{"id":2866,"date":"2025-06-15T14:50:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T13:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=2866"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:21:09","slug":"jonathan-ritson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/15\/jonathan-ritson\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Ritson, the drunken wood carver"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Jonathan Ritson, the drunken wood carver<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What links the magnificent Arundel Castle, in Sussex, with Cumbria? Primarily, it\u2019s the complex family history of one of the great families of England, the Howards, and their marriages with other great families, including the Dacres of Greystoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s all well-recorded elsewhere, and needs to be. During a visit to Arundel Castle last year, I heard more than one visitor ask more than one guide: \u201cWhy is Arundel Castle the ancestral home of the Dukes of Norfolk?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, there\u2019s a connection that took me to Arundel last summer. Charles Howard, the 11th Duke of Norfolk, was from the Greystoke line, but ended up in Sussex. He was a Whig politician and a cousin of mine, a LOT of times removed, became his private secretary. I know Dr John Wasdale travelled to Sussex with the Duke on at least recorded occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And thirdly, there is Jonathan Ritson, the drunken wood carver<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jonathan Ritson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Jonathan was baptised at St James\u2019, Whitehaven, in February 1777, the son of Joseph Ritson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joseph Ritson was a wood carver, and his son followed him into the craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 1841 census shows Jonathan living in Petworth, Sussex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was to die there in 1846.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He received a lengthy obituary in the Gentlemen\u2019s Magazine, which, along with other sources, tells his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u2018Jonathan Ritson was born at Whitehaven in Cumberland and was brought up to his father&#8217;s trade of a carpenter; he was employed upon the estates of the Duke of Norfolk at Workington and Greystoke.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>It was here that his abilities as a carver in wood first attracted the notice of that nobleman, who being at that time engaged in restoring the ancient castle at Arundel, at his request Jonathan removed thither and executed most of the carved work in the Library and Barons&#8217; Hall of that princely residence.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The library at Arundel is amazing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, died in 1815. But Jonathan wasn\u2019t left without work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The 3rd Earl of Egremont<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>George O&#8217;Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont FRS, was a major landowner and a great art collector \u2013 he was a patron of JMW Turner. He also fathered<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u2018a large progeny of illegitimate children\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/\u2018a large progeny of illegitimate children\u2019 https:\/\/www.nationaltrust.org.uk\/visit\/sussex\/petworth\/the-petworth-family-tree\">Source<\/a>: <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>His key properties were Petworth House in Sussex and Orchard Wyndham in Somerset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s another of those \u2018great family\u2019 tangles: Petworth is in Sussex, but previous owners included the 10th Earl of Northumberland, and 6th Duke of Somerset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Egremont, of course, is in Cumbria: the Northumberland Percys had (naturally!) owned lands there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Back to Jonathan Ritson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1816, the Earl of Egremont employed by him to restore the carved work at Petworth House. It was a task he was undertake for about 18 months, before heading to London for ten years, only to then return, in 1827, to Petworth, and complete the Carved Room, left unfinished (since 1721) by the death of Grinling Gibbons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The National Trust reckons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u2018Ritson\u2019s great technical proficiency was superior to his sense of design.&nbsp; His carving was allowed to run riot on all available spaces of wall and ceiling and the majority of his embellishments were removed in 1869.&nbsp; Only three large, compressed and florid compositions were allowed to remain, as they can be seen today, on the core of the ceiling.&nbsp; Ritson was apparently treated at Petworth \u2018with too much indulgence, and tempted by an inordinate love of strong beer.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and all that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Gentlemen\u2019s Magazine <\/em>liked it, at any rate:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u2018This undertaking (Petworth) he executed with consummate care and ability, combining groups of flowers, birds, and fishes, formed into festoons profusely ornamented, and displaying a degree of airy lightness and natural beauty almost inconceivable.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The Earl of Egremont must have been pleased, too. He had a portrait of Jonathan Ritson painted, to hang alongside one of Grinling Gibbons. And provided him with a pension in his final years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can see what he looked like in <a href=\"https:\/\/ntprints.com\/products\/pod1043409\">this copy of the portrait<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The drunken wood carver<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There was another side of Jonathan Ritson, though. As summed up by the <em>Gentlemen\u2019s Magazine, <\/em>which said he was\u2026<em>:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u2018<em>\u2026a remarkable instance of innate genius and superior abilities being united with the low and degrading habits of drunkenness; and no one who was acquainted with his exquisite skill as a faithful copier of nature, can help reflecting with grief upon the loss of distinction and wealth which he would most assuredly have acquired had it not been for the baneful influence of this vice.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>After a few pars celebrating his life, the writer, \u2018who knew him well and admired the surpassing beauty of his workmanship\u2019 continued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u2018<em>From the debasing nature of his habits it is needless to say his mind was of a very unintellectual cast; he had but two sources of pleasure \u2014 in his work, and in his cups.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2018It was said of George Morland, whose character he greatly resembled, that all his time which he did not spend in painting he spent in drinking; and the same may be said of poor Jonathan, whose habits led him into the lowest society.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>And that\u2019s the words of an admirer!<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u2018<em>It was no unusual occurrence to find him for days and nights in a state of drunken in-sensibility, clothed in rags, associating with chimney sweepers and trampers, and exhibiting a spectacle of filth and wretchedness painful to contemplate.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u2018His favourite beverage was strong beer \u2013 wine and spirituous liquors of all kinds he abhorred and repudiated.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">His own enemy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The lengthy obituary concludes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u2018And yet he had some redeeming qualities: he was as harmless and inoffensive as a child; he was most obliging and civil in his manners; he was an enemy to no one but himself. The writer of this notice, cannot help commiserating his unhappy fate, when he refects upon what he was and what he might have been.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonathan Ritson, the drunken wood carver What links the magnificent Arundel Castle, in Sussex, with Cumbria? Primarily, it\u2019s the complex family history of one of the great families of England, the Howards, and their marriages with other great families, including the Dacres of Greystoke. It\u2019s all well-recorded elsewhere, and needs to be. During a visit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[457,458],"class_list":["post-2866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cumbrian-people","tag-arundel","tag-greystoke"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jonathan Ritson, the drunken wood carver - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jonathan Ritson, born in Whitehaven in 1777, created the beautful carved work in the Library at Arundel Castle. 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