Richard Child, 1st Earl Tylney

For the American author and diplomat, see Richard Washburn Child.

Richard Child when Viscount Castlemain, circa 1728. Detail from The Assembly at Wanstead, by Hogarth (see full size below).
The Assembly at Wanstead House by William Hogarth painted between 1728 & 1731. The Child family has gathered for tea drinking and card playing in the ballroom of Wanstead House. The painting probably records the celebration of the 1728 25th wedding anniversary of Lord and Lady Castlemaine. Dressed in rich red velvet, Lord Castlemaine is seated on the far right at an ornate tea-table with his twin daughters whilst his wife, playing cards in the centre, turns towards her husband and shows him her winning card, the ace of spades, alluding to their winning partnership. The couple's other children stand at the far left.[1] (Philadelphia Museum of Art, M1928-1-13)

Richard Child, 1st Earl Tylney (5 February 1680 – March 1750), was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1734. Initially a Tory, he switched to supporting the Whigs after 1715. He held no Office of State, nor any commercial directorship of significance,[2] but is remembered chiefly as the builder of the now long-demolished Palladian "princely mansion"[3] Wanstead House, one of the first in the style constructed in Britain. In the furnishing of his mansion Child became the main patron of the Flemish painter Old Nollekens. He died in March 1750 aged 70 at Aix-en-Provence, France, and was buried on 29 May 1750 at Wanstead.[4]

  1. ^ Text based on display label at Philadelphia Museum of Art
  2. ^ Hayton, David (ed.), The House of Commons 1690-1715, vol.2, p.526. "Richard Child"
  3. ^ "Princely Mansion", description used in the 1822 auction sale catalogue
  4. ^ http://www.thePeerage.com "Richard Tynley (sic) person no.24633"