Gibbs Family Tree
“The Herts Advertiser and St Albans Times” – Saturday, September 21, 1907
DEATH OF LORD ALDENHAM
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FOLLOWED BY DEATH OF HIS YOUNGEST SON
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THE GREAT NOBLEMAN’S WORK FOR CHURCH AND COUNTRY
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DOUBLE FUNERAL AT ALDENHAM
Having only as recently as August 31st celebrated the completion of his eighty-eighth year, Lord Aldenham, the first bearer of the title, and one who, by his good works and gentle disposition, caused that name to be widely revered, passed peacefully to his rest after an extended period of weakness consequent upon the attainment of a great age, at noon on Friday. For some weeks past, he had been confined to his room; but his extremely serious condition did not arise until within about a week of his death.
Henry Hucks Gibbs, created first baron Aldenham in January 1896, was born on August 31sr 1891, the eldest son of George Henry Gibbs, of Aldenham, and was educated at Rugby, under Dr. Arnold, and at Exeter College, Oxford, where he graduated, taking his B.A. degree in 1841, and passing afterwards to a commercial career, in connection with Messrs. Antony Gibbs and Sons, bankers and merchants, of Bishopsgate-street, Within. This firm was founded by his grand-father, Antony Gibbs, who set up a business in Cadiz in 1780, afterwards returning to London. With an infinite capacity for taking pains, Lord Aldenham hade rapid advances in the work to which he had set his hand. This capacity was a predominant characteristic of his nature, whether in relations to business matters or any one of those many interests which he fostered, mainly in the direction of philanthropic Church work and in the realm of literature. Of the great commercial house he, in due course, became the head. In 1853, when 34 years of age, he was appointed a director of the Bank of England, and retained that honourable position until 1901. He was Governor of the Bank from 1875 to 1877. Meanwhile, he had been prevailed upon by those who held him in estimation for his sterling qualities, to enter Parliament, which he did in 1891, as Conservative member for the City of London, on the death of Mr. T.C. Baring, but in the following year he retired, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the Hon. Alban George Henry Gibbs (now Lord Aldenham), who retained the seat until last year, when, by consent of his constituents, he retired in favour of Mr. Balfour. Apart from these associations, Lord Aldenham was one of his Majesty’s Lieutenants for the City of London, a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
In Hertfordshire, he held an honoured place. He was for many years on the Commission of the Peace for the County, and filled the office of High Sheriff in 1844. He was also a Justice of the Peace for the adjoining county of Essex.
It was, however, as a staunch and generous Churchman that the deceased peer came most before the public notice. He never tired of giving of his great wealth to objects which he believed to be for the advancement of the Church’s best interest. To his PRINCELY GENEROCITY the Diocese of St. Albans owes much. His eagerness to serve the Church in the Diocese led him to a long and costly conflict with the late Lord Grimthorpe as to who should donate his wealth to the restauration of the Lady Chapel of the Cathedral. Further trouble arose concerning the restauration of the great high altar screen, the vacant niches of which Lord Aldenham proposed to fill in with statues to replace those destroyed during the Reformation. This Lord Grimthorpe opposed a petition presented to “restore, repair and refit portions of the Cathedral and Parish Church.” Lord Grimthorpe’s aim was practically to obtain from the Consistory Court a declaration that Lord Aldenham had infringed his faculty. The case was argued at great length before the Vicar-General (Sir Francis Jeune), who by his judgement, confirmed what Lord Aldenham had done to the screen, and the large central figure representing Christ upon the cross has since been added. The reredos, in which is depicted the Resurrection, the work of Mr. Alfred Gilbert, R.A., however still awaits completion. It was a great disappointment to Lord Aldenham that this work was never finished; for although even now it is of great beauty and value as a work of art, it needs just those finishing touches which the artist alone can give to bring it to perfection. Upon the screen Lord Aldenham expended a sum considerably exceeding £20,000, and brought to bear upon it the full force of his great knowledge, personally working out many of the smallest details for Mr. Harry Hems, the sculptor to whom he entrusted its execution.
In many other ways Lord Aldenham helped in the work at the Cathedral. He was the prime mover in the scheme in the diocese by which is capitular organisation was brought about, with the formation of the Deanery and the Chapter, and when it was decided, as a memorial to the late Bishop Festing, second Bishop of St Albans, to furnish the choir of the Cathedral with an episcopal throne and choir stalls and further to equip the choir for useful public worship, his lordship was among the most generous helpers of that scheme, and was the donor of what is now known as the St. Cedda stall on the south side of the choir, assigned to Canon Medd. Through his generosity, too, the Cathedral possesses a very beautiful illuminated altar book for use in its services.
