Sources for Apsley House
The following lists provide a summary of our main sources of knowledge and understanding for Apsley House and its collections.
Primary Sources
The National Archives
- CRES 2/632 [Hyde Park, leases 1767–97]
- MPD 1/62 [Apsley House and stables, Piccadilly, survey and valuation signed by John Marquand and Thomas Leverton, 1796]
- CRES 2/1729 [Hamilton Place, Hamilton Mews and Piccadilly, leases of land for erection of houses 1796–1809]
- CRES 2/635 [Sale of Apsley House to the Duke of Wellington, 1829–40]
- IR 36/202 [Duke of Wellington, war damage repairs]
- ED 136/565 [Duke of Wellington’s offer to the government of part of Apsley House and the Wellington heirlooms]
- T 218/49 [The Wellington Museum, 1945–59]
- WORK 17/464 [Apsley House, Wellington Museum Act, 1947, 1948–62]
Published
Bamford, F and the Duke of Wellington (eds), The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot 1820–32, 2 vols (London, 1950)
Visual Sources
Soane Museum
The most important visual sources for Apsley House are the 59 Robert Adam annotated plans and designs for furnishings held in the Soane Museum, indicating the detailed and integrated approach favoured by Adam. His designs extended to fixtures such as mirrors and girandoles for various rooms, as well as door locks and specially designed pieces of furniture including tables, chairs, commodes and a sofa.
British Library
The Crace Collection of Maps of London, housed in the British Library, includes several maps and images charting the changing landscape around Hyde Park Corner in the 18th and 19th centuries. These include:
- Maps Crace Port. 10/44: View of Hyde Park Corner, looking west, 1800
- Maps Crace Port. 10/52: View of Lord Bathurst’s (Apsley House), at Hyde Park Corner, 1808
- Maps Crace Port. 10/56: Plan of Apsley House and grounds, showing the addition granted to the Duke of Wellington by the Crown, 1831.
MATERIAL SOURCES
The art collection of the 1st Duke of Wellington is an integral part of the history of the house. A full catalogue is available (see Kauffmann below).
SECONDARY SOURCES
Brindle, S and Robinson, D, The Wellington Arch and the Marble Arch (English Heritage guidebook, London, 2001)
Brindle, S, ‘The Wellington Arch and the western entrance to London’, Georgian Group Journal, 11 (2001), 47–92
Bryant, A, The Great Duke (London, 1971)
Bryant, J, Apsley House (English Heritage guidebook, London, 2005) [buy the guidebook]
Bryant, J, ‘How Canova and Wellington honoured Napoleon’, Apollo, CLXII (2005), 38–43
Delaforce, A and Yorke, J, Portugal’s Silver Service: A Victory Gift to the Duke of Wellington (London, 1992)
Ford, R, Apsley House and Walmer Castle (London, 1853)
Guseva N and Sychov I, ‘Diplomatic gifts from Tsar Nicholas I of Russia to the Duke of Wellington’, Apollo, CLIII, 570 (2001), 34–40
Harris, E, ‘Adam at No. 1 London’, Country Life, 195 (1 Nov 2001), 98–101
Harris, E, The Genius of Robert Adam: His Interiors (London, 2001)
Hibbert, C, Wellington: A Personal History (London, 1997)
Jenkins, S, ‘Sir Thomas Lawrence and the Duke of Wellington: a portraitist and his sitter’, British Art Journal, 8:1 (2007), 63–7
Jenkins, S, ‘Sir Thomas Lawrence and the Duke of Wellington: a portraitist and his sitter’, in Wellington Studies IV, ed C Woolgar (Southampton, 2008), 126–39
Jenkins, S, ‘The “Spanish Gift” at Apsley House’, English Heritage Historical Review, 2 (2008), 116–31
Jenkins, S, ‘La conservación de la Aparición del Niño Jesús a San Antonio de Padua, de Anton Raphael Mengs (Apsley House)’, Reales Sitios, Revista de Patrimonio Nacional, 179 (2009), 69–72
Jenkins, S, ‘Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, Apsley House and Canova’s Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker’, Sculpture Journal, 19:1 (2010), 115–21
Jenkins, S, ‘Buying Bonaparte’, Apollo, CLXXII, 582 (2010), 50–55
Jenkins, S, ‘After the battle: diplomatic gifts of porcelain to the Duke of Wellington after 1815’, in Fascination of Fragility: Masterpieces of European Porcelain, ed V Pietsch and T Witting (Dresden, 2010), 351–5
Kauffmann, C, revised by Jenkins, S, Catalogue of Paintings in the Wellington Museum (London, 2009)
Longford, E, Wellington (London, 1992)
Rutland, E, Belvoir Castle (London, 2009)
Robinson, JM, The Wyatts: An Architectural Dynasty (Oxford, 1979)
Sutton, D, ‘The Wellington Museum, Apsley House’, Apollo, 98 (Sept 1973)
Smith, E, Wellington and the Arbuthnots: A Triangular Friendship (Stroud, 1994)
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