Little Plumstead, Norfolk, UK
Church of St Gervase and Protasius
Monument to Thomas †1816 and Hannah †1829 Penrice, and family. North chancel. Commissioned by their surviving children. Signed: W. Hardy (noted in Ingrid Roscoe, Emma Hardy & MG. Sullivan, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851, online at the Henry Moore Foundation (published 2009).
A large monument which dominates the chancel, even though it is now hemmed in by the later addition of the organ, which blocked the north entrance to the church. A draped urn stands on top of a tapered blank tomb chest, with lions’ feet set on a further chest with wide pilasters, resting on consoles, and with a coat of arms in the apron. This wall monument stands above a deep chest, with comparable wide pilasters, topped by acroteria which frame a scallop shell, with consoles at their sides, again with drapery threaded through. The monument by William Hardy of Norwich is a grand reworking of his 1825 Monument to members of the Watts family (from 1766-1824) in St John de Sepulchre, Norwich, with the addition of the lower chest. Thomas Penrice of Great Yarmouth and his wife Hannah are commemorated in the upper chest. He died in 1816, aged 59 while his wife died in 1824, aged 68. Their children were added on the lower chest: Hannah Fountaine †1830, aged 45; John, their eldest son (commemorated at Witton near Blofield St Margaret) †1844 aged 57; Thomas their second son †1846 aged 57, and Charles their third son †1853 aged 62.
Thomas Penrice, a surgeon of Great Yarmouth, had been left a considerable legacy in 1816 following death of Lord Viscount Chedworth of Ipswich. But even before that he was wealthy in his own right. John Chambers describes his visit in 1824 to Penrice’s widow’s elegant house in Great Yarmouth with its fine collection of Old Master paintings, acquired by her husband. They included: A Titian, Holy Family (from the Giustiniani collection), Portraits of the Penrices by Sir Thomas Lawrence; painting by Canalatto, Claude, Maratta, Gaspard Poussin. A Guido Reni pair of Lot and his daughters and Susanna and the Elders. But the star turn was Rubens’ Judgement of Paris (now National Gallery 194). Penrice had bought it in 1813, after it had been acquired by an English syndicate from the sale of the Duc d’Orléans collection in 1792, but remained unsold. He paid 2,500 guineas for the painting which the National Gallery acquired for 4,000 guineas at his son’s sale at Christie’s in 1844. Penrice must have passed on a considerable portion of his wealth to his eldest son John and his grandson, the Revd. John Penrice who was instituted to the rectory of Little Plumstead in December 1821 on, to quote the report in the Norwich Mercury Dec. 8 1821, ‘his own petition’. That he was Lord of the Manor, was confirmed by the account in White’s Norfolk Gazetteer, London, 1845, p. 688 that he owned most of the village’s ‘the rich loamy land’ and was the incumbent of the rectory.
Chronological retrospect, William Finch-Crisp, G. Yarmouth Bygones/Crisp 1800-1877; White’s Norfolk Gazetteer, London, 1845, p. 688; Rootschat.Com England Norwich Mercury; John Chambers, A general history of the county of Norfolk, Norwich, vol I, 1829, Great Yarmouth pp. 304-305; National Gallery Catalogue. The Flemish School, ca. 1600-ca. 1900, London, Gregory Martin, 1970, 157-8
detail of the top of the monument
Little Plumstead, Norfolk, UK
Church of St Gervase and Protasius
Monument to Thomas †1816 and Hannah †1829 Penrice, and family. North chancel. Commissioned by their surviving children. Signed: W. Hardy (noted in Ingrid Roscoe, Emma Hardy & MG. Sullivan, A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851, online at the Henry Moore Foundation (published 2009).
A large monument which dominates the chancel, even though it is now hemmed in by the later addition of the organ, which blocked the north entrance to the church. A draped urn stands on top of a tapered blank tomb chest, with lions’ feet set on a further chest with wide pilasters, resting on consoles, and with a coat of arms in the apron. This wall monument stands above a deep chest, with comparable wide pilasters, topped by acroteria which frame a scallop shell, with consoles at their sides, again with drapery threaded through. The monument by William Hardy of Norwich is a grand reworking of his 1825 Monument to members of the Watts family (from 1766-1824) in St John de Sepulchre, Norwich, with the addition of the lower chest. Thomas Penrice of Great Yarmouth and his wife Hannah are commemorated in the upper chest. He died in 1816, aged 59 while his wife died in 1824, aged 68. Their children were added on the lower chest: Hannah Fountaine †1830, aged 45; John, their eldest son (commemorated at Witton near Blofield St Margaret) †1844 aged 57; Thomas their second son †1846 aged 57, and Charles their third son †1853 aged 62.
Thomas Penrice, a surgeon of Great Yarmouth, had been left a considerable legacy in 1816 following death of Lord Viscount Chedworth of Ipswich. But even before that he was wealthy in his own right. John Chambers describes his visit in 1824 to Penrice’s widow’s elegant house in Great Yarmouth with its fine collection of Old Master paintings, acquired by her husband. They included: A Titian, Holy Family (from the Giustiniani collection), Portraits of the Penrices by Sir Thomas Lawrence; painting by Canalatto, Claude, Maratta, Gaspard Poussin. A Guido Reni pair of Lot and his daughters and Susanna and the Elders. But the star turn was Rubens’ Judgement of Paris (now National Gallery 194). Penrice had bought it in 1813, after it had been acquired by an English syndicate from the sale of the Duc d’Orléans collection in 1792, but remained unsold. He paid 2,500 guineas for the painting which the National Gallery acquired for 4,000 guineas at his son’s sale at Christie’s in 1844. Penrice must have passed on a considerable portion of his wealth to his eldest son John and his grandson, the Revd. John Penrice who was instituted to the rectory of Little Plumstead in December 1821 on, to quote the report in the Norwich Mercury Dec. 8 1821, ‘his own petition’. That he was Lord of the Manor, was confirmed by the account in White’s Norfolk Gazetteer, London, 1845, p. 688 that he owned most of the village’s ‘the rich loamy land’ and was the incumbent of the rectory.
Chronological retrospect, William Finch-Crisp, G. Yarmouth Bygones/Crisp 1800-1877; White’s Norfolk Gazetteer, London, 1845, p. 688; Rootschat.Com England Norwich Mercury; John Chambers, A general history of the county of Norfolk, Norwich, vol I, 1829, Great Yarmouth pp. 304-305; National Gallery Catalogue. The Flemish School, ca. 1600-ca. 1900, London, Gregory Martin, 1970, 157-8
detail of the top of the monument