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 Bristol (1845–1915), Comptroller-General and Secretary of the National Debt from 1894 to 1910, was the son of Lord William Hervey (1805–1850), third son of the first Marquess. The Right Reverend Lord Arthur Hervey, fourth son of the first Marquess, was Bishop of Bath and Wells between 1869 and 1894. Lord Alfred Hervey, sixth son of the first Marquess, was a Conservative politician. His eldest son Reverend Canon Frederick Alfred John Hervey (1846–1910) was Chaplain-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria from 1886 to 1901, and Domestic Chaplain to King Edward VII from 1878 to 1910. Lord Augustus Hervey, second son of the second Marquess,