The Big House: The Story of a Country House and its Family. Christopher Sykes Simon

an attempt to reach a settlement with France, he was treated with the utmost contempt by the Directory, which had governed the country since the end of the Terror. They set terms that they knew would be impossible for Pitt to meet and immediately set about mobilising the combined French, Spanish and Dutch fleets to sail against Britain. Napoleon, triumphant after his success in conquering Italy, was appointed ‘Commander-in-Chief’ of the forces for the invasion of England, the Army of England.

      On 22 January, 1798, Henry Dundas, Principal Secretary of State for War, sent Christopher the following letter. ‘Sir, Living in this distant part of England,’ he wrote, ‘I request you will excuse me troubling you to inform me if there is any plan to be given to the Country Gentlemen for having their Tenants and Neighbours enrolled for the use of their Waggons or their personal service either on Foot or Horseback at or near their Homes or whether anything of this kind is in Contemplation … and if not whether we … are justified in assembling those who are willing either with or without arms …’⁵⁷

      Dundas had in fact anticipated exactly what Christopher had in mind, who, before he ever read this letter, had written to the Duke of Leeds telling him that ‘I have lately thought that something should be done towards being prepared for defending ourselves against the French our infernal Enemies.’ He had appealed to the Duke to ‘make the proper Application to know if arms and Ammunition will be allowed to any Body of Horse or foot appointed for Defence of our own Coast & neighbourhood only, under myself & other neighbouring gentlemen. The Officers to be answerable for the Arms when called upon. The Men and Officers requiring no Pay except for Sergeants to teach them the Exercise & Evolutions. By Arms I mean a Sabre & pair of Pistols in Holsters for the Horse & Muskets with Bayonets (perhaps if one half had pikes) for the Foot.’⁵⁸

      Christopher concluded his letter to the Duke by saying he was certain that if he was allowed to pursue his scheme, ‘I have Reason to believe I shall be able to assemble a Number of Persons in this Neighbourhood.’ The result was the formation of the Yorkshire Wolds Gentlemen and Yeomanry Cavalry, which raised forty-five men as volunteers from sixteen parishes adjacent to Sledmere. On 22 February his friend Thomas Grimston from Kilnwick, who had his own troop, was writing to tell him that Sergeant Robert Wilson, one of the Sergeants in the Militia, wished ‘to refresh his Memory by overlooking now & then the Regulations laid down for ye Sword Exercise,’ and hence he had taken the liberty of ordering from the York bookseller, Mr Todd, ‘a Book of the Sword Exercise’.

      Ten days later Grimston was offering him ‘ye Sabres which have been used by my Troops’, so long as he could keep back four ‘in order to be used for the Attack & defence’. ‘There will still remain fifty,’ he assured him, ‘which if you wish for you may have immediately’, though he added the proviso ‘that in case my troop shd. be embodied or be called out for any Service before I get new Swords that you will lend me the old ones in the interim’. They would cost him 19s. each; ‘Christopher’s account book shows that he spent altogether £678. 18s. 9d. on equipping his cavalry. Many of the muskets, bayonets and other arms that he acquired still decorate the walls of the Entrance Hall at Sledmere.

      So seriously did Christopher take his role as Captain of the Militia that at one point he was considering equipping them with cannon. His neighbour Lord Mulgrave, unlike Christopher an experienced soldier, soon set him right about this misguided plan. ‘With respect to the advantages which you might derive, in the event of actual service before an enemy, from the addition of cannon to your corps, I entertain strong doubts,’ he wrote on 19 June, 1798. ‘Large corps of Cavalry, forming the Wing of an army or detached to a distance & obliged to maintain themselves in their Post, find great advantage from a small proportion of light artillery, well trained and under the command of skilful Artillery officers. But a small corps, acting as light troops would find themselves much embarrassed in their movements, would lose much of that most essential quality of rapidity, and would in many instances expose themselves to the sacrifice of many men, or to the loss of their guns if the Enemy should encounter them with a superior body of Cavalry.’⁵⁹

      On 19 July, Christopher, who had organised his troop with the same efficiency and pride that he had set about the rebuilding of Sledmere, received his official orders from the King. ‘To Our Trusty & Wellbeloved Sir Christopher SYKES Bt. Greeting,’ they began, and followed on ‘We, reposing especial Trust and Confidence in Your Loyalty, Courage and good Conduct, do, by these Presents, constitute and appoint you to be Captain of the Yorkshire Wolds Gentlemen and Yeomanry but not to take rank in Our Army except during the Time of the said Corps being called out into actual Service.’⁶⁰ The call never came. On 1 August, 1798, Admiral Nelson and the British Navy, described by Pitt as the ‘saviours of Mankind’, successfully annihilated the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, thereby ending Napoleon’s dreams of an invasion. The Yorkshire force was soon disbanded.

      The last year of the eighteenth century saw Christopher much on the move, apparently in search of a cure for Bessy’s failing health. ‘I am truly sorry for the indisposition of Lady Sykes,’ Rose had written to Christopher in May, 1798, ‘and I hope the Machine, which I have ordered from Mr LOWNDES will be of infinite use, indeed I think it a very ingenious machine.’ The contraption he referred to was an exercise machine, and he was quick to assure his employer that he would not be recommending something that he had not tried himself. ‘After Mr LOWNDES had showed me utility of it, I got into it, and find that it will be very strong exercise.’ Mr Lowndes, he continued, ‘has promised to inform you of all the situations for the different parts of the body, it will be particularly strong if you turn the machine yourself, I have ordered the Pedometer as I think it may be of great use, as by it you may know how many miles you have supposed to go.’ He concluded by telling Christopher that ‘from the simplicity of the construction of the device I think it is impossible to be ever out of order’, though he did admit, hinting at the truly Heath Robinson nature of the machine, ‘only you may want a new string now and then’.⁶¹

      Though there is no mention of the exact nature of what was wrong with her, other than that she suffered from ‘weak nerves’, there is a strong likelihood that she may have been victim to one of the many illnesses which are now known to have been caused by lead poisoning, such as disease of the kidneys, recurring headaches, lassitude, and indeed problems of the nerves, all due to the then common use of the metal in everyday things such as water pipes, earthenware, cooking pots, pewter plates and tankards, cosmetics, hair dyes and medicines. Unsurprisingly, Mr Lowndes’s apparatus did little for Bessy’s condition, and the bitter cold month of January, 1799 found her and Christopher consulting a Dr Hall in London, staying with some of the family at a house they had rented in Lisson Grove.

      At first her condition appeared to be improving. ‘I am happy to say my Mother is much better,’ wrote their son Christopher to his brother Tatton, ‘and in a very fair way of Recovery.’ Though it was at a cost. ‘This man puts her to a great deal of pain,’ he continued, ‘& I have to go to him every Morn. above three miles off. In short for what she undergoes with him, she deserves her health. From his account the Complaint has been long coming on, & will be long in getting the better of it.’⁶² In February, an Irish friend, the Hon. William Skeffington, wrote to inquire after her health. ‘I have felt much for Lady Sykes during the recent severe weather,’ he told her husband, ‘I am very impatient to hear that it has not thrown her back & flatter myself your next will give a good acct. of her recovering with Dr Hall.’⁶³

      June found the Sykeses in Bath, with Bessy apparently no better. ‘I was happy to find … that you had arrived safe,’ wrote George Britton to Christopher, ‘and found Lady Sykes not worse than might be expected from her late Relapse; I hope the Change of Air, Journey and Benefits of the Bath Waters will be of infinite service.’⁶⁴ By far the most popular and fashionable form