Louisa Beresford, Marchioness of Waterford
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,_marchioness_of_waterford_by_sir_francis_grant.jpg)
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- 12 May 1891) was a Pre-Raphaelite watercolourist and philanthropist. She was the wife of Henry Beresford, 3rd Marquess of Waterford, younger sister of Charlotte, Countess Canning, daughter of Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay
Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay
Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay GCB, PC , known as Sir Charles Stuart between 1812 and 1828, was a British diplomat...
and the former Lady Elizabeth Margaret Yorke. The family home was at Highcliffe
Highcliffe
Highcliffe-on-Sea is a small town in the borough of Christchurch, Dorset in southern England. It forms part of the South East Dorset conurbation along the English Channel coast...
Castle, and had been in Stuart possession since about 1770 when Louisa's great-grandfather, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute KG, PC , styled Lord Mount Stuart before 1723, was a Scottish nobleman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain under George III, and was arguably the last important favourite in British politics...
(a founder of Kew Gardens), while out botanising, discovered the cliff-top viewsite overlooking Christchurch Bay
Christchurch Harbour
Christchurch Harbour is a natural harbour in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England named after the nearby town of Christchurch.Two Rivers the Avon and the Stour flow into the Harbour at its northwest corner. The harbour is generally shallow and due to the tidal harmonics in the...
, and commissioned the architect Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
, to design High Cliff, a sumptuous Georgian mansion, with grounds laid out by Capability Brown
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...
.
His fourth son, Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Stuart, inherited High Cliff, but landslips virtually destroyed the house, and he sold the greater part of the estate. Years later Louisa's father who had had a
long and distinguished career, been honoured with a knighthood, and raised to the peerage by George IV in 1828, bought back the land and between 1831 and 1835 built the house that became known as Highcliffe Castle, and which has been described as "the most important remaining example of the Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
Picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
style of architecture."
Charles Stuart
Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay
Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay GCB, PC , known as Sir Charles Stuart between 1812 and 1828, was a British diplomat...
made use of the architect William Donthorne
William Donthorne
William John Donthorne was a notable English architect of the early 19th century and one of the founders of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects .Donthorn was born in Norfolk and was a pupil of Sir Jeffry Wyattville...
, a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
, to design Highcliffe Castle. Incorporated in the design was carved medieval stonework from the Norman Benedictine Abbey of St Peter at Jumieges
Jumièges
Jumièges is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A forestry and farming village situated in a meander of the river Seine, some west of Rouen, at the junction of the D65 and the D143 roads...
and from the Grande Maison des Les Andelys
Les Andelys
Les Andelys is a commune in the Eure department in Haute-Normandie in northern France.-Geography:It lies on the Seine, about 35 km northeast of Évreux.The commune is divided into two parts, Grand-Andely and Petit-Andely.-Population:-Sights:...
, both of which structures had fallen into disrepair after the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. Also included in the structure were a 16th century oriel window
Oriel window
Oriel windows are a form of bay window commonly found in Gothic architecture, which project from the main wall of the building but do not reach to the ground. Corbels or brackets are often used to support this kind of window. They are seen in combination with the Tudor arch. This type of window was...
and stained glass window.
Her father was appointed British Ambassador at Paris shortly before marrying Elizabeth Margaret Yorke on 6 February 1816. Louisa's childhood in Paris was marked by the early tuition she received in the arts
The arts
The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...
, in keeping with being a great-granddaughter of the writer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat and writer. Montagu is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about...
. Art, religion and philanthropy, would feature prominently in her life. Despite being an accomplished amateur artist, her paintings did not appear in galleries until the 1870s. Showing great concern for the welfare of her tenants on her Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
property, she redesigned the village of Ford
Ford, Northumberland
Ford is a small village in Northumberland, England, about from Berwick-upon-Tweed. Ford shares a parish with Etal.- History Pre-1513 :Very little is known of the history of the area before the Norman Conquest in the 11th century, but Bronze Age rock carvings in the area suggest that there might...
, designed and built a school, and founded a temperance society. Over a period of 22 years between 1860 and 1882, she decorated the school hall with life-sized watercolours on paper, which had been applied to canvas and mounted on the interior walls and gables. The images portrayed biblical scenes, and used the village residents as models. The village school was in use until 1957, but is now known as the Waterford Gallery or Lady Waterford Hall.
Gleeson White
Gleeson White
Gleeson Joseph William White was an English writer on art, born at Christchurch, in Hampshire. He was educated at Christ Church School and afterward became a member of the Art Workers Guild. He moved to New York City in 1890 where he conducted the Art Amateur...
described her talent in his work Children's Books and Their Illustrators
Louisa was tutored by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
and attended drawing classes held by John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, together with Lady Trevelyan and Kate Greenaway
Kate Greenaway
Catherine Greenaway , known as Kate Greenaway, was an English children's book illustrator and writer, who spent much of her childhood at Rolleston, Nottinghamshire. She studied at what is now the Royal College of Art in London, which at that time had a separate section for women, and was headed by...
, and had introduced Rose La Touche
Rose la Touche
Rose La Touche was the pupil, cherished student, "pet," and ideal from which John Ruskin based Sesame and Lilies .- Introduction to John Ruskin :...
to him. It is believed that she modelled for Sir John Everett Millais in several of his works, and her beauty is accredited as one of the inspirations of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
.
On 8 June 1842 she married Lord Waterford who settled in Curraghmore House in County Waterford
County Waterford
*Abbeyside, Affane, Aglish, Annestown, An Rinn, Ardmore*Ballinacourty, Ballinameela, Ballinamult, Ballinroad, Ballybeg, Ballybricken, Ballyduff Lower, Ballyduff Upper, Ballydurn, Ballygunner, Ballylaneen, Ballymacarbry, Ballymacart, Ballynaneashagh, Ballysaggart, Ballytruckle, Bilberry, Bunmahon,...
, until dying in a horse riding accident in 1859. The marriage produced no children.
The erosion losses at Highcliffe were considerable and had been reckoned at about a yard a year - the coast path was in constant need of maintenance due to cliff falls. Louisa wrote in her "Recollections to the age of 12" that part of the problem was landsliding in the clays and to combat this she introduced an extensive drainage system in the cliffs to keep the clays dry.
In about 1880 the problems of erosion of Highcliffe prompted her to seek an engineering solution. A prime cause was The Run, the river outflow from Christchurch Harbour
Christchurch Harbour
Christchurch Harbour is a natural harbour in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England named after the nearby town of Christchurch.Two Rivers the Avon and the Stour flow into the Harbour at its northwest corner. The harbour is generally shallow and due to the tidal harmonics in the...
, which because of its proximity to the cliffs, greatly increased the erosion. She arranged for the placing of limestone and granite-porphyry blocks near the Castle, with the idea of deflecting the course of The Run rather than directly opposing it. This groyne eventually disappeared and by 1931 only a few of the blocks were still visible at low tide.
In his 1893 work, the Victorian biographer, Augustus Hare
Augustus Hare
Augustus John Cuthbert Hare was an English writer and raconteur.He was the youngest son of Francis George Hare of Herstmonceux, East Sussex, and Gresford, Flintshire, Wales, and nephew of Augustus William Hare and Julius Hare...
(1834–1903), wrote The story of two noble lives : being memorials of Charlotte, Countess Canning, and Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford -
Her grave lies next to the Church of St Michael in Ford Village. Its stone was designed in 1891 by George Frederic Watts
George Frederic Watts
George Frederic Watts, OM was a popular English Victorian painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical works, such as Hope and Love and Life...
, and the slab by Watts's wife Mary Seton Watts. It is a Grade II Listed Building protected by law.