The Mausoleum of Gerard De Visme
In the churchyard of St. Mary's Wimbledon stands a proud pyramid shaped mausoleum dedicated to Gerard De Visme, a Huguenot nobleman. Read on to learn more about the history of this mausoleum and how Habitats & Heritage is hoping to restore the grand Victorian monument.
Gerard De Visme
Gerard De Visme (1726–1797) was the fifth son of Philippe de Visme, a Huguenot nobleman, descended from the Comtes of Ponthieu, who settled in England after the Edict of Nantes. Gerard de Visme was born 6th January 1726 and died unmarried, in 1797.
His natural daughter and heir, Emily (who became Lady Murray) married 28th June 1810, the Hon. H. Murray, afterwards General Sir Henry Murray, 4th son of 7th Viscount Stormont, Earl of Mansfield.,
De Visme built and lived at Wimbledon Lodge. The house dates from around 1791. It was designed by Aaron Hurst.
The entrance gates were flanked by lodges, looking like small temples. The two-storeyed house had round-headed windows on the ground floor and an elaborate pillared porch flanked by coad-stone lions. Above the porch were statues, with others on a large pedestal on the roof. The garden front was equally elaborate with a decorated balcony supported by large Greek caryatids.
The house was demolished in 1905 and replaced by Murray Road, thus retaining a connection with De Visme’s daughter. The semi-circular driveway into the house is retained at the top of Murray Road.
The coade stone lions were for some time after the demolition of the house located on Wimbledon High Street. Today they are positioned outside a veterinary practice (Goddards) on Southside, appropriately enough the road adjacent to Wimbledon Common from which Wimbledon Lodge was originally accessed.
Following his death, De Visme was buried in the pyramid-shaped tomb in St Mary’s Churchyard.
The structure consists of a pyramidal rusticated monument with corner acroteria to the base, and once boasted iron railings which have been lost to time.
The monument features a coat of arms: Argent, a chevron gules, in chief two spur rowles of five points or and in point a crescent of the last with the Latin inscription:
Sepulchrum hoc Gerardus de Visme pro se et suis extruxit
De Visme bequeathed two sums of £10 per year each, to be kept separate, the one for the repair of his tomb, and the other for the distribution of bread to the poor during the winter months.
Headstone in De Visme Enclosure:
After living 40 years / with increasing esteem / in the family / of the late Gerard de Visme Esq. / and his daughter / Emily the Hon. Lady Murray / JEANNE MADELEINE SUNIER [Protestant native of Neufchatel in Switzerland] died at Wimbledon Lodge, / on the 30th June 1835 / aged about 56 years.
Reader! May your fortitude not be proved / by pain, such as she endured to the last with / patience, yet pray strive that your death bed / resignation and its Christian hope may rely / on a life useful, innocent and true as / Madeleine Sunier.
How you can help
Habitats & Heritage are looking to raise the necessary funds to restore this magnificent Grade 2 listed structure and remove it from the Historic England’s heritage at risk register.
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