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This set of photos is in Ham House Album Part 5 and follows the Album Ham House Part 4
All the Ham House photos are collected in the album HAM HOUSE COMPLETE/
Ham House is a Grade 1 Listed Building.
It was given to the National Trust in 1948 and opened to the public in 1950.
HAM HOUSE--THE ICE HOUSE
Description of Ham House Gardens.
HAM HOUSE
In these five albums on Ham House, information on the interior of the house is based on the following references.
Guide Books (V&A and NT):
V&A: "Ham House, A Guide", Victoria and Albert Museum, Fourth Edition, 1959.
NT: "Ham House". The National Trust, 1995.
NTP: National Trust Collections-Ham House paintings
W: Wikipedia
HISTORY OF HAM HOUSE
Wikipedia links in blue.
The original house was built in 1610 by Sir Thomas Vavasour (1560-1620). After his death, the lease passed to John Ramsay (1580-1626), First Earl of Holderness.
Shortly after Ramsay's death in 1626 it became the residence of, and then in 1637, the property of William Murray, 1st Earl of Dysart.
Earl of Dysart is a title in the Peerage of Scotland--it was created by King Charles I in 1643 for William Murray and has been held continuously since then by his relatives. Dysart is a town in Scotland, in the County of Fife.
William Murray bequeathed it to his daughter Elizabeth (1626-1698).
Elizabeth Murray married, first, Sir Lionel Tollemache (1624-1669), 3rd Baronet of Helmingham Hall in Suffolk. She became the mistress of Ham House and the Countess of Dysart. In 1672, three years after Sir Lionel's death, she married John Maitland, the Duke of Lauderdale, when his first wife died in that year. Duke of Lauderdale is a title in the Scottish Peerage. Lauderdale is a valley in the Scottish Borders.
Elizabeth Murray became the Countess of Dysart and Duchess of Lauderdale.
Alterations to Ham House.
From The National Trust History of Ham House:
Between 1637-39, William, the First Earl of Dysart, and his wife Catherine, embarked on a series of lavish decorative alterations to the house. These changes were designed to reflect their taste, their favoured status as friends of the King and Queen, and their position as key members of the royal court.
After their marriage, Elizabeth Murray (daughter of William and Catherine) and John Maitland were created Duke and Duchess of Lauderdale. To match their high status, they transformed Ham House into one of the grandest Stuart houses in England.
They extended the house to the south to create more rooms and employed the best craftspeople to provide the finest interiors, furniture, and art. Many of these craftspeople had also worked on royal palaces and collections. They also developed the formal gardens surrounding the house, including a private garden for Elizabeth and a showpiece walled kitchen garden.
