Editing John Vanbrugh (section)

=== London ===
Vanbrugh's London career was diverse and varied, comprising playwriting, architectural design, and attempts to combine these two overarching interests. His overlapping achievements and business ventures were sometimes confusing even to Vanbrugh himself.

====The Kit-Cat Club====
A committed Whig, Vanbrugh was a member of the [[Kit-Cat Club]]&nbsp;– and particularly popular for "his colossal geniality, his great good humour, his easy-going temperament".<ref>Charles Saumarez Smith, ''The Building of Castle Howard'' (London: Faber and Faber, 1990; {{ISBN|0-571-14238-9}}), p.39; Saumarez Smith quotes strong praise from [[Alexander Pope]] (who, as he points out, "was never inclined to generosity") and [[Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield|Lord Chesterfield]].</ref> The Club is best known today as an early 18th-century social gathering point for culturally and politically prominent Whigs, including many artists and writers ([[William Congreve (playwright)|William Congreve]], [[Joseph Addison]], [[Godfrey Kneller]]) and [[Politics of the United Kingdom|politicians]] (the [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Duke of Marlborough]], [[Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset|Charles Seymour]], the [[Charles Boyle, 2nd Earl of Burlington|Earl of Burlington]], [[Thomas Pelham-Holles]], [[Robert Walpole|Sir Robert Walpole]] and [[Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham]] who gave Vanbrugh several architectural commissions at [[Stowe, Buckinghamshire|Stowe]]).

Politically, the Club promoted the Whig objectives of a strong [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]], a limited monarchy, resistance to France,{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} and primarily the [[Protestant]] succession to the throne.<ref>Bryson p. 153</ref> Yet the Kit-Cats always presented their club as more a matter of dining and conviviality, and this reputation has been successfully relayed to posterity. Downes suggests, however, that the Club's origins go back to before the Glorious Revolution of 1689 and that its political importance was much greater before it went public in 1700, in calmer and more Whiggish times. Downes proposes a role for an early Kit-Cat grouping in the armed invasion by William of Orange and the Glorious Revolution. [[Horace Walpole]], son of Kit-Cat Sir Robert Walpole, claims that the respectable middle-aged Club members generally mentioned as "a set of wits" were originally "in reality the patriots that saved Britain", in other words were the active force behind the Glorious Revolution itself. Secret groups tend to be poorly documented, and this sketch of the pre-history of the Club cannot be proved but, as we have seen, young Vanbrugh was indeed in 1688 part of a secret network working for William's invasion. If the roots of the Club go back that far, it is tempting to speculate that Vanbrugh in joining the club was not merely becoming one of a convivial London "set of wits" but was also linking up with old friends and co-conspirators. A hero of the cause who had done time in French prison for it, could have been confident of a warm welcome.

====The Haymarket theatre====
[[File:London Kings Theatre Haymarket.jpg|thumb|The Queen's Theatre, by [[William Capon (artist)|William Capon]]]]
In 1703, Vanbrugh started buying land and signing backers for the construction of a new theatre, the [[His Majesty's Theatre, London|Queen's Theatre]], in [[Haymarket (London)|Haymarket]], designed by himself and managed by Vanbrugh along with [[Thomas Betterton]] and his associate William Congreve.<ref>Beard p. 18</ref> It was intended for the use of an actors' cooperative (see [[#The Provoked Wife|''The Provoked Wife'']] below) and hoped to improve the chances of legitimate theatre in London. Theatre was under threat from more colourful types of entertainment such as opera, [[juggling]], [[pantomime]] (introduced by [[John Rich (producer)|John Rich]]), animal acts, travelling dance troupes, and famous visiting Italian singers. They also hoped to make a profit, and Vanbrugh optimistically bought up the actors' company, making himself sole owner. He was now bound to pay salaries to the actors and, as it turned out, to manage the theatre, a notorious tightrope act for which he had no experience. The often repeated rumour that the acoustics of the building Vanbrugh had designed were bad is exaggerated (see Milhous {{Page needed|date=September 2010}}), but the more practical Congreve had become anxious to extricate himself from the project, and Vanbrugh was left spreading himself extremely thin, running a theatre and simultaneously overseeing the building of Blenheim Palace, a project which after June 1705 often took him out of town.

