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T Sir Thomas Hewitt KC A Man of Many Parts
SIR THOMAS HEWITT KC:
A MAN OF MANY PARTS
By The Sub-Treasurer
As a frequent visitor to Lynton in North Devon (linked to Lynmouth by a water-powered funicular railway), I was intrigued to see a sign at the gatepost of the Villa Spaldi on Lynton North Walk which read “1837–1923: Sir Thomas Hewitt KC loved this place and built this house & gardens c 1870”. Further research revealed him to be a distinguished former member of The Inner Temple. One of his sons (Copley de Lisle Hewitt) was also a member of the Inn and another a member of Middle Temple.
Sir Thomas was a highly intelligent man, a German speaker (part-educated in Darmstadt) who played chess at international level and founded both a chess club and publication. He aspired to the Bar, but first qualified as a solicitor in 1864. Two years later he became associated with another Inn, as a Captain in Gray’s Inn Rifles, a branch of the Middlesex Reserve Volunteers. He was Clerk to the Commissioners of Taxes for City of London in 1882; then President of the Clerks, only retiring in 1916; and was called to the Bar by The Inner Temple in 1884. The shareholders of the Ocean, Accident and Guarantee Corporation elected him Director, then Chairman in 1888. He was placed on the Commission of the Peace for the City of London the same year. In 1889 he became Director (and later Deputy Chairman) of the Artisans and General Labourers Dwelling Company and was much interested in good housing for working people. In 1892 Butterfield published Hewitt on Corporation Duty, the standard text for many years. Sir Thomas became Queen’s Counsel in 1899, and later King’s Counsel (the last time this happened prior to 2022). He was President of the Chamber of Arbitration of the City of London from 1901, overseeing the tax affairs of City (that is, 25 per cent of the country’s Schedule D income tax returns). In 1902 alone he dealt with 11,387 appeals. By 1905 he well deserved his knighthood. When the London Arbitration Court was reorganised in 1906 he left – and stood, unsuccessfully, as the Liberal Unionist candidate for North West Cornwall (Camborne), reducing the Socialist majority. Edward VII appointed him High Sheriff of Devonshire in 1908. He was elected Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington in 1909 but turned it down; then accepted the appointment in 1912; but declined a second term in 1913. He was made a Freeman of the City of London and it was suggested he should be Lord Mayor, but his sons allegedly talked him out of this for financial reasons.
Sir Thomas married his first wife, Elizabeth Jane Wilson, in 1864. She died the following year, probably of the after-effects of giving birth to their daughter. “Alas”, he wrote in family notes and clearly thought of her for long afterwards. But in 1869 he married again, happily, to his cousin Fanny Dugard Powles. Canon Charles Kingsley (of The Water-Babies fame) conducted the ceremony. Lynton was a favourite holiday destination and it was while walking on cliffs at Lynton North Walk that he suggested she throw a stone to mark the site of a summer house. They employed Bob Jones, the only local builder, to construct The Hoe, a large and lovely house on a steep, bare hillside down to the sea. It has been little altered since. Gardens, bowered walks and terraces were created and 27 acres of woodland established which are now rich in wildlife. The views are fabulous. They went on to have three sons.
But it was Sir Thomas’s collaboration with Sir George Newnes, the publisher of Tit-Bits, The Pall Mall Gazette and The Strand Magazine, and a chess partner, which had the greatest impact on the locality – changing isolated Lynton into a holiday destination of choice. He persuaded Sir George to build the grand Hollerday House on the hillside above The Hoe in the 1880s, but it was sadly destroyed by fire in 1913. Together they planned the 900-foot long Cliff Railway down to Lynmouth, 450 feet below, and Sir Thomas probably gave the land for it and became a Director. It opened in 1890 and remains accidentfree. Bob Jones was Chief Engineer. Sir Thomas’s interest may not have been entirely altruistic, because it enabled him to transport his car on a flat-bed carriage, up the hill to Lynton North Walk. The two of them were also driving forces behind the creation of The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway from 1895–8. Sir Thomas was firstly a Director and then took over from Sir George as Chairman for nine years in 1910. The Hewitts encouraged local people to visit their gardens and woods and play tennis. They sponsored many local projects, such as purchasing goats from the Sandringham Royal Herd to help with TB. Their descendants still wander the cliffs. “The Little Lady” Fanny (he was well over six foot tall) built poor houses, started lace-making classes and helped Belgian refugees. It is slightly strange in retrospect that Sir Thomas’s memory is little marked in modern Lynton, in contrast to Sir George’s: it has been suggested that a grand manner may have somewhat alienated those for whom he and his wife did so much. He died peacefully, after lunch, in his study aged 85.
The Hoe became Hewitt’s Hotel before becoming Villa Spaldi, owned by the charming Tito and Angelika Spaldi, and is now available for purchase. Sir Thomas rests in a quiet corner of Lynton Old Cemetery, together with Fanny’s smaller grave.
Greg Dorey CVO Sub-Treasurer
