MRS FITZHERBERT - DID SHE LIVE AT WOOTTON HALL?

NO!

Mrs Maria Fitzherbert, who married George Prince of Wales (later the Prince Regent and then George IV) in a religiously valid ceremony in 1785 is described in numerous references as being born/living/owning/leaving Wootton Hall, Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire. No biography of her mentions this, but it is in danger of being accepted as true. What is the truth?

Historic England Official list entry for WOOTTON HALL, STRATFORD ROAD

Listed Building Grade: II*

List Entry Number: 1382249

Date first listed: 06-Feb-1952

INTERIOR: First floor:

South-west room has austere grey and white marble Neo-Classical fireplace, ogee-arched moulding on fluted Ionic pilasters for bed alcove, now blocked in, panelling. West wing: the rooms are divided into suites, now slightly rearranged. Late C16 panelling and wainscoting to west part of house; deep cornices, bolection-moulded fireplaces, one with brass inset c1900 with wren and peacock. Maria Fitzherbert, morganatic wife of George IV lived here.

Wootton Hall is a Palladian Mansion of 1687 built by the Roman Catholic recusant Carrington/Smith Baronets. In 1781 it passed by marriage to the Smythe Baronets of Acton Burnell, Shropshire. In 1904 it was bought by George Henry Capewell Hughes, a Birmingham industrialist. It is ‘Listed’ by Historic England as Grade II* for its architectural/historical significance:

You see that this official government body, likely to be used as a reference, baldly states it as fact. Here are another 15 press clippings 1950 - 99 claiming the she lived there in her youth, went from there to her marriage with the Prince of Wales, lived there after their break-up and entertained him there clandestinely. It is noticeable that what parapsychologists call ‘ostentation’, ie the claims becoming more definite and elaborate, occurs. The claim has also appeared in ‘Ghosts of Warwickshire’ type books.

As an example, take the Stratford upon Avon ‘Herald’ of the 12th October 1979 ‘The dashing Prince Regent – Mrs Fitzherbert and the Wootton Wawen connection’ by ‘Eretes’.

On left: Arms granted by The College of Arms to George Henry Capewell Hughes 1904, who bought Wootton Hall in that year. Large shield: Hughes (two magpies, lion rampant, three roses). Small shield his wife Cresswell: (two Fleur-de-Lis, laurel wreath). Hughes Crest: A magpie, with its claw on a Bezant [gold coin], laurel wreath round its neck). Motto: Integritas in Propositio (Integrity in Purpose). Cresswell Crest: a swan with a bull-rush in its beak.

ANALYSIS

Although the photograph of the window is very poor it is clear the lower Arms are those of Hughes and his wife, and the upper Arms are those of Hughes’ heir showing the Arms of his mother and father quartered. Both shields are surmounted by both crests - a magpie and a swan. The very odd UFO like object depicted above Hughes’ Arms I suppose could be a wire wheel, the source of his fortune. The ‘Prince of Wales Feathers’ are actually Fleur-de-Lis. The ‘Fitzherbert magpie’  I have been unable to verify - Mrs Fizherbert had no Arms and apparently no Crest, and there is no depiction of her with a magpie. Magpies are known for collecting bright shiny valuable objects, and their intelligence, laurel wreaths are a symbol of success. It is much more likely they symbolise Hughes’ acquisition of wealth (gold coins) through success as a business man. Why would anything to do with Mrs Fizherbert be laurel wreathed?

“A good deal after her marriage to the Prince Regent”, such an apparently authoritative quote! is from a letter in 1937 by Hubert Berkeley to William Cooper.

This is the foundation on which the whole myth is founded:

William Cooper, in ‘Wootton Wawen, its History and Records’, 1936 describes the Hall thus:

It is apparent that the Allens, owners of the Hall, thought the stained glass window and its Coats of Arms were contemporary with the Smythe occupation of the Hall, when in fact it was quite modern and one of Capewell Hughes’ many improvements; it has nothing to do with Maria Smythe and the Prince Regent.

With thanks to Doreen Matthews, great granddaughter-in-law of George Capewell Hughes

Hubert John Aloysius Berkeley 1864 – 1942 was born in Spetchley, Worcestershire and would have been aged 4 – 8 when at Wootton Hall. At age 73 he is remembering about 65 years before when he was about 6, relating to events about 90 years before that.

Notice that his information that “‘The Prince of Wales’ Feathers may be seen in one of the bedrooms” may not be an authentic memory, but from the book he has already read.

IS THIS RELIABLE?

In Wootton Hall upstairs there is what is called the Canopy Bedroom, formerly the Alcove  Room, occupied for a time by Mrs. Fitzherbert when she lived at the  Hall, and which was decorated by her. In this room over the bed recess there is a canopy, on the pilasters of which are represented the Prince of Wales’ feathers; and at the same end of the room are two powdering  closets in use at that time.

