Charlecote House – Painting of Richard Lucy
This painting displayed in the Great Hall of Charlecote House is of Richard Lucy (1619-1677) who was the third son of Sir Thomas Lucy III and Alice Spencer. It’s not known who painted it, but it dates from between 1650 and 1658, showing Richard thinking he’s something of an intellectual with his book and globe. The artwork (and indeed the entire house) was presented to the National Trust in 1946 by Sir Montgomerie Fairfax-Lucy (1896 – 1965), two years after the death of his father, Sir Henry Ramsay-Fairfax, 3rd Bt (1870 – 1944).
Richard Lucy interests me because of the period in which he lived, which was right in the middle of the English Civil War. Richard was the third of six sons of Sir Thomas Lucy (c. 1585–1640) who was himself a Member of Parliament, and his wife Alice Spencer (c. 1590–1648) of Claverden, Warwickshire. The Lucys of Charlecote were significant landowners, known not only for their administrative roles but also as patrons of the arts and scholars, fostering a notable library at Charlecote Richard’s grandfather, another Sir Thomas Lucy (d. 1600), was also an MP and magistrate, famously (though perhaps apocryphally) linked with prosecuting a young William Shakespeare for pinching some deer.
Richard was well educated and he matriculated at Queen’s College at Oxford University on 17 September 1634, recorded as being aged 14. A young learner and all that, he must have been impressively studious for a teenager. Well, and wealthy, that helps. Following university, he undertook a period of foreign travel between 1637 and 1640, a common practice for broadening horizons and completing a gentleman’s education. Later, in 1652, he was admitted as a student to Gray’s Inn, one of the prestigious Inns of Court in London, suggesting an interest in law, even if he didn’t fancy the full wig and gown commitment. Richard wasn’t the most important though as he was third in line, behind his elder brothers Spencer and Robert. Consequently, he did not initially stand to inherit the principal family estate and it was only upon the deaths of both Spencer and Robert that Richard succeeded to Charlecote in 1658.
Richard had done politics, he had been the Sheriff of Warwickshire from 1646 to 1647 and he was appointed to the Barebones Parliament of 1653. This was a small Parliament, tasted primarily with trying to sort out the complete mess that they’d killed the King and they now had a country that was falling apart. His appointment is intriguing as there were no elections in that year to this institution, the members were appointed by Oliver Cromwell’s Army Council. They wouldn’t have selected someone opposed to their aims, so Richard must have been tolerating their work or seen as someone competent enough to have on board to help resolve the mess that had been created.
However, matters soon changed and Richard hit a little snag. He was mentioned as being one of approximately 40 members who were refused admittance to the House of Commons (likely during the Second Protectorate Parliament, around 1656) because they declined to take an oath recognising Cromwell’s government or pledging loyalty to the Protector. This act of refusal places Lucy within a significant group of MPs who resisted the increasing consolidation of power under Cromwell or objected to the specific terms of engagement demanded by the regime.
Despite this little debacle, Lucy’s political standing remained sufficient for him to be elected again and in 1659, for the Third Protectorate Parliament (convened by Richard Cromwell), he achieved the notable distinction of being elected for two constituencies simultaneously: his established seat of Warwickshire and the borough of Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. The rules then are the same as today, he had to pick one and he went with Warwickshire which made sense as he lived there and faffing about getting to the Isle of Wight would have been inconvenient. Although, perhaps he hankered over the island life, as he was elected to Yarmouth the following year and he remained the representative until his death in 1677. Although he remained relatively quiet in this Parliament, he did well to navigate the period when the Monarchy was restored, although as a major landowner it wouldn’t likely have been difficult.
So, all told, he was something of a political survivor and he must have shown some skill in being able to navigate the Commonwealth and the Monarchy, a period of general chaos in England. So, perhaps it was only right that he did appear like an intellectual in this painting…..
