![File:PiquetHands DowrichHouseDevon 1855Drawing SaltramHouseCollection.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/PiquetHands_DowrichHouseDevon_1855Drawing_SaltramHouseCollection.png/800px-PiquetHands_DowrichHouseDevon_1855Drawing_SaltramHouseCollection.png)
Original file (1,129 × 740 pixels, file size: 1.3 MB, MIME type: image/png)
![]() | This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below. Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help. |
Summary
DescriptionPiquetHands DowrichHouseDevon 1855Drawing SaltramHouseCollection.png |
English: Saltram House, Devon, National Trust catalogue entry, item 3041422[1]:
The actual owner in 1855 was Edward Ireland Clayfield (died 1862). An eye-witness account, dated 1848, of seeing the table, is recorded as follows:[1]
The card table was included in the auction of the "furnishings, oil paintings and effects" held at Dowrich on 16 September 1921 and was purchased by Walter Northcote, 2nd Earl of Iddesleigh (1845–1927),[2] of Pynes near Crediton, the descendant of the winner of the cardgame. Sabine Baring-Gould gives a full description of the hands played in the game in his 1898 book An Old English Home and its Dependencies, London, 1898, pp.280-2, Scapegraces, as follows: There was in North Devon no more ncient family than Dowrish of Dowrish, whose authentic pedigree goes back to King John's reign, when Dowrish Keep was erected. The descent was direct from father to son for twenty generations, that is to say for five hundred years, always seated on the same acres and occupying the same house, that had indeed been added to, remodelled, but which was in itself a record of the lives and thoughts, ambitions, and discouragements of a family that had married into the best in the land, the de Helions, the Carews, the Fulfords, and the Northcotes. Then, in graceless days, came the graceless fool who undid the work of twenty generations in one night. The manor of Kennerleigh belonged and had belonged to the Dowrishes for centuries. One night the then squire and Sir Arthur Northcote were playing piquet. Mr. Dowrish, being eldest hand, held the four aces, four kings, and four queens, and promptly offered to bet his manor of Kennerleigh against £500, by no means its value even in those days, that he won the game. Sir Arthur took the bet, having a claim of carte blanche on his undiscarded hand. After Sir Arthur had discarded, he took up two knaves, and held two points of five each, each headed by the knave. Mr. Dowrish being about to declare, was stopped by Sir Arthur's claim for ten for carte blanche, which ruined his chances. The point fell to Sir Arthur, and two quints, who scored thus : Carte blanche . . .10 Point 5 Two quints at 15 each . 30 Repique. . . .60 105 and game. At the present day there would be holes to pick in this method of counting, as Mr. Dowrish on his side could have claimed his " fourteens " for aces, kings, and queens before allowing the sequences to count, but not so formerly, when the rule was absolute as to the order of counting, point, sequence, threes or fours of suits. So the manor was lost, and Kennerleigh belongs to Lord Iddesleigh at the present day. In commemoration of the game, the table at which it was played was inlaid with representations of the two hands, and is now in Dowrish House, a mansion that has lost all its interest, having been remodelled in suburban villa style, but nobly situated and commanding a glorious view. |
Date | |
Source | Photograph by National Trust, Saltram House, Devon |
Author | Unknown authorUnknown author |
Licensing
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
![]() |
This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. ![]() |
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights. |
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/PDMCreative Commons Public Domain Mark 1.0falsefalse
- ↑ Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries, Vol.12, July— December 1855, p.102, The Manor of Kennerleigh, near Crediton in Devonshire, lost by a Game of Cards[2]
- ↑ Trease, G.E., Dowrich and the Dowrich Family of Sandford, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, Vol.33, 1974, p.351
Captions
Items portrayed in this file
depicts
1855
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
current | 14:32, 1 January 2017 | ![]() | 1,129 × 740 (1.3 MB) | Lobsterthermidor | {{Information |Description ={{en|1=Saltram House, Devon, National Trust catalogue entry, item 3041422[http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/3041422]: "Drawing, with manuscript commentary, of the cards of a game of piquet, on which Thomas... |