Henry Thomas Hope

Henry Thomas Hope (30 April 1808 in London – 4 December 1862 at 116 Piccadilly, London) was a British MP and patron of the arts.

Biography

He was the eldest of Thomas Hope (1769–1831) and Louisa de la Poer Beresford's three sons, but was estranged from his brothers (including Alexander James Beresford Hope) when he inherited their father's art collections, wealth and property along with those of their uncle Henry Phillip Hope (died 1839).

He entered a political career after an education at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge (1825–29).^[1] He was briefly a Groom of the Bedchamber to Kings George IV and William IV between March and November 1830.^[2]

He also founded the Art Union of London and the Royal Botanic Society, as well as serving as vice-president of the Society of Arts and president of the Surrey Archaeological Society. Displaying his old masters collection to the public at his London house on Duchess Street, a mansion at 116 Piccadilly and at Deepdene, Surrey, he was also a patron to idealists such as Young England and the Spanish Carlists and helped organise the 1851 Great Exhibition. He also bought and restored the Castleblayney estate in County Monaghan. He chaired the Eastern Steam Navigation Company for Isambard Kingdom Brunel from 1851 to 1858 and, with Henry having been the Great Eastern's chief fundraiser, it was his daughter Henrietta who named it 1857.

In 1853, he purchased Blayney Castle in Castleblayney, County Monaghan, Ireland, from The 12th Baron Blayney. He renamed the country house as Hope Castle.

Constituencies

• East Looe, a rotten borough (1829–32)
• Gloucester, stood unsuccessfully in December 1832
• Marylebone, stood unsuccessfully in March 1833
• Gloucester, 1833–52

Marriage and issue

In 1851 he married Anne Adele Bichat, having already had a daughter named Henrietta with her in 1843. The marriage legitimated Henrietta, who in 1861 married Lord Lincoln (later sixth Duke of Newcastle).

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Thomas Hope
• "Hope, Henry Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/42186.  (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)