The Fifth Baronet (1870)

Sir Thomas Freeman Heathcote died without issue in 1825 and was succeeded by his nephew the third Sir William, the fifth baronet of Hursley, who was born in 1801. Sir William’s father was the Reverend William Heathcote ‘Rector of Worting, Hampshire and Prebendary of the Cathedral of Winchester’ who was the second son of the second Sir William, the third baronet. The third Sir William inherited many characteristics of the second Sir William and followed a very similar career. He gained a BA. at Oriel College Oxford (where his tutor was the Reverend John Keble) and in 1825 he started to read law at the Temple. In the same year, he inherited the property, estate, and duties of his uncle. In the latter part of 1825 he married, and in the following year he was elected member for the county ‘on the Tory interest’. The following years are recorded as being exceptionally happy for him, coming to a tragic end in 1835 with the death of Lady Heathcote, who left him three sons and a daughter. At this time, Sir William gave his old friend and tutor John Keble the ‘living’ at Hursley. During the next few years,

Sir William Heathcote, Fifth Baronet, 1870

Sir William’s mother lived at Hursley to look after the children, relinquishing these duties in 1841 when Sir William re-married and started a new era of happiness and public service. Having earlier retired from Parliament for health reasons, he entered Parliament again as MP for Oxford University and became a privy counsellor. In his public work he had much to do with the building of Winchester prison and hospital, and with the administration of justice in Winchester. By his second wife he had four sons and four daughters.

Hursley House from the north-east, 1825 to 1902

In 1829 Sir William Heathcote added new coach houses, a clock tower and tack room to the stable complex, closing a stable yard formed by the stable wall, the stables and the living quarters for the coachmen and grooms. During the 1840s, the farm buildings at the Merdon Castle site were demolished and a new farm, the present Home Farm, was built. The castle site was thus clear for the first time in some three hundred years. The new Home Farm was for many years a show farm, and a point of interest for visitors to the estate.

Hursley House from the south-west, 1825 to 1902