1765-1829
1765-1773 Cann-Jeffries
On 20 July 1765 Stoke House passed from Sir Robert Cann to Robert Cann-Jeffries, a nephew by his sister Catherine. She had been married to a Mr Charles Jeffries and had one son and one daughter (also called Catherine).
1773-1829 Cann-Lippincott
When Robert Cann-Jeffries died on 16 May 1773, the whole estate passed to his sister Catherine, who on 10 February 1774 married Henry Lippincott. They had a son, Henry Cann-Lippincott.
The garden pavilion was added in the late 1770s by Henry Lipincott. It was used as an orangery and was turned into a swimming pool 1920s and 1930s. It is now the college chapel,
The house in this period can be seen in a sketch of 1791 by J.M.W. Turner (above). In the summer of 1791, Turner made a sketching tour and stayed at Bristol with a friend of his father, John Narraway, a leather merchant, and it is likely that Narraway introduced Turner to the Lippincott household. Watching Turner sketch the house is the seated John Narraway Junr and the young Sir Henry Lippincott standing with a friend or relation. Turner made two pencil sketches of the house, the second of which forms the basis of this watercolour. The painting, made when the artist was only 16 years old, is one of the most beautiful and important of Turner's early watercolours.
In the picture the house is shown as having flat front windows; the bay windows were added probably in the late 1860s. There are also cupolas on the main tower and smaller turret, which have since been removed to give the house a much plainer appearance.
Henry Lippincott
Robert-Cann Jeffries, was heir to his uncle Sir Robert Cann, but dying a bachelor, May 16, 1773, the whole of his fortune descended on his sister Catherine, who Feb, 10, 1774, was married to Henry Lippincott, esq; the present owner, in right of his wife, of the Canns seat and estate at Stoke Bishop, and lord of the manors of Compton, Olverton, and Elberton; and, by a late purchase, of Littleton upon Servern. He has likewise several good estates in other countries, and in the city of Bristol. They have issue one son, Henry-Cann Lippincott, born June 5, 1776.
Mr. Lippincott is of an ancient family in the county of Devon, and has twice served the office of Sheriff for the city of Bristol, viz. in 1768, and 1771; and once for the county of Gloucester, in 1776, when there was an election of a knight of the shire, which was strenuously contested between the honourable George-Cranfield Berkeley, brother to the earl of Berkeley, and William-Bromley Chester, esq. The poll lasted thirteen days; but the business was afterwards carried, by petition, into the House of Commons, when Mr. Lippincott's conduct appeared so unexceptionable to the committee, that they unanimously came to the following resolution, viz. 'The committee, in justice to the high sheriff of the county of Gloucester, declare, that they have seen no reason, by any evidence adduced to them, to impeach his conduct with partiality, in the discharge of his duty in taking the poll.'
Mr. Lippincott gives for his arms, Quarterly 1st and 4th, Per fess crenelle gules and sable, three mountain cats argent, for Lippincott; 2d and 3d, Sable, a chevron argent between three mermaids proper, for Wyvely. Marrying an heiress, he bears a scutcheon of pretence, Quartlerly 1st and 4th, Azure, a fret Or, on a chief argent a lion passant gules, for Jeffries; 2d and 3d, Azure, fretty argent, on a fess gules three leopards faces Or, for Cann.
Samuel Rudder, A New History of Gloucestershire, p.801
Bibliography
S. Rudder, A New History of Gloucestershire (1779; reprinted Gloucester: Sutton, 1986)
Picture reproduced by permission of Leger Galleries Ltd, London