Lord Aldenham’s latest benefaction to the Cathedral is one which the congregation have yet to learn the value. Visiting the Cathedral last year, his lordship expressed an oft-repeated wish that the great organ, erected on St. Cuthbert’s screen, might be removed, re-modelled, and divided so as to open up the vista from west to east. This expression was followed shortly afterwards by a most generous offer on the part of Lord Aldenham to bear the entire expense of this important improvement; and even now, while the people of St. Albans and of the diocese mourn the departure of the generous benefactor, the work which he so long desired to see carried out is advancing towards completion, and, as announced in these columns recently, it is hoped that the enlarged and renovated organ may be ready for use at the Christmas services.
Next to the Cathedral, the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist at Aldenham claimed his affectionate care. It was in a850 that he inherited Aldenham House from his mother, and in 1877 he bought the Rectory and advowson from Lord Rend’esham. The church was at that time much out of repair, and in 1882 he thoroughly restored and re-seated it in oak at a cost of about £11,000. Quite recently he had expended a further £1,000 on the church. The oak choir screen which he put in at the restoration of 1882, which he removed in 1902 and converted into a screen for the baptistry at the west end of the church, replacing it with another carved oak screen of exceptional beauty. The elegant churchyard cross, too, is another of his gifts, made ten years since in memory of the late Lady Aldenham.
Lord Aldenham was formerly patron of the living of Clifton-Hampden, Oxon, but he gave the advowson some time ago to his eldest son, the Hon. Alban Gibbs; having some years ago restored the church and spent a great deal of money upon this very beautiful little church on the Thames, situated in a lovely village of the most part of which he was the owner. The parsonage, which was regarded as too large for the living, was converted into a residence for Hon. Alban Gibbs, and is occupied by him at the present time. These are but instances of the GREAT WORK he was constantly doing for the Church, of which he was so devoted a son. He has helped many of the churches round about him more or less, being always interested in them and very generous in his gifts to them.
In the administrative affairs of the Diocese he was keenly interested. Up to the time of his death he was one of the honorary secretaries of the Diocesan Conference; and was also one of the representatives of the Conference in the House of Laymen, in whose deliberations he took an active part. Of the Bishop of St. Albans Fund he was a generous supporter, and was ever ready to help, both pecuniarily and with his influence, in the extension of church work in East London. With other noblemen of the Diocese he served as a vice-president of the Council of that Fund. Within the same category came his work for the St. Peter’s Sisterhood, Kilburn, with which he was closely connected in many ways. He was one of the earliest vice-presidents of the St. Albans Branch of the Church Defence Committee, and was one of the most liberal subscribers to its funds.
Having keen literary tastes, he devoted much painstaking labour to the Philological Society’s Dictionary published in 1854. In accordance with the plans then formed, says the “Times”, he undertook the sub-editing of the letters C and K, and the work which he did at these was most valuable to Dr. Murray when you began the editing of the Dictionary for the delegates of the Oxford University Press in 1890. He assisted Dr. Murray very largely in settling the final form of the work, and has constantly continued his services to it. For many of the articles in that work dealing with banking, currency, and commerce, he was responsible. In fact, it has been declared by Dr Murray that the handwriting of Lord Aldenham was to be found upon the proofs of every page that enormous dictionary.
Lord Aldenham was, as everyone knows, a very keen student of liturgical questions, and has been quoted as the greatest living expert on the English Prayer Book. He was the possessor of a unique collection of Prayer Books and Bibles, and, as will be remembered, contributed largely to the interest of the Church History Exhibition at St Albans in June and July 1905, by the comprehensive collection of books which he loaned. Of that exhibition he was a vice president.
In the wider field of church work, it may be recalled that as long as his health permitted, he was an energetic and valued helper at Church House, Westminster, of the Council of which he was a member. He was on the Council of Keble College, Oxford, as is also the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, and was always interested in the college, members his family, notably the late Mr William Gibbs (his uncle), the late Mr Anthony Gibbs, and Mr Martin Gibbs, having been munificent benefactors to it.
This benevolence was extended into objects less intimately connected with the Church. Thus we find him a governor of the St Albans and District Hospital and Dispensary, and a liberal subscriber to is in enlargement fund; and quite recently he has manifested his view on the importance of combining definite religious teaching with secular education by contributing £500 to the fund for erection of a new High School for Girls in St Albans; particulars as to the plans for which appear elsewhere in this issue.
