The Heathcotes of Conington Castle (originally Connington) were descended from an eminent family literally steeped in, as well as being an integral part of, the early history of England. Originally thought to be called Hetcota or Hedcota in the times of Canute, the family slowly settled various areas of England with the name filtering down through the ages as Heathcote. One branch came to Conington Castle in the village of the same name in Huntingdonshire, near Peterborough and Cambridge, in the mid-1700's.

There are traces of an ancient castle at Conington which was the seat of Turkill the Dane until his banishment by Edward the Confessor. The property was then given by the King to Waltheof (son of the Earl of Northumberland) who married Judith, the daughter of a sister of William the Conqueror. Unfortunately, Waltheof was involved in some sort of conspiracy and William proceeded to have him executed, sending the property to Simon de St. Liz (Senlis). Maud de Senlis married David Earl who ascended the Throne of Scotland, thus for a time, Conington became the property of David I, King of Scotland. Through a female line, Conington came to Robert Brus, then to his younger son and was then inherited by Sir Robert Cotton (1570-1631), the antiquary, compiler of the Cottonian Manuscripts and intimate friend of Camden. Cotton built a large mansion, removing from Fotheringay Castle the room in which Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded. The colonnade was also removed to Conington from Fotheringay which today is only a mound and a few stones. But by 1724, Conington Castle was in ruins and most of the house had been taken down and removed to the new Cotton seat of Stratton in Bedfordshire by Sir John Cotton, the great-grandson of the antiquary. As Dr. Stukeley said "I was concerned to see a stately old house, of hewn stone, large and handsome in dismal ruins. The deserted lares and the genius of the place had fled."!! It is interesting to note that Sir Robert Cotton is buried in Conington Church.

Sir John Heathcote (1689-1759), son of Sir Gilbert Heathcote (1652-1733) one of the founders of the Bank of England and Lord Mayor of London, purchased Conington from the Cotton Estate for £2500 in 1753. Gilbert Heathcote had been knighted by Queen Anne and created a Baronet in 1733, just 8 days before his death. He was also immensely wealthy as you can gather! Sir John and his wife Bridget White, daughter of Thomas White, commenced draining and improving the estate with the assistance of J. Burcham of Connisby. The estate then passed to another John (circa 1730-1795), Sir John's second son, who married Lydia (d 1822), the daughter of Benjamin Moyer in 1764. It was this couple that commissioned Thomas Gainsborough to paint a magnificent portrait of their son at 4-5 years old in 1771-2. This now hangs in The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC and had remained in the Heathcote family until 1913. As the usable ruins of Conington Castle had been converted to a farmhouse, it was this next John Heathcote (1767-1838) and his wife Mary Anne (d 1854), daughter of George Thornhill, Esq., who would be responsible for completing the improvements and restoration begun by Sir John several generations before. The castle was completely rebuilt to designs by Mr. Cockerell so that by 1800, a year after their marriage, it was fully habitable. With the birth of their son, John Moyer, in the same year of completion, the serious artistic endeavours of the Heathcote family began.

John Moyer Heathcote (1800-1892) was the first of his line to be born in the new and improved Conington Castle. As his grandfather was a Fellow of the Royal Society and his father went to Queen's College Cambridge and was later the MP and Sheriff for the area, the family was certainly scientific-minded and well-educated!! John Moyer Heathcote went to Eton and then graduated from St. John's College, Cambridge in 1822. He married the Honourable Emily Frances (1811-1849), daughter of the 3rd Lord Colborne in 1833. John Moyer then came into his father's estates in 1838, and started a career of public service as well as a series of gentlemanly pursuits. It is not known when he began his interest in painting in watercolours, but he is often described as one of the most capable students of Peter de Wint (1784-1849). De Wint was one of the more important and influential watercolourists of the time in an era of highly important painters. He was not only an instructor, but also a family friend of the Heathcotes of Conington Castle and stayed there on several occasions also teaching the younger members of the family in watercolour painting. This included Charles Gilbert Heathcote who was given his first sketchbook on the occasion of his fifth birthday in 1846! John Moyer Heathcote also cultivated the friendships of other Royal Academy artists including David Cox O.W.S. (1783-1859), George Fripp R.W.S. (1813-1896), and E.W. Cooke R.A., F.R.S. (1811-1880) all of whom were visitors at the Castle with the exception of David Cox, who corresponded, but was never able to be a guest. Cox remarked in a letter to Heathcote, "....that he would rather sketch in the fens than in the Highlands of Scotland."!!

