Hutton John 1894 -sketch George Townsend Warner

HUTTON JOHN - THE SEAT OF THE HUDLESTON FAMILY


  Nora Hudleston Warner - pictured in the 1920's

Hutton John is a large fortified manor house, located near the hamlet of Hutton, about 5 miles south-west of Penrith in Cumbria. The manor house was originally built in the late 14th century as a pele tower, with additions made in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The manor of Hutton John was the seat of the Hutton family from 13th century until the death of Thomas Hutton c.1628, when it passed to his sister Mary, who married in 1564 Andrew Hudleston of Farington (Lancs.), a younger son of the Hudlestons of Millom.

Ref: Hutton John, Cumbria
https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/hutton-john-cumbria/

It is easy to appreciate the interest of George Townsend Warner in Hutton John as he married Nora Hudleston, who was born in Madras, the daughter of Josiah Hudleston, an Indian army Colonel. Josiah was a first cousin of William Hudleston - the owner of Hutton John.

George Townsend Warner made the sketch above of Hutton John almost a year after his daughter the future novelist, short story writer and poet, Sylvia Townsend Warner, was born. Perhaps the family were guests of Ferdinand Hudleston.

George Townsend Warner (b.1865 d.1916) became the Harrow School housemaster and was known as a brilliant teacher in history. In 1922 the name "The Harrow History Prize" was changed to "The Townsend-Warner History Prize".

Sylvia Hudleston Townsend-Warner had strong musical abilities and before WW1 planned to study in Vienna under Schoenberg.

After the outbreak of WW1 she researched 15th and 16th century music. From 1917 she was employed as one of the editors of Tudor Church Music, 10 volumes of which were published by the Oxford University Press.

Sylvia was involved in transcribing the music into modern musical notation for publication. She wrote a section on musical notation for the Oxford History of Music which appeared in the new introductory volume of 1929.

One could surmise that Sylvia may have inherited some of her musical abilities from her maternal great grandfather Josiah Andrew Hudleston pictured below.


  For a more detailed description of Hutton John by Ferdinand Hudleston:
  A Short Description of Hutton John - PDF document (682 kB)

George Townsend Warner as house master at Harrow and Sylvia Townsend Warner
North front of Hutton John - 1913

The east wing, on the left, was built in 1660. The entry hall faces the courtyard.

The west wing of the house, on the right, was added in the sixteenth or early seventeenth century, and was originally only of two storeys. The ground-floor room would have formed a large parlour, lit both from the north and south, but it has been divided at a later period, and the western half is now the kitchen.

Ref: Hutton John, Cumberland. The seat of Mr.. Ferdinand Hudleston.
Country Life, Jan. 26th. 1929. pp.116-123.

Plan of Hutton John - circa 1923
East front of Hutton John - 1913
The Kitchen - Hutton John - circa 1929
Croft Huddleston family tree - 2nd. version

HUDDLESTONS AND THE CROFT HUDDLESTONS


 

The above chart was prepared by my mother, Joan Hudleston Hyde, and Roy Hudleston.
 
Roy Hudleston (1905-1992) was born in Stroud in Gloucestershire. He was a distinguished genealogist and historian. In 1949 he was elected a Fellow of The Society of Antiquaries in recognition of his significant work in the fields of local history and genealogy, his life-long abiding interests.

Spurred on by his fascination with the history of his own ancestors, particularly the Hudlestons of Millom Castle and Hutton John, Cumbria, he began writing local history articles at an early age, and some of these appeared in the Stroud News while he was still at school.

Roy was a lecturer in Palaeography in the University of Durham and a pdf file which is a catalogue of Hudleston papers held at the university - is available from:
http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s1mk61rg99c.xml&toc.id=

I am pleased to be related to both the Hudleston and the Huddleston family by the marriage of my great grandfather Colonel Josiah Hudleston to Frances Croft Huddleston. In my case the Huddlestons are such by George Croft assuming the name of Huddleston in 1819 for inheritance purposes. So am I really related to the Huddlestons?