The gardens at Aldenham House were always a delight to those who were privileged to see them, the same thoroughness which marked all else his Lordship was connected with characterising them. They’re the student of horticulture and arboriculture may find a wealth of information. Produce from the ordering Gardens is a constantly figuring at the Royal horticultural societies and other shows with frequent success.
Blessed with the most retentive memory, possessing, indeed, a wonderful power of retaining accurate information and never forgetting anything he read, he was ever ready, with the greatest simplicity, to impart knowledge to those who thought it. Said one who know him well: “I never knew him failed to know anything I wanted to know. He could give information on almost any subject, always accurate and clear. His was a most extraordinary mind in that way.: His gentle, unpretentious disposition, which gained for him so wide an esteem, enabled him to impart information always with charming simplicity and without conveying the faintest idea that is funded knowledge was anything exceptional. In his nature, gentleness and kindness of disposition were combined with remarkable strength.
Lord Aldenham married, in 1845, Louisa Anne, daughter of Mr William Adams LLD, of Thorpe, Surrey, who predeceased him in 1897. He has surviving four sons and one daughter. His elder son, the Hon. Alban George Gibbs, who now succeeds to the title, was born on April 23, 1846. He is a partner in the firm of Anthony Gibbs and Sons, and was Member for the City of London from 1892 until 1906. In 1878 he married Briget, daughter of the late Right Hon. A.J. B. Beresford-Hope and Lady Mildred Hope (a sister of the late Lord Salisbury) who died in 1906. The other surviving sons are the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, who sat as Conservative Member for Mid Herts from 1892 to 1904, the Hon. Herbert Gibbs, and Canon the Hon. Kenneth F. Gibbs, Vicar of Aldenham and Rural Dean.
DEATH OF THE HON. HENRY LLOYD GIBBS.
By a coincidence, the sadness of which is unequalled in local history, the Hon. Henry Lloyd Gibbs, Lord Aldenham’s youngest son, passed away at his residence, Manor house, Elstree, within twenty-five hours of his distinguished father. He had been suffering from pneumonia, and had been seriously ill all of the week, but took a turn for the worse after his father’s death, of which, however, he never knew, and passed away at one o’clock on Saturday; thus plunging into deeper sorrow are family already weighed down by a heavy bereavement. The Hon. Henry Lloyd Gibbs, who was 46 years of age, was educated, like three of his brothers, at Christ Church, Oxford, and was a partner in the firm of Messrs. Antony Gibbs and Sons. He married, in 1887, Alice Mary, youngest daughter of the late General Charles Crutchley, of Sunninghill Park, Berks.
A DOUBLE FUNERAL
There was an air of profound sadness about the ceremony at Aldenham Parish Church on Wednesday afternoon, when father and son were laid to rest in a adjoining graves in the southern portion of the pretty churchyard, where hundreds of people from surrounding villages and towns gathered in the glorious sunlight of an ideal autumnal day in token of sympathy for a family trust into such severe bereavement. During the early days of the week the grave-diggers had been engaged in their mournful task of preparing the graves on the southern side of the church; that for Lord Aldenham being the same as that in which Lady Aldenham was interred 10 years ago, while that for the reception of the Hon. Henry Gibbs is situated at its head and next to the small cross which marks the resting place of this to baby daughters, Christian Louise and Sibella May who died, the former on August 27, 1899 and the latter on February 15th 1900.
All that was possible was done to render the resting places of these two good men beautiful. The mounds around the graves were covered with grass and studied with maidenhair ferns and other foliage plants, with an edging of the scarlet foliage of the Virginia creeper, a background being formed of tall palms and white lilies. The graves of themselves were lined with ivy, studded with such a choice white flowers as roses, lilies, tuberoses, stephanotis, carnations, etc. In the bottom of each was a cross worked in white dahlias upon a bed of moss. This floral work was executed by the gardeners at Aldenham House and the Vicarage.
The hour fixed for the burial was 2:45, and, sometime previously, the bell in the church tower commenced to toll as the sad processions were being formed. The body of the Hon. Henry Gibbs was borne in a glass hearse from the Manor House, Elstree, and joined the larger cortege, headed by another glass hearse containing the body of Lord Aldenham, at Aldenham House, and it passed slowly along the dusty roads to Aldenham Church, every possible manifestation of respect being made along the route.
