Editing Wentworth Woodhouse (section)

==History==
[[File:2nd Marquess of Rockingham.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of the Marquess of Rockingham]]'', c.1768]]
The [[English Baroque]], brick-built, western range of Wentworth Woodhouse was begun in 1725 by Thomas Watson-Wentworth, (after 1728 Lord Malton) after he inherited it from his father in 1723.<ref>Baron Malton, as he then was; he was subsequently created Earl of Malton (1734) and Marquess of Rockingham (1746).</ref> It replaced the [[Jacobean architecture|Jacobean]] structure that was once the home of [[Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford]], whom [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] sacrificed in 1641 to appease Parliament. The builder to whom Wentworth's grandson turned for a plan for the grand scheme that he intended<ref>The first block constructed already included a ground-floor gallery {{convert|130|ft|m}} long (Charlesworth 1986:126).</ref> was a local builder and country architect, Ralph Tunnicliffe,<ref>Ralph Tunnicliffe ({{circa|1688}}–1736) appears in several churchwardens' accounts for rebuilding and alterations to churches; just before his involvement at Wentworth Woodhouse, he had been making alterations at Wortley Hall, West Yorkshire, for [[Edward Wortley Montagu (diplomat)|Edward Wortley Montagu]] ([[Howard Colvin]], ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840'' 3rd ed. [Yale University Press] 1995, ''s.v.'' "Tunnicliffe, Ralph"); Wortley Montagu was a prominent [[British Whig Party|Whig]] politician who moved in the same circles as Lord Malton: an obelisk honouring his wife, [[Lady Mary Wortley Montagu]] stands in the rival Wentworth parkland, Wentworth Castle.</ref> who had a practice in [[Derbyshire]] and South Yorkshire. Tunnicliffe was pleased enough with this culmination of his provincial practice to issue an engraving signed "R. Tunniclif, ''architectus''"<ref name="Colvin">Colvin 1995, ''s.v'' "Tunnicliffe, Ralph".</ref> which must date before 1734, as it is dedicated to Baron Malton, Watson-Wentworth's earlier title.<ref name="Colvin"/> However the Baroque style was disliked by Whigs, and the new house was not admired. In {{circa|1734}}, before the West Front was finished, Wentworth's grandson [[Thomas Watson-Wentworth]] commissioned [[Henry Flitcroft]] to build the East Front "extension", in fact a new and much larger house, facing the other way, southeastward. The model they settled on was [[Colen Campbell]]'s [[Wanstead House]], illustrated in ''[[Vitruvius Britannicus]]'' in 1715.

That same year the rebuilding was already well underway. In a letter from the amateur architect [[Sir Thomas Robinson, 1st Baronet|Sir Thomas Robinson]] of [[Rokeby Park|Rokeby]] to his father-in-law [[Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle|Lord Carlisle]] of 6 June 1734, Sir Thomas reports that he found the garden front "finished" and that a start had been made on the main front: "when finished 'twill be a stupendous fabric, infinitely superior to anything we have now in England", and he adds "The whole finishing will be entirely submitted to [[Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington|Lord Burlington]], and I know of no subject's house in Europe will have 7 such magnificent rooms so finely proportioned as these will be."<ref>Quoted in Michael I. Wilson, ''William Kent, Architect, Designer, Painter, Gardener, 1685–1748'' 1984:166f.</ref> In the 20th&nbsp;century, [[Nikolaus Pevsner]] would agree,<ref>Pevsner, "The interiors of Wentworth Woodhouse are of a quite exceptional value... The suite along the E front from the Whistlejacket Room at the SE to the library at the NE end is not easily matched anywhere in England" (''Yorkshire: The West Riding'' [Buildings of England] 1967:546).</ref> but the mention of the architect-earl Burlington, arbiter of architectural taste, boded ill for the provincial surveyor-builder, Tunnicliffe. It is doubtless to Burlington's intervention that about this time, before the West Front was finished, the Earl of Malton, as he had now become, commissioned [[Henry Flitcroft]] to revise Tunnicliffe's plan there and build the East Front range. Flitcroft was Burlington's professional architectural amanuensis— "Burlington Harry" as he was called; he had prepared for the engravers the designs of [[Inigo Jones]] published by Burlington and [[William Kent]] in 1727, and in fact Kent was also called in for confabulation over Wentworth Woodhouse, mediated by [[Sir Thomas Robinson]],<ref>Sir Thomas Robinson in another letter to Carlisle, enclosing Kent's engraved design for the Treasury Buildings in Whitehall,"'tis some satisfaction to me, as a Yorkshireman (and as I was entrusted by Lord Malton in negotiating the agreement between him and Mr. Kent), to reflect that the architect of this beautiful building [the Treasury] is from henceforward to conduct and finish his Lordship's" (quoted in Wilson 1984:166). No intervention by Kent in Flitcroft's project at Wentworth Woodhouse has been detected by historians, however.</ref> though in the event the pedestrian Flitcroft was not unseated and continued to provide designs for the house over the following decade: he revised and enlarged Tunnicliffe's provincial Baroque West Front and added wings, as well as temples and other structures in the park. Contemporary engravings of the grand public East Front give Flitcroft as architect. Flitcroft, right-hand man of the architectural ''dilettanti'' and fully occupied as well at the Royal Board of Works, could not constantly be on-site, however: Francis Bickerton, surveyor and builder of York, paid bills in 1738 and 1743.

