When Gertrude Stafford Smith (née Tucker, previously Warburton), Ralph Allen’s niece and heir died in 1796, the estate passed to Cornwallis Maude, 1st Viscount Hawarden by reason of his marriage to Mary Allen, another niece of Ralph Allen, even though she had died in 1775, as they had a son Thomas Ralph Maude.
I indicated previously that Cornwallis Maude may have had little love for Prior Park and that he had some pretty severe money troubles.
A bit of further research has indicated that he put Prior Park up for sale in 1800 as an advert in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette on Thursday 4th September 1800 shows. The advert directed interested parties to Benjamin Wingrove. The reference at the foot of the advert shows that the sale of timber, referenced when John Thomas became the next owner in 1809, was actually happening years before and perhaps he just increased the sales to pay for his purchase?
Cornwallis Maude died on 23rd August 1803 in Teignmouth, Devon, but he was still trying to sell Prior Park just a few months before he died as the advert from the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette on Thursday 5th May 1803 makes clear.
We know the estate was actually sold to John Thomas in 1809 for £28,000.
According to MeasuringWorth.com in 2011, the relative worth of £28,000 0s 0d from 1809 would be:
£1,670,000.00 using the retail price index
£1,880,000.00 using the GDP deflator
£21,800,000.00 using average earnings
£29,800,000.00 using the per capita GDP
£105,000,000.00 using the share of GDP
See Glossary of Terms.