Chapter 3 - Duchess of Teodoro (later Princess Colunna) of

Oakhurst Grange

Donna Teresa Caracciolo became Principessa di Colunna about 1909, on her husband’s inheritance of the title of Prince. She had already lived in Rudgwick for 13 or 14 years.Her own title was Duchessa di San Teodoro e Arpina, and Duchessa di Parete and Marchesa di Villamaina e Capriglia. She re-named Hedgecock’s Oakhurst Grange.

Her husband was Don Marcantonio:In quegli anni il capo della famiglia era Don Marcantonio, 15th Duca e Principe di Paliano, Principe Assistente al Soglio Pontificio, Principe di Sonnino, Principe di Avella, 14th Duca di Tagliacozzo, 8th Duca di Tursi, Duca di Marino, Marchese di Cavo, Conte di Ceccano, Signore di Genazzano etc. e Grande di Spagna, and all that beforebecoming a prince. He was from one of Rome’s most ancient families.

I do not know if Marcantonio came to Rudgwick. He was a Prince Assistant to the Pope. But the Duchess of San Teodoro (as I shall call her at the

beginning of her story) was present on the night of the 1901 census. She is recorded in Kelly’s Directory at ‘Oakhurst Grange’, the name that she gave to Hedgecock’s in 1899, but had already substantially enlarged the house by 1898, when an architectural sketch was made by the eminent architect, Sir Ernest George.

Above, Marcantonio, Prince of Colonna, 1920

She must have had homes in Italy too – the Teodoro family seat was a palace in Naples on the Riviere di Chiaia. The Colunna home was an impressive Rome palace (right). In 1896 and several times thereafter she sold her porcelain and art collections in London, perhaps not having room for it in the more modest Hedgecock’s. Her home for the preceding years was Merton Hall, where she had lived with her mother’s third husband Lord Walsingham. She

owned Oakhurst Grange from 1896 to 1911, when Oakhurst Grange passed to Mr CJ Wood for two years before he sold it to Lord Tredegar in 1914 (the conveyance from which the deeds survive).

Left, neoclassical Palazzo Caracciolo di San Teodoro, Naples, now a 4* hotel built in the 19th century (2nd building from right), birth place of Teresa Caracciolo in 1855

The Duchess inherited her title in her own right, from her father Duke Luigi (because she was born before 1860, when the traditions of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was abrogated in a united Italy). Her husband, from Rome, as can be seen above, held many titles, but inherited the further title of Prince (Principe) Colunna in about 1809, which made her a Princess, senior in precedence in Italy’s extraordinarily complex nobility and enabled her to amend her title in Kelly’s Directory. The title of Duchess of San Teodoro later passed to her eldest daughter Isabella (born 1879) by royal decree in 1924. She had two daughters, Isabella (born Rome 1879) who married in January 1900 to Angelo, Marques of San Quirico, and Vittoria (born London 1880) in June 1901 to the Duke of Sermoneta, both in Rome. I feel sure she must have been in Italy in those months, so it is fortunate for this research she was in Rudgwick for the 1901 census.

Her mother had an English surname. Augusta Selina Elizabeth Locke (the extra ‘e’ is correct) was half-Italian. Augusta’s parents were William and Selina Locke. The Lockes were from Norbury Park near Dorking, not so far from Rudgwick, doubtless something the Duchess was very aware of. Augusta married three times. The first marriage had been to Lord Berghersh, son of the Earl of Westmoreland, but he died suddenly at the age of 27. The second of her husbands was Duke Luigi to whom she was married in 1854. Teresa Maria Carolina was born 5th November 1855 in Naples, so she was about 40 when she bought Hedgecock’s from the Rentons. Her mother had been caught in bed with Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham, who then had to seek refuge at the British Consulate in Rome. This led to her divorce in 1876, and subsequent third marriage to Walsingham. It appears that the marriage did not stop him bed-hopping as the present Lord Walsingham says that the 6th Baron's marital infidelities "were remarkable, in an age when infidelity was commonplace; though the scandal was for the most part confined to the locality since it seems he usually slept with his housemaids." (email from Frank Ives) Right, Teresa’s daughters, Isabella and Vittoria at Merton, the seat of Lord Walsingham. Their brother Stefano born in Oxborough Hall in 1884 was buried at Merton in 1885.

