Wycombe, John Henry Petty, Earl of
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- Wycombe, John Henry Petty, Earl of
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(1765 - 1809), s. of 1st M. of Lansdowne, sty. Vct. Fitzmaurice 1765 - 84, E. of Wycombe 1784 - 1805 when suc. fa. as 2nd M.; Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1783; MP 1786 - 1802; m. 1805 Maria Arabella Maddock, wid. of Duke Gifford.
1793 - 6 Florence (1793), Venice (21 - 26 Jun. 1794) [Istria] Venice (14 Jul.), Florence (Jul. - Sep.), Pisa (Oct.), Rome (Oct.), Naples (by 28 Oct. - early Nov.), Rome, Florence (Nov. 1794 - ), Lucca (Jul./Aug. 1795), Rome (by 13 Sep.), Bologna (by 22 Nov.), Turin (by Feb. 1796) [England Jan. 1797]
1800 Florence (Dec.)
Wycombe had travelled extensively in northern Europe between 1784 and 1789 and again in 1793. Carefully groomed by his father for a political career, he was growing to resent this fussy supervision1 by the time he came to Italy. Although he spent some time there with the American traveller Allen Smith,2 for the next two and a half years he was principally occupied by the company of Lord Holland and the pursuit of Mrs Wyndham, the estranged wife of William Frederick Wyndham, the British envoy at Florence. A portrait of Wycombe by F.-X. Fabre dated 1793 (untraced) was presumably painted in Florence,3 but Wycombe is not otherwise recorded in Italy that year. He was in Venice from 21 to 26 June 1794, and made a short trip to Istria, returning to Venice on 14 July.4 According to Lady Webster's journal, Wycombe had arrived in Florence soon after 12 June [July?], Lord Holland having coming down from Venice to await his arrival.5
Lady Webster then found him 'a very eccentric person', whose actions she hoped were 'directly opposite to his sentiments; if not he must be a scourge;' his conversation was 'grand and declamatory, his humour excellent,' and he was very galant, beginning 'by making love equally to me and Mrs Wyndham'. Wycombe had intended to visit the Isle of Elba with Lord Holland but 'they had not found a favourable wind', and Lady Webster met them again at Pisa (where Wycombe read her an ingenious sonnet he had just composed). In October 1794 Wycombe and Holland went off to Rome and Naples, where William Hamilton met them; on 28 October he wrote that they were returning to Rome 'next week'.6 Early in November they had returned to Florence from Rome.
In the summer of 1795 Wycombe and Holland came to stay near Lucca, spending time each day with Lady Webster7 and amusing themselves, according to Lady Berwick, 'with no other conversation than turning to ridicule religion and Government'.8 Amongst their amusements was being painted by Gauffier, whose portrait of Wycombe, dated 1795, remains in a private collection. Wycombe came to Rome in the autumn and was a torch-bearer at James Durno's funeral in September.9 On 22 November he was at Bologna meeting Lady Webster and Mrs Wyndham,10 who were intending to go to Turin 'if it should be safe'.8 Lady Webster's husband had returned to England in May and Mrs Wyndham had separated from hers by December. Lord Holland and Lord Wycombe were now their escorts, talking and acting, commented Lady Knight, 'as their convenience directs'.(11) By February 1796 Wycombe and Mrs Wyndham were living together at 'Mr Trevors Inn' at Turin [i.e. John Trevor, the British envoy], beginning to tire of each other's company; 'she talked of crossing the mountains going to England, he of going to any where else. he says he is quite tired of her & she sees it', wrote Lady Berwick: 'I now hear she is coming here [Milan] in order to go by the Tirol next month'.(12) Wycombe returned to England in January 1797, to hear his father's criticisms of his behaviour abroad, but he appears to have stayed some time longer with Mrs Wyndham. In December 1800 he had to return to Florence to procure a witness in a civil action which Wyndham unsuccessfully brought against him.
1. See Commons 3, 4:788 - 9. 2. E.P. Richardson, American Art Jnl., 2ii[1969]:5. 3. See French Painting 1774 - 1830, exh. cat., Paris/Detroit [1975], 410. 4. ASV is 770, 771. 5. See Holland Jnl., 1:126 - 30. 6. Morrison, 1:195 (no.247). 7. Holland Jnl., 1:133. 8. Attingham MSS (Ldy. Berwick, 23 Dec. 1795). 9. GM, 66[1796]:81. 10. Holland Jnl., 1:136. 11. Knight Letters, 210 - 11. 12. Attingham MSS (23 Feb. 1796).