Trereife: A House of Character and Characters

By Tim Le Grice

Trereife, Tim Le Grice’s historical Cornish residence, described by Pevsner as ‘one of the most charming houses in Cornwall’ has been home to a diverse range of characters over six generations of the author’s ancestors. Brought together within this book are fascinating forbears on both sides of the family. Charles Valentine le Grice, educated at Christ’s Hospital with his great friends Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Charles Lamb; Herbert Ward who served with the explorer Stanley in darkest Africa before becoming a sculptor of some renown and who was the dear friend of Irish Nationalist Roger Casement until Casement was convicted with treason; and Andrew Downes, youngest lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy before the First World War, represent just a few of the many characters who made Trereife their home. This book with a Cornish core charts the life of these and other personalities of Trereife from the late seventeenth century to the present day; residents, visitors, guests are all brought to life through the sharing of a vast array of family stories, letters and other personal archives, memoirs and material. Triumphs and tragedies abound, and the work to preserve Trereife for future generations continues.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Dec 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781399012409

Book preview

Prologue

Peter Beacham’s reference to Trereife in Pevsner’s Guide to Cornish Buildings was most apposite. He describes the house as ‘one of the most charming houses in Cornwall’, having alluded to the various alterations and extensions which have been made to the original farmhouse. It could be said that the various changes to the house have been comparable to the character of those who have occupied it, or had some affinity to it over the years. The house is not a mansion but when taking parties around it, so many are affected by the enormous feeling of history it conveys. I share these feelings.

The Nicholls family built the original farmhouse on the site of Trereife and it was a member of this family, John Nicholls, who was responsible for the new appearance of the house at the beginning of the eighteenth century, after he had graduated from the farming and land-owning roots of his family to become a successful Middle Temple Barrister. He decided, influenced no doubt by the new houses he saw while living and working in London after arriving there in 1680 at the age of 17, to create at Trereife a house in the style of the Queen Anne period. In undertaking this he could hardly have been more ambitious, Trereife being some 300 miles from London. Indeed he and his family were almost undone by the extravagance of his ambitions. He rubbed shoulders with the aristocratic Cornish families and altogether appears to have gained a considerable reputation at the Bar.

Those living in the neighbourhood near Trereife must have been questioning when, far exceeding the mere enlarging of Trereife, he arranged effectively for a new Queen Anne front to be constructed on the back of the original farmhouse. The vicissitudes of attempting this became apparent later when the expense became an overwhelming factor, but the beauty of what he created with its balanced symmetry could hardly have been more successful. The Blackmore prints reproduced here are dated just fifty years after this front was completed in 1711 and shows how it now appeared before it was extended.

A certain amount has changed over the centuries, but the house remains intrinsically the same. The original farmhouse facing in the opposite direction with its two wings, mullioned windows and large fireplace bearing the date 1603, is preserved but does not detract from the classical front of the house.

There have been improvements and additions all consistent with the determination of different members of the Nicholls family to do justice to the fact that they have been able to achieve the construction at Trereife of a property of quality and size.

Whatever the additional financial strain imposed by these improvements to the house, the fact is that they all now seem complementary to each other. An impressive stable block was added in the early Georgian period, extending in part to the front. Nothing seems to have been spared as the house increased in size, including the building of a new walled garden of appearance and size befitting the house itself.

By now the Nicholls family itself had assumed their position as ‘gentry’, having started as yeoman farmers before John Nicholls achieved so much. Peter Beacham goes on to describe the interior in Pevsner’s guide as ‘full of good detail of engagingly disparate periods in the panelling, plasterwork, chimney pieces and of various patterns of Gothic glazing’. It is these variations throughout the house which contrast with the simplicity of the Queen Anne front.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Trereife became a pivot for the meeting of the Nicholls and le Grice families. Against this background I then include passing reference to such diverse characters as the poet Coleridge, the explorer Stanley, the Daily Mail founder Harmsworth, the Irish Republican Casement, and conclude with my own Memoirs of a Racing Man on a lower level, admittedly, but inspired by Siegfried Sassoon’s Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man, a classic book of its time. These characters derive their presence through the tentacles of the ‘Trereife Kinship’, individuals of which are included for specified reasons in this book.

Chapter 1

‘Nicholls’ and ‘le Grys’

Trereife proved to be the common denominator between these families, who otherwise could hardly have been more disparate.

The Nicholls family were responsible for the building and virtual rebuilding of Trereife through the centuries, as they enlarged the house after acquiring more land. Until the beginning of the seventeenth century, so committed had they become to Trereife that their original surname was ‘Trereife’.

The family Nicholls, as their surname became, could only have prospered to the extent they did through their farming and land ownership by skill and hard work. Additionally, as was not unusual at that time, they acquired more land through judicious and successful marriages.

