prior Park but there are many questions that remain unanswered regarding Ralph Allen's Town House.

Ralph Allen became a sub-tenant of No. 2 North Parade Passage (formerly Lilliput Alley) in 1718. 

He acquired the building's lease in 1727 and subsequently carried out a series of alterations. 

It has been assumed that John Wood I was responsible for the design of the extension however there is no firm evidence  It has three narrow bays, a rusticated ground floor and four giant three-quarter Corinthian columns beneath a richly decorated pediment. 

To the first floor is a large arched central window with a carved keystone located between two much narrower windows.  

In 1745 Allen moved to his new residence in Prior Park and the Townhouse became his offices.

What is now number 2, North Parade Passage dates to the 17th century, the building was refronted in the 18th century. 

It features 17th - and 18th-century panelling inside. Ralph Allen was a sub tenant from 1727.

In 1727, Ralph Allen's private residence was enlarged by William Killigrew to allow accommodation for the conduct of the cross posts branch of the Post Service. The height of the central portion was raised, the right wing enlarged for Allen's private use, and the left wing (forming the N side of Lilliput Alley) forming the office for the clerks and secretaries employed in the cross posts business. A sloping terraced walk led down from the centre to Harrison's Walks and commanded a view of Hampton Down.

Ref. Peach - The Life and Times of Ralph Allen of Prior Park, Bath, introduced by a short account of Lyncombe and Widcombe, with notices of his contemporaries, including Bishop Warburton, Bennet of Widcombe House, Beau Nash, etc.. (1895), 68, 70-71 London: D Nutt, Strand Available online.

The post office business was conducted from here by Ralph Allen until his death in 1764 and by his nephew, Philip Allen, until his death in 1785. It became neglected after this time.

In 1733 the Kingston rental lists 7 as ‘‘Mr Ralph Allen his Heirs’. By 1750 Philip Allen is listed for the property. In the 1760’s it is given as being in the occupation of  the sculptor Prince Hoare.

John Wood the Elder, in his 1742  Essay towards the Future of Bath says:

While Mr. Allen was making the Addition to the North Part of his House in Lilliput Alley he new fronted and raised the old Building a full Story higher; it consists of a Basement Story sustaining a double Story under the Crowning; and this is surmounted by an Attick, which created a sixth Rate House, and a Sample for the greatest Magnificence that was ever proposed by me for our City Houses.

Some useful websites ref the building known as Ralph Allen's Town House -

https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Ralph%20Allens%20Town%20House%20Property%20Particulars.pdf

https://bathnewseum.com/2025/10/01/what-future-for-ralph-allens-town-house/

https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/property/ralph-allens-town-house-york-street-bath-ba1-1ng

https://www.facebook.com/reel/858784743222906

https://bathabbeyquarter.com/Ralph%20Allen%60s%20Town%20House.html

https://archive.org/details/cu31924015704285/page/n133/mode/2up?q=Ralph+Allen

..........................

of tangential interest.

https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/globalassets/marshal-wades-house-history-album.pdf

An architectural study of the building known as Marshall Wades house in the Abbey Churchyard - the house in Abbey Churchyard is not the work of a purist. It is more likely to be by a local builder/mason working from Plate 50, Volume I of Vitruvius Britannicus, of which the list of subscribers includes the name Thomas Greenway.

Greenway an architect as well as mason practising from c l704 until c1727, he built a number of small-scale Palladian essays including the Cold Bath House at Widcombe, an Assembly Room and General Wolfe's House in Trim Street, as well as 13, Abbey Churchyard next door to Wades House.

This is the highest resolution image of this map of central Bath c. 1750 that I can currently find. It is probably not very accurate and interestingly does not show the so called Town House.

The Monuments in All Saints Church at Weston, Bath, Part 2 - The monument to Jacob Barclay (d. 1750) by Prince Hoare (1711 - 69). With some notes and photographs relating to Prince Hoare and his sometime assistant Joseph Plura.

 

Prince Hoare (c. 1711 - 1769).

The Hoare family were originally from Eye in Norfolk.

Prince Hoare received training in the workshop by Peter Scheemakers (who was away from London and in Rome from 1728 until 1730). 

