This article is about the British Prime Minister's residence. For the Brexit white paper, see Chequers plan. For the board game, see Checkers. For other uses, see Checkers (disambiguation).
Chequers
Chequers, the official country residence of British prime ministers since 1921
Chequers Court takes its name from the Checker family, who owned the estate in the 12th and 13th centuries. Elias del Checker, the first recorded member of the family, was an usher at the King's Exchequer, hence his name: del Checker (Latinised as de Scaccario) means "of the Exchequer" in Anglo-Norman. Around 1254 Elias's grandson, Ralf, died without a male heir, causing the estate to pass into the hands of his son-in-law, William de Hauterive (or Hawtrey).[2]
History
The current house was built by another William Hawtrey around 1565, possibly by reconstructing an earlier building.[3] A reception room in the house bears his name today. Soon after its construction, Hawtrey acted as a custodian at Chequers for Lady Mary Grey, younger sister of Lady Jane Grey and great-granddaughter of King Henry VII.[4] Lady Mary had married without the monarch's consent, and as punishment was banished from court by Queen Elizabeth I and kept confined.[5] Lady Mary remained at Chequers for two years. The room where she slept from 1565 to 1567 remains in its original condition.[6]
Through descent in the female line and marriages, the house passed through several families: the Wooleys, the Crokes and the Thurbanes. In 1715 the owner of the house married John Russell, a grandson of Oliver Cromwell. The house is known for this connection to the Cromwells, and still contains a large collection of Cromwell memorabilia.
In the 19th century the Russells (by now the Greenhill-Russell family) employed Henry Rhodes to make alterations to the house in the Gothic style.[3] The Tudor panelling and windows were ripped out, and battlements with pinnacles installed. Towards the end of the 19th century, the house passed through marriage to the Astley family. Between 1892 and 1901 Bertram Astley restored the house to its Elizabethan origins, with advice from Reginald Blomfield.[3] The restoration and design work was completed by the architect John Birch.[7]
20th century
Chequers viewed from the rear in 2006
It is not possible to foresee or foretell from what classes or conditions of life the future wielders of power in this country will be drawn. Some may be as in the past men of wealth and famous descent; some may belong to the world of trade and business; others may spring from the ranks of the manual toilers. To none of these [...] could the spirit and anodyne of Chequers do anything but good. [...], the better the health of our rulers the more sanely will they rule and the inducement to spend two days a week in the high and pure air of the Chiltern hills and woods will, it is hoped, benefit the nation as well as its chosen leaders.
This house of peace and ancient memories was given to England as a thank-offering for her deliverance in the great war of 1914–1918 as a place of rest and recreation for her Prime Ministers for ever.
—Inscription in a stained glass window in the long gallery of the house commissioned by Lord and Lady Lee
In 1909 the house was taken on a long lease by Arthur Lee and his wife Ruth (an American heiress). Lee immediately re-engaged Blomfield to undertake a restoration of the interior.[9] At the same time, Henry Avray Tipping undertook the design of several walled gardens from 1911 to 1912.[10] In 1912, after the death of the last of the house's ancestral owners Henry Delaval Astley, Ruth Lee and her sister purchased the property and later gave it to Arthur Lee.[11]
During the First World War the house became a hospital and then a convalescent home for officers. After the war, Chequers became a private home again (now furnished with many 16th-century antiques and tapestries and the Cromwellian antiquities), and the childless Lees formed a plan. While previous prime ministers had always belonged to the landed classes, the post–First World War era was bringing in a new breed of politician. These men did not have the spacious country houses of previous prime ministers in which to entertain foreign dignitaries or a tranquil place to relax from the affairs of state. After long discussions with Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Chequers was given to the nation as a country retreat for the serving prime minister under the Chequers Estate Act 1917.[8]
The Lees, by this time Lord and Lady Lee of Fareham, left Chequers on 8 January 1921 after a final dinner at the house. A political disagreement between the Lees and Lloyd George soured the handover, which went ahead nonetheless.[12]
The property houses one of the largest collections of art and memorabilia pertaining to Oliver Cromwell in the country. It also houses many other national antiques and books, held in the famous "long room", including a diary of Horatio Nelson and the Chequers Ring, one of the few surviving pieces of jewellery worn by Elizabeth I. The collection is not open to the public.
Nearby Coombe Hill was part of the estate until the 1920s, when it was given to the National Trust. Coombe Hill and the Chequers Estate are part of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, designated in 1965. The landscaped park, woodlands and formal gardens surrounding Chequers are listed Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[10]
During the early part of the Second World War it was considered that security at Chequers was inadequate to protect the prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Therefore, he used Ditchley in Oxfordshire until late 1942, by which time the approach road, clearly visible from the sky, had been camouflaged and other security measures had been put in place.[13][14]
↑Bertie, Lady Georgina (1845). Five generations of a loyal house. Pt. 1, containing the lives of R. Bertie and his son Peregrine, lord Willoughby. p.40.
↑Roberts, Andrew (2009). Masters and Commanders: The Military Geniuses Who Led the West to Victory in World War II. London: Penguin. p.36. ISBN978-0-1410-2926-9.
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