GOODWOODincomplete. His son inherited the dukedom at the tender
age of 15 and went on to play a prominent role in national
life in both politics and the army. Known as the “Radical
Duke”, he championed the American colonists during the
War of Independence and pushed for universal male
suffrage. Back at Goodwood, he commissioned Sir
William Chambers to build the magnificent stable block,
and James Wyatt to build the kennels and extend the
house. The leading sporting painter George Stubbs
immortalised the Duke’s three favourite sports on canvas,
The 3rd Duke of Richmond with the Charlton Hunt,
Shooting at Goodwood and Racehorses Exercising at
Goodwood, all begun in 1759. When the Duke was
posted as British ambassador to France, he commissioned
a superb set of Sèvres china, painted with birds copied
from George Edwards’ bookA Natural History ofJEFF GILBERT/ ALAMY/ CLIVE BOURSNELLthe first fox hunt in Britain. Its fame drew the elite
of society, including his half-brothers, the Dukes
of Monmouth and St Albans, who all flocked to
this small corner of West Sussex for the sport.
Goodwood lies in the gentle lowlands at the foot of the
South Downs with the English Channel to the south, only
a few miles away. The original house was relatively small
and surrounded by a deer park. It was built in 1616-17 by
the “Wizard Earl” of Northumberland – so-called because
of his fondness for scientific and alchemical experiments
- and had passed through a succession of different owners
before being bought by the 1st Duke of Richmond in
- His son, the 2nd Duke of Richmond, added a south
wing, to house his ever-growing family and display some
of the artwork he had bought on his “Grand Tour” –
a cultural jaunt around mainland Europe that became
something of a rite of passage for upper-class young
men during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The 2nd Duke was a highly-cultured Renaissance man
whose interests spanned the arts, gardening and natural
history. He created a private menagerie at Goodwood,
where he kept an exotic array of birds and wild animals,
including lions, tigers and monkeys. Most of the animals
died as nobody knew how to look after them properly, but
they were certainly a matter of keen interest among the
locals. The 2nd Duke was at the forefront of horticultural
advances, nurturing exotic specimens here that had just
arrived from America and supporting ground-breaking
publications on natural history. Against this backdrop,
sport was enjoyed: hunting and shooting in the winter
months and cricket in the summer. The earliest written
rules of cricket were drawn up for a match between the
second duke and Alan Brodrick in 1727.
Tragically, the 2nd Duke of Richmond died in 1750 in
the prime of his life, aged just 49, leaving many projects