His older brother William Hoare the painter and pastellist was in Rome from 1728 until 1737 and had first lodged with Peter Scheemakers and Laurent Delvaux at the Palazzo Zuccaro near Santa Trinita dei Monti on the Pincio, just north of the Piazza di Spagna. He settled in Bath in 1738 and had a house in Woods Queens Square.

Prince Hoare also went to Rome in about 1741/2 and did not return to England from his grand tour until late 1749, when he was probably accompanied to Bath by Giuseppi Antonio (Joseph) Plura.

George Vertue mentions Prince Hoare as he returns from Rome 'where he had been to make his studyes about 7 or 8 years'.

In a letter from the British Resident in Florence, Sir Horace Mann. dated 26 August 1749, Mann is writing to Horace Walpole and damns Prince Hoare with faint praise:

"Hoare the sculptor I have had in my house is to accompany him [Mann's secretary, returning to England] ... I rather wish he may fall into good business in England. He is very clever in copying but I have seen nothing original of his doing. 

Had he application equal to his skill, I believe he could make a figure at least in England, where sculpture is not at any great pitch".

In hindsight this looks like a fair assessment.

He found a wealthy wife, Miss Mary Coulthurst of Melksham who he married in 1751 - and who brought a considerable fortune of £6000 and thereafter he led the life of a sort of  gentleman sculptor.

I suspect he never picked up a chisel again, relying on Joseph Plura and other assistants and later Richard Lancashire.

Less than two months after the death of  Bath architect John Wood the Elder in May 1754, a link was forged between the Wood family and the Hoare brothers when Jane Maria, the Wood’s elder daughter, married Henry Coulthurst, clothier from Melksham, at St. Swithin’s Church, Walcot. Bath.

Three years previously, in the same church, Prince Hoare had married Henry Coulthurst’s sister, Mary

 It appears that Joseph Plura (see below) was responsible for much of the work attributed to Hoare.

 

The lack of application by Hoare hinted at in Mann's letter to Walpole is corroborated in passages from letters written by William Pitt Snr to Richard Grenville. Prince Hoare had been commissioned to design and carve a monument to the memory of Captain Thomas Grenville, brother to Richard, who had been killed in action at sea in 1747.

 The first letter, dated 26 November 1752 from Bath, mentions that work is proceeding apace on the clay model for the statue, the figure promising "to be a very good one'.

 The second letter, also from Bath but dated 29 January 1754, complains of repeated delays:

 "you have already received a petition from Mr. Hoare praying further time: indeed it is a very necessary request however unjustifiable the cause of the necessity may be . . . your patience is like to be thoroughly tried, for a twelvemonth or more will be the least time necessary to allow the sculptor".

see - W.J. Smith, (ed.), The Grenville Papers, 4 vols., 1852.

Presumably it was never finally finished and erected. 

This would appear to be a discussion of the monument which George Grenville intended to erect to Thomas Grenville in Westminster Abbey. This monument was never erected but a fine of £31 was paid to the Abbey to erect the monument in 1761 (Westminster Abbey Muniments, Treasurers' Books 49311). see Craske 

The Grenville Column, 1748; originally? set up in the Grecian Valley, moved to this site in 1756. Captain Thomas Grenville, a nephew of Lord Cobham, died in service aboard HMS Defiance at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre, 14 May 1747. 

The column carries a lead figure of Calliope, the muse of Heroic Poetry - perhaps supplied by John Cheere - it most unlikely to be by Prince Hoare.

https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/91969

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1289782?section=comments-and-photos

Prince Hoare's name does not appear in the Bath Mineral Water Hospital Minutes until May 1758, when he was elected one of the Governors. 

The previous year, his bust of Ralph Allen had been presented by Dr. Warburton, Allen's nephew-in-law, the gift being recorded in the Minutes for 27 April 1757. 

 The Gentleman's Magazine in the list of marriages for 1751 included 'Mr Prince Hoar [sic] a celebrated statuary at Bath - to Miss Coulthurst of Melksham, Wilts, £6,000' . 

The Bath Journal  June 1751 further endorses his happy choice, 'the beginning of last week was married Mr. Hoarean eminent statuary, to Miss Coulthurst of Melksham an agreeable young lady with a handsome fortune', and Prince Hoare describes himself as 'gentleman' in the marriage register for 26 May 1751.

