VHP 000-000-000-715-L

Inventory of Household Furniture in the
Palace of Hamilton 9 December 1690

This well-written and detailed inventory was compiled by David Crawford, the 3rd Duke of Hamilton's secretary, on the 9th December 1690. It affords a snapshot view and record of the interior of Hamilton Palace at this date. Other inventories survive from throughout the 17th century. From these and from this example it is evident that furniture was moved, bought and replaced and that different rooms had different functions with the exception of the Great Dining Room and the Great Drawing room.

This inventory (M12/1) was written during the lifetime of the 3rd Duke and Duchess of Hamilton and in one of their most settled and secure periods. Anne, the 1st Duke of Hamilton's daughter, inherited the title in her own right after the execution of her father the 1st Duke of Hamilton in 1649 and the death of her uncle the 2nd Duke two years later. She and her husband set about the energetic development of her estates after regaining her possessions after the Restoration. The inventory reflects the stability and financial security of the family at this time and was drawn up just before an ambitious new building programme was initiated, transforming Hamilton Palace by the addition of a classical exterior.

The inventory was drawn up with meticulous detail listing, for example,fashionable and sought after china cups and glass bottles in Duchess Anne's bedchamber, portraits of herself, her husband and her sister on the walls. Comparing this inventory with an earlier one of 1681, changes and acquisitions can be observed. New consignments of cane chairs, stands, cabinets, curtains and textiles bought from London are listed. The Duke's bedchamber has a new mohair bed with a "white satin counterpane to match four armed chairs and four without arms covered with the same mohair of the beds". China is placed fashionably on top of cabinets - "A cabinet with a base, a ewer and two large jars of china on top of it". In His Grace's Outer Room, the Duke had an escritoire, two little cabinets, 2 chests of drawers, a folding table, 2 trunks, in the room. This was the room he used for running their estates and for researching his own family's history - making use of maps and "a genealogy of the family of Stewart and a genealogy of the family of Douglas".

Despite the detailed listing of furniture it is on the whole difficult to ascertain the location of paintings. For example the Duke's Outer Room contains an unspecified "20 other paintings". However, some familiar portraits can tentatively be identified for example, "Duke James Hamilton and his Duchess's pictures" in the High Dining Room. This entry probably refers to one of the individual portrait of James 1st Duke of Hamilton by Van Dyck and the portrait of Lady Mary Feilding by or after Van Dyck. Portraits of relatives such as the Earl of Denbigh, the Duchess of Richmond and relatives such as James, 2nd Marquis of Hamilton and others are also listed as being in the same room. Portraits of King Charles 1, Gustavus Adolphus , James 1st Duke of Hamilton and his wife Lady Mary Feilding (individual portraits when they were young by Daniel Mytens ) are listed as being in the Drawing Room next to Her Grace's Bedchamber

The inventory reflects who was fully in residence at this precise date, for example Lady Mary of Baldoon, Duchess Anne's daughter-in-law, her husband Lord Basil and another son Lord John. It also reflects the replacement of "gentlemen", formerly elder or even younger sons of good families, with personal attendants and servants often from middle class backgrounds. There are rooms for David Crawford, the Duke's secretary the author of this inventory, rooms for the Duke's personal French valet de chamber, Mark Rossiere, and rooms for other general servants, William Murray, John Lamb and Mrs Darlo who was in charge of the nursery.

Note on transcription
In the handwriting of David Crawford, secretary to the 3rd Duke and Duchess of Hamilton