EDWARD LEAR and KNOWSLEY HALL By Margaret Brecknell
Bowman’s Lodge. The site, on which this property was once situated, is today located in the busy London suburb of Holloway, but at the time the house was quite isolated and offered excellent views over the city. Lear would later recall that his earliest memory was of witnessing the fireworks which formed part of the victory celebrations following the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Soon after this event, however, Jeremiah began to experience severe financial difficulties and the young Edward was sent away from the family home, together with his eldest sister, Ann. Some 21 years his senior, Ann effectively became his surrogate mother. She never married and remained devoted to him for the rest of her life until her death in 1861. Not long after leaving Bowman’s Lodge, the young Edward experienced his first epileptic seizure, the first of many which continued throughout his life.
Above: Edward Lear c1866
Edward Lear, who was born 210 years ago, is best known today for his nonsense verse and for making the limerick fashionable.
H
e made his name initially, however, as an illustrator and it was because of his artistic talent that he was employed by the Earl of Derby at the Stanley family’s ancestral home of Knowsley Hall, here in the North-West. Lear’s five years at Knowsley proved to have a huge impact on the way in which his career subsequently progressed, as well as providing an invaluable insight into the unusual collection of wild animals which were then kept in captivity on the estate. Lear was born in London on 12th May 1812, the second youngest of an extremely large family. His father, Jeremiah, worked as a stockbroker and at the time of young Edward’s birth the family lived in a large Georgian house called 102
LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
Above: Painting from Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots
www.lancmag.com