He lived in some style in the south wing of Ralph Allen's town house, now 2 North Parade Passage, moving to Abbey Green in 1766.

.........................

It is believed that much of the works attributed to Hoare were achieved by his very able assistant Joseph Plura.

Joseph Plura was a sculptor of not inconsiderable talent, perhaps not in the first rank, but the bust of Gratiana Davenport gives an indication of his skills and the sculpture of Diana and Endymion (now in the Holburne Museum, Bath) is undoubtedly his masterpiece.

Joseph Plura, until the purchase of Diana and Endymion by the Holburne from London dealer Daniel Katz remained largely unnoticed, overshadowed by his employer, the rich and more socially elevated Prince Hoare.

http://collections.holburne.org/object-1997-1

On death of Joseph Plura in London in 1756, the sculpture was brought back to Bath by his wife, it remained in his daughter's family until  the end 19C; Coll. Hugh Honour & John Fleming in mid 1950's; sold by them to a French dealer, and later with London dealer Daniel Katz.

Talbot Ivory of Lacock Abbey wrote to his friend the Architect Sanderson Miller on 13 August 1754.

  "When at Bath fail not to see a piece of sculpture of Endymion on Mount Patmos, the performance of Mr Plura a statuary" (Warwick County Archives CR 125 B letter 405).

 Talbot Ivory was a relative of  Sharington Davenport of Worfield, Shropshire, which goes some way to explain the connection of Joseph Plura and the making of the very fine bust of Gratiana Davenport by him (see below).

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-busts-of-gratiana-davenport-by.html

.....................

The Jacob Barclay Monument.

Prince Hoare.

..........................

A list of works by or from the workshop of Prince Hoare - not thoroughly checked.

Monument to Jacob Selfe at Melksham (1730) a doubtful attribution given the date.

A Bust of Plautilla signed and dated P. HOARE Ft. FLOR:AE MDCCIL and copied from an antique bust in the Uffizi. 1749.

Memorial to Bishop Isaac Maddox in Worcester Cathedral (d.1743). - 

I was so impressed by the Roubiliac Monument to Bishop Howe at Worcester that  I failed to give this monument due attention it deserved - and also the light was failing!

Monument to Mary Hilliard at Kilmersdon (1745).

Monument to John Long at St Andrews, Heddington Wilts(1746). no images available on line.

....................

Memorial to Lady Cobb at Newton St. Loe, nr Bath (1749).

............................

Monument to Jacob Barclay at Weston, Somerset (1750), (illustrated above).

Statue of Richard Nash at the Pump Room, Bath (1752).

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/08/beau-nash-statue-in-pump-rooms-bath-by.html

Marble bust of Philip Stanhope, (1694–1773), 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1740). English Heritage, Ranger's House Blackheath - provenance John Horan County Galway Ireland formerly with dealer Joanna Barnes.

Various statuary groups for Sir Robert Throckmorton for his houses at Buckland and Coughton (1754).

Bust of Ralph Allen in Bath Mineral Water Hospital (1757).

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/08/bust-of-ralph-allen-by-prince-hoare.html

Bust of Ralph Allen by Prince Hoare - Guildhall, Bath.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/08/bust-of-ralph-allen-by-prince-hoare_14.html

............................

Monument to the Eyles family in Devizes Parish Church (1757).

Monument to Thomas Dawtrey at Petworth (1758).

Four goddess statues at Stourhead commissioned by Henry Hoare (1759). 

Various chimney-pieces for Corsham Court (1760-1765)[1]monument to Thomas Collins at St Leonard's Church in Exeter (1761).

Bust of Richard Beau Nash at the Guildhall, Bath (1761).

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/08/beau-nash-bust-by-prince-hoare.html

Monument to Alexander Pope in St Mary's Church, Twickenham (1761).

Images below courtesy website of Bob Speel - http://www.speel.me.uk/chlondon/twickenhamch.htm

........................

Monument to Anne Carey at Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire (1762).

Monument to Lord John Trevor at Bromham, Bedfordshire (1764).

..........................

The Marble Bust of Jeremiah "Jerry" Peirce, (1696-1768)surgeon, 

at Harrogate, North Yorkshire (before 1765).

