George III Watercolour of a House between Isleworth and Twickenham by J. Phillips
the Thames-side house shown with a grotto and small temple in the garden; inscribed verso Home of James Lacy and dated 1792; mounted, framed and glazed
Built, as shown in the watercolour and partly incorporating an earlier house, by James Lacy, joint patentee of the Drury Lane Theatre with David Garrick, his near neighbour along the river. On Lacy’s death the house passed to his profligate son who, with huge debts to pay, was forced to sell the house. It was then lived in briefly by the Earl of Warwick and then the playwright, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who entertained prolifically in the house. The next owner was Edward Walpole, brother of Horace Walpole, another near neighbour along the river. On Edward’s death the house passed to his daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Laura Keppel and on her death in 1813, the house was sold to Archibald Kelly, Earl of Cassilis. In 1817 Lord Cassilis bought the neighbouring property, by then known as Twickenham Park, and he demolished Lacy House to incorporate the land into the grounds of Twickenham Park, the northern section of which eventually became the St. Margaret’s area of Twickenham.
