Sir John Fellowes, 1st Baronet

Sir John Fellowes, 1st Baronet (baptised 1670 – 1724)^[2] was an English merchant who was one of the founding directors of the South Sea Company.^[3]

Fellows baronets
Escutcheon of Fellowes
Creation date	1719
Status	extinct
Extinction date	1724
Arms	Azure, a fess ermine dancetty, between three lion's heads or murally crowned (Fellowes, shown). Also quartering Coulson (Colston): argent, two barbels hauriant respectant, as on memorial (seen more clearly on an imari ware dish^[1]).

Life

 

The former Carshalton House, now a school, 2008 photograph

 

Carshalton Water Tower, built for John Fellows

 

Memorial to Sir John Fellowes, All Saints' Church, Carshalton

He was the fourth son of the London merchant William Fellowes and his wife Susannah Coulson, baptised 15 February 1670; William Fellowes was his elder brother.^[2] He traded in cochineal, but came to concentrate on work as a financier.^[4]

In 1712 Fellowes gave communion plate to St Michael Paternoster Royal, with his brother William.^[5] He was the residual heir of Thomas Coulson, his mother's brother, who died in 1713.^[6] Coulson was buried in a vault on the north side of the chancel of St Michael Paternoster Royal, built in 1712 by William and John Fellowes.^[7]

Seat at Carshalton House

John Radcliffe, who was on good terms with Coulson,^[6] bought a house at Carshalton from Edward Carlton, and died there in 1714.^[8] The house came into the ownership of the Daughters of the Cross.^[9] It is now part of St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls.

Fellowes then purchased Carshalton House, in 1715.^[10] But a legal issue on its title arose: Edward Carlton, a tobacco merchant, had been declared bankrupt.^[11][12] Carlton (or Carleton) owed money to the Crown, on his death in 1713. After the accession in 1714 of George I of Great Britain, properties held by Carlton were granted to Fellowes, including a copper mill.^[13] The legal and tax position was rectified, for the properties that had come to Fellowes from Carlton, by a device suggested by Sir William Scawen.^[14] It involved Thomas Scawen buying the house, and selling it on in 1716 to Fellowes.^[15]

Fellowes had the Water Tower built there, at his seat, around 1721. Girouard calls it "The best surviving example of domestic water-architecture of this period". The engineer was Richard Cole. It had a water-wheel, powered by a mill-stream under the tower coming from an artificial pond. Water was pumped both to the house and to a bathroom in the base of the tower.^[16] Above were an orangery, saloon, robing room and a long gallery.^[17] The battlements are an example of the sham medievalism of the time, seen also at Briggens House, built by Robert Chester, another South Sea Company director.^[18]

At Carshalton House, Fellowes also employed the garden designer Charles Bridgeman, and the nurseryman Joseph Carpenter of Brompton Park.^[10][19] The master builder and sculptor Giles Dance worked there in 1720.^[20] The architect Henry Joynes was there around 1720, perhaps being employed on the Water Tower.^[21] Christopher Blincoe, a plasterer, worked on the house in 1719–1720.^[22] Details of the furnishings were in the 1721 inventories of estates of South Sea Bubble figures. Mentioned were caffaw, a "rich silk cloth similar to damask", and culgee, a "figured Indian silk".^[23][24][25]

The Painted Parlour at Carshalton House is by Robert Robinson, a decorative painter and engraver who died in 1706. It therefore dates back to Edward Carlton's ownership. The Oak Parlour had an overmantel wooden carving of Fellowes's coat of arms.^[26][27] Fellowes added the third storey of the house.^[26] It has been described as "A large, solid block of nine by seven bays, built of yellow and red brick, with two storeys and an attic storey above the cornice".^[28]

The Hermitage at Carshalton House may as a building date from Bridgeman's formal garden design for Fellowes. The name isn't attested until the 19th century.^[29]

Later life and death

Fellowes was noted by Habakkuk as being, at the time of the South Sea Bubble speculation, one of the richest of the directors of the South Sea Company.^[30] Sir James Bateman, a Tory ally of Robert Harley, had the "central role" of sub-governor of the company from around 1711 to his death in November 1718.^[31] Fellowes was his successor, and in February 1719 signed a proposal for the South Sea Company going forward, paying down the government debt, with Charles Joye as deputy-governor.^[32]

In the South Sea Company Act 1720, Fellowes was named as "late Sub-Governor", at the head of the group singled out for "many notorious, fraudulent and indirect Practices".^[33] He was also the first of the South Sea Company directory to be called before the parliamentary committee of investigation in 1721. He was fined heavily, nearly all of his personal fortune being distrained. He kept the use of Carshalton House, living there until his death in 1724.^[3][34]

The sugar refineries owned by Fellowes, about ten around the London area, continued in business in 1723.^[35]

Estate and legacy

Fellowes and Sir William Scawen contributed, with others, to the building of the galleries in All Saints' Church, Carshalton, at the beginning of the 18th century.^[36]

The Norfolk Record Office has an archive of Fellowes family records. A "File of receipts to Edward Fellowes for annuities under will of Sir John Fellowes shows that his brother Edward dealt with the estate of Sir John, acting as executor. He was the principal legatee. Edward Fellowes died in 1731. As executor he had dealings with Coulson Fellowes, son of William Fellowes, and nephew of Sir John.^[37][38][39]

Edward Fellowes bought confiscated assets of Sir John's some days before the latter's death in 1724. On his death, his properties passed to his nephew Coulson Fellowes, who disposed of them piecemeal. The copper mill, known as the Carshalton Lower Mill, went to Thomas Scawen, a nephew of Sir William Scawen.^[14]

Fellows baronets, of Carshalton (1719)

The Fellows Baronetcy of Carshalton in the County of Surrey,^[40] in the Baronetage of Great Britain was created on 20 January 1719 for John Fellowes.^[34][41] Because Fellowes left no heir, the title became extinct on his death in 1724.

