Staircase Hall Portraits, Wrest Park

This group of full length portraits around the Staircase Hall was almost lost when the house and contents were sold again in 1939. They were included as separate lots in the sales catalogue, but were purchased by the new owners of the house, the Sun Insurance Company, who used Wrest as their wartime headquarters. As a result the pictures have remained in the positions they were placed in when the house was built in the 1830s by Thomas, 2nd Earl de Grey.