Also, I have unearthed two letters addressed by Dr Sellé to the editor of The Times, which were published in that newspaper during his term of office:

The first letter was a response to the following, printed on November 2nd 1852:

Sir,— I beg to call your attention to a speech of the Rev. D. Wilson, vicar of Islington, at a meeting of the inhabitants of Islington, convened for the purpose of “disapproving of the proposed opening of the new Crystal Palace at Sydenham on the Lord’s day,” and reported in the Observer newspaper yesterday. The part of the speech to which I would direct your attention is as follows:— “This pernicious innovation would lead to others. If this place were opened on the Sabbath how could they possibly keep the British Museum and other places of public amusement closed? We see a specimen of this in Hampton-court Gardens, which were opened just as it was proposed to open the Crystal Palace— viz., at 1 o’clock on Sundays. A friend of his [sic] said, in reference to this place, ‘Sir, it is a hell upon earth. The people come intoxicated, and the scenes in these gardens on the afternoon of the Lord’s day are beyond description.’ ”

Now, Sir, who the rev. gentleman’s informant may be he does not tell us, most probably one of those persons whom I once heard a waterman, near Hampton-court Palace, well denominate as State paupers, and who cannot bear the bodies of his poorer brethren to come “’twixt the wind and his nobility;” but whoever he may be, it was the rev. vicar’s duty to inquire into the truth of such a charge against his poorer countrymen, as creating a “hell upon earth” before reiterating it in a public meeting. I, Sir, distinctly declare it to be false. Ask the inspectors of the A division of police, some of the constables of which division are always on duty, both about the gardens and the palace. If there were a solitary case of drunkenness ( a circumstance that I, though a visitor on many Sunday afternoons, never saw) the person so offending would have been instantly removed and order restored. I would ask the Rev. Archdeacon Hale, the rev. author of Salathiel, and other clergymen who are taking the lead in this crusade against the Crystal Palace, whether they, on Sunday afternoons, deny themselves the pleasure of a walk in a conservatory, if within their reach, or cover up their paintings and statues on that day? Where, except in such a building as that proposed, can the poor man ever enjoy these elevating pleasures? [ . . . ]

With many apologies for troubling you, I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

Nov.1.
J.R.

Sellé’s second letter gives valuable information regarding the early part of his life, about which nothing was previously known. The King to whom the letter refers was George V of Hanover, son of George III’s 5th son, the notoriously unpopular Duke of Cumberland. From the reign of George I (who held the title ‘Elector of Hanover’ at his accession) the same monarch had ruled both Britain and Hanover, but Salic law denied a woman’s succession to the throne of Hanover if there were any surviving male heir; on the death of King William IV in 1837, therefore, the daughter of his late younger brother (the Duke of Kent) became Queen Victoria, while his own surviving still younger brother Cumberland became King Ernest Augustus of Hanover. Cumberland’s son George succeeded his father as King of Hanover in 1851. A first cousin of Queen Victoria, and only 3 days her junior, Prince George lived for some time during his childhood at Kew Palace and it was there in 1832, when he was aged 13, that he suddenly lost his sight. Since English physicians held out no hope, Prince George was taken to Prussia to be examined by a German specialist, but nothing could be done; he remained blind thereafter. Sellé’s letter was printed 2 days after the following:

Sir,— Having read in The Times of the 25th inst. a totally incorrect statement of the accident by which the late King of Hanover unfortunately lost the sight of his right eye (the left having been injured some years previously through inflammation), I think it right to inform you how the accident actually occurred, as I happened to be with his Highness at the time. We went out of the porter’s lodge at Kew one day in August, 1833, about half-past 3 p.m. A poor man begged, his Royal Highness gave him a shilling, and afterwards, in twisting his purse round struck his eye. I led him into the house, and after his former nurse had bathed his eye with cold water, he returned downstairs and said “it was all right.” We then rowed on the Thames, and afterwards his Royal Highness went with Dr. Jelf into Kew Gardens and shot some rabbits. In the evening he complained of pain and went early to bed. Subsequently the Duchess of Cumberland inquired where the Prince was, when she was informed of what had occurred, and that he had gone to bed. Sir Watkin Waller, the oculist, was then sent for from London, and he arrived at Kew about 12 o’clock that night, when the Prince was fast asleep. When his Royal Highness awoke the next morning he was completely blind.

Mr. Mcfarlane Spong must allude to some incident of which neither I nor my friends who were at that time by his Royal Highness, and now in London, ever heard.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
CHARLES QUENTIN, late Major in the Hanoverian Service.
38 Hans-place, S.W., June 27.

