Gennings Park

Gennings Park (sometimes spelt Jennings, and referred to as Gennings House or Gennings Court), located on Lughorse Lane in Maidstone, Kent, is a Grade II listed house which was built between 1727 and 1745.^[1]

Occupants

In the mid to late 1700s, the House was purchased by Sir Walter Roberts, 6th Bt. His only child, Jane Roberts, inherited the house upon his death. Jane Roberts married George Beauclerk, 3rd Duke of St Albans (a great-grandson of Charles II of England). The 3rd Duke and Duchess of St Albans had no children, and the Duchess died in 1778.^[2]

In 1894, Liberal Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.^[3] inherited the house from an aunt. ^[4] Upon his death, his nephew, James Campbell-Bannerman inherited the estate in 1908. ^[5]

From the 1880's onward, the house was lived in by John Bazley White, ^[6] who lived in the house until at least 1893. ^[7] In 1895 the occupants of the house were Conservative MP and distiller, Sir Frederick Seager Hunt, 1st Bt and his wife. ^[8]

The house was purchased in 1909 by Ellen Stager, wife of Arthur Butler, 4th Marquess of Ormonde, who at the time were known as Lord and Lady Arthur Butler. Lord Arthur was the younger brother and heir to James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde and Lady Arthur, daughter of General Anson Stager was an American heiress who had an inheritance of $1,000,000.^[9] They continued to live at Gennings after Lord Arthur inherited the title Marquess of Ormonde. Lord Ormonde died in 1943 and Lady Ormonde lived at Gennings with her son, Lord Arthur (who would later become Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde in 1949), his wife Jesse and their daughter, Lady Martha, until her death in 1951.^[10]

In 1955 their second son Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde sold Gennings and much of its contents.^[11]

References

Coordinates: 51°13′36″N 0°28′10″E / 51.22676°N 0.46931°E / 51.22676; 0.46931