The grand East Front is the more often illustrated. The West front, the "garden front" that Sir Thomas Robinson found to be finished in 1734, is the private front that looked onto a ''giardino segreto'' between the house front and the [[Walled garden|walled kitchen garden]], intended for family enjoyment rather than social and political ambitions expressed in the East Front.<ref>"as this theatre of politics unfolded over the next half-century it was commemorated by the protagonists in stone, Charlesworth remarked (1986:129).</ref> Most remnants of it were redesigned in the 19th&nbsp;century.<ref>Charlesworth 1986:127.</ref>

Wentworth Woodhouse was inherited by [[Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham]], briefly [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] in 1765–66 and again in 1782. He received [[Benjamin Franklin]] here in 1771. The architect he employed at the house was [[John Carr (architect)|John Carr]] of York, who  added an extra storey to parts of the East Front and provided the porticoes to the matching wings, each the equivalent of a moderately grand [[country house]]. [[James "Athenian" Stuart]] contributed designs for panels in the Pillared Hall.<ref>His portraits of William III and George II, commissioned by Rockingham, have not been traced: Martin Hopkinson, "A Portrait by James 'Athenian' Stuart" ''The Burlington Magazine'' '''132''' No. 1052 (November 1990:794–795) p. 794.</ref> The Whistlejacket Room was named for [[George Stubbs]]' portrait that hung in it of [[Whistlejacket]], one of the most famous racehorses of all time.<ref>Dated {{circa|1768–70}} by Ellis K. Waterhouse, "Lord Fitzwilliam's Sporting Pictures by Stubbs" ''The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs'' '''88''' No. 521 (August 1946:197, 199).</ref> The additions were completed in 1772. The second Marquess envisaged a sculpture gallery at the house, which never came to fruition; four marbles by [[Joseph Nollekens]] were carried out to his commission, in expectation of the gallery; the ''Diana'', signed and dated 1778, is now at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], the ''Juno'', ''Venus'' and ''Minerva'', grouped with a Roman antique marble of ''Paris'', are at the [[J. Paul Getty Museum]].<ref>Paul Williamson, "Acquisitions of Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986–1991: Supplement" ''The Burlington Magazine'' '''133''' No. 1065 (December 1991:876–880) p. 879, fig. xi.</ref> Wentworth Woodhouse, with all its contents, subsequently passed to the family of the Marquess's sister, [[Earl Fitzwilliam|the Earls Fitzwilliam]].

===Royal visit of 1912===
[[King George V]] and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] visited south Yorkshire from 8 to 12 July 1912 and stayed at Wentworth Woodhouse for four days. The house party consisted of a large number of guests, including: [[Doctor (title)|Dr]] [[Cosmo Gordon Lang]], the then-[[Archbishop of York]]; the [[Henry Lascelles, 5th Earl of Harewood|Earl of Harewood]] and his Countess; the Marchioness of Londonderry; the [[Lawrence Dundas, 1st Marquess of Zetland|Marquess of Zetland]] and Lady Zetland; the [[Aldred Lumley, 10th Earl of Scarbrough|Earl of Scarborough]] and Lady Scarborough; the [[William Parsons, 5th Earl of Rosse|Earl of Rosse]] and Lady Rosse; [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]] [[Lord Charles Beresford]] and Lady Mina Beresford; [[Walter Long, 1st Viscount Long|Mr Walter Long]] and Lady Doreen Long; and [[Charles Duncombe, 2nd Earl of Feversham|Lord Helmsley]] and Lady Helmsley.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Society and Court News. |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000748/19120709/100/0004 |newspaper=Leeds Mercury |location=Leeds |date=9 July 1912 |access-date=1 June 2015 }}</ref>