A request has gone for that no flower should be sent, but there were a few which serve to relieve the sombreness of the spectacle. The coffins were both of oak with brass fittings, and upon that containing the remains of Lord Aldenham was the inscription -
HENRY HUCKS
Baron Aldenham
Born 31st August, 1819;
Died 13th September, 1907.
Covering the lid were a cross composed of liliums, white carnations, lilies-of-the-valley, and bougainville, with a foundation of white chrysanthemums, and a wreath from the employees on the estate, fashioned of white roses, eucharist lilies, lilies-of-the-valley, tuberoses, and stephanotis. The inscription on the Hon. Henry Gibbs’s coffin was -
HENRY LLOYD GIBBS,
Born 21st July, 1861,
Died 14th September, 1907
And upon it were placed a cross sent by the widow and a wreath from his children. Other wreaths sent, and placed upon the hearses, included those were the following inscriptions; “With much sympathy from the Rev. L and Mrs Vernon Royle, Stanmere Park”; “From Charlie and Sybil”; With sorrow and deep sympathy, Col. and Mrs Arthur Dalzell”; “With deepest sympathy, from the tradespeople of Boreham Wood”; “Lily Matthews”; and “With deepest sympathy, from the servants.”
Those who followed included the deceased peer’s elder son (Alban George Henry Gibbs) now Lord Aldenham, the Hon. Gerald Gibbs (grandson), and Mrs Gerald Gibbs, and the Hon. Catherine and Hon. Mildred Gibbs (granddaughters), the Hon. Edith Gibbs (daughter), the Hon. Vicary Gibbs (son), the Hon. Herbert Gibbs and Mrs Herbert Gibbs (son and daughter-in-law), Mr. Walter Gibbs and Miss Winifred Gibbs (grandchildren), Canon the Hon. Kenneth Gibbs and Mrs Gibbs (son and daughter-in-law), the Masters Alban and Leonard Gibbs (grandchildren). Those following as the immediate mourners for the Hon. Henry Gibbs where his widow, his sons Maurice and Ronald, and Mr Percy Crutchley, Col. Crutchley (brothers-in-law) and Miss Crutchley (sister-in-law).
The church was strictly reserved for the mourners, and as they were assembling the organist, Miss Boff, played as voluntaries, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” and “O, rest in the Lord.”. As the time for the arrival of the cortege approached, the clergy and surpliced choir made their way to the lych gate. The Rev. William Gibbs, Rector of Clyst St George, Devon, cousin of the late Lord Aldenham, officiated at the burial at which the Bishop of Barking attended as representing the Diocesan, and the other clergy present in robes included the Dean of St Albans (the Very Rev. W.J. Lawrence, D.D.), the Rev. A.H. Cooke (headmaster of Aldenham School), the Rev. H. Finch (curate of Aldenham), the Rev. A.P. Du Cane (Vicar of Radlett), and the Rev. H.S. Turner (former Vicar of Radlett and now resident in Aldenham).
Upon the arrival of the hearses at the lych gate, employees on the estate, who acted as bearers, transferred the coffins to two wheeled biers, and the Rev. W. Gibbs led the way into the church, reciting the opening sentences of the Burial Service. When the biers had arrived in the middle aisle, the congregation, led by the choir, sang the hymn, “On the Resurrection morning.” Psalm xc was charted to Barnaby in D. The lesson from I. Corinthians, xv., was read by the Dean of St Albans, and then, as the bodies were being removed to the churchyard through the south door, the hymn, “For all of the saints who from their labours rest,” was sung, followed by Chopin’s “Marche Funebre”. Meanwhile, the coffins were placed over their respective graves. At the close of the first collect they were in turn light into the earth, and the solemn service was proceeded with, the only variation made being that the prayer of committal was said separately at each grave, and in the final collect the words, “this is our brother,” were altered so to represent the plural – “these our brethren.” This most impressive and memorably sad service was concluded by the Benediction and grace, pronounced by the Bishop of Barking, and then the general body of mourners made way for the immediate relations, who thereupon withdrew, and the ringers in the tower simultaneously rang and muffled peal on the bells.