And in ‘Henley in Arden’, 1946

During last century Wootton Hall was often let and the writer feels that the following letter written to him in instalments in 1937 by Capt. Hubert Berkeley, who  lived there during his father’s tenancy of it more than seventy years ago  will be of interest to readers:

‘With reference to your Wootton Wawen book [‘Wootton Wawen, Its History and Records’, 1936] my  father and mother, Mr. Robert and Lady Catherine Berkeley and their twelve children lived there from 1869 to 1874. Mrs. Fitzherbert (she was Maria Anne Smythe and was morganatically married to the Prince Regent George IV in 1785. The Prince of Wales’ feathers may be seen in one  of the bedrooms) was brought up in Wootton Hall and lived there a great deal even after her marriage to the Prince Regent’.

William Cooper was presumably researching his first book for let’s say 10 years before 1935, ie from 1925, so all Cooper’s information on the physical Hall must have come as he says from Guiness’s son; 20 years at least after all the improvements - and third hand. Richard S Guinness couldn’t possible have known what all Hughes’ improvements were.

Capewell Huges died unexpectedly in 1906, having only enjoyed the Hall for 2 years, leaving his widow continuing to live there until she sold it to banker Robert Darley Guinness in 1912. In those two years he instituted major improvements - building the long balustrade wall and classical Lodge and gates along the boundary with the village (and donating the old Georgian gates to the church drive, where they may still be seen, minus the arch which was removed c.1980), inserting a new staircase, re-modelling the centre of west front and inserting the stained glass bearing his Arms discussed above, converting the Roman Catholic Chapel to a music room, restoring the dovecote, creating an Italian water garden for classical statuary, re-modelling the principal rooms in Rococo style and filling them with (reproduction) Louis Quinze furniture and ornaments, and commissioning eight murals of scenes from Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ (subsequently got rid of by his widow). His Arms were painted on (reproduction) antiques, and reproduced on sets of china, and in a huge mural on the front of ‘The Priory’, another house he owned in Wootton (still to be seen). In short he aimed to assume the status and appearance of a member of the Gentry.

The Historic Enland ‘Listing’ above mentions a fireplace surround with a brass inset c.1900 of a wren and peacock. It is clear what they took to be a wren is in fact a magpie - they both cock their tails, ie it is the Hughes’ Crest. The peacock is the Crest of the Carrington/Smiths. This must be one of Hughes’ ‘historic’ improvements. I can’t help wondering if the putative Prince of Wales Feathers on the pilasters of the Canopy Room bed canopy are also a Hughes ‘historic’ improvement?

WHO WAS MRS FITZHERBERT?

She was born Maria Anne Smythe at Tong Castle Shropshire in 1736 (NOT Wootton Hall), nominally the daughter of Walter Smythe (c.1721 - 1788), younger son of Sir John Smythe, 3rd Baronet; and then was brought up in Brambridge, Hampshire. I say nominally because Wikipedia says there were rumours at the time that she was the daughter of the 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, who owned Tong Castle. This may be very significant in the future estrangement of the family from the Smythe Baronets.

The position of a younger son was unenviable, his elder brother inherited the title and estates at Acton Burnell as Sir Edward Smythe 4th Baronet (1719 - 84) in 1737. Normally the younger son traditionally went into the Church, Army or the Law, but as a Catholic he was debarred from all these careers. Eventually he did what other Catholic younger sons were forced to do and went abroad to joined the Austrian army.

Not much is known about Maria’s childhood at Brambridge, except she was educated in a Paris convent; there is no evidence any of it was spent at Wootton Hall, which as I have shown above was unlikely. Clearly it was imperative she married, but by 25 she had been widowed twice, though left with £2,000 a year and a London house by her second husband Thomas Fitzherbert. Thus she launched herself upon London society as ‘Mrs Fitzherbert’, a beautiful and vivacious widow in no particular need of a husband.

On his return in 1775 he married Mary Errington, daughter of Henry Errington of Red Rice, Andover, and had five further children after Maria, but unfortunately became disabled after a stroke, plunging the family into dire straights. His brother the 4th Baronet was of no assistance whatsoever, even though he gave sanctuary at Acton Burnell to a group of Benedictine monks fleeing the French Revolution (who subsequently founded Downside Abbey). Maria was forced to turn to her maternal uncle Henry Errington for help - and she came to rely completely on him as he became in effect her guardian, indeed he was one of the witnesses to her marriage to the Prince of Wales (she had another maternal uncle-in-law Charles Molyneux 1st Duke of Sefton as well).

It appears that Walter Smythe and his family were completely estranged from the line of Smythe Baronets at Acton Burnell - perhaps because they declined to support a daughter they knew was not a Smythe; at this distance in time one will never be certain of the reason, but it is important to understand that they rendered no assistance, because the next generation, the 5th Baronet and thus Maria’s paternal cousin, another Sir Edward (1758 - 1811), obtained Wootton Hall by his marriage in 1781 to a Smith (confusingly) Baronetcy heiress; the Smiths had owned Wootton since 1559. Wootton Hall was never lived in by the Smythe Baronets, they all lived and were buried at Acton Burnell, but appears to have been used by their adult heir until he succeeded, and as a Dower House by his mother after. They would NOT have given or lent it to Walter or his daughter Maria.

