Place Name
Richard Owen Cambridge (14 February 1717 – 17 September 1802) was a poet who gave his name to Cambridge House, which at the time stood alone. Cambridge was educated at Eton and St John’s College, Oxford, although he left without taking a degree. He inherited a fortune as a young boy following the death of his father and after his marriage to Mary Trenchard went to live at his country seat of Whitminster, Gloucestershire. But in 1751, after coming into yet another fortune left to him by his uncle, came to Twickenham Meadows, where he enjoyed the society of many notable persons. He was renowned for his classical knowledge, and was the author of Scribleriad, a mock epic poem full of literary in-jokes. Horace Walpole in his letters makes many humorous allusions to Cambridge describing him as the “Cambridge of Everything”. H M Cundall in Bygone Richmond said that he contributed articles to a periodical called The World. Recounting one story he writes: “One Sunday morning, as he was setting out for Twickenham Church, a note from the Editor was handed to him. His wife, observing his inattention during the sermon, whispered, ‘Of what are you thinking, my dear?’ He replied, ‘Of the next World, my dear!'” Cambridge undertook a considerable amount of work at the Twickenham property, particularly in laying out the grounds to suit his own taste. For this, he is held to have been complimented by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Praise was perhaps not reciprocated: Cambridge is believed to have remarked of Brown that “I hope to die before him, so I may see heaven before it is improved!” He died at Twickenham many years after the landscaper. As for the house, in 1896 it was sold to Sir John Whittaker Ellis MP, a former Lord Mayor of London and also a former mayor of Richmond. Like his predecessor he too spent a lot of money on landscaping the grounds. The house was finally demolished in the 1930s but its grounds had long been encroached upon by development of the Cambridge Park area.