Among the general body of mourners were included Col. Waller (representing the Duchess of Albany), The Marquis of Salisbury, the Earl of Verulam, Sir Joseph Dimsdale (representing the City of London), Mr J.S. Gilliat, of Chorleywood, Mr Albert Sandeman, or Ware, and Mr Kenneth Grahame, secretary (representing the Bank of England), the Hon, A. Holland-Hibbert, the Rev. the Hon. T.F. Halsey, Mr. W.J. Halsey, the Warden of Keble College, Mr. Justice Phillimore, Mr. Justice Bargrave Deane, the Rev. Preb. Ingram (representing the English Church Union), Dr. J.R. Murray, the Rev. Dr. Finch (Kensigton), Mr. J.N. Hayley, Col. Jervoise, the Revs. H. Burchell Herne (Bushey), Reginald James (Watford), F. Lipscombe (Frogmore), W.D.W.Dudley (St. Stephen’s, St. Albans), Mr. B. Mauran, Mr. G. Korn, Mr. F.S. Lowe, Mr. F.L. Gibbs, Mr. J. Gibbs, Mr. Alfred Bright, and Mr T.H. Anthony (representing the City office of Messres. Antony Gibbs and Sons), Mr. E. Camacho (representing the Mexican Financial Angency), Mr. Philpi Johnson (representing Mr. Cyril Bond, of Ongar), Mr. J.S. Follett, Mr. T.A. Keating, Mr. Harold Nuttall (Kensington), Mr. Gordon Fraser, Mr. G.S. Pawle, Mr. Thos. Inkersole (representing the Conservative Party in the City of London), Col. R.B. Fellows, C.B., Mr. E.N. Wiz, Mr. W.J. hardy, Mr. M.R.Pryor, Mrs. J.S. Gilliat, Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. C.E. Barnett, Mr. C.T. Part, Mr. H.J. Toulmin, Mr. Walter Barnett, Mr. Harry Barnett, and Mr. Ralph Barnett, Mr. S. Taprell Holland, Mrs. Barstow, Mrs. Rickards, Mr. Kekewich, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Williams, Mr. E.N. Kent, Mr. G. Kindersley, Mr. F.W.Silvester (representing the Church Schools Emergency League and the St. Albans Branch of the Church Defence Committee), Mts. Lawrence, Mrs. Du Cane, Mr. H.D. Anderson, Mr. G.L. Dashwood, Miss Dashwood, Mr. Speyer, Mr. W. Climance (representing the Church-wardens of St Albans Cathedral), Mr. E.P. Debenham (representing St. Peter’s parish, St. Albans, and also representing , as president, the Herts Society of Change Ringers, of which Lord Aldenham was a life member), Mr. H. Morten Turner, Mr. E.H.L. Hadfield, Mr. J. Burrell, Mr. G.M. Burnett, Mr. E. Beckett, and Mr.C. Beckett. As representing the tenant farmers on the estate were Mssrs. R. Hodges, G. Kinch, B. Still, A. Bennett, W. Surridge, H. Hunt, R. Johnstone, F. Taylor, E. Jones, A. Williams, E. Swan, and G. Burrell. Boys and girls from the London Orphan Asylum were also included among the mourners occupying Seats in the church.
Memorial services were held at the Parish Churches of Elstree and Clifton Hampden, Oxon, simultaneously with the burial.
REFERENCE BY THE DEAN.
The congregation assembled at the cathedral for morning prayer on Sunday stood in silence as the choir and clergy proceeded from the vestries to their stalls, and remained standing while Mr. Luttman played the “Dead March” in Saul. The Earl of Verulam, and the Hon. F.W. and Mrs Anson were among those who attended the service, during which the hymn, “Let Saints of earth in concert sing with those whose work is done,” was sung; and a special reference was made to the late Lord Aldenham in the prayer for “the whole estate of Christ’s Church” in the Communion Service.