One such marriage by William Nicholls was to a Miss Godolphin who brought with her, as a dowry, considerable land at Paul. The Godolphin family, through its major holdings of tin, had become, by the seventeenth century, the leading family in Cornwall, and the Earl of Godolphin assumed high office in the reign of Queen Anne. The Nicholls family gained a higher position themselves in the neighbourhood. There is a plan of their estate showing that they became the owners of 500 acres of land. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that John Nicholls thought himself able to make all his changes to the house.

The early history of the le Grys family, using the original spelling, has its roots in Normandy. In the train the Earl of Montgomery, a vassal of William the Conqueror, a certain FitzGrys, fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Following this Norman victory, FitzGrys received land in Wales, and after several centuries the family emerge in Norfolk and Suffolk. It was there, in the early seventeenth century, that a certain Robert le Grys first lived before joining the court of Charles I and receiving the favours of the king.

By royal command, Robert le Grys then published his translation into English in 1629 of His Argenis written by John Barclay. For this, principally, he was knighted, but the recognition he obtained was earned also, according to the citation, for his invention of a dip for sheep. Encouraged by this, Sir Robert, obviously a man of many different parts, all but persuaded the king to entrust him with the education of his son, the future Charles II. He had devised a simplified course in ‘kingship and other princely attainments’, so he informed the king. Unfortunately, Sir Robert’s proposals did not meet with the king’s favour and, undaunted, Sir Robert sought another very different position: the Governorship of St Mawes Castle in Cornwall. That castle, with Pendennis Castle the other side of the Fal estuary, provided a means of controlling ships sailing into Falmouth with their cargos. Sir Robert progressed across the Tamar into Cornwall to take up his appointment at St Mawes, and was the first member of his family to reach Cornwall before the arrival of his descendant, Val le Grice, who came to Cornwall in 1797 as tutor to the Nicholls family at Trereife. The governorship of St Mawes Castle was little more than a sinecure, but Sir Robert suffered the penalty for total misuse of his appointment. Possibly he deserved his punishment since he had left for Cornwall hurriedly, having acquired a divorce from his first wife – unusual for that period – and failed to pay his tailor’s bill for a court uniform. That bill had been outstanding from his first appearance at court and the records suggest that it is unpaid to this day. Undeterred – and this appears to be very much his character – Sir Robert then proceeded to marry his second wife, a wealthy widow of the Trefusis family, suggesting that he was intending to remain in Cornwall beyond the legal reach of king and tailors.

Sir Robert appears to have been little short of a freebooter or pirate himself. Hardly did he render to the king adequate dues as governor of the castle but, far worse, were the actions he took when facing an unusually cold Cornish winter. He seems to have ignored the importance of the castle’s wooden fortifications by using some of the wood from the main entrance to augment his scarce supply. He appears to have created a number of enemies in the locality and his actions were reported to the king.

The indictment issued against Sir Robert listed both offences. That of taking the legal wood appears to have been the more serious of the two and beyond defence. As to the king’s dues for liquor, he claimed that his permitted ‘personal’ consumption accounted for the apparent discrepancy. Sir Robert could hardly have been more out of favour now and he endured the last few months of his life in prison awaiting trial for treason, for which he would have to return to London. It was probably as well he died before facing such a trial with its inevitable result.

Sir Robert’s descendants adopted the modern spelling of ‘le Grice’ and lived in comparative obscurity after his rise and fall, for the most part as clergymen in various Norfolk and Suffolk parishes.

The next more notable figure in the family was the Reverend Charles le Grice who won a reputation for high intelligence and disagreement with his bishop, the Bishop of Ely. His portrait hangs at Trereife. He died aged only 50 in 1792, the year in which his eldest son Val le Grice went to Trinity College, Cambridge. Endorsed on the back of this portrait is his son’s reference to the fact that he went to Trinity by his father’s ‘especial desire’ rather than to St John’s College, his college. Well before he died, Charles le Grice was responsible for ensuring that both his elder sons Val and Sam were sent direct to Christ’s Hospital for their schooling. This was a very propitious period for the school’s reputation, among whose other pupils were Sam Coleridge and Charles Lamb, both great friends of Val.

Chapter 2

John Nicholls

John Nicholls was only 17 in 1680, and was to inherit Trereife. Normally, as the eldest son, he should have remained in Cornwall like his forebears. For reasons not apparent now but possibly as a result of his obvious intelligence, his parents decided otherwise. That year he is described as having been ‘sent’ to London to become a lawyer. He is then described as serving a ‘laborious’ clerkship before becoming a clerk in Chancery and then a fully fledged lawyer. The longer-term repercussions of sending him further afield could not have been foreseen. Not only did he prove to be very successful as a lawyer but living in London at that time, he must have decided that when he returned to Cornwall he would improve the appearance of Trereife to match the design of new houses in London. He was, of course, practising his law at the time of what became known as ‘Queen Anne’ architecture.

