1729 – 1799

Sir Thomas Gatehouse was the son of the minor gentlemen, Thomas Gatehouse and inherited his Danebury estate, in particular lease of Nether Wallop rectory. In 1761 his wife accrued the Headley Park estate of her father, the minor literary figure. William Huggins The younger Gatehouse saw himself among the county elite as he was sheriff of Hampshire in 1762, and knighted. He sought ‘the Nobility and Gentry of the county’ as readers for his History of Hampshire/ Survey of the County of Southampton’.  He made the large claims for his research, which was patchy in coverage and of depth. It is of limited value for his own era, the 1770s, and was never published. Gatehouse overstretched his resources and was obliged to sell up, escaping a worse fate only because the purchaser was Walter Blunt, a cadet of the banking family, who had married his daughter Maria-Anne. A long list of Sir Thomas’ debts (£11,000), mainly to the tradesmen, survives at Hampshire Record Office. He even had to auction his library in 1776.

Sources

Southampton University MS 5/15;
Hicks, M (1990), ‘Lessor v. Lessee: Nether Wallop Rectory 1701-1870’, Hants Field Club Proc 46.
Hicks, M (1994)‘ Hampshire and the Isle of Wight’, English County Histories: A Guide, ed. C.R.J.. Currie and C.P. Lewis, Gloucester p172

Portrait

Contribution to county’s history

Very slight value for the 1770s.  

Relevant published works

• None

Critical Comments

Unfinished and not worthy of publication.

Other Comments

Contributor

Michael Hicks

Key Words

Hampshire, county history

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