The Dean was the preacher, and chose as his text Matthew v., 20, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”. He contrasted the traditional and ceremonial religion of the Scribes and Pharisees with the true inner motive which exhibits the man, and said an exceptional emphasis having given to such thoughts as these by the recent loss through the death of Lord Aldenham, which this neighbourhood, this diocese, and the Church at large had sustained. “He was, as we know,” said the Dean, “a very generous benefactor to St. Albans and a very true Christian gentleman, for if anyone could be said to have set an admirable example of a possibility and a blessing of combining outward observance with the inward life, a delight which is accentuated by his learning in all the beauties of liturgical Worship and absolute unswerving loyalty to the Church of his fathers, together with the strictest and the most conscientious performance of his duties as a Christian man, it was the friend and neighbour who is just passed away in the fullness of his years. His great interest in this place and all connected with it is well-known. In all that could strengthen the position and dignity or add to the beauty of the Cathedral he was foremost. It was mainly through his exertions that the movement amongst the leading laymen of Herts and Essex was set on foot which resulted in giving its proper status to the Cathedral by the foundation of the Deanery. He strove, we recollect, though unsuccessfully, with our other great benefactor, Lord Grimthorpe, for the honour of restoring the Lady Chapel – two very wealthy men rivalling each other as to which could be the person to spend the most money on the House of God. He was unsuccessful in that. Meanwhile, he devoted large sums of money to the restoration of the high altar screen, which now stands a thing of glory and of beauty unsurpassed if not unequalled in this or any other country, further in enriching its surroundings by beautiful oak rails and other fittings, his tasteful and cultivated intelligence showing itself in a careful investigation of every detail in every sculpture - as I will know - nothing being allowed to pass without his approval. At this moment we are awaiting the realisation of one his greatest wishes, which he not been spared to see accomplished, in the dividing and reconstruction of our great organ; a costly scheme of which he bore the whole expense. Through his munificence again, the purchase of that which is known as the Abbey Orchard Meadow and its retention as an open space was rendered possible, as he was by far the largest subscriber to the fund raised locally for that purpose; and one of his latest gifts, as one keenly interested in Church education, has been a large donation towards the building of a new High School for Girls. His keen interest in diocesan matters made him undertake the office of chief secretary of our Diocesan Conference, and this post he held to the last. We in this diocese are indeed losers by his death; but so also is the whole Church of England. He was a trusted counsellor in her greatest organisations. His public life was but a reflex of his private life, for those who knew him, either as a personal friend, or who met him in public business found in him a man whose character was absolutely free from any littleness; a disposition amiable without weakness, with a true gentleness of feeling that came from the inner springs of a nature which had learned the secret of tranquillity from the faithful service of his God. No one has a greater multitude of friends then he; none deserves them more. The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. That was the way he trod; and it led him by a sure and certain path to the joy of his Lord.”
A TRIBUTE FROM ESSEX
The Rev. Ernest J.A. Fitz Roy, preaching in the Parish Church of Great Yeldham, Essex, on Sunday morning, referred to the great loss the whole diocese of St Albans had sustained by the death of laudanum. A great financier, no main contractor, a man of many interests and constant occupations, he found time to service God as well as this his day and generation. How he had beautified and adored the Cathedral Church was known and read of all men. But how are you later had a helping hand, without publicity, was she hated, every leaving church society, too many parishes, I do numerous of individuals, if you realised. What is example stimulate others to look beyond the confines of their own parish I know the larger field of the diocese and the church is large and realising that the church, was later day parade might be closed and defended, required at a great crisis in history, the devoted work and loyal all her sons and daughters, Rich and poor alike, each in their own sphere muscular best to lengthen her cords and strengthen her status.
ALDENHAM HOUSE
Upon its name of “Wigbournes,” Aldenham House passed early in the seventeenth century to the family of Coghill, and on the death of Thomas Coghill in 1738, passed to his niece, Sarah Hucks, who had already inherited Penns Place. Robert Hucks, her son, made sundry alterations to the house, which after his death in 1814, remained unoccupied for many years, and was allowed to fall into a dilapidated condition. In 1846, Mrs. Gibbs, the mother of Lord Aldenham, took up her residence there, but after her death the house again remained unoccupied for many years. About 1870, however, Lord Aldenham, coming into possession, thoroughly restored the old building, making many improvements, but in no way altering its character. Lord Aldenham’s town house, St. Dunstan’s, in Regent’s Park was a famous dwelling. It is the best of those “villas” that were built between the inner and outer circle when the park was laid out. The famous Marquis of Hertford secured it, and it was the scene of magnificent entertainments. The name of St. Dunstan’s was derived from the bell of St. Dunstan’s Church, in Fleet-street, which, when the church was pulled down in 1830, Lord Hertford bought. On this bell two life-sized savage figures struck the hour. Lord Aldenham bought the house in 1856. Among his many reminiscences Lord Aldenham could recall these figures, while they were still an object of popular wonderment in Fleet-street.
A NEW YEAR HONOUR.
It was a matter for general satisfaction when, upon the publication of the New Year honours in 1896, it became known that her late Majesty Queen Victoria had selected Mr. Henry Hucks Gibbs for elevation to the peerage, the announcement appearing simultaneously with that which set forth the appointment of the Dean of St. Albans (then bearing the title of Archdeacon) as one of her Majesty’s honorary chaplains. Mr. Henry Hucks Gibbs thereupon became first Baron Aldenham.
In the evening the Rev. A. Chaplin made a feeling allusion to the loss sustained by the death of Lord Aldenham, and the choir sang the anthem “The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God.”