View source for Bushy House

{{short description|Former royal residence in Teddington in South West London}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox Building
| name                = Bushy House
| former_names        = Upper Lodge
| alternate_names     = 
| status              = 
| image               = Bushy House, Bushy Park - geograph.org.uk - 362754.jpg
| image_alt           = 
| image_size          = 
| caption             = East side of Bushy House in 1992
| building_type       = House
| architectural_style = English [[classical architecture]]
| structural_system   = 
| material            = 
| cost                = 
| ren_cost            = 
| client              = [[Edward Proger]] followed by, on rebuild, [[George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax]]
| owner               = Part of [[National Physical Laboratory, UK|National Physical Laboratory]]
| current_tenants     = 
| landlord            = 
| location            = [[Teddington]], London, England
| coordinates         = {{coord|51|25|13|N|0|20|21|W|display=inline,title|region:GB_type:landmark}}
| groundbreaking_date = 
| start_date          = {{Start date|1663}}
| renovation_date     = 1713–1715
| top_floor           = 
| grounds_area        = 
| architect           = [[William Samwell (architect)|William Samwell]]
| architecture_firm   = 
| structural_engineer = 
| services_engineer   = 
| civil_engineer      = 
| other_designers     = 
| quantity_surveyor   = 
| main_contractor     = 
| awards              = 
| designations        = 
| ren_architect       = 
| ren_firm            = 
| ren_str_engineer    = 
| ren_serv_engineer   = 
| ren_civ_engineer    = 
| ren_oth_designers   = 
| ren_qty_surveyor    = 
| ren_awards          = 
| rooms               = 
| url                 = 
| embedded={{infobox designation list
| embed=yes
| designation1 = Grade II*
| designation1_offname =Bushy House
| designation1_date = 2 September 1952
| designation1_number = 1080870
}}
}}

'''Bushy House''' is a [[Listed building|Grade II* listed]]<ref name="Listed">{{National Heritage List for England |num=1080870  |desc=Bushy House|date= 2 September 1952|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref> former [[royal residence|residence]] of King [[William IV]] and Queen [[Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen|Adelaide]] in [[Teddington]], [[London]], which [[George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax]] had constructed for his own enjoyment on the site of a previous house '''Upper Lodge, Bushy Park''', between 1714 and 1715. 

It is part of the [[National Physical Laboratory, UK|National Physical Laboratory]] and its upper two storeys overlook adjoining [[Bushy Park]]. The house and {{convert|30|acre|ha}} of surrounding [[Bushy Park]] land were taken as the site for the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in 1900 after concerns about flooding of the previously proposed site in the [[Old Deer Park]], Richmond; it opened as part of this important laboratory in 1902. 

The ground floor and basement levels of Bushy House were converted to laboratory space and [[Richard Glazebrook]], the first director of NPL, and later directors, used part of the building as private accommodation. Bushy House contains laboratories, two small [[museum]]s that mainly contain historical [[scientific equipment]], and rooms used for meetings and conferences.

==History==
Bushy House in its first form was built in 1663 by [[William Samwell (architect)|William Samwell]] for [[Edward Proger]], at a cost of £4,000 (£{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK|4000|1663|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}),{{Inflation-fn|UK}} as the lodge of the Keeper/Ranger of Bushy Park in what was at the time the North Park part. Proger had been made Ranger of Bushy Park to reward him for his loyalty to King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] during his exile.<ref name=wpage>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol2/pp386-388  Spelthorne Hundred: Hampton Court Palace, parks'] in ''A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2'', ed. William Page (London, 1911), pp. 386-388. British History Online Retrieved 1 October 2017.</ref>

It was rebuilt by [[Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax]] from 1714 to 1715 after he had bought the three parks from the [[Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland|Duchess of Cleveland]] and was made ranger.<ref name=wpage/>  The house and office then passed to his cousin [[George Montague, 1st Earl of Halifax|George Montague]] (1715–1737) and then to George's son [[George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax|George Montague-Dunk]] (1737–1771).<ref name=wpage/> From 1771 to 1792, it was occupied by the grandson of the 1st Earl through his eldest daughter, [[Frederick North, Lord North|Lord North]], prime minister,<ref name=dorotheajordanandwilliam/> who had further homes such as in Epsom and the centre of London or Westminster.

In 1797, after the death of both Lord North and his wife [[Anne North, Countess of Guilford|Lady Anne North]], King [[George III]] appointed his son, [[William IV|William, Duke of Clarence]], as ranger of Bushy Park, carrying with it residence at Bushy House.<ref name=dorotheajordanandwilliam/> Clarence and his mistress [[Dorothea Jordan]] lived there together with their ten children until the couple's relationship came to an end in 1811.<ref name=dorotheajordanandwilliam>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4qlUWvVCnwIC&dq=%22Dorothy+Jordan%22+AND+%22Bushy+House%22&pg=PA212 Google Books]
''The Story of Dorothy Jordan''
Armstrong, Clare & Jerrold, Bridgman 
Ayer Publishing, 1969
{{ISBN|0-405-08672-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-405-08672-4}}
</ref>  Clarence continued living there with the FitzClarence children and later his wife Princess [[Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen|Adelaide]] after they married in 1818. When at 6am on 26 June 1830 a messenger from London arrived at Bushy House with the news that King [[George IV]] was dead and Clarence was now King William IV, he is said to have replied that he had 'always wished to sleep with a queen' and gone back to bed.{{fact|date=September 2021}} As William had appointed her ranger in her own right upon his accession, after William's death in 1837, Bushy House became Adelaide's official residence until her death in 1849.

In 1865, Queen Victoria offered Bushy House to the [[Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours]] and other members of the exiled French royal family as they tried to restore the [[House of Bourbon]].  After his return to France in 1871, he kept control of Bushy House until his death in 1896 in case he was forced to leave France again, and with Nemours not having children as heirs, the house became empty in 1897.

In March 1902, the new National Physical Laboratory was opened at Bushy House by the Prince of Wales (later King [[George V]]).<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The National Physical Laboratory |date=20 March 1902 |page=6 |issue=36720}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="300" perrow="2">
File:Npl bushy house 2.JPG|North side of Bushy House in 2007
File:Bushy Park.png|Bushy House from an 1827 book illustration
File:PSM V60 D137 Bushy house east front.png|East side of Bushy House in 1901/1902
File:Clone of Newtons tree at NPL.jpg|A clone of [[Isaac Newton's apple tree]]
</gallery>
== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
{{commonscat}}
*{{cite book|author=Eileen Magnello|year=2000|title=A Century of Measurement|publisher=Canopus|isbn=0-9537868-1-1}}
*[http://resource.npl.co.uk/docs/educate_explore/history/bushy_house.pdf The Story of Bushy House]

{{LB Richmond}}
{{Royal palaces in the United Kingdom}}

[[Category:Royal residences in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames]]
[[Category:Houses in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames]]
[[Category:Country houses in London]]
[[Category:Bushy Park]]
[[Category:Houses completed in 1663]]
[[Category:Teddington]]
[[Category:1663 establishments in England]]
[[Category:History of Middlesex]]
[[Category:Middlesex]]
[[Category:National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed houses in London]]
[[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames]]
[[Category:William IV]]
[[Category:Prime ministerial homes in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Frederick North, Lord North]]