Augusta was known in the family as Leila. In the 1901 census, three titled young cousins with the surname Blake were staying at Oakhurst Lodge, two of them born in Ireland. Who were they? They are easily found on the internet to be from a family related to the Lockes. The Hon Erroll Wyndham Lincoln Blake 1875-1910 was the eldest. The Hon Elizabeth Lucy Blake 1877-? Was the second, and the Hon Margaret Phyllis Blake 1883-1910 was the third. Lucy christened one of her daughters Leila. This tenuous evidence may suggest that the Blakes were related to Teresa Duchess of San Teodoro through her mother Augusta. The Blakes were of the Irish peerage, their father being Lord Walscourt. In 1899 Teresa holidayed with one of the Blakes in Scotland.

Tersa Carocciolo was certainly an anglophile, and had many English friends. She ‘came out’ in the early 1870s attending numerous balls and functions in London, before her marriage

in1875. However, one of the Buonaparte family committed suicide having failed to win her and her marriage fell apart. She returned to England with her daughters to live at Merton Hall, where Lord Walsingham, her stepfather, was very kind to the girls as they grew up. Teresa was still regarded as a great beauty. Disraeli much admired her.

At least two images of her exist, one (a portrait by O. Hicks) reproduced in the autobiography of her daughter Vittoria, Duchess of Sermoneta, entitled "Things Past" (illustrated, right). A second, very similar chalk drawing, is in the possession of Prof William Ramp, University of Lethbridge, Canada (illustrated left). Teresa herself wrote an autobiography, “Memoirs by the Duchessa di San Teodoro (With Portraits)”, Elkin, Mathews & Marrot, 1929. A copy is in the British Library. The coat of arms found on the south and north wings of the house (and on metal drain hoppers), and on North Lodge is clearly a stonemasons version of the actual Italian coat of arms of the Caracciolo family, a family which can trace its lineage to a death before 976 AD . It is a crowned lion rampant (left).

Teresa bought Hedgecock’s when her children were about 16 and 17, so very nearly of an age to have a life of their own. We may be sure they visited or even stayed for lengthy periods, but they had their own lives in Merton and perhaps by then in Italy, as both were married there by 1901.

There is ample evidence that one of the first things she did was to engage Ernest George & Yeates, (later Sir Ernest George) prominent architects of the period (an earlier design of his George’s was the Duke of Kent School, Ewhurst, for Sir Henry Doulton) to enlarge the house. The coat of arms is on this extension four times. That it is on North Lodge may mean this was rebuilt, or enlarged, as a two story house, whereas South Lodge is very small with no coat of arms.

George was a noted architectural artist as the drawing demonstrates. It is an exciting discovery, which was given to the Nursing Home some years ago by an unknown visiting student of architecture, and reproduced here with their permission. Everything about it confirms the evidence that the Duchess asked George to enlarge the house with the addition of a South Wing for the principal rooms and a smaller North Wing to extend the ‘domestic offices’ and servant quarters. This view is from the south west across the new sunken rose garden, and skilfully hides the parts he did not design!

The house looks pretty much the same today, but the door to the garden has been lost in a small extension built for the needs of the residents, and there is a conservatory, which detracts from the integrity of the drawing room and its outlook. George’s conception of a south facing house is disappointingly compromised. The west face of the central portion is much as it was in Renton’s time in plan, but may have been altered by George, with I suspect the addition of matching chimneys throughout. The west frontage is now the most pleasant aspect. The old and new blend harmoniously together. The style of the new would have been seen as plain and modern in 1898, particularly the windows which I like very much. There is also a lead drain hopper in one of the roof gullies bearing the date 1898. given the constraints and needs of running a home of this kind, the exterior is bearing up well. The main house is exceptionally well cared for.

The stables and kitchen garden were not much altered by the Duchess of Teodoro, but in tune with the changes in transport a three-car garage was added, and new building joined the stables to the house. The map shows how the new servants quarters placed them in Abinger parish!

Comparison with the 1897 map shows too how the ‘pleasure grounds’ were enlarged and landscaped. One curiosity, still there today, which may date from these works is the use of old iron-banded limestone millstones in the pattern of paving of the

rose garden, which also uses Horsham stone and some brick paving, all of which could do with some tender care, as could the ‘lawn’ of moss to the rear. The millstones may have come from the nearby and recently decommissioned Snell Windmill. The stables too are now more or less derelict, having at recent date been staff quarters. The kitchen garden has sadly lost virtually all its features and equipment of the ravages of time and weather, and the ice house is full of rubbish (recently cleared out). But a carved sundial in the same light stone as the crests sits on the top floor gable with the Latin inscription: ‘Horas non numero nisi serenas’ (I do not count the hours unless they are sunny).

