Colonel Horace Walpole (1849–1919) bought the Heckfield Place estate by private treaty in July 1895.London Evening Standard 27 July 1895. Walpole was a four-times great-nephew of the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, but the illegitimate son of the 4th Earl of Orford as a result of his affair with Lady Susan Hamilton. As such, Col Walpole was barred from inheriting the title, but on his father's death, in December 1894, he inherited considerable wealth and personal effects, enabling him to buy Heckfield Place. Improvements were made by Col Walpole to the house, including the installation of electricity, redigging the drains, and the building of a brick tower near the walled gardens, to distribute water pumped from a nearby spring, to the house, cottages and gardens.
