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Newick Park,1854. |
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James Slater purchased Newick Park from James Powell in 1819. His father Gilbert Slater was a London businessman with interests in shipping and maritime insurance. After Gilbert's death the family left their home at Knotts Green, Leyton, Essex and appear to have lived with relatives. James was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford. It was after his marriage to Cecil Saunderson in 1817 that he purchased his Sussex estate. He served as High Sheriff of Sussex in 1822. At home he was devoted to his garden, an interest possibly inherited from his father who was an avid collector of new species and had financed plant collecting expeditions. James Sclater the younger inherited the estate on the death of his father in 1864, and he adopted the spelling of the family name which originated in the isles of Orkney. Before the death of his father, when his family moved to Newick Place, they had lived in Brighton and in the 1850's at Barcombe Place. James served the wider community as a Justice of the Peace from 1844, and as Deputy Lieutenant for Sussex in 1866. Since his estate extended into Barcombe he took a keen interest in the proposal to develop the new chapel in the north of the parish. His letters to John Dodson, later Lord Monk Bretton, give a wonderful glimpse into the views of the local gentry. Those views encompassed not only the ecclesiastical development of the parish but also reflect the relationship of the various participants. One such comment records not only his own interest in his gardens, but also his perception of one of his neighbours, George Grantham. 'When I saw Grantham drive up yesterday I hoped to interpose a wide spreading thorn bush to escape his notice, but he found me out and descending, Ulster, beard, black bag and slouched hat complete, he fairly caught me. ... I suggested a conference in the hot house, but adroitly turning into a cool vinery he gave me more than an hour of unfinished sentences and shaky statements from amongst the flower pots.' James Sclater died in 1897 and the house and estate remained in the family until 1925 when Newick Park house and part of the estate were sold to Sir William Joynson Hicks, later Lord Brentford. The family connection with the area was not severed. Part of the original estate remained in their hands and after the 1939-45 war further land was purchased including the Sutton Hall estate where John and Grizel Sclater now live. Sources Tessa Harvey (1994) The Sclaters. History of a Sussex Family ESRO MOB 655-666, 673-684 |
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James Slater (Sclater) (1793-1864), owner of Newick Park from 1819-1864. James Sclater the younger (1819-1897), owner of Newick Park from 1864-1897. |
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