Navigating Bounds of Loyalty- 18th Century Men of Twickenham in an Age of Political, Religious and Dynastic Instability

About the talk

On 13 November 1715, two commanders, former Twickenham neighbours, faced each other across the remote elevated plateau of heathland at Sheriffmuir. The outcome of the Battle of Sheriffmuir would decide nothing less than the crown of Great Britain. Would it guarantee the stability of the newly arrived Hanoverian monarchy, or return the crown to the deposed Stuarts, its court at the time in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye?

Nervously waiting for news of the outcome of the battle was the Scottish architect James Gibbs (1682-1754). For Gibbs, this was a no-win situation as both John Erskine, Earl of Mar (1675-1732) and John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (1680-1743), were two of his most important patrons.  But James Gibbs was no stranger to the injustices suffered from politics and religious intolerance. Brought up in Aberdeen in the Catholic faith, Gibbs journeyed to Italy to train to become a Catholic priest. However, mistreated by Italian Jesuits, he left and became an architect, training under the Baroque master Carlo Fontana (1638-1714). Gibbs returned to England as the first architect designing in the classical style to have received his training in Rome.

In Twickenham, Gibbs designed several buildings, including a refacing of fellow Catholic Alexander Pope’s villa at Cross Deep and garden fabriques for Archibald Campbell (1682-1761) at Whitton Park. Gibbs also designed the Baroque Octagon Room for James Johnston near the river Thames next to Henrietta Howard’s estate at what would become Marble Hill House.

James Johnston (1672-1746) was also used to a life of treason and double dealing. His father had been executed on orders from King Charles II in 1667 for his part in the murder of King Charles I. Living his early life in exile in Holland, Johnston was involved in the secret negotiations to bring William of Orange and his wife, Mary, to England, an action which resulted in the deposition of King James II in the so-called ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688- an event which saw the first successful invasion of England since William of Normandy in 1066. Johnston was only too happy to welcome the Hanoverians in 1714 and his Octagon at Twickenham (designed by Gibbs), was to become a shrine to the newly established Hanoverian dynasty.

This talk will look at all these aspects of betrayal, conspiracy and double-dealing and place them in a framework of self-preservation at a time when religion, politics and dynastic loyalties were fluid and when backing the losing side could lead to self-ruin, destitution, incarceration, exile or even execution at the end of a rope or the blade of an axe.

About the speaker

Ricky Pound is an experienced Visitor Operations Manager of historic properties in west London. Between 1998 and 2014 he was the Site Manager for English Heritage of Lord Burlington’s Neo-Classical villa at Chiswick and between 2011 and 2014 he managed Marble Hill House with its 66-acre park. He has worked at Orleans House Gallery where he researched the historic interiors of the Octagon room and curated a show on the Swiss pastellist Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-89) together with a major exhibition focused on the Georgian garden designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown as part of a series of national tricentennial celebrations of his birth in 1716. Between 2018 and 2021 Ricky was House Director of the artist Joseph Mallord William Turner’s suburban villa in Twickenham. Shortly after joining he organised its first ever exhibition of original Turner oil paintings which was officially opened by Sir David Attenborough at Ricky’s invitation. In November 2022 Ricky joined The Twickenham Museum as House Manager. Ricky is also an original trustee of the London Luminaries.

Ricky has a particular interest in symbolism in the art and architecture of historic houses and in Jacobite and Masonic material culture.