Description:George Granville, the first Duke of Sutherland was undoubtedly one of the wealthiest men in England at the time of his death in 1833. The owner of extensive estates and lavish properties such as Stafford House, he was also the most substantial proprietor of canals and railways in the country.
In addition to his properties in Staffordshire and Shropshire, the Duke of Sutherland owned a mansion house called West Hill in Wandsworth in Surrey. At his death, this property passed to the Duke’s eldest son George Granville Leveson-Gower who became the second Duke of Sutherland and added 'Sutherland' to his surname in 1841. The wealth and luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by the first Duke is evident in the bequest relating to West Hill in his will. George Granville’s will refers to ‘my Mansion House’, which was accompanied ‘my Messuages lands tenements and hereditaments whether Freehold Copyhold or Leasehold at or near West Hill or in the Parish of Wandsworth aforesaid’. In addition to the property itself, the first Duke refers to ‘the furniture Plate Pictures Books Wines and Liquors Carriages and Horses Stock and effects of every description which shall be in or about my said Mansion house and Estate at the time of my decease’.
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