References

1. "Chinese armorial dish imari English Fellowes Coulson Kangxi". galerienicolasfournery.com. 31 January 2019.
2. Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1909). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 8 Notes. London: Priv. printed. pp. 55–57.
3. Rogers, Pat (17 February 2022). Defoe's Tour and Early Modern Britain: Panorama of the Nation. Cambridge University Press. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-1-009-11649-7.
4. Galinou, Mireille (2004). City Merchants and the Arts, 1670-1720. Oblong for the Corporation of London. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-9536574-4-5.
5. Freshfield, Edwin (1894). The Communion Plate of the Churches in the City of London. London: Rixon & Arnold. p. 118.
6. "Coulson, Thomas (1645-1713), of Tower Royal, London. History of Parliament Online". historyofparliamentonline.org.
7. Further return to an order of the Honourable House of Commons, dated 2 August 1894: for Return "comprising the Reports made to the Charity Commissioners, in the result of an inquiry held in every parish wholly or partly within the Administrative County of London into endowments: subject to the provisions of the Charitable Trusts Acts, 1853-1891, and appropriated in whole or in part for the benefit of that County, or any part thereof, together with the Reports on those endowments of the Commissioners for Inquiring Concerning Charities, 1818-1837. Vol. 6. Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. 1897–1904. p. 550.
8. Surrey: Highways, Byways, and Waterways. Bliss, Sands, & Foster. 1895. p. 24.
9. Limited, Country Life (1962). Country Houses Open to the Public: A Concise Guide to All the Greater Country Houses and to Many Lesser Houses of Architectural Or Historic Interest which are Now Open to the Public in Great Britain. Country Life Limited. p. 77.
10. Jacques, David (1 January 2017). Gardens of Court and Country: English Design, 1630-1730. Yale University Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-300-22201-2.
11. Treasury, Great Britain (1883). Calendar of Treasury Papers. Longman & Company. p. 139.
12. Parks and Gardens (31 December 1749). "Carshalton House – Sutton". Parks & Gardens.
13. Malden, Henry Elliot (1967). The Victoria History of the County of Surrey. A. Constable, limited. p. 181.
14. "13–13 Lower Mill, Carshalton". wandle.org.
15. Denbigh, Kathleen (1978). Preserving London. R. Hale. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-7091-6732-7.
16. Girouard, Mark (1 January 1978). Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History. Yale University Press. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-300-05870-3.
17. "Carshalton Water Tower, Carshalton, Grade II Listed" (PDF). wandlevalleypark.co.uk.
18. Hertfordshire Archaeology. St. Albans and Hertforshire Architectural and Archaeological Society. 1988. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-907548-03-4.
19. Willis, Peter (2002). Charles Bridgeman and the English Landscape Garden. Elysium. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-904712-04-9.
20. Gunnis, Rupert (1968). Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851 (Revised ed.). p. 121.
21. Howard Colvin (1978). A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840. John Murray. p. 477. ISBN 0-7195-3328-7.
22. Beard, Geoffrey W. (1986). Craftsmen and interior decoration in England 1660-1820. Bloomsbury Books. p. 247.
23. Notes and Queries. Oxford University Press. 1858. p. 244.
24. Sites, New York (State) Bureau of Historic (1977). Schuyler Mansion: A Historic Structure Report. State of New York, New York State Parks and Recreation. p. 23.
25. Sarkar, Ajoy K.; Tortora, Phyllis G.; Johnson, Ingrid (4 November 2021). The Fairchild Books Dictionary of Textiles. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-5013-6508-9.
26. "Carshalton House (IOE01/00216/21) Archive Item – Images of England Collection, Historic England". historicengland.org.uk.
27. "Robert Robinson, British Museum". britishmuseum.org.
28. Pevsner, Nikolaus; Nairn, I. (1962). The Buildings of England: Surrey. Penguin Books. p. 113.
29. Campbell, Gordon (28 March 2013). The Hermit in the Garden: From Imperial Rome to Ornamental Gnome. Oxford: OUP. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-19-164448-1.
30. Habakkuk, H. J. (1994). Marriage, Debt, and the Estates System: English Landownership, 1650-1950. Clarendon Press. p. 566. ISBN 978-0-19-820398-8.
31. "Bateman, Sir James (c.1660-1718), of Shobdon Court, nr. Leominster, Herefs. and Soho Square, London. History of Parliament Online". historyofparliamentonline.org.
32. Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of (1803). Journals of the House of Commons. H.M. Stationery Office. pp. 247–248.
33. The Statutes at Large. Vol. V. 1763. p. 358.
34. H.E. Malden, ed. (1912). "Parishes: Carshalton". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
35. Cavert, William M. (2017). "Industrial coal consumption in early modern London". Urban History. 44 (3): 440. doi:10.1017/S0963926815000991. ISSN 0963-9268. JSTOR 26398765. S2CID 147396621.
36. Manning, Owen; Bray, William (1974). The History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey. EP Pub. in collaboration with Surrey County Library. p. 514. ISBN 978-0-85409-603-9.
37. "File of receipts to Edward Fellowes for annuities under will of Sir John Fellowes. – Norfolk Record Office Online Catalogue". nrocatalogue.norfolk.gov.uk.
38. Surrey Archaeological Society, Guilford (1913). Surrey archaeological collections, relating to the history and antiquities of the county. London, etc. p. 113.
39. Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1909). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 8 Notes. London: Priv. printed. p. 57.
40. "No. 5710". The London Gazette. 10 January 719. p. 2.
41. Cokayne, George Edward (1906). Complete Baronetage. Exeter: W. Pollard & Co. p. 48.