John Nicholls was a Middle Temple Barrister for several years and must have been recognised at once for his ability. It was not long before he was instructed by members of Cornish aristocracy living in London who became his friends. It is perhaps surprising, however, to find that he appointed, as his executors, three of their number. It was against this background, and finding himself with increasing resources, that John must have decided that the original farmhouse at Trereife should be improved on his return to Cornwall. By now he had become an eminent London barrister and was able to arrange for his two eldest sons to be educated at Westminster College. It must have been after they finished there that John decided to establish a suitable seat for the family in Cornwall, now that he had improved the family’s reputation through his ability as a lawyer.

Whether it was possible for John to supervise the virtual rebuilding of Trereife while continuing in practice 300 miles away is not known, but at some stage he must have decided to adopt a very radical design for the improved house at Trereife, to which he would be retiring. In effect, the house was turned round and the new Queen Anne front was built on the back of the original farmhouse. The regularity of the new architectural style, John had witnessed in London, could only have appealed to the balance of his legal mind.

Possibly John was persuaded, too easily, to adopt the period design for houses in London for his own house 300 miles away in Cornwall. The fact that he did undertake this, however, reflects the fruits of his undoubted success at the Bar and more sophisticated taste. Yet, at the same time, so important were his memories of his home, that he determined to retain certain parts of it intact. This did not deter him from his grandiose plans, as they must have been considered in Cornwall, for turning Trereife around so that the original farmhouse front became the rear of a Queen Anne house. Nothing, not even the expense, which he grossly underestimated, daunted him when he began to undertake the alterations to the house which would now look out upon Mounts Bay and Saint Michael’s Mount.

John died in 1714 aged only 51, having not long retired from the Bar. He had been able to enjoy just over two years of retirement living again at the much changed Trereife. The situation prevailing on his death appears to have been that the builder who had carried out extensive work on the house had been prepared to allow John to ‘enjoy’ those two years before taking legal action to obtain his final payment. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, he was unprepared to make any further allowance for William Nicholls, the eldest of John’s sons who inherited Trereife and the debt. The monstrously large sum of £4,000 in the currency of the time was outstanding for the remaining cost of the work. This had severe repercussions. Extreme action was necessary to counter the builder’s actions. William did not possess sufficient resources himself to pay the amount outstanding and found himself committed to a debtors’ prison, the only negative resort being open to his builder taking action in London. Unfortunately, the main Nicholls Family Trust, which owned substantial property elsewhere, could not be used for the payment of this debt for the rebuilding of Trereife under the terms of the Trust. The Trustees were not blind to William’s plight and were able to extend their legal powers by applying for, and obtaining, an Act of the King – the equivalent of a Private Act of Parliament. Whatever the cost of obtaining the financial benefit resulting from such an Act to vary the Trust including, no doubt, a fee payable to the monarch, this large sum was found and the debt paid to the builder. William, released from the debtors’ prison at last, was able to enjoy his inheritance. It is surprising that a member of the Nicholls family having been driven into bankruptcy for the creation of this extravagant house, his immediate successor would then call it his Seat. Beauty has come out of disaster.

John, himself, was fortunate not to be associated with the problems created by what he undertook at Trereife. He is best remembered now by his memorial in Madron church where he and his family must have worshipped over a long period as evidenced by the parish records in which the family was called ‘Trereife’ or ‘Nicholls’ originally.

‘Near this place in the grave of his Fathers

Whom he honour’d lyes interr’d the body of

JOHN NICHOLLS of Trereife esquire

Who being born in the year of our Lord 1663

Was sent to London in the year 1680

And have served in a laborious Clerkship

Was in 1688 sworn one of the Clerks

Of the High Court of Chancery

And having with great industry and integrity

Encreased the paternal estates of his family

And was in the year 1705 call’d to the Bar

By the Society of the Middle Temple

Where having for some years

Practised with success

He retired to the seat of his ancestors

And having made many improvements

Departed this life the 3rd day of August 1714

In the 53rd year of his life

Leaving three sons and one daughter

Of whom IKEL his daughter

And SAMUEL his youngest son

(By whose order this monument is erected

Lye here likewise interr’d)

Chapter 3

Francis Nicholls

John Nicholls having died in 1714 aged only 51 was not able, therefore, to witness even the early career of his gifted middle son, Francis, whose success in the medical world was at least equal to, if it did not surpass, his in the legal world. Francis was himself brought up in London, as was his elder brother William, but no doubt he visited Trereife regularly, the more so after his father retired.

Both Francis and William were educated at Westminster School. Following this, Francis became a medical student at Exeter College Oxford in 1715 and graduated as a BA in 1718, MA in 1721, MB in 1725 and finally as an MD in 1730. He was