Contents of Florence Nightingale's Herefordshire house on sale

Kinsham Court is a manor house that was once part of the Harley Estate and was used as a hunting lodge, according to history website Herefordshire Past.

Florence Nightingale lived in the elegant Georgian house with her family, although her father was not a fan of the house and described it as “very picturesque but not very habitable”, according to the Daily Mail.

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Florence Nightingale, born in 1820 and died in 1910, was known as “The Lady With the Lamp” as a British nurse, social reformer and statistician best known as the founder of modern nursing.

Contents of Kinsham Court. Picture: Bonhams (Image: Bonhams)

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Her experiences as a nurse during the Crimean War were foundational in her views about sanitation.

Lord Byron, who was a British romantic poet and satirist whose poetry and personality captured the imagination of Europe, rented the house for six months in 1813 while he was having an affair with Lady Oxford before leaving the property when his mistress and her husband moved abroad.

He was made famous by the autobiographical poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, written in 1812 to 1818, which he was thought to have written in the house, said auctioneers Bonhams, who is selling the contents. 

Lord Byron’s signature is scratched into the window from his stay in 1813.

Contents of Kinsham Court. Picture: Bonhams (Image: Bonhams)

But it was bought by John Arkwright in 1911, who was grandson of Richard Arkwritght, the ineveted of the Spinning Jenny which revolutionised the manufacture of cotton, helping to make Richard the richest commoner in Europe, said Bonhams.

By 1870 Jack Arkwright was the largest landowner in Herefordshire.

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But the family soon fell upon hard times, and were forced to sell Hampton Court Castle, later taking up residence at the more manageable Kinsham Court, which Jack Arkwright had purchased prior to the sale.

David Arkwritght, the last surviving member of the direct family line, died in 1985.

The house was passed to his cousin, and then by decent to the current owner.

Charlie Thomas, of Bonhams, said: “It is always a huge honour to be able to offer items which encapsulate such history.

“This sale offers an unrivalled opportunity to acquire furniture and painting dating back to the founder of the dynasty himself, including a sensitive group portrait of Richard and Mary Arkwright and family from the studio of Joseph Wright of Derby.

“Most excitingly is that none of the contents have ever been on the open market before.”

Highlights of the sale include:

Studio of Joseph Wright of Derby (Derby 1734 to 1797), Group portrait of Richard and Mary Arkwright with a baby, full-length, standing and seated in a landscape, which will sell at an estimated price of £50,000 to £70,000.

An important pair of George III satinwood, burr elm, and purple heart marquetry commodes, which will sell at an estimated price of£80,000 to £120,000.

Gaspar Pieter Verbrugghen the Younger (Antwerp 1664 to 1730), Still life of a swag of roses, peonies, tulips and other flowers with fruit and a squirrel on a stone ledge, which will sell at an estimated price of£12,000 to £18,000.

A fine Flemish 17th century Historical tapestry fragment depicting The Death of Alexander, which will sell at an estimated price of £6,000 to £8,000.

A Meissen blue and white part service, 18th Century, which will sell at an estimated price of £4,000 to £6,000.

The items can be found on bonhams.com