Quentin, however, is incorrect in writing that Mcfarlane Spong was the author of the letter printed in The Times on June 25th 1878. This letter, signed only ‘W.’ states that the accident took place during a cricket match between the Windsor and Eton clubs at Eton, whilst the Prince was standing in the pavilion at the end of a very successful innings by an Eton boy named Mcfarlane Spong. It goes on, ‘Prince George had in his hand a long beaded purse, at the end of which was attached a gold acorn. The purse he was swinging round, cheering Mr Spong, when the acorn struck him in the left eye. Assistance was promptly procured, but without avail, and the Prince lost completely the sight of the injured eye, and finally that of the other also.’

Although accounts do not agree on the nature of the accident, or even whether it took place in 1832 or 1833, Sellé (who seems a very reliable eye-witness) tells us precisely that he was in constant attendance on Prince George from 1828, and we already know that the Sellé family lived at Kew Green from at least 1819. Sellé would have been aged 15 in 1828 (13 years before he took up his appointment at Hampton Court), but what his position in Cumberland’s household was, whether musical or otherwise, we do not know. A musician of the name Christian Siller was appointed to the royal household in 1828, but whether or not this was a mis-spelling of Sellé’s name (for Sellé did, indeed, use the forename Christian up until 1840) we cannot be certain. This early Royal connection, however, may well have helped Sellé to acquire his later position at Hampton Court.

George V ruled Hanover from 1851 until he was deposed during the Seven Weeks’ War between Austria and Prussia in the summer of 1866, after which Hanover became part of Prussia (which it remained until 1945). King George lived out his exile in Paris until his death on June 12th 1878. A funeral service was held in Paris, but his body was then removed for burial in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. The series of letters to The Times appeared soon after this event. Many years later, in 1880, George V’s daughter Princess Frederica of Hanover and her husband Baron von Pawel Rammingen took up a grace and favour apartment at Hampton Court Palace, where she was visited on several occasions by Queen Victoria.

William Henry Fitzgerald, the first organist at Hampton Court Palace
The first permanent organist at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace took up his appointment on November 26th 1831. Paid a salary of £50 per annum, he was ‘to have, hold, exercise and enjoy the said Place [i.e. position], together with all the Rights, Profits, Privileges and Advantages thereunto belonging’. William Henry Fitzgerald was a local man, but of his life before his appointment we know nothing. Census returns from later in the 19th century give his birth-place enigmatically as either ‘Bushey Park’ or Hampton, but no record of his baptism has been found locally. A Fitzgerald family did have 3 children baptised at Hampton’s parish church in the 1790s, but not a son with the Christian names William Henry. He presumably learnt his profession locally, but again we do not know where. The 1841 census lists Fitzgerald living in the Royal Mews with a Sarah Fitzgerald (presumably his wife) and a George Fitzgerald (presumably a younger brother) and 5 children: William, Charles, Letitia, Georgina and George. By the census of 1851, Fitzgerald (supposedly then aged 46) was a widower, living alone with his son Charles. The 1861 census reveals the fact that Fitzgerald had been blind since the age of 3; he is listed living with his 2 daughters Letitia (listed as ‘housekeeper’) and Georgiana [sic], a governess, neither of was were married. In 1871, the last census on which he appeared, he was still at the Royal Mews, giving his profession as ‘Professor of Music’ and his age as 70. He died on April 25th 1873 at Esher, aged 72.

Chaplain Wellesley: a case of confused identity
When Dr Sellé was appointed organist at Hampton Court in 1845, the Chaplain at the Palace was the Hon. the Rev. Gerald Wellesley. Wellesley was appointed in 1793, on the resignation of Dr James Burton, and held his post for an almost incredible 55 years (surely he must be the longest-serving officer of any kind in the Chapel’s history?). But the chaplaincy at Hampton Court was by no means his only appointment—indeed, History has accredited him with among the following impressive achievements:

Chaplain at Hampton Court Palace 1793-1848; Canon of Durham Cathedral 1827-1848; Rector of Stratfieldsaye 1836-54; Dean of Windsor 1854-82; Chaplain to Queen Victoria 1794-98 and Domestic Chaplain to Queen Victoria 1849-82.

Perhaps I am growing cynical, but this seemed to me slightly too much for even an exceptional man (as Chaplain Wellesley surely was) to fit into just one lifetime! Not least, it would have made Wellesley well over 100 at his death and at least in his mid-80s when he was appointed Dean of Windsor—I remembered Alan Kendall having his doubts when preparing the last issue of Cantamus.

