Dudley House, 100 Park Lane

Property on this site (100 Park Lane) was owned by the Ward family from the 1730s. The sixth Baron Ward, subsequently first Viscount Dudley and Ward, seems to have built a house with “an elegant Palladian façade” in the 1750s.

The house was rebuilt by John William, fourth Viscount Dudley and Ward (created Earl of Dudley in 1827) in about 1828. He died childless in 1833.

On his death the Earldom of Dudley and the two Viscountcies of Dudley and Ward and of Ednam became extinct and the Barony of Ward passed to the second cousin of the first Earl, William Humble Ward, as the next heir male of the body of the 1st Baron Ward.

The house was sub-let, first to the Marquess Conyngham (1833-9) and then to the second Marquess of Abercorn (1839-47). In 1847 the eleventh Lord Ward took over the house, remaining here after becoming the first Earl of Dudley of the second creation until his death in 1885.

The house was badly bombed in the Second World War and reverted to the Grosvenor Estate. It underwent major reconstruction and alterations in 1969-70 and has recently being restored for a new owner.

Dudley Coat of Arms 100 Park Lane – incorrectly painted

I was commissioned to advise on the correct colours to be applied to the nine quarterings of the Dudley coat of arms.

I was able to show that the previous painting of the arms had been incorrect. The first and most important quartering was representing the wrong family. By failing to paint the background in blue and gold checkers the Ward family connection was, in effect, removed from the arms.

In the same way the earlier treatment of the second quartering had no connection with the family and represented another, unrelated, one.