Alicia Wallop Of Marlow Place

Alicia Wallop née Borlase, born circa 1658, deserves a place in Marlow history as the probable first occupier of Marlow Place. 

Alicia's paternal grandfather founded the grammar school in Marlow on a charitable basis as well as a lace making school. One of the first things any writer or commentator wrote about Marlow in the centuries that followed was always the Borlase charity bequest, so Alicia would have reason to have grown up feeling proud of her birth family.

She married John Wallop Esquire of Farleigh Wallop in Hampshire in 1683. In that county they made their home and that of their 7 children. 

In 1688 Alicia's mother Joan died and made her and her sisters executors of her will and its residuary legatees. The sisters were also to share their mother's jewelry.

John Wallop's death in 1694 began a decades long widowhood for Alicia. She was the executor of his will. As her the guardian of her children she had to represent their interests in their Hampshire, Devon, Dorset and Somerset estates and inheritances  while they were minors. Part of that responsibility was managing political matters in what would be the inherited sphere of influence for her husband's young heirs. As such Alicia strongly supported the Whig political candidate William Guidott. So skilled at persuasion was she that the Corporation of Andover complained that she was making voters break their solemn promises to vote for Guidott's rivals -something which would have been an enormous breach of gentlemanly conduct for those voters. Guidott won but was later found to be embezzling funds from the Duchess of Marlborough's estates leading to supporters distancing themselves from him.

Alicia was busy elsewhere, engaging in some land speculation in the Bond Street area of London as part of a wealthy syndicate. She was the only female member of the syndicate. Other efforts to increase her wealth included her interest in playing the Lottery! There's no evidence that she won anything, sadly.

In 1705 her mother in law Dorothy Wallop left Alicia £100 to buy a ring in her memory.

By 1721, probably not too much before that, Alicia moved to Great Marlow. Her home was probably not yet Marlow Place as it does not seem to have been built for a few years yet but Alicia was resident in that house by 1741, probably by 1734. Her will was written at her St James London home in 1731 but she mentions her Marlow mansion and at other times appears to be back in Hampshire so she was obviously a bit of a floater when it came to residency.

Alicia died on 20th October 1744 and was buried with her husband and other Wallops at the church of St John in Farleigh Wallop though in her will she was one of the many people of the day who simply instructed their executors to bury them decently wherever they saw fit. The memorial to her erected in the church by her only surviving son, the Earl of Portsmouth, stated that Alicia had seen and conversed much with the world in her lifetime but chose to spend her later years in quiet and Christian retirement. She was said to be a constant friend to the poor and one who had approached life with "great decency, prudence and wisdom" as a "very virtuous and exemplary woman".

In the will Alicia left £10 to the poor of Marlow and £10 to those of Fairleigh. All servants employed by her at the time of her death were to get £5 each to buy mourning clothes. Black clothes were expensive to produce and had good second hand resale value so the servants were likely well pleased with this bequest.

The main beneficiaries of her will were the only two of her seven children who survived her- daughter Mary and son John.

Related content:

History of Marlow Place here

More posts like this in the biographies Of Individuals Index here

Sources included:

Wills of Alicia Wallop, John Wallop, Dorothy Wallop and Joan Borlase, transcribed by me from wills at the National Archives, Kew.

Hayton, D., Handley, S., Cruickshanks, E. (2002). The House of Commons, 1690-1715. United Kingdom: History of Parliament Trust.

Cosmic Rays: Essays on Science and Technology from Royal Institution: Essays in Science and Technology from the Royal Institution. (2001). United Kingdom: OUP/The Royal Institution. [Despite its title this collection contains some London property history].

House of Lords Journal Volume 16. London. Pp 503-504. British History Online.

Property records.