Ashbourne Derbyshire
Monument by Thomas Banks with the sleeping figure of Penelope Boothby aged 5
"I was not in safety, neither had I rest, and the trouble came
To Penelope only child of Sir Brooke and Dame Susanna Boothby; Born April 11th 1785; Died March 12th 1791. She was in form and intellect most exquisite, the unfortunate parents ventured their all on this frail bark, and the wreck was total"
The inscription is in 4 different languages - English, Latin, French and Italian, all of which Penelope spoke.
Penelope was the only child of Sir Brooke Boothby of Ashbourne Hall and wife Susannah daughter of Robert Bristoe & Susanna Philipson
She was the grand daughter of Sir Brooke Boothby, 5th Bt.
Phoebe Hollins www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/ogg316
Her father Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet 1744 - 1824 was a linguist, translator, poet and landowner,
In the year of his marriage he leased Ashbourne Hall from his father, whose extravagance had forced him to live elsewhere whilst renting out the family seat and began its restoration funded by his wife's dowry. As well as renovating the structure, he remodeled the parkland, he bought rare plants and works of art Like his father before him, he was extravagant in the extreme. That weakness and his emotional self-indulgence were to be his nemeses.
His only daughter, Penelope, was born in the following April.
Sir Joshua Reynolds was a family friend and his painting "The Girl in the Mop Cap" is of Penelope when aged four. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/9J2z53
However on 19th March 1791, disaster struck when Penelope died at the age of five.
This permanently affected her father and he subsequently published a book of poetry, "Sorrows Sacred to the Memory of Penelope" and commissioned a painting by Henry Fuseli " The Apotheosis of Penelope Boothby" in 1792 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fuseli_Henry_The_Apotheosis_Of... He also commissioned this monument.
His life continued to decline . He and his wife had separated soon after their daughter's funeral, and she returned to her parents' home in Hampshire , settling later in Dover. Her death was recorded under her maiden name.
As a result of his extravagance Boothby met with economic disaster which completely altered the course of his life. Ashbourne Hall was leased in c1814 - 1817 to Richard grandson of Sir Richard Arkwright. Boothby settled in diminished circumstances in Boulogne in 1815 and died there in 1824. He was buried near to Penelope with his parents and his sister Maria Elizabeth and other Boothby family members.
- Church of St Oswald, Ashbourne Derbyshire
Ashbourne Derbyshire
Monument by Thomas Banks with the sleeping figure of Penelope Boothby aged 5
"I was not in safety, neither had I rest, and the trouble came
To Penelope only child of Sir Brooke and Dame Susanna Boothby; Born April 11th 1785; Died March 12th 1791. She was in form and intellect most exquisite, the unfortunate parents ventured their all on this frail bark, and the wreck was total"
The inscription is in 4 different languages - English, Latin, French and Italian, all of which Penelope spoke.
Penelope was the only child of Sir Brooke Boothby of Ashbourne Hall and wife Susannah daughter of Robert Bristoe & Susanna Philipson
She was the grand daughter of Sir Brooke Boothby, 5th Bt.
Phoebe Hollins www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/ogg316
Her father Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet 1744 - 1824 was a linguist, translator, poet and landowner,
In the year of his marriage he leased Ashbourne Hall from his father, whose extravagance had forced him to live elsewhere whilst renting out the family seat and began its restoration funded by his wife's dowry. As well as renovating the structure, he remodeled the parkland, he bought rare plants and works of art Like his father before him, he was extravagant in the extreme. That weakness and his emotional self-indulgence were to be his nemeses.
His only daughter, Penelope, was born in the following April.
Sir Joshua Reynolds was a family friend and his painting "The Girl in the Mop Cap" is of Penelope when aged four. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/9J2z53
However on 19th March 1791, disaster struck when Penelope died at the age of five.
This permanently affected her father and he subsequently published a book of poetry, "Sorrows Sacred to the Memory of Penelope" and commissioned a painting by Henry Fuseli " The Apotheosis of Penelope Boothby" in 1792 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fuseli_Henry_The_Apotheosis_Of... He also commissioned this monument.
His life continued to decline . He and his wife had separated soon after their daughter's funeral, and she returned to her parents' home in Hampshire , settling later in Dover. Her death was recorded under her maiden name.
As a result of his extravagance Boothby met with economic disaster which completely altered the course of his life. Ashbourne Hall was leased in c1814 - 1817 to Richard grandson of Sir Richard Arkwright. Boothby settled in diminished circumstances in Boulogne in 1815 and died there in 1824. He was buried near to Penelope with his parents and his sister Maria Elizabeth and other Boothby family members.
- Church of St Oswald, Ashbourne Derbyshire