Published in Windlesora 28 (2012)
©2012, WLHG
Member of Parliament for Windsor, Honorary Colonel of a Militia Regiment, Deputy Lieutenant for Tower Hamlets, an ostensible friend of the blind and wife of an heiress, Robert Richardson-Gardner was superficially a model of Victorian society. Yet he had been thrown out of the Junior Carlton Club, strongly criticised by a High Court judge for ejecting his tenants when they did not vote for him, had attempted to subvert the Will of his father-in-law, was turned down for a baronetcy and petitioned for divorce on grounds of cruelty and adultery by his second wife, a 21-year-old actress. Queen Victoria’s Member may have been an officer, but he was definitely not a gentleman.
Robert’s family had been successful merchant mariners for at least a couple of generations before their move to Swansea during the 1820s and subsequent local prominence. They had become major players in the copper trade and were also involved in shipbuilding and ship repairing. Robert was born to John and Elizabeth Richardson in 1827, the fifth of seven sons and the seventh of twelve children.
There is no evidence that Robert shone in his studies, or had any business acumen. The first time his name appeared in the press was in 1850 when he was in the dock in Swansea for assaulting a ship broker. Notwithstanding that at 6′ 2″ Robert was considerably taller than his victim, he went about his job with a horse-whip. It would appear that Hartwell Morrice had repeated some scurrilous verses written about Robert, who had clearly not made a good impression on the local community. Robert was fined £50.
Whether this incident was the catalyst for his leaving Swansea is not known, but by 1851 he was in London studying to be a barrister. Robert qualified in 1853, but did not practice. This was presumably because in 1854 he married Maria Louisa Gardner, the only child of a very wealthy brewer, Henry Gardner.
Given her father’s wealth, Maria Louisa might well have aimed higher than the fifth son of a copper merchant and ship-owner. The size of the marriage settlement is not known, but Robert’s father also contributed to what must have been a large sum. The childless couple moved to Hampshire and Robert ostensibly took a job with a branch of his family’s firm in Southampton, but his real interests seem to have been the militia and amateur dramatics.
The mid-1860s were a turning point for Robert. He was back in the new in 1864 when he almost literally tried to kidnap Garibaldi on his much heralded arrival at the start of a tour of England. Garibaldi was an international hero and there had been much debate as to who should house and entertain him when he arrived at Southampton. Robert side-stepped the argument by hiring a yacht, meeting Garibaldi’s boat as it entered the harbour, and attempting to persuade him that he was his official host. When the official party realised what was happening they intervened, but Robert did manage to bargain a dinner invitation with Garibaldi.
In short order Robert then changed his surname to Richardson-Gardner, was appointed Honorary Colonel of the North East London Rifles and a Deputy Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets. He moved to London and set about seducing and bullying the inhabitants of Windsor, where he was determined to become MP. It was around this time that he commenced buying workmen’s cottages.
In 1866 he paired up with Sir Henry Drummond Wolff to fight Windsor for the Tories. At the last minute, they pulled out, citing the unfair behaviour of their Whig opponents. By 1868, as part of election reforms, the seat had been reduced to a single member and Robert stood against the incumbent, Roger Eykyn.
Prior to the 1868 election Robert arranged for his rifle company to come down to Windsor and put on a display. His request to allow his column to be preceded by wives and sweethearts acting as ‘vivandières‘ was turned down, providing the local press with another opportunity to take him to task. Robert stood down as an Honorary Colonel in 1869, when he was presented with a magnificent silver cup.
The run-up to the election was full of incidents, with a mob chasing Robert through Bachelors’ Acre and allegations of corruption by both sides. Robert lost the election by a handful of votes and lodged a Petition, the case being heard at an Assize held in the Guildhall. It became clear that Robert would not win the suit and he did not present all of the evidence he had originally intended, no doubt fearing that some of his own dirty washing would be aired in public.
Robert became involved in another court case in 1870. It was normal for Conservative politicians to apply to join the Carlton Club, but since there was a waiting list they often chose first to join the Junior Carlton. In 1869 Robert left some brochures with the doorman of the Junior Carlton asking him to give them to members; they concerned a conservative newspaper publishing venture, the Windsor Herald, with which he was involved. One of the co-founders had been Lieutenant John Fremantle of the Life Guards. How he fell out with Fremantle is not known, but by 1869 they were on bad terms and Fremantle sent copies of Robert’s pamphlet in unpaid envelopes to members of the Carlton Club, which by then Robert had also joined. Robert complained to the committee implying that Fremantle had been guilty of forgery as well as childishness, but failed to turn up before them to justify his complaint. Robert was expelled from the Junior Carlton and his case against the Club for unfair expulsion was lost.
Fremantle, who had to resign from the Junior Carlton, was himself an interesting character. In the 1860s he had paid for the rebuilding of the Windsor Theatre, which was subsequently bought by Robert, and he threatened to stand against Robert at the next election, but by 1874 he was dead of consumption.
The most well-known of the cottage projects was Gardner Cottages, which bear both the Gardner and Richardson arms above the entrance doorways to the central court, completed in 1871. These were actually paid for by Henry Gardner, Maria Louisa’s father, and later transferred into her name. They also owned Dabb’s, Prince Consort and Victoria Cottages, over 200 dwellings in total.
In the winter of 1871/2, Robert and Maria Louisa made a long journey by train to Russia. While they were away the Prince of Wales came close to death and on his recovery, there were national celebrations. Robert instructed his local agent to organise an ox-roast in the Gardner Cottages courtyard, which was attended by Prince and Princess Christian, followed by a firework display, Robert was fond of fireworks and shortly after his election in 1874 put on another display for which the finale was a tableau saying ‘Richardson- Gardner, M.P., the Working Man’s Friend‘, described by a local paper as ‘an anti-climax’.
