Page:Eight Friends of the Great - WP Courtney.djvu/36

 16 aged 42, having devised the estate to his wife who in 1809 sold it to her husband's uncle, Philip Metcalfe. He in his turn bought more land and gave the house the higher-sounding appellation of "Hawstead House." At his death the estate consisted of nearly 600 acres. Views of this house and of the almshouses which he established in the parish are in H. R. Barker's illustrated volume on West Suffolk.

This Philip Metcalfe, the second son of Roger Metcalfe, and the younger brother of Christopher, was born on 29 August 1733, at six o'clock in the afternoon, probably in Brownlow Street, christened the same day and named Philip after his grandfather Philip Astley. Like many another younger son he went into trade and in May 1756 was described as merchant in the city of London. In 1763 he and his younger brother, Roger, became partners for a term of 14 years in the old established firm of Bisson and Son, malt distillers of West Ham. About 1773 Roger retired from the firm which was then known as Bissons and Metcalfe and Philip ultimately became the sole owner of the business, carrying it on with great pecuniary advantage until his death. Jeremy Bentham used to repeat the dictum by Metcalfe that "the profit of distillation was only in the distilling duties." It was probably through the association of the Metcalfes of Hawstead with the family of Bisson that the clerical antiquary, sir John Cullum, the historian of Hawstead, became known to, and married at West Ham on the 11th July 1765, Peggy the only daughter of Daniel Bisson of that place.

With this great accession of means Philip Metcalfe became a prominent figure in the social life of London, and of London-upon-sea. His town house was at first in Savile Row; about 1798 he acquired a long lease of 32, afterwards 15, Hill Street and moved into that house. At Brighton he lived at the Old Steyne, in a house not numbered in his day but afterwards known as No. 3. At both places he delighted in