Inheritance The Story of Knole and the Sackvilles

by Sackville-West, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780802779014
• ISBN10: 0802779018
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-08-31
• Publisher: Walker Books

Summary

Since its purchase in 1604 by Thomas Sackville, first Earl of Dorset, the house at Knole, Kent, has been inhabited by thirteen generations of a single aristocratic family, the Sackvilles. Here, drawing on a wealth of unpublished letters, archives, and images, the current incumbent of the seat, Robert Sackville-West, paints a vivid and intimate portrait of the vast, labyrinthine house and the close relationships his colorful ancestors formed within it. Inheritance is the story of a house and its inhabitants, a family described by Vita Sackville-West as "a race too prodigal, too amorous, too weak, too indolent, and too melancholy; a rotten lot, and nearly all starkstaring mad." Where some reveled in the hedonism of aristocratic life, others rebelled against a house that, in time, would disinherit them, shutting its doors to them forever. It's a drama in which the house itself is a principal character, its fortunes often mirroring those of the family. Every detail holds a story: the portraits, and all the items the subjects of those portraits left behind, point to pivotal moments in history; all the rooms, and the objects that fill them, are freighted with an emotional significance that has been handed down from generation to generation. Now owned by the National Trust, Knole is today one of the largest houses in England, visited by thousands annually and housing one of the country's finest collections of secondhand Royal furniture. It's a pleasure to follow Robert Sackville-West as he unravels the private life of a public place on a fascinating, masterful, four-hundred-year tour through the memories and memorabilia, political, financial, and domestic, of his extraordinary family.

Author Biography

After studying History at Oxford University, Robert Sackville-West worked in publishing, founding Toucan Books in 1985, which creates illustrated non-fiction books for an international market. He now combines that with chairing Knole Estates, the property and investment company which runs the Sackville family's interests at Knole. In 2008, he and his wife and three children moved in the house, which has been occupied by the Sackville family for 400 years.

Table of Contents

Plan of Knole	p. ix
Family Tree	p. x
Preface	p. xiii
An Ancient Pile (1604-1608): Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset	p. 1
An Owl in the Desert (1608-1624): Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset and His Wife, Lady Anne Clifford	p. 25
'A poore, unsuccessfull Cavalier' (1624-1652): Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset	p. 44
Restoration (1652-1677): Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset	p. 69
The Perks of Office (1677-1706): Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset	p. 78
Folly and Sense (1706-1769): Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset and His Sons	p. 101
A Grand Repository (1769-1799): John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset	p. 127
'The very name of Sackville ... near extinction' (1799-1888): The Dowager Duchess and Her Descendants	p. 143
An Inheritance in Crisis (1888-1908): Lionel Sackville-West, 2nd Baron Sackville and His Daughter, Victoria	p. 170
A Family at War (1908-1928): Lionel Sackville-West, 3rd Baron Sackville	p. 203
'A disobliging new world' (1928-1946): Charles Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville	p. 236
Under New Ownership (1946-): Knole and the National Trust	p. 252
Select Bibliography	p. 269
Acknowledgements	p. 279
Index	p. 283
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