John Moyer found time during his lengthy life to be Deputy Lieutenant, Justice of the Peace and Magistrate for Huntingdonshire. He twice contested Huntingdonshire for Parliament running unsuccessfully as a Liberal. However, he was elected in 1857 against Edward Fellowes only to be unseated after a "scrutiny" or recount. He wrote and illustrated a comprehensive publication entitled "Reminiscences of Fen and Mere" in 1876. This valuable little book provided a number of insights and personal anecdotes of life in the Fens prior to the extensive draining which took place in the mid-1800's. Before the drainage, the area was inundated with seasonal and tidal floods. George Thornhill MP (his grandfather-in-law) told a story that he once got into a gun boat from the windows of the dining room at Conington Castle and paddled off to shoot coots on the Conington Fen. Another tale about the estate was that the ground was so soft at times that the plough horses had boards attached to their shoes by straps!! In 1844 Heathcote went with a deputation to meet with Lord Monteagle regarding the Middle Level Bill in the House of Lords which was to finally complete the drainage requirements of the area and put an end to the floods. This was ardently supported by Heathcote on behalf of Sir John Rennie, the architect of the draining plans, Lord Fitzwilliam, and Mr. Tycho Wing. But not everyone was excited about this. Whittlesea Mere was to be a casualty of the draining so the days of catching a 52 pound pike in the Mere were drawing to a close. And Heathcote himself talks of the excitement of meeting up with the Reverend Eastwick at Conington at 7:00 in the morning on a Winter's day and then skating all the way to Ely Cathedral and back, arriving at Conington 12 hours later!!

Aside from his civic duties, John Moyer cultivated interests in Field Sports, Skating (naturally!) and the Fine Arts, including Photography. A number of photographic negatives exist documenting windmills and scenes on the fens dating back to 1852, so he was definitely experimenting with new artistic mediums. However, his first love continued to be the life of an indefatigable watercolour artist, sketching nearly every day up to the day of his death in 1892! He journeyed as far East as the Holy Land and Egypt and as far West as Canada and (possibly) Yosemite in California, most of the time accompanied by his son, Charles. He was friends with Professor Adam Sedgwick with whom he corresponded frequently on Archaeological and Natural History matters in the area and the Reverend Thomas Rooper with whom he went on many outings. Cuthbert Bede, the pen name of Edward Bradley (1827-1889), Curate of Glatton, was a regular visitor to Conington Castle in his rambles about the country collecting tales and folklore for his popular publications. John Moyer was very interested in the local fauna and flora as was his friend, the artist E.W. Cooke, who lamented the draining of the area and the potential loss of plants. He also went to Ireland on several occasions to compare the peat bogs there with those in East Anglia and his specialist in peat on the Emerald Isle was Mr. Burgess of Parkanaur, Dungannon, County Tyrone.

Everywhere he went, he painted in watercolours, out of doors and on the spot. The importance of this he must have instilled in his son, Charles Gilbert Heathcote (1841-1913). The artist and travel writer, Augustus John Cuthbert Hare (1834-1903), in his publication "The Story of My Life" offers a wonderfully picturesque paragraph on John Moyer Heathcote in 1876...."September 24, I came here yesterday to old Mr. Heathcote's. It is a low-lying place in the Fens, close to what was once Whitlesea Mere, but is now drained, only patches of trees and marshy ground remaining here and there. The house is near the site of an old castle, but its only claim to be called a castle itself arises from its having been partly built out of the ruins of Fotheringhay, from which a row of arches remain. To ordinary eyes the country is frightful, but Mr. Heathcote, as an artist, sees much beauty - which really does exist - in the long unbroken lines where the mere once was, and the faint blue shadows in the short distances. And he has preserved very interesting memorials of all that the district has been, within his memory, in an immense series of sketches of the mere in Summer, and in Winter, when covered with people skating; and of the mere life - its fisheries, wild birds, and its curious draining mills, now all of the past.". Some of Heathcote's works, particularly those of important Grand Tour locations such as Heidelberg or Lake Thun, are remarkable works done in a large format with great presence in the tradition of the best of British watercolour painting of the time. Sometimes he would dash off a number of sketches of the same scene with several variations so that each view is slightly different either from the perspective or time of day. His known output is certainly not large, despite the references by Hare to "an immense series of sketches", with only around 50 works or so coming to light publicly over the past 5 years and less that half of those being fully completed paintings and not sketchbook pieces. Quite probably there are portfolios of his works still being held by branches of the family or languishing in public archives awaiting discovery. Nevertheless, he was a man of great achievement who valued his friendships earnestly and who was passionate about painting in watercolours. Qualities he also passed on to his son, Charles. John Moyer Heathcote and his wife, Emily Frances, who tragically died in childbirth at the age of 38 in 1849, had several children including John Moyer Heathcote (1834-1912) who married Louisa Cecilia the last daughter of the MacLeod Clan of Dunvegan Castle. He was also an artist, but was particularly known for being the Tennis Amateur Singles winner in 1888, 17 times the winner of the MCC Gold & Silver Racquet Cup, and such an authority on the rules of both Real and Lawn Tennis that he authored the Tennis volume in the Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes with the assistance of his younger brother, Charles. Other children were William (b 1836), Mary Emily (b 1839), and Henry Francis (b 1849).

This is a watercolour portrait of John Moyer Heathcote by Richard Dighton (1795-1880), probably done circa 1850-1860.
Dighton painted very much in the "Vanity Fair" type of caricature style as you can tell!!