Unsurprisingly under these circumstances, Vanbrugh's management of the Queen's Theatre in Haymarket showed "numerous signs of confusion, inefficiency, missed opportunities, and bad judgment".<ref>Milhous, p.&nbsp;194</ref> Having burned his fingers on theatre management, Vanbrugh too extricated himself, expensively, by selling the business in 1708 to [[Owen Swiny]].,<ref>Nalbach, p. 10</ref> though without ever collecting much of the putative price. He had put a lot of money, his own and borrowed, into the theatre company, which he was never to recover. It was noted as remarkable by contemporaries that he continued to pay the actors' salaries fully and promptly while they were working for him, just as he always paid the workmen he had hired for construction work; shirking such responsibilities was close to being standard practice in early 18th century England. Vanbrugh himself never seems to have pursued those who owed him money, and throughout his life his finances can at best be described as precarious.

====The College of Arms====
Vanbrugh's introduction and advancement in the [[College of Arms]] remain controversial. On 21 June 1703 the obsolete office of Carlisle Herald was revived for Vanbrugh. This appointment was followed by a promotion to the post of [[Clarenceux King of Arms]] in March 1704. In 1725 he sold this office to Knox Ward, and he told a friend he had "got leave to dispose in earnest, of a place I got in jest".<ref>''The Complete Works of Sir John Vanbrugh'', ed. G. Webb, Volume 4: The letters (1928), p. 170.</ref> His colleagues' opposition to an ill-gotten appointment ought to have been directed to Lord Carlisle, who as [[Earl Marshal|Deputy Earl Marshal]], arranged both appointments and against whose wishes they were powerless. Vanbrugh went on to make more friends than enemies at the College, however. The pageantry of state occasions appealed to his theatrical sense, his duties were not difficult, and he appears to have performed them well. In the opinion of a modern [[herald]] and historian, although the appointment was "incongruous", he was "possibly the most distinguished man who has ever worn a herald's [[tabard]]."<ref>[[Anthony Wagner|A. R. Wagner]], ''Heralds of England''. 1967, p. 326.</ref> In May 1706 Lord Halifax and Vanbrugh – representing the [[octogenarian]] [[Garter King of Arms]], [[Henry St George, the younger|Sir Henry St George]] – led a delegation to [[Hanover]] to confer the [[Order of the Garter]] on [[George II of Great Britain|Prince George]], later to become King George II. Vaughan Hart has shown how Vanbrugh's interest in arms and heraldry found expression in, and gave meaning to, his architecture.

====Marriage and death====
[[File:Vanbrugh Castle.jpg|thumbnail|350px|[[Vanbrugh Castle]] in [[Greenwich]], south London]]
In 1719, at [[St Lawrence's Church, York]] (since rebuilt), Vanbrugh married Henrietta Maria Yarburgh of [[Heslington Hall]], York, aged 26 to his 55. In spite of the age difference, this was by all accounts a happy marriage, which produced two sons. Unlike that of the [[rake (character)|rake]] heroes and [[fop]]s of his plays, Vanbrugh's personal life was without scandal.

Vanbrugh died "of an [[asthma]]" on 26 March 1726,{{sfn|Seccombe|1911}} in the modest town house designed by him in 1703 out of the ruins of [[Whitehall Palace]] and satirised by [[Jonathan Swift|Swift]] as "the [[Goose-pie House|goose pie]]".<ref>Williams, p.109</ref> His married life, however, was mostly spent at [[Greenwich, London|Greenwich]] (then not considered part of London at all) in the house on Maze Hill now known as [[Vanbrugh Castle]], a miniature Scottish [[tower house]] designed by Vanbrugh in the earliest stages of his career.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.greenwich-guide.org.uk/vanbrugh.htm |title=Greenwich Guide - Vanbrugh Castle |work=greenwich-guide.org.uk |access-date=19 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091129235301/http://www.greenwich-guide.org.uk/vanbrugh.htm |archive-date=29 November 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A Grade I listed building, and formerly a [[RAF]] Boys' School, it is today divided into private apartments.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-200455-vanbrugh-castle-greenwich |title=Vanbrugh Castle - Greenwich - Greater London - England - British Listed Buildings |author=Good Stuff |work=britishlistedbuildings.co.uk |access-date=19 April 2016}}</ref>