A view of the funeral procession for Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart (1852 – 1915), 6th Marquess of Londonderry, Earl Vane outside Wynyard Hall. The pallbearers are followed by Lady Theresa Susey Helen, Marchioness of Londonderry and Charles Steward Henry.
The hall was built in 1822 and rebuilt in 1841 after a fire and incorporated the late 18th century mansion built by the Tempest Family. The new building was based on Benjamin Dean Wyatt’s unexecuted proposal for a Waterloo Palace at Stratfield Saye for the Duke of Wellington. The plans were eventually executed by his brother Philip Wyatt.
Picture Stockton Archive 
Whilsy carrying out my research into the Vane Tempest family, I learnt that of the first 133 buildings completed in Seaham Harbour by 1831, 12 were pubs! Whilst in 1902 a local wit wrote the following rhyme as a Mnemonic Aid, in order to remember the name of 28 local public houses.
The fellows of the *Royal Naval Reserve entered the *Ship built of *Royal Oak and sailed up to the *Adam and Eve Gardens where they met with some *Foresters who informed them that the *Duke of Wellington leaving the *Edinburgh Castle, had got into a *Dray Cart. He was escorted by some noble *Volunteers, all loyal to the *Rose and Crown and headed by a *Highlander playing on his pipes. They passed through *Northumberland and on arriving at the *Bridge they were met by *Marlborough, *Zetland and *Braddyll who had just returned from *Canterbury.
The assembled company here sat down to discuss the merits of *Shakespeare, the latest achievements of the *Engineers and the industry of the *Bottlemakers but were interrupted by the chattering of the *Parrot. Then a party of *Oddfellows suddenly entered the room and informed them that a *Golden Lion had escaped from *Noah’s Ark and was speeding by the *Colliery to the *Times Inn hotly pursued by *Lord Seaham wearing a *Hat and Feather and mounted on a *Kicking Cuddy.
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Born Charles Vane-Tempest in London, he was the eldest son of George Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry. He died of pneumonia at Wynyard Park, County Durham, in February 1915, aged 62, and was succeeded by his son, Charles, the 7th Marquess (this) Lord Londonderry subsequently gained notoriety for his informal and unauthorised diplomatic contacts with senior members of the German government. He made six visits to Nazi Germany between January 1936 and September 1938 meeting Adolf Hitler on a number of occasions and sympathising with some of his viewpoints.
Other members of this once famous Durham Coal mining family are:
• Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry, a wealthy English heiress and noblewoman. Through her daughter, Lady Frances Vane, wife of John Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, she was the great-grandmother of Sir Winston Churchill. Frances Anne inherited extensive lands from her father in the North East England. With her husband, she developed an extensive coal mining operation that included coal mines, a railroad, and docks at Seaham Harbour.
• Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest. Politician; became insane and had to be medically restrained. According to Anne Isba, Author and Victorian Studies Scholar, Vane was “notoriously unstable” and was “described by Queen Victoria as having ‘a natural tendency to madness.’ Vane, who on one occasion violently attacked his wife and infant son, died four years later during a struggle with four gamekeepers who were trying to restrain him.
• Lady Adelaide Emelina Caroline Vane (c.1830–1882); disgraced the family by eloping with her brother’s tutor, Rev. Frederick Henry Law.
• Lord Ernest McDonnell Vane-Tempest (1836–1885), fell in with a press-gang and had to be bought a commission in the army, from which he was subsequently cashiered.
• Annabel’s night-club in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London, was so named for the former Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart, a descendant and heiress of the Londonderry family. who during the 1960s and the 1970s, gained notoriety in gossip columns for her extramarital affair with Anglo-French financier Sir James Goldsmith, who later became her second husband.
* SEAHAM HARBOUR CONNECTION: The original village of Seaham, County Durham was the headquarters of the Vane family coal mining interests. Seaham only claim to fame was that the local landowner’s daughter, Anne Isabella Milbanke, was married at Seaham Hall to Lord Byron. The area’s fortunes changed when the Milbankes sold out to 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, who built an harbour to handle the millions of tonnes of coal exported from their Durham based coal mines. By 1992, however, all three pits (Dawdon Colliery, Vane Tempest Colliery and Seaham Colliery – known locally as “the Knack”) had closed. At one time the Vane Tempest family employed 5500 coal miners in the County Durham area.
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