Tristram Frederick Croft Huddleston (1848-1936) at the request of my mother Joan Hudleston Hyde wrote a short history of the Huddleston Family that would be of interest to Huddlestons in New Zealand.
HISTORY OF THE HUDDLESTON FAMILY - PDF document (131kB)

Tristram Frederick Croft Huddleston, the writer of this History of the Huddleston family, died in 1936. He was a Fellow of Kings College Cambridge. A few years before his death, his elder son Arthur was made a Knight in recognition of his services in the Blue Nile Province.

Ferdinand Hudleston (1857-1951) of Hutton John, whose photos and description of Hutton John appear on this page, was a son of William H. (1826-1894) and he had a brother Cuthbert H.(1863-1944) who was the Anglican Archdeacon of Perth, Australia, from 1910 to 1944.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Edmund Cuthbert Hudleston

Air Chief Marshal Sir Edmund Cuthbert "Teddy" Hudleston, GCB, CBE, ADC (30 December 1908 – 14 December 1994) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force: Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Central Europe 1964-65; Commander Allied Air Forces, Central Europe 1964-67;
He was a son of Archdeacon Cuthbert Hudleston of Perth.

I was pleased to come across the above relationship connection to Hutton John as I usually reside in Perth.

Mrs Honoria Hudleston 1790 - painting by George Romney

Honoria, daughter of the Rev. John Marshall; born in 1765; married, Nov. 23, 1788, John Hudleston, Esq. (Resident at the Court of Tanjore, and a Member of Council at Madras), the second but eldest surviving son of William Hudleston, Prebendary of Wells; John Hudleston died Sept. 24, 1807.

Honoria's grandson, William Hudleston (1826–1894) was a British colonial administrator who acted as the Governor of Madras from 24 May 1881 to 5 November 1881. He succeeded to Hutton John in 1861, inheriting it from his kinsman, Andrew Fleming Hudleston C.S.I. (b.1796 d.1861) - the last of the elder branch of the Hudleston family.

The succession of ownership for Hutton John from the time of Ferdinand Hudleston appears to be as follows:
 
Ferdinand Hudleston (1857-1951) --> Nigel Ferdinand Hudleston (1902-1969) --> John Andrew Hudleston (1931-2003) --> Roland Hudleston --> Roberta (Nicholson) Looked after Hutton John until her son Roland Hudleston came of age --> Then about 2009 the property passed to Kate Fraser - Roberta's daughter of her second marriage to Ian Dawson.


 
Father John Hudleston - circa 1665

Father John Hudleston (1608 – 1698), was a Catholic priest, and a monk of the Order of St. Benedict who helped Charles II during his escape. He was present when Charles converted to the Catholic faith on his deathbed.

Father John was the second son of Joseph Hudleston, esq., of Farington Hall and Hutton John, Cumberland, by Eleanor, second daughter of Cuthbert Sisson, esq., of Kirkbarrow, Westmoreland.

A good source for information on Benedictine Monks is at the Durham University, Monks in Motion, Database:
https://www.dur.ac.uk/mim/database/

John C. Hudleston
Josiah Andrew Hudleston, Age 33 in Macau (1832) portrait by George Chinnery

Josiah Andrew Hudleston, a classical guitar virtuoso, was the 4th son of John and Honoria Hudleston pictured on this page.

Terhi Ahava, a researcher into the history of the Theosophical Society in Chennai, had the idea that the painting above may be of Josiah, and established that Josiah Hudleston visited a younger brother, Robert Burland Hudleston, in Macau in 1832. Additionally a Mr.. Huddleston is listed in Walter G. Strickland's 1913 dictionary of Irish Artists for paintings by George Chinnery.

I have little doubt that the guitarist whose portrait was painted by George Chinnery when resident in Macau is Josiah Andrew Hudleston. The original is held at: The Yale Center for British Art
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:257

An interesting recent Doctoral Dissertation (2020), by Redmond O'Toole, evaluating Josiah Hudleston's 1841 treatise on Guitar Harmonics - with the history and audio/video examples can be viewed at
http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/93831

Note: During May 2021 the Yale center for British art changed the main heading of the portrait page to "George Chinnery, 1774–1852, British, Josiah Andrew Hudleston (1799-1865), 1832". So Josiah Andrew Hudleston is now recognised as the subject of the painting "Portrait of a Man Playing a Guitar" by George Chinnery.

Millom Castle

 

 

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