In order to improve his chances at the next election, held in 1874 and which he won by a small majority, Robert evicted those of his tenants who would not commit to voting for him and built additional cottages, thus virtually assuring his chances of being returned. This was eventually to cause him to be branded by Baron Bramwell, the judge who heard the 1874 petition, as ‘not a gentleman‘ and probably cost him his baronetcy.
Soon after winning the 1874 election Robert and Maria Louisa purchased Cowley Manor, a large estate near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, where they entertained lavishly. Robert had previously been involved with other hunts, but now he formed his own pack of stag hounds, with a uniform that included jack boots, spurs and chains, and ‘caps of a blazing colour‘. Once again Robert became a laughing stock and this may have contributed to his selling Cowley Manor within a few years, at a loss, and moving back to Hampshire.
Robert’s father-in-law died in 1879. Henry Gardner and his two younger brothers had made a small fortune from the purchase and later sale of the Cannon Brewery in Clerkenwell. Both of his brothers predeceased him without issue and by the time of his own death, his estate was valued at over £700,000. To the obvious shock of his daughter and son-in-law, he left £360,000 for the benefit of the blind, with £300,000 going to the formation of a new Trust to bear his name. This did not leave Maria Louisa poor, but by all accounts Robert was incandescent. The couple immediately came up with the idea of using the money to pay for the building of a new school for the blind in Windsor, to be known as the Gardner Institute. Windsor was, of course, still a marginal seat and another election was due.
Maria Louisa was an executrice under her father’s will and there were three other executors. Initially, all of these others opposed the couple’s idea, feeling that the money should be used principally to support existing institutions for the blind. One other executor eventually changed sides and backed their proposal, but ultimately they were unsuccessful.
The main problem with the idea of a new blind school at Windsor was that an excellent one had been opened just a few years before in south London, known as the Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the Blind, which Henry had actually supported to the extent of at least £3,000 prior to his death. After nearly two years in the Court of Chancery, it was eventually ruled that the money should not be used for a new school at Windsor. The irony is that had they bought land in the centre of Windsor as Maria Louisa had wished, the value of the trust today would probably be much in excess of its actual value.
Robert and Maria Louisa continued to be active supporters of Windsor after Robert’s election in 1874, for example by taking an active part in the formation of the Albert Institute. Maria Louisa gave the life-sized statue of Albert, carved in Carera marble by Pasquale Romanelli of Florence for £300. It can still be seen in the lobby of Holy Trinity Church and a contemporary copy still graces the façade of the replacement building. Sadly two Romanelli busts of Robert and Maria Louisa presented to the Albert Institute disappeared around the time the Institute was closed. Although he held Windsor until his resignation in 1890, Robert was intensely disliked in some quarters, with one of his constituents in 1885 threatening to shoot him if he ever appeared again on the stage of the Windsor Theatre.
Robert and Maria Louisa had travelled widely on the Continent for many years and were frequent visitors to the fashionable south of France. Chateau Louis XIII, the house they built for themselves in Cannes, can only be described as spectacular. Largely finished internally in marble, with specially commissioned furniture, furnishings and tableware, it must have cost a small fortune. It was completed in 1888 and in the following year, Maria Louisa died there of gastric fever. She was initially buried in the English part of the cemetery at Cannes, but her body was later transferred back to England and interred in the family vault at Kensal Green cemetery in north London.
Robert stood down as MP for Windsor in 1890, but his period of mourning was brief. In 1892 he married Rosalie Bernard, who, in the 1891 census, had been described as an actress and to whom he referred as the youngest daughter of the late Major Bernard. In fact, she was the illegitimate and only daughter of a Belgian diamond setter. Robert must have known the truth but went along with the charade. The lavish wedding was held in Windsor and featured an ‘instant photographer‘, to the delight of the crowds attending.
By 1894, however, Rosalie had filed for divorce, citing multiple adultery and mental and physical cruelty. Adultery was supposed to have occurred with prostitutes in Paris and an unidentified woman at the marital home in Hampshire. Mental cruelty was based on Robert having tried to have her committed, while the physical cruelty should probably not be described in polite company. The judge made an initial alimony award of £900 pa, but then Rosalie withdrew the suit. This can only be because an out-of-court settlement was reached, which conclusion is supported by the fact that, although they remained married, Rosalie was not mentioned at all in Robert’s will and did not make a claim against it.
For the next four years Robert falls almost entirely from view, but he continued to travel abroad and in 1898 stayed at the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo. It is there that Robert died; he had undoubtedly not been in the best of health for some time, but the only ailment he ever actually mentioned was sciatica. The total value of his estate was only £5,000.
Robert’s body was embalmed and brought back to England by his nephew, Leopold, who subsequently took his doubled name. Although one space remained in the Gardner family vault in Kensal Green, his body was cremated at Woking and the ashes placed in the silver cup with which he had been presented when he stood down as Honorary Colonel of the North East London Rifles. The urn was placed in the Richardson family vault in Swansea, where it remains.
A general test of a man’s (or woman’s) character is that he (or she) should live respected and die regretted, very much as Maria Louisa had been. Robert Richardson-Gardner’s character was more complicated. He almost certainly had his good points and commanded the respect of several influential people, but his character was flawed and he seems to have brought out the worst in others. To some, he seems to have been almost a figure of ridicule. He was quite capable of being a bully and obviously thought himself above the law on more than one occasion. But regretted? Probably not by too many who survived him.
Windsor Local History Group 