The confusion arises from the fact that there were not one but two clergymen with the name Gerald Wellesley in the 19th century: uncle and nephew. The Rev. Gerald Wellesley who was Chaplain at Hampton Court from 1793 to 1848 was born The Hon. Gerald Valerian Wesley on December 7th 1770 in Dublin, the younger brother of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, and 4th son of Garrett and Anne, 1st Earl and Countess of Mornington, the family changing its surname from Wesley to Wellesley in about 1798. Like his brothers, he was educated at Eton, and then went on to St John’s College, Cambridge in 1788, at the age of 17; he received his MA in 1792 (noblemen at this time not sitting for the degree of BA!). Later in life, in 1810, he was awarded a Lambeth Doctor of Divinity. Wellesley’s clerical career began on December 8th 1793, when he was ordained deacon at Ely, and immediately after this he took up his 1st post: Chaplain at Hampton Court, a post he held for 55 years; his appointment was reported in The Times on December 9th 1793. Two years later, his mother, the Countess of Mornington, moved into a grace and favour apartment in the Palace, where she lived for 30 years. (It is known that she was visited there regularly by her sons Marquess Wellesley, who had been Governor-General of India from 1797 to 1805, and the Duke of Wellington - they would surely have visited their brother on these occasions if he was at the Palace; their sister Lady Anne Fitzroy also held a grace and favour apartment for a time, probably prior to her 2nd marriage, to Charles Culling Smith of Hampton in 1799, after the death in 1794 of her first husband, the Hon. Henry Fitzroy). Gerald Wellesley was ordained priest on December 21st 1794, and was Chaplain to Queen Victoria from that year until 1798. During his career, he was appointed to a long series of clerical posts, many of which he held concurrently:

Rector of Beachampton, Buckinghamshire 1794-98; Rector of Hampton 1798-1803; Rector of Staines 1799-1809; Prebendary of Westminster 1802-9; Vicar of Chaddleworth, Berkshire 1803-5; Rector of St Luke’s with Holy Trinity, Chelsea 1805-32; Vicar of West Ham, Essex 1808-9; Prebendary and Canon of St Paul’s 1809-48; Rector of Therfield, Hertshire 1822-32; Rector of Bishop Wearmouth, Co Durham and Canon of Durham 1827-48.

Wellesley married the Lady Emily Mary Cadogan, eldest daughter of Charles Sloane, first Earl of Cadogan, on June 2nd 1802, and the couple had 7 children: 3 sons (among them Sir George Greville Wellesley, who was Senior Lord of the Admiralty from 1877 to 1879) and 4 daughters, several of whom were baptised in St Mary’s Church, Hampton. Wellesley’s wife Emily died in 1839.

When he died at Durham on October 24th 1848, at the age of 77, Gerald Wellesley presumably still held several of his titles, including the chaplaincy at Hampton Court. Local historian Gerald Heath noted, however, that ‘although he had apartments in the Palace, it seems that he was hardly ever there and for much of the time had a deputy’. Neither, indeed, can he have spent much time in any of his smaller livings. An obituary printed in The Times on the day of his death, reveals that he died at about 9 o’clock in the morning at his house in the College at Durham, having been ‘for some time in a feeble and gradually sinking state’. The Gentleman’s Magazine noted that ‘the venerable deceased was greatly respected by all classes of the community for his kind and conciliatory manners, and the unvarying benevolence of his disposition’, adding that ‘when the Duke of Wellington became Prime Minister [in 1828], it was universally supposed that he would elevate his brother to a bishopric; indeed, efforts were made by some parties to induce him to do so, but in his own emphatic way he [Wellesley] declined’. Gerald Wellesley was buried in Durham Cathedral. 

The second Gerald Wellesley was the 3rd son of Chaplain Wellesley’s younger brother Henry, 1st Baron Cowley (curiously, Henry’s wife was the younger sister of his brother Chaplain Wellesley’s wife). Gerald Wellesley the younger was born in London in 1809 and educated at Eton and then Trinity College, Cambridge. After starting a legal career, he was ordained deacon in 1830 and priest in 1831. It was he, and not his uncle, who held the family living at Stratfieldsaye from 1836 to 1854, when he was appointed Dean of Windsor. He also held the offices of Registrar to the Order of the Garter, Resident Domestic Chaplain of Queen Victoria, Crown Trustee of the British Museum, and Lord High Almoner to the Queen. He died in 1882 and was buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor; the Prince of Wales attended his funeral. His obituary in The Times describes him as ‘a man of moderate opinions, somewhat reserved and shy in his manners, but courteous and kind to all with whom he came into contact’, and ‘much beloved and respected as a private friend’ by Queen Victoria, who stood as sponsor to his only son. It goes on to say that his death ‘will be severely felt by Her Majesty, [for] he lived on terms of intimate friendship with her and members of her family [ . . . ]. She is reported to have said that he was the last survivor of her early friends.’ However, even The Times managed to confuse his identity, referring to him as ‘the Hon. and Very Rev. Gerald Valerian Wellesley’—Dean Wellesley, in fact, had no middle name, ‘Valerian’ being that of his uncle, the Chaplain of Hampton Court Palace!