Literary, lively, learned: Farleigh Castle & Bath in 1824

Another talk to illustrate notable (and in this instance, local) links with BRLSI’s bicentenary!

Whilst researching the life and times of her ancestors, the Houltons of the Farleigh Hungerford estate, Dr Mary Redmayne uncovered important links between Colonel John Houlton (1773-1839) of the Somerset Militia and BRLSI.

A lively story emerged, from Joseph Houlton (a wealthy Trowbridge clothier who acquired the estate piece by piece in the early 1700s), to his descendant Colonel Houlton of the Somerset Militia who, by 1812, had extensively enlarged the mansion.

The Colonel played a prominent role in Bath society and this talk will explore his political, financial, musical and literary involvement, including as an original subscriber to BRLSI. He was a friend and colleague of the Institution’s President, the Marquess of Lansdowne, and Vice President, Hastings Elwin, and attended the grand opening of BRLSI in 1824.

His wife, Mary Ann Ellis (1778-1855) of Exeter adds an orphan’s experiences to the story.  Together, they and their large family paint a wonderful picture of the times.

Dr Mary Redmayne is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Now retired, she has turned her research skills from exploring health impacts on adolescents of their mobile phone use  to exploring her family ancestry. The research for this talk has involved accessing many historical records and Ancestry.com has been enormously helpful for this. Mary’s next project will be a book about the Houltons. Prior to retirement, she published 32 peer-reviewed papers. Her hobbies are art and photography. Mary’s family immigrated to New Zealand from Surrey, England, in 1970. Photograph taken by the speaker.