Built / Designed For: Warren Hastings

House & Family History: The building of Daylesford by Warren Hastings (1732-1818; see "Images" section) represented the realization of a dream to buy back the inheritance lost to him by his dissolute family in 1715 (Hastings was a descendant of Daylesford's Medieval owners). Hastings was the first governor-general of Bengal and later the center of one of the most celebrated trials of the 18th century. In 1787 he was impeached by the House of Commons in an indictment of 20 counts that took Edmund Burke two full days to read aloud. Led by Burke, Charles James Fox, and Richard Sheridan, the Westminster trial charged Hastings with corruption and tyrannical behavior to the Indian people. The trial lasted seven years, and, though Hastings was acquitted in the end of all charges, the strain broke him financially and physically. He retired to Daylesford and had the satisfaction in 1818, at the age of 85, of being restored as a privy councilor. Carol Shields, writing in 2001 in "Jane Austen" (New York: Penguin Putnam, pg. 41), states her belief that Philadelphia Austen's only child (Philadelphia was the sister of Jane's father, George Austen), Eliza, was probably fathered by Warren Hastings, not Philadelphia's much older husband, Tysoe Saul Hancock. Philadelphia had traveled alone to India in 1752 to seek a rich husband and was befriended by Hastings during his time there as governor-general. Daylesford was owned by Viscount Rothermere in the mid-20th century; it was he who restored the house with the help of the interior decorator John Fowler. In 1988 Daylesford was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Bamford, who employed Colefax and Fowler for a far-reaching restoration of the house. Bamford is chairman of JCB; he was created a life peer in 2013. In July of 2023 Lord Bamford hosted a party in honor of the May 2021 wedding of Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Daylesford House.

Collections: A solid ivory Anglo-Indian armchair, very likely owned by Warren Hastings, is today in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (see "Images" section). One of a pair, this astonishing chair is one of the most extravagant pieces of Anglo-Indian furniture ever constructed. Stained with a yellow pigment known as India Yellow (distilled from the urine of mango-fed cows), its arms end in carved tiger heads, while its legs are painted to resemble leopard skin. A porcelain dinner service, made in Berlin circa 1780, was sold by Hastings, along with a large part of the contents of Daylesford, to pay legal bills resulting from his trail for corruption (he was acquitted). The service was purchased by the 1st Baron Redesdale and ultimately ended up in the collection of Chatsworth (where it remains today), when it was purchased by the 10th Duke of Devonshire at the sale of the estate of the 2nd Baron Redesdale (the 10th Duke's wife, Deborah Mitford, was a daughter of the 2nd Lord Redesdale). A 1790 portrait of David Anderson by Henry Raeburn that was commissioned by his friend Warren Hastings to hang in Daylesford House is today in the Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington (see "Images" section). A 1765-67 family portrait by Joshua Reynolds entitled "Tysoe Saul Hancock and His Wife Philadelphia (nee Austen) with Their Daughter Elizabeth and Indian Maid Clarinda," formerly at Daylesford, is today in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (see "Images" section).

Garden & Outbuildings: The large gardens at Daylesford contain a wooded walk, a formal fruit and vegetable garden, an orchid house, a peach house, and working glasshouses. There is also a walled garden behind the orangery, a trellised rose garden, and a large lake.

Chapel & Church: During his retirement Warren Hastings rebuilt (in 1816) the Norman St. Peter's Church, though this was replaced in 1860 by the current church. Hastings is buried outside the east wall of the church, near the altar.

John Preston (J.P.) Neale, published under the title of Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, among other titles: Vol. V, 1822.

House Listed: Grade I

Park Listed: Grade II*

Current Seat / Home of: Anthony Paul Bamford, Baron Bamford; here since 1988.

Past Seat / Home of: Warren Hastings, 18th century. Esmond Cecil Harmsworth, 2nd Viscount Rothermere, 20th century.

Current Ownership Type: Individual / Family Trust

Primary Current Ownership Use: Private Home

Ownership Details: The Daylesform Farmshop & Café are open to the public and estate cottages can be let.

House Open to Public: Limited Access to Grounds Only

Phone: 01608-731-700

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.daylesford.com/

Historic Houses Member: No