Stourhead was created in the 18th century by the banking family of Hoare.

Sir Richard Hoare (1648-1718)

Sir Richard Hoare was the son of a successful horse dealer, and apprentice in a goldsmith firm. By 1672, he was in business on his own, and in 1673 he took over his master’s firm. Its income was used to found Hoare’s Bank, which has flourished ever since.

Sir Richard represented the City of London in Parliament for four years from 1709. In 1712, he became Lord Mayor and, in the same year, one of the original directors of the South Sea Company. He fathered 11 sons, of which two became partners in the bank. One was his second child, Henry.

Henry Hoare I (1677-1725) the ‘Good’

In 1717, Henry Hoare I bought the old Stourton family estate and manor house.

Stourton Manor was demolished to make way for Henry’s new home, one of the first country houses to be built in the new Palladian style. He named it ‘Stourhead’.

Henry died in 1725 when the House was just completed. His widow, Jane Benson, lived there until her death in 1741.

Henry Hoare II (1705-85) ‘The Magnificent’

Henry Hoare II was only 19 when he inherited the family banking business. Two years later, he married Ann, the daughter of Lord Masham.

Ann died in childbirth, but one year later Henry married the heiress Susanna Colt.

Apparently in early manhood Henry led a 'gay and dissolute style of life'. He was both a good horseman and a good shot.

Henry moved to Stourhead after his mother's death in 1741. Two years later, by the age of 38, he had lost his second wife, leaving him with three children. Henry did not marry again, and turned his attention to creating the landscape garden, a project which he immersed himself in for the rest of his life.

Now the other side of Henry's character, his taste for the arts, found the perfect focus. As well as the garden and its temples, he commissioned paintings and sculpture for the House.

Though hale in old age, Henry grew increasingly pessimistic. Prompted by the London riots of 1780, and determined that in the case of a disaster the bank’s creditors would not lay hands on Stourhead, he gave the estate to his grandson, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, on condition that he gave up all connections with the bank.

Henry retired to his house in London, overlooking Clapham Common, where he died in September 1785, having outlived all his children.

Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2nd Baronet (1758-1838)

Sir Richard Colt Hoare was the son of Sir Richard Hoare (son of Henry Hoare II's only brother), 1st Baronet, and Anne, daughter of Henry Hoare II.

As Henry Hoare II's favourite grandchild, Sir Richard had frequently visited Stourhead as a child. He had seen the building of the Temple of Apollo, the arrival of the Bristol Cross and the rise of Alfred's Tower.

In 1783, Sir Richard married Hester Lyttelton of Hagley, and came to live at Stourhead. Hester died in 1785 after a second pregnancy, and Richard was so distressed that he left to travel Europe. Except briefly, he did not return for six years.

Where Henry Hoare II had imposed a classical vision on the countryside; Sir Richard sought to possess the past by painstakingly recording it. A notable scholar and historian, he had the Library built to house his outstanding collection of topographical books and printed records.

Sir Richard also added the Picture Gallery to the House, and introduced many new plants to the garden, including the Pelargonium collection.

He died on 19 May 1838, outliving his only son, Henry, by two years.

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Sir Henry Hugh Hoare, 3rd Baronet (1762-1841)

Sir Richard Colt Hoare left the estate to his half-brother, Sir Henry Hugh Hoare, a partner in the bank.

Sir Henry came to Stourhead with his wife Maria Acland, where he lived for the last three years of his life. During this time he added a portico to the House and rebuilt the Obelisk.

He died in 1841, leaving Stourhead to his son, Sir Hugh Richard Hoare. Except in the case of Henry Hoare II, this was the only occasion on which Stourhead descended from father to son.

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Sir Hugh Richard Hoare, 4th Baronet (1787-1857)

Sir Hugh Richard Hoare was 54, and had been a partner in the family bank for 12 years, when he inherited the estate.

In 1845, he retired with his wife Anne Tyrwhitt Drake to Stourhead. Sir Hugh received a substantial annual allowance of £5,200, increasing to £8,000, from the family bank. This enabled him to spend lavishly on the Stourhead estate and its farm buildings.

Sir Hugh died in 1857. He left the estate to his nephew, Henry Ainslie Hoare.

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Sir Henry Ainslie Hoare, 5th Baronet (1824-94)

Sir Henry Ainslie Hoare was educated at Eton and Cambridge before entering the family bank. Henry married Augusta Clayton East at the age of 21 and moved to Stourhead 12 years later. A man with a restless temperament, he developed expensive tastes such as hunting and gambling on the races.

During the agricultural depression, Sir Henry’s insufficient wealth forced him to sell many of the Stourhead’s treasures at auction in 1883. Items sold included paintings, furniture and Sir Richard Colt Hoare’s unique collection of books on British history. Among the greatest losses was a series of watercolour paintings by Turner.

In 1885, Sir Henry left Stourhead. His wife followed two days later, noting afterwards in her journal: 'How little I thought I was leaving my beloved home forever'.

With no tenant for the House forthcoming, Stourhead was shut up.

Sir Henry spent much of his time in France, and whilst there he fell ill. He returned to England but died shortly after, leaving the estate to his cousin, Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare.

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Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare, 6th Baronet (1865-1947)

© NTPL / Charlie Waite

Sir Henry Hugh Arthur Hoare moved to Stourhead with his wife Alda when he inherited the estate in 1894. Thus began the longest continuous occupation in Stourhead's history.

The couple were dealt many hardships, including having to restore the House after a disastrous fire in 1902 and guiding the estate through both World Wars.

However, they never recovered from their greatest tragedy: the death of their only son. Henry Colt Arthur Hoare had volunteered for the army during World War I. He was wounded and died aged 29 in Egypt, where he was buried, in 1917.

In 1946, Sir Henry gave Stourhead to the National Trust. Henry died just one year later, followed six hours later by his devoted Alda.