The Photographs from the Mercer Gallery, Harrogate below kindly provided by Dr Roger Rolls.

Son of a London Merchant Taylor, Jerry Peirce was born at Ludgate Hill, London in 1696. Little is known of his early life until 1731 when he was made Freeman of the City of Bath. This suggests that he was taking surgical students as apprentices

 He was appointed as the first surgeon to the Bath Gen Hospital when it first opened in 1740 and was also a governor from 1739. He was also a fellow of the Royal Society and presented a paper there on amputation of the lower limb

 He commissioned the Bath architect, John Wood, to design him a country villa on Lansdown. It was called Lilliput Castle and was visited by the Prince of Wales in 1750. It has since been incorporated into a larger house now called Battlefields

Peirce also had a town residence at 9 Gay Street in 1766 and had 3 stables in John Street. He was interred in St Swithen’s church, Walcot, Bath

 (Info from "Diseased Douched and Doctored - Thermal Springs , Spa Doctors and Rheumatic Diseases" by Dr Roger Rolls.

https://historyofbath.org/images/BathHistory/Vol%2012%20-%2002.%20Spence%20-%20For%20True%20Friends%20-%20Jerry%20Peirce's%20Patriot%20Whig%20Garden%20at%20Lilliput%20Castle.pdf

"Peirce was appointed surgeon to Bellott's Hospital in April 1733, alongside Dr Edward Harington4 as physician. Peirce was to replace the recently deceased apothecary and surgeon Francis Bave of Northgate Street. He was the brother of Dr. Charles Bave, whose practice, on Lower Borough Walls, devolved upon Peirce's friend and colleague Dr. William Oliver (1695-1764)"( this needs fact checking).

John Wood donated the architectural plans for the hospital, and building works commenced in the summer of 1738. In recognition of his professional generosity, Wood was elected a Governor of the hospital in October 1739.

As a trustee, Peirce attended meetings from at least March 30th 1738.  Although the minutes specify the election of other trustees, no such record remains for Peirce and his attendance at the weekly meetings was erratic.

On May 1st 1740, Peirce was appointed surgeon, alongside his friend Oliver and Bellott' s colleague Harington as physicians.

The medical world was quite close knit, but with no overseeing authority (Royal College of Surgeons of England) until 1843, positions were obtained by personal recommendation and to apprentices.

For example, in 1742, Alexander Pope wrote to Allen asking that he vote for Mr. Cleland to gain one of the surgical positions available at the hospital as 'its seems. Mr Pierces  Prentice is to be the other.' A physician and a surgeon were nominated on a weekly rota to handle admissions.

Alexander Pope gave a legacy of £150 to the hospital, minuted in the hospital papers on May 7th 1755.

Peirce remained as Senior surgeon  and governor until 1st May1761, resigning alongside Dr Oliver.

The plaster bust of Jerry Pearce was formerly at the Mineral water Hospital Bath and is missing presumed stolen.

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-bust-of-jerry-pierce-by-prince-hoare.html

The images below are from The Paul Mellon Photographic Archive

 https://photoarchive.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/search/Pierce

 This an excellent resource for old photographs of sculptural objects where other photographs might not be available.

............................

Jerry Pierce and William Oliver with patients at Bath Hospital by William Hoare (1707 - 92).

Gift from the artist in 1761.

H 129 x W 173 cm.

Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (Royal Mineral Water Hospital). Bath.

...........................

The Monument to Paul Bertrand at St Swithin's Church, Walcot, Bath.

Prince Hoare.

Bath Records Office , transcripts of Walcot Church Rate Books from 1742-56 show William Hoare's name consistently next or next but one to that of silversmith and toyman Paul Bertrand whose house is known to have been in Queen Square (Bath Journal, 10 November 1775).

      

.....                                                                            ...........................

                    The Monument to Jerry Pearce d.1768 at St Swithin's Church, Walcot, Bath.

                                                                                         Prince Hoare.

.............................

The Monument to Anne Chilcot d. 1758.

St Peter's Tawstock, Devon.

Ann WREY, the daugther of Chichester WREY and Margaret PYNE married Thomas CHILCOT (? -1766) at Siddington St Mary, Gloucestershire on 14 Sep 1749. 

