Henry Hope

Henry Thomas Hope (30 April 1808 – 4 December 1862) was a British MP and patron of the arts. Biography Henry Thomas Hope was born in London on 30 April 1808, the eldest of the three sons of the connoisseur Thomas Hope (1769–1831) and his wife Louisa de la Poer Beresford (daughter of William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, younger son of George Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford). However, he was estranged from his brothers (including Alexander James Beresford Hope) when he inherited their father's art collections, wealth and property along with those of their uncle Henry Philip Hope (died 1839). Part of Hope's inheritance from his uncle included the Hope Diamond. He entered a political career after studying at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge (1825–29). He was briefly a Groom of the Bedchamber to Kings George IV and William IV between March and November 1830. He also founded the Art Union of London and the Royal Botanic Society, as well as serving as vice-president of the Society of Arts and president of the Surrey Archaeological Society. Displaying his old masters collection to the public at his London house on Duchess Street, a mansion at 116 Piccadilly and at Deepdene House in Surrey. He was also a patron to idealists such as Young England and the Spanish Carlists and helped organise the 1851 Great Exhibition. From 1851 to 1858 he chaired the Eastern Steam Navigation Company for Isambard Kingdom Brunel, with Henry having been the Great Eastern's chief fundraiser.