Charlecote House – Billiards Room (Colonel Sir Henry Fairfax-Lucy)

This artwork is located in the billiards room at Charlecote House and is a painting of Colonel Sir Henry Fairfax-Lucy (1870-1944). The date of the artwork is unknown, but the artist was Alfred Edward Borthwick (1871-1955) and he has painted Fairfax-Lucy wearing the uniform of the Royal Company of Archers.

As some background, he was born Henry William Fairfax on 25 September 1870 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and he was the eldest son of Sir William George Herbert Taylor Ramsay-Fairfax, 2nd Baronet, whose family seat was Maxton in Roxburghshire, Scotland. His education followed the conventional path for his class, attending Eton College and it was evident that he would go on to do great things. Upon the death of his father on 19 January 1902, he succeeded to the baronetcy, becoming the 3rd Baronet Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy (the ‘Lucy’ having been added previously into what was becoming a ridiculously long name if I’m being honest, although I’d likely take a double barrelled name if I got a country house from the arrangement). Alongside the title, he inherited the family estate of Maxton and at this time has embarked on quite a successful military career. He also managed to become a chartered accountant, which doesn’t feel like an obvious fit alongside a military career and numerous political responsibilities, but I suppose that someone has to do it.

As for the link with this property. On 26 July 1892, Sir Henry (then Henry William Ramsay-Fairfax) married Ada Christina Lucy (1866-1943). Ada was the eldest daughter and, crucially, the heiress of Henry Spencer Lucy of Charlecote Park. Her father had died in 1890, and Ada inherited the historic Charlecote estate. This marriage thus brought Charlecote Park, with its centuries of Lucy family history, into the sphere of the Ramsay-Fairfax family. Despite the historical significance and grandeur of Charlecote Park, Sir Henry reportedly preferred to live in Scotland, presumably at his ancestral estate of Maxton. Nevertheless, he remained involved in the parish life of Charlecote. During the Second World War, he offered his services in an advisory capacity to Winston Churchill, though this offer was apparently not taken up which I imagine Sir Henry felt was sub-optimal.

I was interested in Henry (if I might call him that) as this was the last real period when the property was run as a country house. Following his death in August 1944, the baronetcy and the associated estates, including the financially strained Charlecote, passed to his eldest son, Sir Henry Montgomerie Cameron-Ramsay-Fairfax-Lucy (1896-1965), who became the 4th Baronet. It seems that there are numerous factors here including the more obvious death duties which would have been substantial. However, his interest in his Scottish estate did mean that there had been a lack of investment at Charlecote and it wasn’t in the best state of repair, another factor as to why it was all given to the National Trust in 1946. The decision was also clearly being made much earlier, as the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald reported on 1 June 1945 that the property was likely being given to the Trust, so discussions about this seem to have begun shortly after the Colonel’s death.

So, as a painting, this feels important as Henry was a pivotal figure. I can’t imagine that he could have saved Charlecote in terms of keeping it as a family house, and the National Trust deal did mean that the family could continue to live in one wing of the property permanently anyway. His life was certainly an interesting one, even if he didn’t get to work for Winston Churchill…..