THE PRINCE OF WALES

It is not necessary to go in very much detail into her on-off relationship with George Prince of Wales, Prince Regent and finally King George IV, which is well known and summarised quite well in the above cutting. He was debarred from marrying without his father’s permission, and if he married a Catholic would forfeit his succession to the throne for him and his children. When he was 23 and Maria 29 in 1785 they were married clandestinely by an Anglican clergyman at her house inherited from Thomas Fitzherbert in Park Street, Mayfair (since demolished - she did NOT ‘leave from Wootton Hall’) with only two witnesses, her maternal uncle and patron Henry Errington and her brother John Smythe. She was Catholic and a commoner, he would never have got his father’s consent; and as such the marriage was ecclesiastically valid but civilly illegal. They always subsequently when together acted publicly as man and wife, though the public assumed she was his mistress and the authorities claimed that, if they had got married at all it had been a ‘mock’ marriage to dupe her into surrendering to him. Every Catholic in the country believed them validly married, and indeed this was confirmed by the Pope.

They shuttled between London and Brighton - in London the Prince lived in Carlton House and Maria lived in Park Street and then in 1796 bought a house on the corner of Tilney Street and Park Lane (also demolished) which she owned until he death. In Brighton the Prince lived in the Pavillion and Maria in rented houses and a house she bought in 1804 nearby on the Steine Gardens and lived in till her death. When together their liaison was conducted quite openly, there was no need for secret trysts in Wootton Hall and there is no record they ever visited it. In fact, it was clearly unavailable - the 6th Baronet was born in the Hall in 1786 according to the 1851 Census.

They broke up in 1793 after his affair with Lady Jersey and his (legal) marriage to Princes Caroline of Brunswick, but were reconciled in 1800 and broke up finally in 1806 after his affair with Lady Hertford. After 1811 when he became Regent they never spoke again, and Maria retired to live quietly in Brighton. Before their marriage and during periods they were estranged he took mistresses, at least six are known, both titled and commoner, the titled ones are well documented, and no doubt there were more. He did not need to slink off to Wootton Hall, and Maria would not have agreed to secret meetings - that would have been an admission her marriage was not valid. George died in 1833 and was found to have a miniature of Maria round his neck - one of a pair they had exchanged, and Maria in 1837.

Wootton Hall was let by the Smythe Baronets in Acton Burnell after the death of the last Smythe occupant (the eldest son) in 1853 until its sale to Capewell Hughes in 1904.

CONCLUSION

There really is no gap in the time lines of Maria and George when occupancy or a visit to Wootton Hall is at all likely, and in any case I don’t think it was available to them. At any time he could have just walked round to her nearby house in London or Brighton had he wanted to. Look at the map - was he really going to travel 100 miles to Wootton on 18th century roads, when, if they had wanted a secret rendevous, they could have gone 70 miles to Sir Henry Errington’s at Red Rice, who had witnessed their marriage?

Their relationship was and has been subject to intense scrutiny, is it likely that every subsequent biography of both would not have documented such a visit?

The claim rests on a very dubious foundation - probably a vague Smythe tradition long after the events belatedly adopting her as ‘one of them’, and the purported representation of the ‘Prince of Wales’ Feathers’ in a bedroom at Wootton Hall - we don’t even have a picture of this to judge for ourselves - are they sculpted in relief or painted? Hughe’s Arms include Fleur-de-Lis which have already been mistaken for Prince of Wales’ Feathers, or they could be one of Hughes’ many ‘historic’ improvements.

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Roger J Morgan February

2025

A 16th Century leather ‘Black Jack’ (reproduction) bearing Capewell Hughes 1904 Arms, including ‘Prince of Wales’ Feathers’ (actually Fleur-de-Lis).

Mr. Hughes died in 1906, and his widow sold the Hall with the Pool  and a portion of the estate, in 1912, to the present owner, Mr. Robert  Darley Guinness, who now resides there. To his son, Mr. Richard Smythe Guinness, the writer is indebted for some of the information about the Hall below.

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The great majority of these press reports are from interviews with Bill and Jaquie Allen, the owners of the hall from 1955, or repetition of them by others. Jaquie Allen in particular was a firm believer in Mrs Fitzherbert, and often detected her presence by paranormal means, principally unexplained perfume pervading their part of the Hall - “OH! It’s Mrs Fitz again!” she would declare.

As someone pointed out to me when I told them this, the Allens no doubt employed a cleaner, who would at irregular intervals polish their woodwork with ‘Mansion Polish’, a wax based premium furniture polish in the 1950’s and 60’s, which was lavender scented. I am sure they would not have concerned themselves with the mundane details of the cleaners operation and would probably never realise she was doing this.