Ricardo rediscovered

Former students of economics at Hardenhuish School may remember learning about David Ricardo in my lessons.   

They might even have learnt about him in the classroom at Hardenhuish House, which I occupied for many years teaching there.  A few hundred yards away is the ornate grave of David Ricardo, in the churchyard of Hardenhuish estate.
Ricardo was born in 1772 and died a very rich man in 1823.  He was famous as an economist.

·       He was the first man to recognise that inflation is caused when the government prints too much paper money rather than using gold as money.

·       He  was the first to articulate the law of diminishing marginal returns.

·       He supported Free Trade and formulated the theory of comparative advantage.

·       He was most famous for his analysis of the theory of rent.

Ricardo made a fortune speculating on the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo, and bought Gatcombe Park - now the home of Princess Anne.  When he died, he was worth the equivalent at today's prices of £70 million.  So perhaps not surprisingly he spent the modern equivalent of nearly a quarter of a million pounds on his tomb and family vault, which is in Hardenhuish churchyard, Chippenham.

(Click on picture for a larger version of it)

Kilvert's Diary
Half a century later Francis Kilvert, the famous diarist, wrote on 31^st August 1874  

The monument to David Ricardo in Harnish churchyard cost £2000. The design was brought by Mr Ricardo himself from a tomb in Rome. The four figures were supposed to be marble and the price of marble was paid for them, but Francis Hall declares that once when he was set to clean the figures the surface began to shale off, he found they were made of composition and was obliged to stop his work. After this discovery the figures were boarded up every winter lest they should be cracked by the frost. The canopy is grey granite. The sculptor, Mr Pitts, destroyed himself afterwards.

Under the tomb is a family vault containing not only Ricardo's body but also those of several members of the Clutterbuck family, who owned Hardenhuish House. When Ricardo died, his widow Priscilla moved from Gatcombe Park to the Hardenhuish area. His daughter Henrietta married Thomas Clutterbuck, and so the link with Hardenhuish was consolidated. Hence the reason why Ricardo was buried at Hardenhuish and not at Gatcombe Park.



The Buck
When Hardenhuish School was created in the mid 1970s, with Hardenhuish House at its centre,  the staff agreed that the school  badge should be a buck, in honour of the Clutterbuck family who used to live in Hardenhuish House.  Cynics among the staff also suggested that the school motto should reflect the then perceived leadership style of the school and be "Pass the Buck" !   The powers that be did not adopt this suggestion and as far as I know the school still does not have a motto to go with its badge. 

Hardenhuish School badge

Hardenhuish House - which was my workplace for many years