History of Dunham Massey

Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington (1652–94) 

Like his father, Henry immersed himself in the turbulent politics of late seventeenth-century England. He was determined to prevent the Catholic James II, Charles II’s brother and heir from inheriting the throne, and he outwardly supported the claim of Charles’s illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth. Henry was implicated in a plot to assassinate James II, and like his father, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for treason. He defended his case and was released. When William III and Mary II took the throne in 1689, Henry served as their Chancellor of the Exchequer, but his brusque and undiplomatic manner meant he fell out of favour and was sacked. He was given the title Earl of Warrington and promised a pension he never received. When he died at the age of 45, he was on the verge of bankruptcy.

An advantageous marriage 

When George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington (1675–1758) inherited in 1694, he knew that the political meddling of his father and grandfather had decimated the family coffers. George concentrated his efforts on restoring Dunham Massey’s fortunes. He decided to make ‘money… the chief view in marriage’ and in 1702 he married Mary Oldbury (1684–1740) heiress to a mercantile fortune. The pair were deeply unsuited and unhappy.  

Little is known about Mary’s life. Her father, John Oldbury (1635–1701) was immersed in a global trade connected to both the East India and Royal Africa Companies, making the most of expanding colonial networks. His early wealth came from trading goods, largely around the Mediterranean, whilst later in his career he secured his fortune insuring ships that trafficked enslaved people from Africa to the Americas.  

George used his wife’s inheritance to improve Dunham Massey. He commissioned the architect John Norris to rebuild the house in three phases, starting with the stable block in 1721. Next, he planted the parkland with avenues of trees. Finally, in around 1750, he encircled the park with a protective brick wall. George marked this moment by commissioning John Harris to paint a series of bird’s-eye views of Dunham Massey; these paintings now hang in the Great Hall. He also assembled one of the finest silver collections in the care of the National Trust. Largely made by Huguenot silversmiths, the pieces include silver for lighting, for cooking and dining, for preparing tea and coffee, a silver gilt service for the Chapel and silver for the chamber, or bedroom.

Lady Mary, Countess of Stamford (1704–72) 

On his death, George left Dunham Massey in the care of his only child, Mary, for the benefit of her eldest son, George Harry Grey (1737–1819). Mary had married her cousin, Harry Grey, 4th Earl of Stamford (1715–68), a union that connected the Grey estates of Enville, Staffordshire and Bradgate Park, Leicestershire to the Booth estates in Cheshire and Lancashire.  Mary took her role as guardian of Dunham Massey seriously. She provided and oversaw a school in the village and negotiated the route of the Bridgewater Canal through the estate, ensuring it benefitted her and her tenants. Dunham Massey Hall and the Old Park were largely unaltered, but she did turn her attention to the New Park, now a golf course, which was laid out in the manner of Capability Brown. 

Mary’s influence ensured that Dunham Massey enjoyed a period of stability for the next 100 years.  

Ruinous romances   

In 1845, at the age of 18, George Harry Grey (1827–83) became 7th Earl of Stamford and Warrington and inherited enormous wealth. Three years later, he married Elizabeth Billage (d.1854). His family did not approve and attempted to prevent the marriage by offering Elizabeth’s family £500. They failed and the couple married in 1848, moving between their estates and a home in Brighton. In 1854, Elizabeth died of tuberculosis.  

One year later, in 1855, George Harry married for a second time to Catherine Cocks (1826–1905). In 1856, after an unwelcoming reception by the residents of the town, the couple left Dunham Massey, taking with them many of the best paintings and the 2nd Earl’s silver. They spent lavishly on Enville and built a new house at Bradgate Park, where they entertained the Prince of Wales in 1882. Meanwhile, Dunham Massey was rented to ‘new money’ engineers made wealthy through Manchester’s textile industry.

Earls across the globe 

In 1883, George Harry, the 7th Earl of Stamford and Warrington died, ending over 300 years of the Booth line at Dunham Massey, as well as the claim to the Warrington title. George Harry had left his estates in trust to his wife Catherine, the Countess of Stamford and Warrington for her lifetime. The title went to his cousin, Reverend Harry Grey, 8th Earl of Stamford (1812–90). 

Harry lived in South Africa, then known as the Cape Colony. In 1880, he married Martha Solomon (d. 1916). A native of Cape Colony, now South Africa, her mother had been enslaved in the Cape until the emancipation there (1834–8). Martha and Harry had two children; their eldest, John Grey, was born in 1877, before they married. In 1887, Harry wrote to his nephew, the future 9th Earl, of his experience of being in an interracial marriage in Cape Town: ‘Out here I am pointed at with the finger of scorn and contempt. And I may say ditto with regard to England and not one of my family with your exception now sees fit to notice me.’ The couple had no claim to Dunham Massey, entrusted as it was to Catherine, Dowager Countess, nor did they travel to England following their ennoblement. Harry’s death in 1895 brought a contest to the title and racist reporting in the British Press.

Harry’s heir was his nephew William Grey (1850–1910), who was born in Newfoundland. Educated in England, William was teaching in Barbados when he discovered he was heir apparent in 1883. He returned to England to establish himself, where he met and worked with National Trust founder Octavia Hill on public health issues.

The 20th century

William married Elizabeth Lousia Penelope Theobald (1865–1959) in 1895. A year later their son, Roger, Lord Grey of Groby (1896–1976) was born, followed by Lady Jane in 1899. William modernised Dunham Massey for his young family, installing electricity, central heating and the telephone.  

When William died in 1910, his young son, Roger became 10th Earl of Stamford. When war broke out in 1914, Roger, who had suffered from childhood illness, wasn’t deemed ‘fit to fight’. Dunham Massey was transformed into the Stamford Military Hospital where 282 soldiers convalesced in the hall and grounds.  

After the war, Roger supported many causes, particularly the creation and protection of public green spaces. A supporter of the League of Nations, he invited Haile Selassie, the exiled Emperor of Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea), to stay at Dunham Massey. Their friendship lasted the rest of their lives.   

Aware that he was the last of his line, Roger worked to restore collections taken from Dunham Massey by the 7th Earl. On his death in 1976, Roger left Dunham Massey to the nation in the care of the National Trust.

Dunham Massey in the care of the National Trust 

Since then, the National Trust has continued Roger’s work, acquiring key silver pieces and portraits such as Vere Egerton, attributed to Sir Robert Peake (c.1619). Major conservation work to buildings and collections have seen the re-roofing of the Hall, completed 2007, and the restoration of a 1680s crimson velvet state bed. In 2014 the Hall recreated the Stamford Military Hospital, telling the story of Dunham Massey’s role in the First World War.  

Outdoors, the garden has year-round interest, with the Winter Garden and Rose Garden added in 2010 and 2012. The Deer Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its rare and large populations of dead-wood beetles. 

Further reading

• Booth, Henry, first earl of Warrington (1652–1694), politician | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (oxforddnb.com) 
• For more on John Oldbury’s business affairs, see the London Archives:  CLC/B/227: Oldbury Out Letter Books.
• For more information on Martha’s life see  Van der Ross, R.E. The Black Countess.  Ampersand Press, Newlands, South Africa. 2008. And Martha Solomons: The slave’s daughter and Countess of Stamford who made my life possible – Media Diversified 
• For a deeper dive into the working history of the Hall and estate, see Sambrook, P A Country House at Work National Trust 2003.