Believed to be the inventor of
the equestrian game Polo, William Wellesley Pole was a fashionable man of
Regency high-class society. He married Catherine Tylney Long, the wealthiest
Heiress in England in 1812 and become William Pole Tylney Long Wellesley - a
union which could have led to the destruction Athelhampton. Despite his charm,
fashionable taste and elegant waltzing ability, ‘Wicked’ William’s scandalous exploits
included war mongering, lying to voters as an MP, adultery, siring illegitimate
children, a chase across Europe avoiding debt collectors, kidnapping and the
destruction of Catherine’s ancestral home, Wanstead House. Britain’s first
house built in the Neo-Palladian design, with gardens to parallel Versailles,
was ‘obliterated from the face of the Earth’ by William, along with its
historic trees which were sold off as timber. In this painting, rings of a
dismembered tree branch overlay patterns of a Dandy inspired design. It seems
that Athelhampton had one lucky escape from this villainous owner!
