Sandon Hall is a rare survivor: a great country house in the heart of Staffordshire still lived in by the family who built it. Sandon has remained much as it was when rebuilt by the second Earl of Harrowby circa 1850. The wonderful mature park literally rises to a crescendo as you approach the house the long drive, high above the Trent Valley.

The estate has been a seat of the Ryder family since 1776. The family has been prominent in British legal and political life for nearly three hundred years and their strong minded and firmly held liberal views did much to shape English life especially in the last century. The family first came to prominence in the 18th century when in 1754 Sir Dudley Ryder (1691-1756), a noted lawyer, became Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. He resided in London and in Lincolnshire where a fine monument by Henry Cheere was raised to his memory in Graham Church after his untimely death. He had been created Baron Harrowby by George II but died the day before it was ratified. His son Nathaniel (1735-1803) was a Member of the Parliament for Tiverton from 1756 to 1776. He married Elizabeth daughter of Bishop Terrick of London in 1762. He purchased the Sandon estate from Lord Archibald Hamilton in 1776, the year he was created Baron Harrowby. His three sons call had distinguished careers. The eldest, Dudley Ryder (1762-1847), who was created Earl of Harrowby in 1809, was a politician and diplomat. He sat in Parliament for nearly fifty years and held a variety of high offices. He was also a Trustee of the British Museum during the period of the reforming and rebuilding of that establishment, and a commissioner for the rebuilding of the churches. His brother Richard Ryder was a member of parliament for Tiverton and a highly respected and successful lawyer. The third brother Henry was successively Bishop of Gloucester and Lichfield: an evangelical, he was constantly working to improve the teaching and welfare provided by the Church, particularly in the Lichfield diocese.

The first Earl was succeeded by his son Dudley, 2nd Earl (1792-1882). He followed the family tradition and entered Parliament and served in the Cabinet under Liverpool, Wellington, Peel and Palmerton. He was Lord Privy Seal during the later years of the Crimean War and was made Knight of the Garter for his outstanding service. He had a wide range of interests, scientific, historical and cultural which helped form the family collection. He made prolonged visits to Italy with his family during the second quarter of the 19th Century.

His son Dudley, 3rd Earl (1831-1900) followed the family tradition. He sat in parliament for the family seat of Tiverton and was the driving force behind educational reform culminating in the education Act of 1876. He was an ardent adherent of the established church and president of the British and Foreign Bible society. He was succeeded by his brother Henry who died the same year and the title passed to his son John Herbert Dudley (1864-1956). M.P. and partner of Coutts Bank. His son Dudley, 6th Earl of Harrowby (1892-1987), took no active role in the financial world but was a distinguished historian and archivist.

Dudley, the 7th Earl (1922-2007), revived the family tradition of banking. After distinguished service during the Second World War, he became a managing director of Coutts Bank in 1949, holding the position for 40 years; he was also deputy chairman from 1970 until 1989. Having been made a director of National Westminster Bank on Coutts’ merger with it in 1968, Dudley was appointed Deputy Chairman in 1971 and filled the role until 1987, whilst also acting as chairman of International Westminster between 1977 and 1987. Known for much of his career as Viscount Sandon (courtesy title of the heir to the earldom), Dudley gained a reputation for his meticulous attention to detail and an unwavering determination to strengthen the profitability of Coutts Bank. When he succeeded to the earldom in 1987, the same attitude towards improving efficiency was applied to Sandon Hall, with the announcement in 1992 that the main State Rooms would be made available for private functions. From small beginnings, the business grew to its current strong position. Upon his death in 2007, the 7th Earl was succeeded by his son, Conroy.

The Ryders were at the centre of English political, academic, cultural and religious life, for two centuries. They had a wide circle of friends and married into equally distinguished families. The 1st Earl’s wife, Lady Susan Leveson Gower was the daughter of the 1st Marquess of Stafford, who was one of the most powerful and cultivated men in England at the beginning of the 19th century. Their son the 2nd Earl married Lady Frances Stuart, daughter of the 1st Marquess of Bute and his second wife Frances, the daughter of Thomas Coutts initiating the close link between the family and Coutts Bank. She was also therefore the great granddaughter of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Lord Harrowby’s brothers in law included Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Fortescue and Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart, the passionate champion of the Polish Cause. In London and in Staffordshire the family was involved in all manner of social, political and religious activities.

In Staffordshire the background to their life was Sandon. It was Lord Archibald Hamilton (later 9th Duke of Hamilton) who employed Joseph Pickford of Derby to build on the present site between 1769-71. In 1776 the estate was sold to Nathaniel, 1st Lord Harrowby who employed another local architect Samuel Wyatt to make alterations (new rooms in the wings, a model farm, and the rebuilding of the church). The Pickford house caught fire and was severely damaged in June 1848. Designs for the new house were commissioned from William Burn, the most proven country house builder of the day. The Jacobean Style was adopted and the house today is as built by Burns. The interiors include a grand inner Hall or Saloon surrounded by a series of spacious rooms including the Ante Library, the Library, the Drawing Room and the Dining Room with a fine Conservatory (added in 1865, with extension in 2006) and a substantial family wing.

Whereas the house in its style and layout is fully Victorian, the collection is not. Instead it is that marvellous mixture of objects which should characterise English Country House collections. Each object reflects some aspect of the family and its history. Surprisingly, this mixture was enhanced rather than damaged by the fire. Fortunately the estate workers, aided by local railway workers, were able to save the contents of the house even down to Wyatt’s chimney pieces and plate glass windows. After the rebuilding these objects were augmented by good mid-19th Century furniture as well as English and Continental furniture from the 18th Century.