A series of tenants

In 1795 the house was leased to Richard Jeffreys for 21 years. Francis Dashwood moved to Halcot and then to York Place, St Marylebone.Thereafter the house was rented out as a boys' school. Already by 1797 Francis Dashwood was heavily in debt.He moved to the Cape of Good Hope where he seems to have held a post in the Colonial administration. In his absence his affairs was administered by his brother-in-law, Lord Lauderdale. He died in 1829. A survey of the Hall Place estate that year shows landholdings in Bexley totalling 482 acres, 1 rod and 26 perches, with a total annual rental income of £1,348.1 Os.9d. The main assets of the estate were listed as the Mill, Hall Place, Mount Pleasant (or Halcot as it was later known), Warren Farm and Long Lane Farm. The Mill was leased out to a calico printer, Mr Hammal for £300 a year. However, the surveyor notes that in view of the depressed state of the trade this is a good rent, especially since all the machinery belongs to the tenant and should he go bankrupt the value of the mill would be greatly diminished. Hall Place itself was let out as a school (a purpose for which it was deemed highly suitable) for £280 per annum to Mr Stone described as a desirable tenant. Mount Pleasant with 61 acres, 7 rods and 2 perches was held by four different people for a total of £258. Warren Farm with 212 acres, 2 rods and 30 perches was deemed highly productive, despite its inconvenient buildings, yielding £220. This compares with £100 received for the 47 acres, 2 rods and 16 perches of Long Lane Farm. At the other end of the scale stood Mount Misery with 7 acres, 2 rods and 30 perches. Its poor and uncertain tenants could produce only £38 rent between them. Clearly Hall Place still represented a major capital asset to the Dashwood family. An insurance policy of 1833 covered the house for losses up to £2,000, a value unchanged in a further policy of 1863. Francis Dashwood had two sons; the second of which, Maitland Dashwood, born in the Cape in 1813 returned to England. In 1870 this Maitland Dashwood refurbished the house, attaching it to the water-mains and fitting it with every modern convenience. Once more in fashion it attracted a series of aristocratic tenants. These included Baron d'Erlanger, a director of the Channel Tunnel Company, who was resident from 1905-190S. From 1912-1914 the house was occupied by Lord Churston, a retired colonel and his wife, Jessie, nee Smither, better known to history by her stage name, Denise Orme.