The Verney Family

The Verney family has been in Buckinghamshire since the 1400's and has lived at Claydon since 1620.  The best known member of the family is probably Sir Edmund Verney who was Knight Marshall to King Charles I and carried his standard at the Battle of Edgehill in the English Civil War, where he lost his life.

Through the centuries since then, members of the family have been involved in both royal and parliamentarian circles, being either courtiers or members of parliament.

The present house at Claydon was built in the 1770's by the flamboyant 2nd Earl Verney who had a great vision to build a massive house to rival Stowe.  The craftsmen whom he employed, notably the carver Luke Lightfoot, were so extravagant with their work that the Earl went bankrupt in the process of building the house.  The House that we see today is only one wing of the initially envisaged scheme.

Sir Harry Verney, who inherited Claydon in 1827, brought another famous connection into the family, namely Florence Nightingale.  They had lived in adjacent houses in London and after Florence returned from the Crimean War, Sir Harry asked her to marry him.  She did not wish to but Sir Harry did marry her sister Parthenope, who became the chatelaine of Claydon.  Florence was a frequent visitor and lived at Claydon for several years during her later life.

Claydon House itself was given to the National Trust by Sir Ralph Verney in 1956.  He kept the rest of the Estate and continued to look after it as a true country squire and maintaining it as a viable agricultural Estate whilst also involving himself in local politics (County Council) and national rural bodies.  His successor, the present incumbent, Sir Edmund Verney, together with his wife continue to look after the traditional side of the Estate as well as developing more commercial interests, such as the garden developments, to ensure that the Estate continues on a viable financial footing for the future.