Richard Barry, 7th Earl of Barrymore (1769-93) lost his father at the age of four and his mother when he was eleven, and perhaps as a consequence he became a rather eccentric man. He spent lavishly on building, including £60,000 on a private theatre at Wargrave in Berkshire. This was demolished and its contents sold in 1792 in order to pay his debts. Being a member of the Irish peerage he was able to serve as MP (Whig) for Haytesbury in 1791-93, although this was done as a means of attempting to avoid his creditors. In 1792, the same year that he was declared bankrupt, he eloped to Gretna Green with Charlotte Goulding, the daughter of a sedan chairman, and in 1789 he joined the Berkshire militia, being promoted to Captain in 1793, only to die shortly thereafter when he accidentally shot himself.

In 1790 Lord Barrymore bought a plot on Piccadilly, and commissioned Robert Adam to make designs for a 32- by 85-foot terraced house, three doors down from Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner. The idea was presumably to provide a London home, as Barrymore was, at the time, pursing a political career. Barrymore’s house was never built, most likely owing to his financial difficulties, and he gave up the plot in May 1792 around the time of his bankruptcy.

Literature:
A.T. Bolton, The architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1922, Volume II, Index pp. 44, 62; D. King, The complete works of Robert and James Adam and unbuilt Adam, 2001, Volume II, p. 130; History of Parliament online: 'Barry, Richard, 7th Earl of Barrymore [I] (1769-93), of Wargrave-on-Thames, Berks.'

Frances Sands, 2013