Charles Gilbert Heathcote (1841-1913) was born into this heavily influential environment at Conington Castle and was destined to lead a life very similar to his father's, but with a brighter and more confident palette. The third son of John Moyer Heathcote, Charles was educated at Trinity College Cambridge. In 1862, he completed the First Class Classical Tripos (Honours), reading in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He then became a Fellow of Emmanuel College as well as a Tutor. Judging from the dates on his watercolours, he was already travelling with his father abroad as early as 1859 painting Egypt and other Middle Eastern scenes. Following in the public service footsteps of his father, Charles was Stipendiary Magistrate of Brighton and Chairman of the Board of the Municipal Science and Art Schools of Brighton. Both father and son exhibited their works at the Peterborough School of Science and Art from 1874 to 1887, but in keeping with the usual behaviour of the landed gentry, neither one ever sold their watercolours.

To cite a finding that has just been made, Charles was a very active member of the famous Alpine Club of Covent Garden who are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year as the first of the Mountaineering Clubs throughout the world. In honour of this anniversary, 1857-2007, the Club has published a book on the paintings created by it's members, "The Artists of the Alpine Club", but there is not one work by Charles Gilbert Heathcote in the collection as no one knew that he painted watercolours of his trips to the French, Italian and Swiss Alps!! I have corrected this error in a small way as I have made a private sale of some of the Alpine watercolours by Charles Gilbert Heathcote to two members of the Alpine Club who, as I understand, are going to benefit the Club by the donation of these fine watercolours!!

In 1869, he married the Honourable Lucy Edith Wrottesley (1848-1918), daughter of the Honourable Walter Wrottesley (1810-1872), 4th son of the 1st Lord Wrottesley and Marianne Lucy Archer (1816-1848), who, like Emily Frances Heathcote before, died in childbirth. Lucy was an amateur watercolourist and painted occasionally, particularly on family outings. Their three children were Walter John (1870-1936), Isabel Lucy (1872-1961) and Mabel Frances (1873-1955). Of particular interest is a photograph of the family sketching which shows Walter sitting on the ground with his sketchbook, the three ladies sitting on stools with their sketchbooks, and Charles standing in the process of setting up a proper easel for himself!!

Charles completed over 500 watercolours during his lifetime and traveled to at least 22 countries. The majority of his works are on familiar ground throughout the British Isles and Ireland visiting various outposts of the Heathcote family such as Dunvegan Castle in the Isle of Skye. When his son, Walter, joined the Diplomatic Service, numerous excursions were taken to Greece, North Africa and the Middle East where his son was variously stationed. The South of France was a regular holiday destination as Charles greatly loved the colours and his health greatly loved the weather!! Virtually every watercolour was painted from Nature and he enjoyed the spontaneity of completing a work in situ which gives to his paintings a particular freshness and luminosity of colour unachievable in a studio. All of his watercolours were carefully taken home and put into huge leather-bound portfolio albums to be privately viewed in the Library, hence the lack of knowledge of his talents in the Alpine Club! In other activities, Charles was a founder of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, frequent judge at Wimbledon, contributor with his elder brother in writing the Lawn Tennis section of the Badminton Library, and creator of the hour-glass design for the tennis ball which is still in use today.

In 1902, Charles and Lucy retired to Hampshire buying a historic manor house which dated back to 961 and this became the seat of his branch of the family to this day. Conington was to left to lapse into disrepair after WWI and was torn down in the 1950's by the last of the Heathcote's to reside there and is no longer under the ownership of the family. One of the tributes written at Charles's death reads: "a thoroughly accomplished gentleman, and a humane and charitable man of high culture, of firm character, of strong artistic feeling and energy, having a capacity of polished humour, and possessed of a most warm and generous heart.", and as an early biographer noted, "Heathcote lived his life admirably....and poetically. His paintings capture a peaceful moment in time and represent the Swan Song of the Victorian era, flourishing just before it disappeared.". I don't know that these two observations can be improved upon as they certainly describe the man and the artist! In a lecture to students at Brighton in 1897, Heathcote quoted from his own publication, "Intention in Art", with his definition of a talented artist: "....the man who can work such a miracle for us is no longer a painter only. He has become preacher and prophet, poet and philosopher.". The watercolours themselves tend to mirror the same care and attention with which Charles lived his life. He used excellent paper and paints and nearly everything was stored in his library in portfolios thus preventing any sun damage over the years. Most of his works were titled and dated and then mounted on the pages of the portfolios. The only known modern exhibition of his works was held in the United States from July 1-August 12, 1984 in Memphis, Tennessee at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens with none of his works having been shown in Britain since Peterborough in the late 1880's. A comprehensive catalogue was published for the exhibition in 1984 by the show curator, Cora S. Dobson. As the watercolours depict so many fascinating locations throughout Europe and the Middle East and are so beautifully painted with bright vibrant colours that continue to this day, they are an absolute delight to behold. More than just a travelogue of places visited, you get a sense that each one was given the care and attention they deserved, directly because of the importance each scene possessed in the mind of the artist. These were not rough sketches that were to be later re-worked in the relative safety of a studio. Rather, these were carefully constructed scenes, created on the spot with great immediacy, by a highly skilled plein air artist for his own enjoyment and pleasure…and now it is our turn to share this enjoyment and pleasure!!

Charles Gilbert Heathcote (1841-1913)

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