The royal visit concluded on the evening of 11 July with a [[Military tattoo|torchlight tattoo]] by miners, and a musical programme by members of the Sheffield Musical Union and the Wentworth Choral Society. A crowd of 25,000 gathered on the lawn to witness the King and Queen on the balcony of the portico, from which the King gave a speech.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title="My Friends." The King's Speech to His Subjects. Wentworth Spectacle |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000276/19120712/218/0008 |newspaper=Sheffield Evening Telegraph |location=Sheffield |date=12 July 1912 |access-date=1 June 2015 }}</ref>

===Intelligence connection in the Second World War===
During the [[Second World War]], the house served as Training Depot and Headquarters of the [[Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)|Intelligence Corps]],<ref>{{cite web|title=British Military History|url=http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/documents.php?aid=154&nid=22&start=10|website=www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk|access-date=18 June 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055652/http://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/documents.php?aid=154&nid=22&start=10|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=BBC – WW2 People's War – My War in Two Armies: Part 9 of 10 – Call-up to the British Army|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/65/a7855365.shtml|website=www.bbc.co.uk|access-date=18 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bijl|first1=Nick Van Der|title=Sharing the Secret: The History of the Intelligence Corps 1940–2010|date=2013|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=9781473833180|pages=132–133|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rcY7BAAAQBAJ&q=intelligence+corps+Wentworth+Woodhouse+in+1943&pg=PA132|access-date=18 June 2017}}</ref> although by 1945 conditions for trainee intelligence soldiers had deteriorated so far that questions were asked in the [[House of Commons (United Kingdom)|House of Commons]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Intelligence Corps Depot, Rotherham  |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1945/dec/18/intelligence-corps-depot-rotherham|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=18 December 1945|access-date=18 June 2017}}</ref> Some of the training involved motorcycle dispatch rider skills, as Intelligence Corps personnel often used motorcycles. The grounds of the house and surrounding road network were used as motorcycle training areas.<ref>{{cite web|title=DEAR SERGEANT OR THE STORY OF ROUGH RIDING MOTORCYCLING COURSE {{!}} Yorkshire Film Archive|url=http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/dear-sergeant-or-story-rough-riding-motorcycling-course|website=www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com|access-date=19 June 2017}}</ref>

===Lease to Lady Mabel College===
The [[Ministry of Health (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Health]] attempted to requisition the house as "housing for homeless industrial families". To prevent this, the 7th Earl attempted to donate the house to the [[National Trust]], but the Trust declined to take it. In the end, [[Lady Mabel Fitzwilliam]], sister of the 7th Earl and a local [[alderman]], brokered a deal whereby the [[West Riding County Council]] leased most of the house for an educational establishment, leaving forty rooms as a family apartment.<ref>Bailey 2007: 397–402.</ref> Thus, from 1949 to 1979, the house was home to the Lady Mabel College of Physical Education, which trained female [[physical education]] teachers. The college later merged with Sheffield City Polytechnic (now [[Sheffield Hallam University]]), which eventually gave up the lease in 1988 as a result of high maintenance costs.<ref>Bailey 2007: 449.</ref>

===Sheffield City Polytechnic===
{{unreferenced|section|date=September 2024}}
The period 1979 to 1988 saw students from Sheffield City Polytechnic (now [[Sheffield Hallam University]]) based at Wentworth Woodhouse. Two departments, Physical Education and Geography and Environmental Studies, were based on site. The main house housed student accommodation and a dining room and kitchens for lunch and dinner for students living on site. Five separate blocks of modern student accommodation (Stubbs, Brameld, Repton, Flitcroft and Rockingham) were built in the grounds of the deer park. The Stable Block became the centre of student life, housing offices, lecture rooms, laboratories, squash courts, a swimming pool, and a student bar.

