Wallace Collection of the wealthiest families in Europe. They owned large properties in England, Wales and Ireland, and increased their wealth through successful marriages. Politically of lesser importance, the 3rd and 4th Marquess and Sir Richard Wallace became leading art collectors of their time. The Wallace Collection, comprising about 5,500 works of art, was bequeathed to the British nation by Lady Wallace in 1897. The state then decided to buy Hertford House to display the collection and it was opened as a museum in 1900. As a museum the Wallace Collection's main strength is perhaps its extraordinary array of 18th-century French art:
Marquess of Winchester created Baron Bolton in 1797. The late Duke was succeeded in the Barony of St John, the Earldom of Wiltshire and the Marquessate of Winchester by his distant relative (his third cousin once removed) George Paulet, who became the twelfth Marquess. He was the great-grandson of Lord Henry Paulet, third son of the fourth Marquess. He had earlier represented Winchester in Parliament. His son, the thirteenth Marquess, was a Member of Parliament for Truro and served as Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire. In 1839 Lord Winchester assumed the additional surname of Burroughs. He was succeeded by his son, the fourteenth Marquess.