The house looks pretty much the same today as it did when the Duchess was there, but the door to the garden has been lost in a small extension built for the needs of the residents, and a conservatory, detract from the integrity of the drawing room and its windows. Disappointingly, these additions and numerous down pipes compromise George’s conception of a south facing house. The central west face is in plan much as it was in Renton’s time, but George may have added additional matching chimneys and a third front gable to the left of Shaw’s two. The west frontage is now the most pleasant aspect as the old and new blend harmoniously together. George’s style was plain and modern in 1898, particularly the windows, which have no stone around them. There is another lead drain hopper in one of the roof gullies bearing the date 1898. Given the constraints and needs of running a home of this kind, the exterior is bearing up well, the main house exceptionally well cared for.

Internally, the south wing added a new drawing room at the rear and another reception room at the front, separated by a lounge hall, which extended the old entrance hall to a new staircase. The old drawing room becomes a smoking room. The flower room and twin vestibules on the south side give way to the new wing.

Upstairs considerable extra sleeping accommodation allowed for a large household, there were a Principal Suite, A second suite and four principal bedrooms. A third suite was located at the rear. There were seven bedrooms for servants, and interestingly a small second storey chapel. Three-quarters-Italian by birth, the Duchess may, like her husband, have been a Roman Catholic. The three young nieces and nephews from Ireland (see above), and nine servants (only one born locally; five being female, five male) were present on census night. There were 13 bedrooms in the 1954 sale catalogue, and the occupants in 1901 also totalled 13, but there must have been some sharing by the younger servants. In 1911 the census recorded 24 rooms, compared with 22 at Pallinghurst and 26 at Hermongers.

At other accommodation in 1901 were gardeners, James Mitchell at West Lodge (he had worked for the Renton’s too), another gardener at the newly built East Lodge, and a third in Honeybush Cottage. Rose Cottage was occupied by a farm labourer.

The stables, little altered by the Duchess, had a three-car garage added at some point prior to 1915, suggesting she was one of the earliest owners of a motor car in Rudgwick. George’s new building joined the stables to the house, allowing access to the north carriage drive through an arch. Compared with 1897, the ‘pleasure grounds’ had been enlarged and landscaped. One curiosity, which may date from landscaping after 1898, is the use of old iron-banded chert millstones (possibly taken

from the nearby Snell Windmill) in the paving of the rose garden, where there is also Horsham stone and brick paving. Many of these outside features need investment if they are to be preserved.

The domestic offices listed in the later 1954 sale particulars comprise kitchen, butler’s pantry, scullery, larder, storeroom, cellar, wine cellar, servants’ hall and sitting room and WC. Outside were a game larder and knife room. By 1954 a fuel store for oil and a boiler for central heating had been added. At the time the Duchess lived there the estate would have provided copious quantities of wood for the fireplaces.Record Office 1911 AM 291/3/190/1 Oakwood Grange: Jacobean design residence with entrance lodges, stabling, tennis court and ice house. Also included are a pair of cottages known as Rose cottages, Broadstone Farm, Broadstone cottage, Honey cottage and Pound cottage with 18 acres. Total ar

In 1911, she moved to sunny Pollanza. Oakwood Grange, as the advert in The Times, 19 June 1911 (above) shows was up for auction “by direction of Princess Coluna”(sic). The description of a Jacobean mansion is wildly inaccurate! The acreage of 303 is notable for its inclusion of Broadstone and Pound Farms in Surrey, associated with this estate long before

this, and Honey Cottage. In the 1911 census, the house is unoccupied, except for a caretaker, John Langridge and family, and a housemaid. The enumerator’s page has “Princess Colonna” crossed out, suggesting she was still the owner. Honey Lane Farmhouse was unoccupied, as was North Lodge. These are signs of an intending sale. Arthur Stephens a gardener and James Stanford, agricultural labourer, were at Rose Cottages, James Mitchell was at the West Lodge, aged 78. He was retired and had lived there for many a year. James Stanford was her farm bailiff at Broadstone. William Muggeridge was gamekeeper and John Eggleton agricultural labourer at Broadstone Cottages. Pound Cottage was let to Eva Lee Steer.

