Watercolour sketch of Charles Orby Wombwell (1813-1898)

Watercolour sketch of Charles Orby Wombwell (1813 -1898), who lived with his wife Charlotte at Lydiard House in the mid 19th century.

'The 1841 Census shows that Lydiard Park was by then occupied by a tenant, Thomas Orby Hunter, and by (his son-in-law) Charles Orby Wombwell and his wife and daughter. Their establishment consisted of eight male servants and eight female servants living in the house, with a further three male servants living in the stables. An Inventory of the contents of the house was made in 1848 after the death of Thomas Orby Hunter. [Report 11 (1978), pp 45.] By the 1851 Census Charles Orby Wombwell (seen in the picture here) had become the tenant, with a slightly smaller establishment of servants'. Extract from The Decline and Fall of the St.Johns of Lydiard Tregoze by Rev. Brian G. Carne (Report no 34): 

Lydiard Park had been let to the Orby family by Henry 4th Viscount Bolingbroke. 'In 1839 The Tithe Map for Lydiard Tregoze shows that Lydiard House, lawns and plantations, gardens, pleasure ground, ponds and island and two fields on the north side of the house and church, effectively ring-fenced, were let to Orby Hunter Esq. Lord Bolingbroke retained various plantations in hand, whilst the park and other fields were tenanted and almost all were under pasture.' Extract from the Report on the Park at Lydiard Tregoze by Nicholas Pearson Assocs. (Report no 37). 

In 1851 Henry 4th Viscount Bolingbroke, died. His ancestral home of Lydiard Park was by that time heavily mortgaged and the tenancy arrangements came to an end, most likely because the the property was falling into disrepair.