Editing Stanmore (section)

===Stately homes===
Between 1713 and 1724, the [[James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos|1st Duke of Chandos]] built [[Cannons (house)|Cannons]] house in Little Stanmore. Shortly after, in 1729 [[Andrew Drummond (banker)|Andrew Drummond]], the founder of the [[Drummonds Bank]] and [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] sympathiser, purchased [[Stanmore House]] and the Stanmore Park estate as his country residence.<ref>H Bolitho and D Peel, The Drummonds of Charing Cross (London: George, Allen & Unwin, 1967)</ref><ref name="drummond">{{cite web|title=Andrew Drummond, Stanmore Resident and founder of The London bank Messrs Drummond|url=http://www.stanmoretouristboard.org.uk/andrew_drummond.html |website=stanmoretouristboard.org.uk|access-date=11 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211124522/http://www.stanmoretouristboard.org.uk/andrew_drummond.html|archive-date=11 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> A new mansion was built for Andrew Drummond at Stanmore Park in 1763: it was designed in neo Palladian style by [[John Vardy]] and [[William Chambers (architect)|Sir William Chambers]]. [[Zoffany]] painted the Drummond family in the grounds.  The Drummonds leased Stanmore House to the [[Louisa Finch, Countess of Aylesford|Countess of Aylesford]] (in 1815) and later to Lord Castlereagh. The Marquess of Abercorn acquired the estate, along with Bentley Priory, in 1839. In 1848, Stanmore House was sold again to [[George Glyn, 1st Baron Wolverton]]. The house was later used as a boys' preparatory school. It was demolished in 1938 and the site was taken over by the [[Royal Auxiliary Air Force]] as the headquarters of Balloon Command.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Baggs |first1=A P; Bolton, Diane K; Scarff, Eileen P; Tyack, G C |title=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5, Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol5/pp96-99 |website=British History Online |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref> The history of the area is reflected in street names, such as Lady Aylesford Avenue and Abercorn Road. RAF Stanmore Park closed in 1997 and is now a housing estate.

[[File:Gilbert-library-working-1891.jpg|thumb|Opera librettist [[W. S. Gilbert]] in the library at [[Grim's Dyke]] (1891)]]
The wealthy businessman James Duberley commissioned [[Sir John Soane]] to design a large mansion house north of the original Bentley Priory in 1775. This house was added to throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by various owners. It was significantly extended in 1788, again by Sir John Soane, for [[John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn]]. The Priory was the final home of the [[Dowager Queen Adelaide]], queen consort of [[William IV]], before her death there in 1849. In 1882 Bentley Priory was acquired by the hotel millionaire [[Frederick Gordon (hotelier)|Frederick Gordon]], who turned it into a country house hotel for wealthy guests.<ref name="drummond"/><ref name="manors"/>

The [[libretto|opera librettist]] [[W. S. Gilbert]] (of the [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] duo) lived at [[Grim's Dyke]], a country house located between Stanmore and [[Harrow Weald]]. In 1911, Gilbert drowned in the pond at Grim's Dyke. He was cremated at [[Golders Green Crematorium|Golders Green]] and his ashes buried at the churchyard of St. John's Church, Stanmore.<ref name=DNB>Stedman, Jane W. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33400 "Gilbert, Sir William Schwenck (1836–1911)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004, online edition, May 2008, accessed 10 January 2010 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>