===Sale by the Fitzwilliam family===
By 1989, Wentworth Woodhouse was in a poor state of repair. With the polytechnic no longer a tenant, and with the family no longer requiring the house, the family trustees decided to sell it and the {{convert|70|acre|ha}} surrounding it, but retained the Wentworth Estate's {{convert|15000|acre|ha}} of land. The house was bought by locally born businessman [[Wensley Haydon-Baillie|Wensley Grosvenor Haydon-Baillie]], who started a programme of restoration, but a business failure saw it repossessed by a Swiss bank and put back on the market in 1998.<ref>Bailey 2007:451.</ref> Clifford Newbold (July 1926 – April 2015),<ref>''Rotherham Advertiser'', 6 May 2015</ref> an architect from Highgate, bought it for something over £1.5&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britannia.com/history/wwwood.html |title=English Country Houses News: Wentworth Woodhouse<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=11 February 2007 |archive-date=20 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320075413/http://www.britannia.com/history/wwwood.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Newbold progressed with a programme of renovation and restoration, as described in ''Country Life'' magazine dated 17 and 24 February 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.futurecontenthub.com/brand/Country%20Life|title=Future PLC – Content and Brand Licensing. Stock photos, stock images and image library|website=www.futurecontenthub.com|accessdate=8 January 2022}}</ref>  The surrounding parkland is owned by the Wentworth Estates.

In 2014, the house was informally offered for sale by Newbold, with no price specified, but a figure of around £7&nbsp;million was thought to be sought according to ''[[The Times]]''. The house was reported to need works of around £40&nbsp;million.<ref>''[[The Times]]'', 1 November 2014</ref> Following Newbold's death, the house was advertised for sale in May 2015 via [[Savills]] with an asking price of £8&nbsp;million.<ref name="The Telegraph">{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/11610079/Amazing-country-houses-fit-for-Mr-Darcy.html | title=Where would Mr Darcy live now? Jane Austen's 'Pemberley' is on sale | work=The Telegraph | date=17 May 2015 | access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref> In February 2016, it was sold to the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust (WWPT) for £7&nbsp;million after a potential sale to the Hong Kong-based Lake House Group fell through.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-35490403 |title=Wentworth Woodhouse sold to conservation group for £7m |work=BBC News |date=4 February 2016|access-date=24 November 2016}}</ref>

On 23 November 2016, in the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer|United Kingdom Chancellor's]] [[Budget#United Kingdom|budget]] statement of November 2016, it was announced that the Trust was to receive a grant of £7.6&nbsp;million for restoration work;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/24/inside-wentworth-woodhouse-a-key-piece-of-northern-heritage |title=Why did the chancellor stump up £7.6m for Wentworth Woodhouse? |first=Helen |last=Pidd |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 November 2016 |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref> the Chancellor [[Philip Hammond]] noted a claim that the property had been [[Jane Austen]]'s inspiration for [[Pemberley]] in her novel ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wentworth Woodhouse awarded £7.6m in Autumn Statement|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-38077584|access-date=24 November 2016|work=BBC News|date=23 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Elliott|first1=Larry|title=Autumn statement more Fifty Shades of Grey than Pride and Prejudice|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/23/autumn-statement-more-fifty-shades-of-grey-than-pride-and-prejudice|access-date=24 November 2016|work=The Guardian|date=23 November 2016}}</ref> It was thought that there might have been a connection to the house because Austen uses the name Fitzwilliam in her novel, but following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement the [[Jane Austen Society]] dismissed the likelihood, given the absence of any evidence that she had visited the estate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/23/jane-austen-inspiration-receives-76m-funding-in-autumn-statement-wentworth-woodhouse|title='No evidence' Jane Austen ever went to stately home mentioned in autumn statement|access-date=24 November 2016|work=The Guardian|date=23 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="The Telegraph"/>

Welcoming the grant, Conservative MP [[Jacob Rees-Mogg]] dismissed a widely circulated meme claiming that his family benefited from it.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/news/bath-news/jacob-rees-mogg-meme-claiming-35885 |title=Jacob Rees-Mogg meme claiming MP profits from £7.6m Wentworth Woodhouse job deemed 'nonsense' |first=Bethan |last=Moorcraft |newspaper=Bath Chronicle |date=26 April 2017 |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref>

As of 2022, the National Trust was working in partnership with the WWPT to support their ambitions for the site as a visitor attraction; the Trust does not own the property.<ref>{{cite web |title=Visit Wentworth Woodhouse |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/visit-wentworth-woodhouse |access-date=4 July 2022 |website=National Trust }}</ref>