Bruce Castle - John Eardley Wilmot

John Eardley Wilmot

John Eardley Wilmot (c. 1749 – 23 June 1815) was Member of Parliament for Tiverton (1776–1784) and Coventry (1784–1796), and in 1783 led the Parliamentary Commission investigating the events that had led to the American Revolution. He also led the processing of compensation claims, and the supply of basic housing and provisions, for the 60,000 Loyalist refugees who arrived in England in the aftermath of the independence of the United States.

Following the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, a second wave of refugees arrived in England. Although the British government on this occasion did not offer organised relief to refugees, Wilmot, in association with William Wilberforce, Edmund Burke and George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham, founded "Wilmot's Committee", which raised funds to provide accommodation and food, and found employment for refugees from France, large numbers of whom settled in the Tottenham area.

In 1804, Wilmot retired from public life and moved to Bruce Castle to write his memoirs of the American Revolution, and his role in the investigations of its causes and consequences. They were published shortly before his death in 1815.

After Wilmot's death London merchant John Ede purchased the house and its grounds, and demolished the building's west wing. It was never rebuilt, resulting in the current skewed shape of the building. In 1827, Ede sold the house and grounds to Worcestershire educationalist Rowland Hill, for use as a school.