St Leonard’s, Mrs Dodge, and the Romanovs

Published in Windlesora 35

© WLHG 2019

Maria, Dowager Countess Waldegrave was the illegitimate daughter of Edward Walpole of Frogmore House in Windsor and the widow of Lord Waldgrave, who was a close friend and advisor of King George III, with whom she had three children. An acknowledged beauty of her day, she met and fell in love with Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, brother to the king, and who was equally in love with Maria. They were married clandestinely in September 1766. William’s younger brother, the Duke of Cumberland, broke the news of his own secret marriage, which had prompted an angry and disgusted George III to have the Royal Marriage Act passed in March 1772. George could not treat William differently, and so he was banned from court.

Maria had purchased St Leonard’s Hill (renamed Gloucester Lodge) and commissioned Thomas Sandby to work on its extension. William later bought the Hermitage, a nearby property, and renamed that Sophia Farm (later, Lodge) after his daughter, born on 29 May 1773. They turned to Sandby again to landscape the garden and grounds. The estate changes hands in c1781, with mounting debts, Maria and William sell the two properties separately. Gloucester Lodge was purchased by the Harcourt family, who sold it in 1872 to Francis Tress Barry, who re-named it St Leonard’s Hill and had it redesigned in the style of a French chateau. After Lady Tress Barry died, the house was destroyed by their son Edward, (he hated the place allegedly), leaving only the shell of the building. This was purchased by Reginald Try in 1941.

Sophia Lodge (aquatint by Ackermann, 1820s)

Sophia Lodge was bought by one George Birch, who later sold it to William Dawson. He had it re-modelled, in the Gothic Revival style of the period, by James Wyatt. The property changed hands twice more. It was bought by Sir Theodore Brinckman in 1850, who was responsible for the name change to St. Leonard’s (not to be confused with St Leonard’s Hill). In 1921, it was sold to James Railton, then in 1932 it was bought by Horace Dodge Junior.

Mr Dodge’s Castle – St Leonards – undergoing refurbishment, c1934

This Horace was the son of Horace Elgin Dodge, founder of the world-famous Dodge Automobile Company, and he set about the refurbishment of Sophia Lodge. Locals nick-named it “Mr Dodge’s Castle“. The primary occupant was in fact his mother, Anna Thompson Dodge, a Dundee-born pianist, and widow to Horace E Dodge, and one of the richest women in the world at that time. She was a great collector of art and jewellery.

Recently, the author read an article on how Mrs Dodge had acquired a beautiful pearl necklace which was believed to have belonged to the Empress Catherine the Great, a member of Russia’s Romanov family. Catherine, who ruled between 1762 and 1796, was a great connoisseur and collector and the pearl necklace was one of her most prized treasures. It consisted of 389 natural pearls, arranged in five strings, with a total weight equivalent to 1076.25 carats. It bore an enamel clasp depicting the Empress Catherine, plus two alternate diamond clasps. Passed down through successive Romanov rulers, it had been part of the personal jewellery collection of either Tzar Nicholas or a close relative.

During the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, most Russian aristocratic families escaped to other European countries. They carried with them their personal jewels which they were forced to sell to ensure their own survival. It is believed that Catherine the Great’s five-strand pearl necklace was one such item brought to Europe at that time. It was purchased by Cartier of Paris and dispatched to the firm’s American branch in New York. Cartier sold the necklace in 1920, for an unprecedented $825,000, to Horace E. Dodge who presented it to his wife, Anna. It remained in her family until December 2008, when a portion of the necklace (now known as the Dodge Pearl Necklace), consisting of 224 pearls in only three strands, was sold for just $600,000 at Bonham’s, New York. It is not known what happened to the two remaining strands of the necklace; they were likely broken up by later members of the Dodge family.

By 2018, the Dodge necklace had been split into two individual necklaces and sold for a record amount of money, 1.1 million dollars, by Christies in Geneva. The name of the pearl necklace appropriately reflects its two previous owners, Empress Catherine the Great of Russia and Anna Thompson Dodge.

St Leonard’s (Sophia Lodge) is now Legoland.