This is the story behind this tablet in the chancel of Hutton Rudby church:
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| Tablet to Charles John Cary, 9th Viscount Falkland, his wife & daughter Hutton Rudby Church |
Captain Charles Cary RN, 9th Viscount Falkland, died of his wounds in the early hours of Thursday 2 March 1809. It was about 36 hours since he had been shot in the lower part of his abdomen and the surgeon hadn't been able to find the bullet and extract it. The autopsy would reveal the full extent of the damage – the pistol ball had wounded Lord Falkland's large intestine and lodged in his spine.
He died as the result of a duel and he died in his opponent's house. He was forty years old and he left a young widow with four small children.
The year 1809 had begun unpromisingly for him with a fire.
In January 1809, he and his wife and their little children were in London for the season and had taken the first floor at the fashionable Warne's Hotel in Conduit Street. The hotel was made up of two houses – numbers 19 and 20 Conduit Street stand there now – and it stretched back towards the church of St George's, Hanover Square.
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| St George's Hanover Square, by T Malton 1787 |
On 30 January 1809, Warne's Hotel went up in flames. Some newspaper reports said that the fire started in Lord Falkland's dressing room because a poker had fallen from the grate. Some said it was Lady Falkland's dressing room. One report said that Lord Falkland rushed to the room hoping to save some cash in his writing desk, but was beaten back by the flames and that he had lost £300. Another report said it was £200. There were rumours that Lady Falkland lost all her jewels in the blaze.
When the alarm was raised, she was able to escape from her drawing room with the three children and the baby and take refuge in a friend's house in Oxford Street. Meanwhile, men were dashing into the hotel to save as much of the furniture and contents as they could and servants were running up and down the stairs with as much water as they could carry. Soon the horrified congregation in nearby St George's could see flames through the church windows. There was a mass exodus for the door while someone, with great presence of mind, scooped up the church silver and took it to a place of safety. The charity school children had been at the service as usual – they rushed out into the street, boys without their hats and girls without their cloaks and bonnets. The road filled with people running in all directions.
Traffic came to a standstill as carriages four abreast blocked Bond Street. The fire engines couldn't get through and the Earl of Chesterfield, who was Colonel of the Old St George's Volunteers, sent a party of troopers to clear the way. Earl Percy sent his private fire engine from Northumberland House and the Duke of Portland – who was then Prime Minister and would before long die in office – helpfully sent a supply of ale to the firemen. But first they needed water.
When the engines reached the scene, water couldn't be had – one report said it was an hour before the firemen could get a supply. The flames burst through the windows of the hotel with astonishing speed and the roof was soon destroyed.
Sightseers gathered and had to be kept back by Horse Guards and Foot Guards while the wind, blowing a strong gale, blew red-hot cinders away, over and into Swallow Street and Vigo Lane in a shower of fire. People climbed up to their rooftops to beat out the sparks.
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| A fire in London, 1808 |
In the days that followed the fire, while the hotel was rapidly being rebuilt, Lord Falkland and his family settled into Dorant's Hotel in Albemarle Street. And now things began to look up for Lord Falkland. While he was out and about enjoying Society life, his career prospects started to improve.
