By the 18th century, the Manor of Bemerton had descended through the Grobham family to John Howe, who became the 4th Baron Chedworth.  He rarely visited his estate in Wiltshire and lived in seclusion in Suffolk, indulging himself in his passion for Shakespeare. 

 

He died in 1804, unmarried and without children, when the baronetcy became extinct.  Chedworth left his estate to his close theatrical friends and advisors, which was considered outrageous by his relatives.  By far the largest share of his wealth was left to his legal adviser, Richard Wilson. Chadworth’s family contested the will on the grounds of his insanity but their claim was unsuccessful. 

 

Richard Wilson, Esq, a solicitor of Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London, therefore inherited half of Lord Chedworth’s estates in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire and a sum of £40,000, which made him an extremely wealthy man. 

 

Wilson was a political opportunist from Northumberland, known as ‘Morpeth Dick’, and quickly assimilated himself among the great and good at Westminster.  He won the Ipswich by-election but held the seat for only a year before he lost it in the following general election.  

 

As far as we know, there is no record of Wilson having involved himself in his Wiltshire inheritance. But when the estate was put up for auction, a ‘Mr Wilson’ – perhaps a relative acting as one of the executors of his estate – lived in the Manor House, which then was on land opposite today’s Bemerton Farm retirement complex.   

 

Wilson also inherited the Gloucestershire estate of his brother, who was a surgeon; he sold off that land to buy Bildeston Manor in Suffolk as his country retreat, gave up his legal practice in London and retired to set up a racing stud. 

 

After Richard Wilson died in 1834 Bemerton was put up for sale by auction in lots of varying sizes, according to his wishes.