Victorian Lords of the Manor of Langar
John Wright 1758 - 1840
After the death in 1799 of lord of the manor Admiral Lord Howe, his daughter Sophia had no interest in Langar and sold the Hall and its farmlands in 1818.
The new lord of the manor was John Wright, a wealthy banker and the owner of a major iron-producing company in Derbyshire. He had plans for a much posher and more modern house elsewhere (Lenton Hall, Nottingham) and had no need for Langar Hall.
John Wright demolished some of Langar Hall and the remainder stood empty for the next 20 years. He had the old deer park divided up into small hedged fields (closes) which he sold and he had most of the old trees chopped down and sold.
Langar Hall was eventually sold to Richard Marriott, a prosperous local farmer with a large family. When an old wooden beam fire caught fire and proved impossible to put out, Mr Marriott decided to demolish the house. In 1837 he built the present, much smaller hall on the same site. He used the same local builder he had used to build similar houses in nearby villages. In a local directory of 1864, he is listed as a farmer of Old Hall. Richard Marriott owned Langar Hall but he was not the lord of the manor.
Francis Wright 1806 - 1873
John Wright was succeeded by his son Francis, who was even richer than his father - a billionaire in modern terms. However, he was also a generous philanthropist and gave money to many good causes. Francis Wright had an enormous house, Osmaston manor with 70 rooms, built for himself in Derbyshire.
But Francis also supported the building of Langar village school. And, in his honour, the village pub underwent a name change from The Feathers, the crest of the Howe family coat of arms, to The Unicorn’s Head, which appears on the Wright family coat of arms.
John Wright Osmaston 1831 - 1901
Francis' son, John Wright was better at spending his fortune than increasing it. He changed his name in 1876 to John Osmaston and moved to Sussex. After his death, the land he owned at Langar was sold and the various farms were bought by a number of different landowners.
Francis Plumptre Beresford Osmaston 1857 - 1925
Francis Osmaston of Surrey, son of John above, was lord of the manor of Langar and Barnstone, but owned no land here in 1901. A number of other wealthy people were the main landowners, most of them renting out their land to local farmers.
Francis Wright had children and they had descendants, but the lordship of the manor of Langar and Barnstone seems to have faded away. A lord with no land in the manor and no rights, privileges or responsibilities is a lord of nothing.
There is a lord of the manor of Langar no more.
