1902-1914, Edwardian Hursley
A new 'Golden Age'
In 1902 the Hursley Estate was sold to George Alexander Cooper, a Scottish Lawyer from Elgin who had the inherited vast fortune of £24,000,000 some years earlier from his American wife’s uncle, “Chicago Smith”.
The Cooper's already owned a large town house in Grosvenor Square in London, rented large shooting estates in Scottish Highlands and now completed the ‘set’ of residences expected of an Edwardian Gentleman with Hursley, their English Country Estate.
At Hursley they immediately began to extend, modernise and refurbish the house and grounds creating the view of Hursley we see today.
When completed Hursley Park could boast some of the finest interior decors money could buy, including a grand new ballroom and the latest DC electric lighting
Outside the grounds were revitalised with a new ornamental sunken garden, large glass houses complemented the existing kitchen walled garden and a new 'entertainments hall was built.
When the Heathcote family were forced to sell the estate in 1888 their friend, and author, Charlotte Yonge reflected on their passing as the end of an era. However, the arrival of the Cooper family was to start a new, golden, era. One Charlotte Yonge could never have predicted.
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