Thomas was organist of Bath Abbey from 1728 until his death 38 years later. The inscription to Thomas CHILCOT is missing from the monument as a consequence of a dispute between the executor of his will and the children of his first marriage. 

Thomas was buried at Tawstock on 1 Dec 1766. Ann WREY was buried at Tawstock on 9 Jul 1758.

According to Matthew Craske a trust fund was set up for the maintenance of this monument - see -

https://files.core.ac.uk/download/30695800.pdf

Near this place lie the Remains

of Mrs ANN CHILCOT

Wife of Mr Thos CHILCOT

Organist of Bath

And Daughter to the Revd

Mr CHICHESTER WREY

late Rector of this Parish

by his first Wife Margaret

Daughter of ROGER PYNE

of this County Gent:

 

She was a Woman of Great Piety

Constant in the Duties of Religion

both Public and Private

and ever inclin'd to Acts

of Humanity and Benevolence

She died much lamented

June 30th 1758 Ætat : 39

Her Disconsolate Husband

as a Testimony

of his Conjugal Affection

Erected this Monument

to her Memory

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ukdevon/TawstockInsideMIs.htm

.....................

Monument to Thomas Chaplin (d.1747), St Vedast, Tathwell, Lincolnshire.

of Tathwell House.

Conway Library

Photographs from 1963.

Whilst it is more elaborate the basic form of this monument particularly with the relief is very similar to that used by the Fords of Bath -

This suggests to me that the relief may have been carved by Joseph Plura who married John Ford I's daughter.

Image below from -

https://slha.org.uk/catalogue_item/tathwell-st-vedast-monument

...........................

A Terracotta Bust 

I am not convinced by the attribution of this bust to Prince Hoare-

https://www.walterpadovani.com/portfolio-item/prince-hoareportrait-of-sir-horace-mann/

A very fine terracotta bust but probably not by Prince Hoare.

...................................

Prince Hoare - Some Bath Press cuttings

Bath Chronicle 19 April 1770, - Property: to let - house near North Parade, Bath lately in possession of Mr Prince Hoare. Details from Mr Edw. Parker, wine merchant in Westgate St, Bath.

 This refers to the house known as Ralph Allen's Town House.

..............................

 

Bath Chronicle -1st November 1770 - Notices: Mauge & Lancashire, successors to Mr Prince Hoare, statuary (& his principal workmen for many yrs), now trading at same yard in monuments, chimney pieces, works in marble, wood & stone.

................................

 

Bath Chronicle - 14 February 1793 - Services: F Lancashire & Son, Albion Pl, Upper Bristol Rd, Bath, statuaries, carvers in general & stone masons. Large wareroom with chimney pieces of different coloured marble, urns, vases, monuments etc on view.

......................................

 

Bath Chronicle - 6 November 1783 - Art: Bath Academy - meeting of 4 Nov at the Three Tuns Tavern, Stall St, Bath unanimously thanked John Palmer, esq., - Hoare, esq., George James, esq., & Mr Ch. Harris, statuary, London.

 This note refers to William Hoare but is interesting from the point of view that Charles Harris Statuary (of the Strand, London) was involved in an Academy at Bath.

Ref. Charles Harris in the Strand see -

 https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/03/charles-harris-of-strand-plaster-casting.html

 .............................

Bath Chronicle - 16 October 1783 - Art: meeting of principal artists of Bath at Three Tuns on Tue 14 Oct. We hear they have begun a subscription to establish an Academy or School for the study of Antique Statues & the Living Model.

 

 Bath Chronicle - 30 October 1783 Art: Bath Academy (in the manner of the Royal Academy London) - meeting of subscribers at Three Tuns Tavern in Stall St at 7pm on 4 Nov & then 1st Tue every month. Printed plans at the public libraries & Mr Wm. Lloyd's; list of subscribers may be seen at Mr Wm. Lloyd's in Abbey Green.

........................................

For an useful, brief, if slightly dated history of the Hoares in Bath see -

https://historyofbath.org/images/BathHistory/Vol%2001%20-%2004.%20Newby%20-%20The%20Hoares%20of%20Bath.pdf