However, all had not been well in Rome. She had written to The Times 8th November 1911 to criticise the way the war in Ottoman Libya was causing indescribable horrors for local people in the oasis near Tripoli who had neither wanted the war, nor wished for it, and suggesting that all civilised nations will want to raise their voice against this unjustifiable action and stop her co-nationals in their work of madness and blood, and that she agrees with Mr Carnegie that it is not for the 20th century. She was not surprisingly berated for her lack of patriotism and for living continuously abroad, not with her sick husband. The letter was reproduced in La Vedetta on 18th November when Guglielmo Marconi wrote to condemn her as dishonourable to call herself Italian and influence opinion against Italy in England where the name Colunna is held in high regard. La Valetta put it down to a terrible fall from her horse, which had affected her brain and made her so nervous and excitable that she could write such an inconsiderate letter. [Note: The Italo-Turkish War, 1911-12, was the first armed clash between the lesser Great Powers immediately before 1914, leading inexorably to the deterioration of the Balkan situation and to Sarajevo. On October 23, 1911, an Italian pilot flew over Turkish lines on a reconnaissance mission, and on November 1, the first ever aerial bomb was dropped on Turkish troops in Libya.]

Villa Coretti, Pallanza, formerly Villa Maria, Teresa Caracciolo’s home in Italy from 1911

Left, post card from Pallanza from the time Teresa moved there; right, a tea party raising funds for the Museo del Paesaggio organised by Teresa – the lady in the right centre resembles Hick’s portrait of Teresa.

She left England for good to go to live in Villa Maria (now called Villa Ceretti), her husband’s villa on the Lake Maggiore shore east of Pollanza. But she was now a Princess, with a villa by the lake, where she could hide from her critics, and she was a grandmother of 57. She could have been caught up in the First World War and home was surely the best place to be, even though the Italians fought with the Allies. On the death of her husband after a long illness, in 1912, she received his inheritance. Now she was an even wealthier woman. In the same year she contributed to the foundation of the Museo del Paesaggio (Museum of the Countryside) in the Palazzo Viani Dugnani. She raised funds for the Ospedale Castelli. She personally provided a new operating theatre. She worked with the mayor to alleviate wartime unemployment.

In Pollanza she is remembered as a beautiful old lady, a pacifist in the war against Libya, for her large English car and English chauffeur dressed in white, complete with gloves and cap. She and her daughter Vittoria were benefactors of many charities and sponsored a literary review. In 1920 she married her second husband, Rodolfo Lanciani, senator, art historian and eminent archaeologist, most notably for the topography of Rome. She was to be buried at Pollanza in a sarcophagus already inscribed: “TERESA CARACCIOLO DUCHESSA DI SAN TEODORO PRINCESS COLUNNA”. Apparently it never received a body, and it is now in a poor state. This begs more questions than it answers. But her brief Times obituary points to death of her second husband in 1929, and he was wedded to his life in the city, where she died “more or less in seclusion” on 28 July 1935, aged 79.

Vittoria ColonnaOf her daughters, Donna Vittoria (Duchess of Sermoneta and Princess of Teano) married in 1901, and is said to have died in 1954 and was buried in Merton (alongside her infant brother who died in 1885, close to her maternal grandmother), the seat of Lord Walsingham in Norfolk where her English grandmother Augusta lived. As a result of the early death in his 40s of her son, the line is now ended. She was unhappily married, but outlived her husband who moved to Canada and died there. She had a brief relationship with the futurist painter Umberto Boccioni in 1916. Their romance has been explored by Marella Caracciolo Chia, The Light In Between (Pushkin Press, 2010).

“Certainly knows how to live, she was the reigning beauty of Rome, Surrounded by aristocratic admirers. No Party, Great Ball or Gala dinner was considered complete without her presence. Vittoria also had a fine sense of humour, which made her secretly laugh at many of the follies that others took seriously. During her life had gone out of her way to find that of which is so interesting[e.g., a perilous tour of Abyssinia]. An energetic in pleasure and work. Some of her interests being Art and Literature, a

great lover of sport a friend and helper to the great actress, DUSE” (Merton website).

She had also been lady in waiting to the ex-queen of Italy, and had written two books. She was a poet, and loved ballooning. It is highly likely she and her sister visited Rudgwick during the years her mother lived there.

(below, The Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Oct 1899)Donna Isabella married in 1899, and died in San Quirico in 1957.

She was Duchess of San Teodoro and Arpino, Marquise of Villamaina and Capriglia (1935), Duchess of Tursi and Princess of Avella, ad

personam 1924, as well as Duchess of San Quirico.